BRITONS IN THE AIR

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 128, 3 June 1919, Page 2

BRITONS IN THE AIR

IDEAL TEMPERAMENT

GRAHAME-WHITB'S PROPHECY

A lecture on "Commercial and Pleasure Flying" was delivered by Mr. Claude Grahame-White in London recently. The lecturer said that when we wore able to dine in New "York one evening and in London the next; when no part of the earth's surface was more than a. week's journey by air, then the aerial age would have done more for the world than uny other invention or discovery over made. The temperament of our race was ideal for flying. The Briton flying, either in peace or war, did so with a personal and sporting zest; ;md it was this spirit which I j would render him invincible in the air, j as he had been for centuries on the sea. \ Howover keen the race for supremacy | might become, we should produce men j capable of handling the best machines j our constructors could build. What we must now contemplate was that the highspeed transport of the world would be gradually transferred from land and sea to air. This was no longer a romance ; it would come about in.a definite period —just how long would depend upon the willingness of the public to make* use of the aerial services which will soon be ready for them.. There were three essential questions : — 1. Can an air service be made safe? 2. Can it be made reliable? 3. Can it be made to pay? We are now designing and hoped soon . to bo running a 24-seator passenger machine on a non-stop air service between London and Paris. It would carry 5001b of express parcels, and do the journey in less than three hours. This machine was a logical development of such aircraft as we had been using for bombing in the war. The passengers would be housed in comfortable compartments. The crew would consist of five persons—a pilot, a navigator, a directional wireless operator, a "motor mechanic, and an attendant. In the rear there would be space for 2501b of express parcels. The car would be fitted with side-windows or portholes, so that the passenger would have a view outwards during the flight. In front there would be a small observation platform, from which passengers might, if they wished, obtain an excellent view on all sides. They would move about freely during the journey. Light refreshments could be served en route, and there would be all the conveniences of modern travel. Tea or a cocktail might be obtainable about mid-Channel, for the amenities of life must not be forgotten even in the, air. "SPEED WITH SAFETY." The express Air Mail machine should play"a promiment part in our early aitway development. It was specially designed as a high-speed mail carrier for the transport of not more than 1001b of express mails. Its speed would be 1/0 miles an hour, so that the journey from London to Paris could be covered in an hour and a half. It would be able to fly under the most adverse conditions as regards wind or rain. Such a service, even if the rates were high, would be an enormous convenience to business.men, who, he believed, would soon learn to use it. Later on, he felt certain that we should have speeds by air as great as 200, 250, or even 300 miles an hour. The comfort of passengers would be secured by the use of. totally-enclosed saloons, in which the air supply could |be made independent of the changes in atmospheric pressure outside. What we must never forget was that it was the speed of aerial travel which would bring us our commercial loads of passengers and goods. Our motto must be "Speed with safety." Although he had had no experience of large rigid airships, he was •confident that there was a great future before them, particularly on trans-ocean | flights, or on long journeys over undeveloped countries. Before ' long we j should see on the Trans-Atlantic route airships very much greater in size and speedier than any now in existence. Sceptics might ask how the LondonParis service was to be kept going, with ! safety and reliability, in such weather conditions as often prevailed in winter. This was Teally the crux of the whole question. Neither wind nor rain would imperil the safety of the machine, or, of its passengers, or prevent its reaching its destination. As to-day, the matter was fairly simple. We could send a machine up through fog, and we could | guide it accurately when it was above the fog, and the only real problem was to help the pilot to make a lauding at the end of the journey. On a well organised airway we could combat fog better than could a railway or a ship at sea. Should there be a heavy snowfall, traffic I might certainly be suspended temporarj ily, but there could be no difficulty about transferring the arrival and departure of machines to some neighbouring ground ■where the conditions were less adverse. And tho question of organisation, on which so much depended, was really easy. On the London-Paris route there should be emergency landing grounds every ten miles. As to the noise of aircraft, a commercial or pleasure machine could be silenced so as to be practically inaudible from the ground. On tho whole, therefore, he felt certain that a properly organised air service could be operated with safety, conducted ■ with reasonable regularity, and made to pay. "In conclusion," said the speaker, "I ■ should like to strike a note of warning. We in the industry know how undesirable it is to pevmit Imsty or illdevised schemes for aerial transport. It is obviously necessary that the Government, represented by the Air Ministry, should have power of control. That power should be exercised with wisdom and discrimination. It will be welcomed as being in the best interest^ of the great movement we all have at heart, but it must steer a middle course as between restriction and liberty. If the Air Ministry in its control iji flying will bear these two points in mind, and preserve a- nice balance between them, we need have no fear of the future of British aeronautics. The aircraft industry must receive not only the financial support of the Government, but tho moral encouragement of the entire nation. STATE AND PRIVATE ENTERPRISE. Major-General Seely, moving a vote of thanks to Mr. Grahame-White, referred to tho suggestion that it was the duty of the Government to see that aerial routes should be made ready for the aiil travel that was coming. As representing the Air Ministry, he accepted that us an obligation on the part of the Government. They were talcing stops already, and he hoped that as the result of an international agreement they would before long have a common code of signals, would have aerodromes and land-ing-places at regular intervals, and would have the means of sending up illuminated signals in times of fog. All these things would be done in order to secure the safety of air travel. /Ho trusted also that in tho course of a' few weeks we should come to an agreement with our Allies as to the precise form their activities should take. But, after all, the future of air travel depended upon private enterprise, stimulated, of course, by the Government. Quite recently, in connectio2i with the Peace Conference, an aeroplane service had been organised between London and Paris. Three, hundred flights had been made, sind only one pereon, a pilot, had been hurt, and he not seriously. So that , they could confidently look forward to

the time when people would get accustomed to air transit. He saw a vision of air travel being speedily carried out to a vast extent for the general good of mankind. It was the feature ol out air policy that all aides were at one. The Air Minietry, th; Royal Air Force, the Royal Aeronaut .jifc^>ciety, instructors, inyentori;. ."" '^BSStaWP—"B'! wer.e joined in a comic. .esu«si??Sj^>c.e the science of flying. He hope3«3^jUbit spirit of co-operation would caiitinu^^jr nothing but good could co'mo of it.