VICTORY BY AIR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 2, 27 September 1917, Page 6

VICTORY BY AIR

GREAT PLANS FOR AEROPLANE

PRODUCTION

ALL READY: FULL SPEED AHEAD! No man can spend, as I have done, two hours in close and intimate talk with the organisers of supplies for our air fleet without coming to the conclusion that; the future of this country and her Allies probably rests in the hands of the men.' who are building and using the air fleet: of the Allies (says a special correspondentof the "Daily Mail")- The war must end, for good or ill, in the air. tithes we shall fly through the air to glorious victory or the great and final crash of aerial fleets will leave us defeated and. overwhelmed. If the countiy, and u'peci--ally those men and women who ar-' imilding aircraft, will stand by the a;r men, all will yet be well. We shall lise to power and great strength. Germany, will fall lower and lower until she crashes to the ground a disordered and helpless wreck. This is no figment of imagina/tion, but a solid and realisable fact, an<£ it is time that-every man and woman in', the country began to realise it. . To achieve our splendid destiny as the conqueror of Germany by air great things must be done and without delay. Our position to-day at the end of three years is that of a trained man ready to run a race. The day of experiment and trial is over, and the moment of achievement has come. The end has not been reached in aircraft design and the future mayhave great things in store, but it is now absolutely, certain that we have reached a point at wbich Improvement must be judged by comparison with achievement and' in relation to the delay in output caused by its adoption.

Output All Important. From to-day output again becomes the chief and greatest consideration. Experiments will continue and progress will be made in design; butnelther the hope of perfection nor the call for improvement must be allowed to interfere, with the pressing necessity for the creation ot great active working fleets, standardised to accepted patterns and utilised ottproved lines of I success. In aircraft making we are at the point reached when, the great shell campaign began, when: land was taken to build the factories, even to build the tools which .would be used in the factories. Following upon the lines which caused so magnificent an output of shell and guns we shall see a, vast concentration of energy in given places. It may be a hard and bitter day for the small man who has sought to help his country in his small works Khen he is ■asked to amalgamate his energies with others-but it ie; inevitable, if success is to be achieved. Great unite of production, huge works in which thousands will be employed instead of Hundreds, are demanded by every rule known to the successful producer. -Economy is the first consideration. Not the economy which counU the pence and eaves the pounds, but the economy which enables the best use to be made of material, men. and'brains. Were we-now at peace with the world, with all markets and seas open to us, the ? ro 8J'? ( P m f f J' work ready to hand would be difficult to carrv out. -So'vast are the requirements of our air fleets that the whole. years output of Honduras mahogany is not sufficient for the requirements. There i» no war industry in which so many and varied elements enter as the making or aircraft ... Canada and America, In this really great effort the United States and Canada will take an important part. They will supply, ready .for use vast quantities of raw material. The resources of oven that vast continent will be tried to the utmost, for the United States has its own programme and must ship to France its owm air fleets-the day has not yet come when it can fly them across the Atlantic. ia this programme, now so clearly presented to the mind of those who have conceived and prepared the way for it, there only rests one doubt-Will the man power of this country be equal,to the task laid upon it? In air wrtJß all war work, man power, is the last controlling factor. There is here a limit bevond which no one can go. The earth holds the material for those; who .an get it but man power is limited to those now able to handle tools.. To solve ft s last problem of ultimate ™tory the h gh-, eft degree of courage will be requite* Someone will have to decide between tto conflicting claimsSof great national miusuries and the air, between even essential w industries and the.oir If the mea engaged in trades required for the matin- of aircraft see the war and lU ultimate course as clearly as ao those who are organising Victory by Air, they will place themselves and their skill unreservedlv in the hands of those who have framed the air program™ and set aside every other consideration. Every man must sav "I am responsible for. ihe sue-, ess or failure of our air offensive; with me as a maker of aircraft, depends the seas open and the resources of the United States and the Dominions available, to Ihd sufficient material of the right sort and quality to carry out their, ™mn,oth programme, it is even more difficult for he Central Empires.' They will be hard nut to it for craft to meet the great fleets will sail through> the air from < rar factories nest year. If no troubles with Labour interfere,'if no shortage-rf m.v fefftrpS^Stevictory. ■