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Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0155.PDF
FLIGHT, 31 January 1958 161 CORRESPONDENCE Vh,The names °L'7S" " not necessarily in agreement with the views expressed by correspondents inand addresses of the writers, not for publication in detail, must in all cases accompany letters.these columns. The Government's Aviation Policy \J"R. BESWICK'S article in your issue of January 10, like theiTJ- rest of the advice which is being freely offered to the Govern- ment and the aircraft industry, makes some suggestions as toorganization without touching the true issue of what this country's aviation policy ought to be. This policy could be contained in the answers to these threequestions: — (1) What is to be the size and nature of the Government'sresearch programme? (2) What is the Government going to order in the military, andwhat is it going to sponsor in the civil, fields? (3) What commercial conditions will it lay down for the placingof military orders and of those civil orders in which it is interested?It is possible that none of these questions can yet be answered. But if they cannot, then it is vain to talk about aviation policy.Proposals for mergers, amalgamations, rationalization, nationaliza- tion, semi-nationalization, and so on are, in the absence of such astatement of policy, irrelevant and indeed mischief-making. Oxhey, Herts. RICHARD COLLARD. Armageddon—or ?Y OUR astonishingly apt quotation (in your editorial ofJanuary 17) from H. G. Wells' prophecy in May 1914 of atomic-bomb warfare has added to a belief of mine that the bestprophets of the technical future are non-technical men, for it seems to me that engineers must err on the side of caution. But, beforethe engineers overwhelm me with their scorn of the layman, may I quote another prophecy, written nearly 100 years ago? On March 9,1862, during the American Civil War, the Monitorwith its revolving gun turret protected with 8in of iron, defeated the Merrimac in the Hampton Roads and caused a sensationamong the navies of the world. Henry Adams, grandson of the sixth President of the U.S.A., was then secretary to his fatherCharles Adams, the American Minister at the Court of St. James, and he wrote to his brother, who was serving in the Civil War,as follows: — "Only a fortnight ago, they (the British) discovered that their wholewooden navy was useless. . . . Our good country, the United States, is left to a career that is positively unlimited except by the powers of theimagination. And for England there is still greatness and safety, if she will draw her colonies around her, and turn her hegemony into aconfederation of British nations. "You may think all this is nonsense, but I tell you these are greattimes. Man has mounted science, and is now run away with. I firmly believe that before many centuries more, science will be the master ofman. The engines he will have invented will be beyond his control. Some day science may have the existence of mankind in its power, andthe human race commit suicide by blowing up the world. Not only shall we be able to cruise in space, but I see no reason why some futuregeneration wouldn't give it another rotatory motion so that every zone would receive in turn its due portion of heat and light." Perhaps, sir, you might like to add here the first sentence of thelast paragraph of your editorial? (i.e., "It could happen; but whether by means of America's colossal rearmament or of theproposed summit talks is not for this journal to suggest."). Preston Park, Sussex. J. LAURENCE PRITCHARD. Salesmanship Begins at Home YOUR Special Correspondent, in his article "First Things First"(January 17), rightly emphasizes that, reorganization or no, the aircraft industry still has to sell its products in overseas markets.But there is another, just as vital, job of selling which the industry ought to tackle as soon as possible: it must sell itself to the Britishpublic in general and to the Government in particular. The industry has not, one feels, presented its own case to the public vigorouslyenough. It must do more to win the public's confidence and admiration, to persuade the taxpayer that it is a first-class nationalasset worth every penny of the public money spent on it, and that it does not merely soak up money but earns it as well.The Farnborough show is an excellent stimulant to public interest, but it alone is not really enough; to sustain that interestand to increase it, the possibilities of television or the cinema could be employed. A film dealing with the industry s achieve-ments that equalled or surpassed in merit Shell's magnificent Song of the Clouds could do wonders in restoring the prestigewhich the industry has forfeited in recent months, and by present- ing the basic facts of the industry's life (of which Ministers of theCrown, as well as the public, are not as well informed as they should be) would do a great service. This is only one possibility, and whatever line of attack is chosenfor this problem, it will cost money. But the more confidence and admiration the industry can command at home, the better will itschances be in selling its products overseas. And the more the industry's achievements—in producing and selling, as well asdesigning and making prototypes—are widely known and appre- ciated, the less is this or the next Government likely to try toreorganize, rationalize or nationalize the aircraft industry. Rustington, Sussex. M. J. HARDY. Monorail or Helicopter ? TT appears that the M.T.C.A. are now giving favourable con-x sideration to the building of a £7,000,000 monorail link between Victoria and London Airport to be operating by 1961. For the same sum, the British helicopter industry could provideB.E.A. or the independent operators with sufficient helicopters by the same date to enable them to operate inter-city scheduled ser-vices, on an economic basis, throughout the length and breadth of the kingdom—taking the journey between London and LondonAirport in its stride. These helicopter services would be able to operate in at leastthe same weather conditions that affect the fixed-wing airliners, so what is the point of taking passengers to the airport in the worstweather conditions, only to endure frustrating delays because their fixed-wing transport cannot take off.Are we getting value for money? Keston, Kent. BASIL ARKELL. Society of Aircraft Historians an Urgent NeedT HE letter from Mr. Gobby, in your issue of November 8, mademe examine my conscience. As one who has decided views on aviation history, historic aircraft and their preservation, I wasperturbed to realize that as far as action is concerned I have probably been as apathetic as anyone. I presume that your corre-spondent read A. Cdre. A. H. Wheeler's realistic letter, "The Cost of Keeping Veterans," in your issue of October 25, 1957;that did not confirm me in my apathy, but at least it convinced me that I alone could do very little towards ensuring thepreservation of our veterans. Mr. Gobby suggests that "the British aeronautical community"ought to launch an appeal for funds: that would be an admirable idea if that community existed as a cohesive, authoritative andarticulate body. Unfortunately, it does not. True, there are several bodies whose activities include an interest in various aspects ofaviation history; and there are others (notably the S.B.A.C.) whose activities ought to include such an interest. Generally speaking,organizations of the former sort have too little money to undertake much active work, and the latter are too busy looking ahead tospare a thought or a copper for the past. A very great deal could and should be done, but it might be wellfor us to heed the Chinese proverb to the effect that even a journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step. And the forma-tion of an organization of the kind suggested by "Beltane" (Flight, December 6, 1957) could be an essential first step towards theachievement of what is in Mr. Gobby's mind and very near to the hearts of many of us. As "Beltane" points out, there is neithera meeting place nor an organization for those who care about our aviation history. The need could hardly be greater—it may be thatwe are witnesses of the gradual demise of the military aircraft, and sporting flying is being slowly stifled. The development of aircrafthas occurred within the span of a man's lifetime. If we now fail to secure an authentic and adequate record of our nation's greatcontributions to aviation our generation will stand condemned in the eyes of future historians. As Mr. Andrews has said (Flight, January 10, 1958), muchresearch and interchange of valuable information has been going on between interested people for some years. The results of thatinformal and unregulated work have proved fruitful and construc- tive, and a serious historical society, intelligendy run, might be theideal means of extending and consolidating the field of knowledge and of compiling records of that knowledge. (In his letter,Mr. Andrews makes some extremely kind remarks, but it is no desire merely to return a compliment that prompts me to say thatany historical society which did not include his own name would fall short of success.) It is true, as he says, that there are already"many societies, forums, clubs and so on," but I know of none in Britain which devotes more dian a small part of its activityto aviation history. Moreover, such organizations usually include in their membership an alarming number of people who pursueuseless information with that brand of fanaticism which compels
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