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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0248.PDF
248 FLIGHT, 25 February 1955 TV FILM FINALE: DREAM OR NIGHTMARE? ENTITLED Past and Future, the last episode in the Tele-vision film War in the Air formed a brilliant, self-containedfinale to the series. Introduced by Sir Philip Joubert, it reviewed military aviation development from World War I to thepresent day. Shots of Sopwith Camels and Handley Page 0/400 bombers taking off, an impeccable formation of Hawker Furiesat a Hendon Air Display, the stressing of the "fatal mistake" of the Germans in 1939 in failing to build up a long-range strategicbomber force; these were highlights in a series of all-too-brief flashbacks. Then, in 1945, an event "multiplied the whole forceof air power a million times in a single blinding flash"—the first atom bomb was exploded. In 35 years air power had growninto a potential destroyer of the world. This whole development had taken place during one generation—in the lifetime of mennot much advanced beyond middle age. The atom bomb, together with the gas turbine and guided mis-siles, viewers were told, appeared as three entirely new factors in 1945. The new outlook brought by the atom bomb was stressedand the difficulties of adequate Civil Defence briefly commented on. If a country such as Great Britain was to survive in a futurewar, every one of the enemy bombers employed in an attack must be brought down. The cost of even one getting through to drop itsload would be too immense. • • • One thing and one thing only might make such 100 per centdefence possible—the guided missile. Shots of British and American rockets being launched and of Nike missiles trackingand bringing down a Superfortress added weight to this hope. The Rolls-Royce "Flying Bedstead" was shown airborne in oneof a series of shots depicting post-war aircraft, and the comment made that we were "still in the Wright Brothers stage of thisnew aviation." The film brought in construction by NATO of air bases through-out the Western world to build up defensive air power as a deterrent to possible aggression. Strategic bombing—or the threat of it—was, in the words of the commentator, "still the greatest known weapon." In its closing sequences the film gave more material for thought.A V.2 was shown taking off, its possible use withaj atomic war- head being mentioned; and a contrasting sequence#covered therecently inaugurated S.A.S. route over the' North Pblar regions. Whether this is the forging of a "new link" or the last battle-ground" is something which only time will tell; but one thing is certain—the final answer lies not in the hands of the scientistsproducing the weapons, but in the hearts of ordinary people, such as the readers of this review. And so, after nearly four months, the series—the second attemptto record one aspect of contemporary history in a novel and dramatic manner—comes to an end. What is the overall impres-sion of the film? Technically, the general accuracy was high. There were veryfew instances of those relatively unimportant, yet annoying, shots depicting the wrong type or mark of aircraft; this was due, nodoubt, to the fact that each film had been scrutinized by people from the Central School of Aircraft Recognition before screening.A severe handicap in the production of the series, however, had been the lack of suitable material to cover certain aspects of theair war—particularly the early days, when few cameramen had been allowed to fly. In at least two instances, one where it wasdesired to show that Wellingtons were used during a particular campaign and the other where Meteors were shown going intoaction against flying bombs, the choice lay between showing the wrong mark of aircraft or no aircraft at all. The decision to useshots of the wrong mark may, in the words of the B.B.C., have "enraged the super-critical specialist"; but it was thought justifi-able because the film was produced primarily for the rank-and- file viewer. Even so, one feels that these departures could easilyhave been covered in the commentary and the factual accuracy of the series maintained. That such minor inaccuracies did not deter people from lookingin, however, is evident from the B.B.C. Listener Research figures of over ten million viewers each week for the film—the total view-ing population. The main fault of the series, in the opinion of the writer, wasnot the inclusion of the many continuity and "atmosphere" shots, but the exclusion of important operations, which could have foundtheir place had each episode been a little longer. The "playing down" of the Japanese Kamikaze operations was apparently deli-berate because these had been covered in some detail recently in the earlier American film, Victory at Sea; but it seems inexcusableon these grounds, for the omission left a serious gap in the air story, considerably reducing the obvious historical value of theseries. The virtually complete omission of any reference to Ger- man jet and rocket developments, excepting an all-too-brief episodeon V.ls and V.2s. was another major fault detracting from the value of the series as an historical record. There seems to be no particular reason why the series waslimited to 15 episodes, though this is, in fact, three more than was originally planned. A weekly audience of ten million is surelyproof enough that the B.B.C. under-estimates interest in such a subject. It is probably true, as the B.B.C. explains, that, how-ever long the series was, there would be the specialists who would have liked it that little bit longer; but the series as shown seemsto have been too short even for the majority of ordinary viewers. A noticeable feature was the lack, with one or two exceptions,of really spectacular sequences of aircraft in action. The earlier Victory at Sea, primarily covering the sea war, managed to includemany more really breath-taking shots of aircraft. The series also included too few shots depicting enemy activity and clear explana-tions of his counter measures as the Allied air onslaught mounted in intensity. Many viewers will have known about, and sometaken part in, the story from the Allied side; and more film from enemy cameras would have given one the impression of beingprivileged to see what went on behind the scenes and enemy lines during those momentous years. But even if the generalpublic is still little wiser regarding the impact of air power on world affairs—apart from the fact that if you drop a lot of bombsyou do a lot of damage, or if you smother a small ship or train with machine-gun fire it disintegrates—the end of the series willleave many viewers wishing for a programme of equal interest on Monday evenings to come. M. F. A. JANE HERVIEUX—AN APPRECIATION THE recent death of Jane Hervieux, the great pioneer air-woman [writes Norman R. Morrow-Tait] must have revived nostalgic memories to all those whose interest in flying^goes back.to an earlier era. Jane Hervieux was not the first woman to fly alene, as statedin many of the newspaper obituaries. This honour belonged to her friend, the beautiful Baroness de la Roche, who was alsothe first woman in the world to gain a pilot's certificate—in March, 1910. Mile. Hervieux was the first woman in the worldto take up flying as a profession, learning under the great Louis Bleriot at Mourmelon in the spring of 1910, and gaining hercertificate at Pau in December 1910 under the tutelage of Bleriot and Leblanc.On December 31st, 1910, Jane Hervieux made a magnificent flight of 2hr 2min at Pau on a 50 h.p. Gnome-Bleriot mono-plane, being chaired in triumph on landing by Jules Vedrines, Beaumont and Lemartin—names soon to become world famousin aviation. She continued to give exhibition flights on a Bleriot on the Continent until the outbreak of war in 1914. Pegoudhimself taught her to loop, and she made many long-distance and height records for women flyers in the days when aircraftwere mainly constructed of wood, wire, and fabric. During the 1914-18 war Jane Hervieux ferried aircraft fromplace to place behind the lines and for this work was granted the honorary rank of captain in the French Air Service, theonly woman to be so honoured at that time. Nungesser, one of the great aces of the war, taught her advanced aerobatics, soshe was well equipped to continue her professional career in aviation when civil life restarted after the Armistice. In Paris, in the spring of 1919, I well remember Capt. JaneHervieux giving exhibition and passenger flights on a tiny G.3 Caudron. I was only a boy at the time but clearly recollectthat it was then quite the fashion to sail over Paris with Jane Hervieux in her biplane; she must have given hundreds ofpassengers their baptism of the air 36 years ago. After the death of her friend the Baroness de la Roche, in aflying accident in July 1919, Capt. Hervieux went to America to become chief pilot of the Curtiss School of Flying on Long Island,New York—the first woman to take over the duties of an instructor. She gave lessons to Miss Amelia Earhart, later tobecome world famous as the first feminine Atlantic and Pacific flyer, and also taught many of the New York State PoliceAir Squadron to fly. In 1920-21 Capt. Hervieux made a flight in stages from NewYork to Florida and on to Cuba in her Curtiss aircraft, also giving exhibition and passenger flights at many towns on theway. She married Mr. Philip Catalano in America in 1922 and had lived in London for many years. Jane Hervieux was a wonderful pilot and her skill and daringin the early days of flying did much to blaze a trail for all the famous women pilots who followed after her. She had theadmiration of all who remember the old flying days.
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