OUR AIR MASTERY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2963, 29 December 1916, Page 7

OUR AIR MASTERY

THE BEST MACHINES MANNED BY DARING PILOTS. That the British have secured and maintained the mastery of the air is hiown from Sir Douglas Haig's reports, .corroborated, if any' corroboration were needed, by the report of General Sixt von Arnim, captured on the Somme. How lias this mastery been obtained? "There are all sorts of reasons," said a well-known authority on aviation to a "Daily News" representative, "but it is almost impossible to put one's finger on any one outstanding cause. Perhaps the three chief reasons might be summarised under these heads: Men, machines, climate. "To begin with, all the men in the: Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service are volunteers, and most of them are drawn from the class of adventurous men Who in peace times are accustomed to travel by land or sea, or who go in for racing motor driving.. They cannot be said to be any more, nor yet any less, intelligent than other people, but of their daring' there can be no doubt.

"Now, let us take the question of machines. ' We have developed a type of machine very much superior to, tlie German. I refer to the tractor ; biplane, pf .'which we have several varie-

ties.' It. is a type that lias been generally adopted by belligerents on both sides. This type had reached.a fairly advanceS stage of development before the war, though, of course, wo did not know at that time that it was going to prove superior to all others. ,At that time the Frenoh had evolved thq ' monoplane, and there were those who' prophesied that the French machine .'.would become tho machine of the •future."-' Instead, the tractor biplane lias become almost the standard typo of- machine used by the Allies; It ,is certainly tho most popular type throughout the world to-day, and has superseded : the monoplane. "Next, as to climatc. It has beep said over and over again that tho British make the best sailors becauso for generations the- race ''had had to deal with stormier, and consequently more difficult-, seas on their coasts than any other race. 'J'he same analogy holds good of tho air, for our airmen have been . 'trained to ily in stronger and moro difficult gusts aud winds than probably any other country has to encounter.

"It lias been suggested, moreover, that tho reason tho Scots make such good marino engineers is duo to the fact that, in addition to their geographical advantage, they combino intelligence with a good nerve. That is moro or less true as to norvo of the British raco as a whole, and it is a quality that distinguishes our airmen. It is a typo of character which is not liable to panic, and is consequently of great service in flying, especially in the height of battle.

_ There is also another point to take into account when analysing tho work of fcho It.F.C. and tho ft.N.A.S. Both aro new services, freo from the handicap ot and nofc cliock-ful of conventions and obsolclo ideas iiko some othor official organisations. They were consequently l'reo to develop from tho first on their own linos as necessity. required."