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Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0010.PDF
10 FLIGHT, 3 January 1958 DREAM OR NIGHTMARE? . . . it is also a weapon of quite a new kind. In sheer destructive poweralone it is sufficiently great to obliterate the capitals of the world and to reduce to a shambles the organized civilization we nowenjoy; but its greatest terror is its inherent radioactivity. In this there lies a force capable of destroying all animal life as we knowit today. The uneasy global peace since the end of the war, referred toearlier, has been punctuated by periods of bitter local conflict, "hot" or "cold," in which aviation has played an important part.In the summer of 1948 Russia closed all the surface routes into West Berlin. Without aviation, Britain and America would havebeen faced with the alternatives of either giving up the city or attempting to force a land route, with consequent risk of startinga world war. Aviation offered a third course of action and the now-famous Berlin Airlift was inaugurated. Day and night avast armada of transport aircraft flew into the airports of Temple- hof and Gatow at intervals of from two to five minutes. For nearlya year to the city of 2\ million people were airlifted the goods required not only to keep it alive, but at work. In all, over2,000,000 tons of supplies were carried in 277,728 sorties, showing that aviation could avert as well as win wars. Two years later South Korea was invaded and aviation was, first,the medium by which United Nations forces were able to reach the peninsula before it was over-run; secondly, the medium bywhich it was held; and, lastly, the medium which ultimately caused the aggressors to call off the fighting. During this periodair attacks on North Korea were so effective that towards the end they all but ceased, as all targets had been destroyed. To return to the argument that fear has, by and large, main-tained an uneasy peace since 1945, the possession of enormous bomber fleets by both America and Russia may have at the sametime increased international tension. The phenomenal advances in aeronautics have greatly increased the possibility of surprise attack,because, together with nuclear weapons, they hold out to the State possessing great air strength the prospect of achieving a quickand decisive victory. From the foregoing it can be seen how great and widespreadhas been the impact of the twin prongs of aviation on society. Whether the total balance is for the good or evil is not easy tosay. So rar, the overall impact has probably been for the better, because it may well be that although flying has increased thetempo of war, and spread its terror oyer much greater areas, as far as actual loss of life is concerned it is predominantly a humaneweapon. Certainly, the deaths in action during the 1939-45 war, in many respects predominantly an air war, were nothing like so severe as those experienced during the land-locked 1914-18holocaust. If, however, there should be another global war, the sum willvery definitely be in the negative. There is little doubt that any lingering traces of the concept of the military target, destroyedwith the minimum damage to its surroundings, will vanish. With the H-bomb, complete industrial areas, such as the Ruhr inGermany, the Midlands in Britain, the Great Lakes in the United States and the basin behind the Ural mountains in the U.S.S.R.,will be the targets. Destruction will be unimaginably great and (as Air Marshal Sir Robert Saundby said recently) will produce"catastrophe on such a scale that a new word will have to be invented to do justice to it." For aviation to continue to servemankind for the better there must be no more war. "No more war." The eternal hope of mankind but one not yetfulfilled. What are the chances of the present generation succeed- ing? Today a person of the not very great age of 60 will havewitnessed no fewer than fifteen major wars, varying in duration from a few months to over six years. In fact, no single generationwithin living memory has known unbroken peace. An analysis of history from the fifteenth century B.C. to the middle of the presentone shows that during this great span of nearly 3,500 years there have been fewer than three hundred years of peace—an appallingaverage of about twelve years of war to one of peace. On the basis of this past experience the outlook for the future,bearing in mind the availability of the atom bomb, is not particu- larly hopeful. It is no use suggesting the ban on the use of thehydrogen bomb by international agreement. Experience has shown that such agreements are possible to only a limited extent; certainlyduring both world wars practically all such agreements were repudiated. Each belligerent violated or evaded every treaty orconvention that tended to hamper the fuU exploitation of all available means to victory. The destruction of all stockpiles of atomic bombs might mitigatethe terrors of war in its opening stages but, once engaged, all the resources of science would be ruthlessly exploited as soon as thewarring nations could mobilize them. In any future global war, the hydrogen bomb will be used—by whichever side thinks it islosing. As Sir Arthur Harris, war-time commander of Britain's Bomber Command, has explained: "When a man is being strangledto death he reaches for any weapon. . . ." The only solution is the abolition of war. This will entail thecomplete reversal not only of the general method of human life hitherto, but also of the general method of nature, that is, ofconflict and survival. Yet, this is the aim Mankind must set itself if it is to survive. If it fails, then the "range" prong of aviation,coupled with the twin Frankenstein of the atomic bomb, will bring life as we know it to an abrupt end. OIL, WATER AND AIR DAS ISLAND, a speck of desert projectingabove the surface of the Persian Gulf midway between Bahrain and Sharjah, possesses a 1,500-yard rolled sand runway, a small hangar, a radio beacon and H.F. and V.H.F. R/T. The presence of these facilities in so unlikely aspot will make possible the aerial support of an ambitious B.P. and C.F.P. enterprise known asAbu Dhabi Marine Areas, Ltd. This company has for some years been exploring a large offshorearea, centred on the coastal town of Abu Dhabi, to locate the presence of oil; and some two yearsago it was decided to acquire a marine drilling rig of American design. This formidable piece ofequipment, weighing altogether 5,250 tons, was built in Germany under the supervision of Ameri-can and British engineers and towed to Das Island via the Suez Canal. The journey took 92 days,and the rig was finally moored in the specially constructed harbour on November 23. The rig consists of a huge floating platformwhich carries the derrick and is equipped with power houses, air-conditioned living quarters anda helicopter deck. It is supported by four caisson legs which are thrust down to the bed of the seaby means of DeLong hydraulic jacks. When firm contact is established, further jacking raises theplatform up the legs clear of the water. When in the selected position the rig will besome 20 miles W.N.W. of Das Island, and com- munication with it will be maintained by boat andhelicopter. The helicopters, Westland Widgeons, operated by Bristow Helicopters, Ltd., are basedon Das Island. Air services between Das Island, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi are provided by GulfAviation, Ltd., using Herons and Doves Aerial view of Das Island showing the runway and hangar in the background, and in the foreground the harbour containing the rig a few days after its long journey from Europe. Beyond the harbour is the technical site comprising offices and workshops. The photo- graph was taken from the clear-vision window of a Gulf Aviation Dove cockpit.
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