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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0634.PDF
OCTOBER I6, 1909. THE TIME CERTAINLY, as a movement, flight has bulked very largely in the public view during the last fortnight, and it looks like doing so for at least as long to come. One supposes that this must be regarded as an inevitable, though far from elevating, advertising stage in the new industry. At least, it is the circus season in matters aeronautical when there is an unseemly scramble for gold on the part of those who are prepared to act the part of public performers—not a vestige of dignified com- petition between responsible manufacturers or sporting rivalry between private owners of flying machines. Hence, it is but to be expected that all the accompani- ment of blatant advertisement that is essential to the circus profession should be in evidence in connection with the first serious attempts at flying meetings in Britain. There is, however, something more than the publicity which circus managers are fain to strive after, and it is rather this that is of importance to all who are seriously interesting themselves with future progress. We assume that our readers have not been slow to detect the influences that have been plainly at work in connection with the publicity that has been given, more especially to the Doncaster Meeting; influences, we mean, which are not the concern either of the Aero Club or of the promoters of that meeting, neither of which parties can be held responsible for them in any sense, but influences by which it has been sought to seize upon the occasion of a difference of opinion, with the palpable hope of under- mining the authority of the Aero Club and of the existing International Federation that includes the aeronautical clubs of America and of all the leading countries of Europe. It is an opportunity, in fact, which quite a number of parties with no concern with Doncaster have seized on in the hope of making capital out of it, because in the first place it is plain that there is in the field at least one newly formed association that has thrust itself forward hitherto in the public view wholly as a one-man show, but for which it is dearly desired to secure the control of a movement which had already been established by the time it came into being. On the other hand, what could be more favourable than the opportunity afforded to any whose own individual purposes are served by stirring up strife and creating rival sections ? Here, in fact, has bee'h a chance—only too readily seized by influences against which every real well-wisher of the movement should be placed upon his guard—of making a misleading ado in public in the widest possible sense, since the columns of the daily papers have been thrown open to the business of flight, apropos of these Blackpool and Doncaster meetings, with the very laudable intention of helping forward practical aeroplaning and all endeavours to demonstrate to the public that man can fly. Because of the laudable character of the intention, we wish to preface our further remarks with a statement that we are absolutely con- vinced that whatever attitude any of the great daily papers have adopted throughout the controversy of the past week that has raged around Doncaster, such attitude is entirely honest as to its intention. Unhappily, however, in this business of flight something more than honesty of purpose is called for on occasion. Indeed, sound knowledge of the ins and outs of the situation is essential if one is not to be led unwittingly into error. If we were to devote the whole of this issue to showing up the true import of every attack that has been made on the Aero Club of the U.K., and every misstatement that has been published concerning that body and its attitude towards Doncaster, it is doubtful if the space available would suffice for the purpose. We are, there- fore, not going into any details, but will content ourselves with dealing merely with the proposition in general terms with a view of preventing the bona fide advocate of the science and sport of flight from being deceived by the tactics that have been adopted. So little real know- ledge is possessed by most of those who have been immediately responsible for what has appeared in the Press that as far as the general public are concerned the effect which those in the background have desired to produce, namely, of bringing aeronautical bodies in general into disrepute, has been achieved for the time being. But in doing so it cannot be said that any institu- tion that has been mentioned has gained anything. Quite otherwise, the public must have gained the impression that almost any aeronautical body which can be named is utterly void of power, is utterly unneeded, and is a thing more or less to be utterly condemned. So, just when flight is, as it were, making its debut in public fashion in Britain, the idea is being assiduously circulated by some who would pose as leaders in the cause, that even those organisations which were in being long before men could fly, and which have striven consistently to foster mechanical aerial locomotion, have no accepted standing in aeronautic circles. Also, the public are being misled into the notion that there is not the slightest need for any institution whatsoever to look after the interests alike of the performers and of the industry of producing the machines they employ. It is assumed that the task of properly conducting flying com- petitions is as simple as organising a horse-race, or refereeing at a football match. For example, the analogy of the Jockey Club in relation to horse-racing has been cited, but the cases are not parallel in any way, for the Jockey Club was not formed till about 1750, whereas horse-racing had been a sport familiar not only in the ancient world, but regularly exploited in England from quite early times, centuries before the Jockey Club came into being. But in the case of the recognised aeronautical institutions, they were in existence before—and their existence had much to do with the evolution of—the aeroplane of the power-driven sort that came after them. And whereas, in the case of horses, man can do nothing more than breed by selection, in the case of machinery, such as an aeroplane, there are practically no limits to the directions in which develop- ments may take place. We have ;in the immediate preceding sister movement, motoring, an example of how vital, and how entirely successful have been the efforts of the associations that were in being at the dawn of that movement,-in developing cheap, durable and luxurious cars in the extraordinarily rapid fashion that has been possible, and in very great measure through the Inter- national alliance of the representative bodies- that con- trolled the sport from the outset. That is one of the principal reasons why we have got, and we must continue to have, like bodies in regard to the flying movement. It is to the advantage of all societies in this country that the spirit of unity should be abroad for their own strengthening. So long as the non-aeronautic public sees signs of discord it will attach little or no importance to any one body connected with the movement, and especially to those that lend themselves to the self-interest of the individual. 638
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