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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 0373.PDF
FLIGHT, 23 February 1950 249 AVIATION AND THE ELECTION The Three Main Parties Reply to a 'Flight" Questionnaire ;: THOUGH its attitude to party politics is strictly neutral, Flight feels that in all the discussion, both written and verbal,leading up to to-day's General Election, very little has been said by any party on the subject of either civil or militaryaviation. The Editor has therefore invited, in identical terms, the Party H.Q.s of the three leading protagonists briefly to express their attitude to this question and to summarize the action each intends to take if returned to power. The Conservative reply was a lengthy one, and has perforce had to be summarized; for the same reason the Liberal con- tribution has been very slightly abbreviated ; the brief Labour reply, received as we closed for press, is given in lull THE CONSERVATIVE POLICY Air Transport.—Though the Conservatives agreed, in the Coalition Government, to the creation of the Corporations, the original plan was very different; it was intended that : independent companies should he allowed to operate on routesnot assigned to the corporations; other transport organizations (railway and shipping companies, travel agencies) should par- ticipate in the Corporations; and once the Corporations had been established Ministerial control should be confined to general aviation policy in its broadest aspect. In the event, competition was eliminated; the Corporations being wholly financed by the Government and the Minister having authority to tell them where to fly and what aircraft to use. One result was a £31 million bill for the taxpayer; and there was continual trouble-about the types of aircraft to be employed. It had been a case of "too many cooks," a situation which a Conservative Government, if returned to power, would tackle .at once. The Ministry of Civil Aviation would cease to exist as a separate department, its work being distributed between the Transport and other Ministries. Civilian functions of the Ministry of Supply would be eliminated. The Conservative Party would not "denationalize" air transport, but it would restore a wide measure of free enter- prise. Private Flying.—The Conservatives are full ' alive to the close connection between civil aviation and the R.A.F. They strongly opposed the Socialists' withdrawal of financial aid from the clubs. As soon as a Conservative administration had begun to clear up the financial mess it would give very practical effect to its belief in flying and gliding clubs. The Air Forces.—The Party attaches the greatest possible importance to the R.Aiix.A.F. • A Conservative Government would make it a matter of first priority to induce more men and women to join this branch than are at present doing so.* As regards the R.A.F. itself, the belief»is widespread that the nation is not getting value for money. This is no reflec- tion upon the R.A.F. but only upon the present system of National Service. The call-up period is too short for the training of high-grade technicians. The aim must be to secure more long-service personnel. Co-operation between Govern- ment, employers and workers should make it possible to inte- grate a man's long-service period into his life career. The present National Service scheme is even less satisfactory when it comes to aircrews. Here, a short-service system is essential, because of the qualities required of the men. Again, the problem is to integrate R.A.F. service inio a life career. Pay and living conditions for " all ranks must compare favourably with those offered by civil life. This is a cardinal point in the Conservatives' defence policy. They propose an immediate survey of the whole of the £750,000,000 defence expenditure. Research.—Finally, they are convinced that in the field of research the partnership between private enterprise and the State can be as fruitful to-day as in the past There are experimental facilities which it is reasonable that the State should possess and make available to commercial interests. It would be wantonly extravagant if every constructor ot aircraft had to provide himself with all the research equip- ment involved, for example, in solving problems of supersonic •speed. But it would be disastrous to restrici research and •'xperiment to State-owned and State-controlied establish- ments. *In this connection a manifesto was issued last week-end by "'•'• group of women pilots" appealing to candidates to support their plea for official assistance—comparable with that visual- ized in the A.T.C. flying training scheme—towards the cost01 enabling women to qualify for the W.R.A.F.V.R. flying "st; the present requirements are a Pilot's licence and 100 hours' flying.—ED. VIEWS OF THE LIBERALS We are determined that British air transport shall attain a position in world air transport at least comparable with that of the British Mercantile Marine in world sea transport. We believe that our Civil Aviation has suffered from too many political upheavals and that it needs stability. Thus, even although under doctrinaire Socialism the State-owned Corpora- tions have proved costly both in operating losses and in totally unnecessary hard currency capital expenditure, we will not destroy them, but will free their managements from all but general control—and then we will pass legislation to enable others to meet the needs of the public. The Corporations will then prove by their comparative results whether they deserve to survive. We will encourage private enterprise particularly in internal aviation and in charter flying, both in competition with the nationalized corporations and over routes which can- not be served by their scheduled services. In accordance with Liberal principles we shall encourage private enterprise, with substantial help from the State, in development work of all sorts and by providing the results of scientific research in State institutions, to retain world leader- ship in aircraft design and construction. Liberal support for the Civil Aviation Bill in the House ot Commons was largely based on the fact that the Bill provided the aerodromes needed for this nation. It was an incidental fact that the one Tory monopoly was replaced by three Corporations, thus giving some element of competition. But the administration of the Corporations created under this Act has been unhappy. We should : — (i) leave them as free of Government control as the B.B.C. or the Port of London Authority ; (ii) allow them to adopt methods of free enterprise. Profits and losses since the war have been :— B.O.A.C. B.E.A. B.S.A.A. 1946/47 .£8,076,844 £2,157,937 ^72,736 1947/48 £7.O9L439 £3,284,282 £392.089 1948/49 £5,844,695 £2,763,085 £1,133,082 While recognizing that for rare strategic or social reasons certain lines can justifiably be run at a loss, these figures indicate a situation that is far irom satisfactory. Safety in civil aviation is more important than cost. In no circumstances must any misguided economy !>e allowed (o affect safety Therefore all safety devices on the giound must be lifted out of the field of competition. We will charge the State, in co-operation with the Service Ministries, with research in this field, the development of radar and other safety devices and with revising our safety regulations and ensuring they are practical. A highly efficient department, assisting and not hampering a virile air transport industry, must see that everv reasonable measure is taken to ensure that accidents do not happen. [The Liberal statement make.s no reference t< • Service Aviation, but Party H.Q., in sending the above statement, encloses a brochure, National Defence—Ihe Report 0/ a Committee oj the Liberal Party. In this document the view is expressed that while consumption in peace-time will give quantity it will not give quality, and that " Until some effort has been made to relate the pay of the Armed Forces to indus- trial wage-rates, it is totally unfair to say that further recruits cannot be obtained as volunteers."—ED.] LABOUR PARTY'S STATEMENT (a) Commercial Aviation : The Government plans an expan- sion so as to bring in a net surplus of foreign exchange in 1950-51 (b) We want to see our aircraft industry keep its lead over the rest of the world. There is already strong Government backing to the aircraft industry at the public expense in research and development. (c) We want to see our Air Force given the best machines and kept at a high level ot efficiency.
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