AIR SERVICES

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 7 September 1917, Page 1

AIR SERVICES

AFTER THE WAR. In the course of a recent lecture in London on ' Commercial Aeronautics,' Mr Holt Thomas said that while he was not one of those who think that commercial aeronautics are going to beat the railways and other means of transport out of existence, he believed that they will revolutionise the world, from both the commercial and the humanitarian point of view, much more than they have revolutionised warfare. The successful use of aircraft for commercial purposes woidd depend on the views of business men. Our dilatory methods in military aviation were due to public apathy and apathy on the part of business men. But we must not let history recur; we must take the lead in commercial aeronautics, and public support, energy, finance, and encouragement must be behind the movement if it was to succeed. The committee appointed, with Lord Xorthcliffe as chairman, to advise on the uses and development of commercial aircraft should be of enormous importance. The first claim he made for the use of aeroplanes after the war was that they are the fastest form of transport in the world. There were to-day practical machines, with low landing speed aud capacity for carrying weights, which could do well over 100 miles an hour; but assuming a speed of only 80 miles, a glance at a map showed that Paris would be brought within three hours of London instead of seven, Rome within 12£ hours instead of 42, aud Petrograd and Constantinople within a day. As to safety, flying, even from the first, had never been really dan- . gerous. If statistics were taken of the number of miles flown per accident, or of tho number of accidents at any aerodrome per annum, it would be found that, although risks were evidently taken in the air, they did not constitute ,a danger. The public must be instructed by practical demonstration, which meant aerial services running day after day, that flying was a good deal more practical thaii it looked. COSTS. The lecturer presented figures in some B detail showing the'cost of an aeroplane service between London and Paris: From these it appeared that the total costs of running one machine each way would amount to 4s 8d a mile. But tliev came down rapidly if two, three, or four machines were run each way daily, and as it might fairly be assumed thai between two such capitals as London and Paris at least four machines each way would be necessary, 5s a "mile might be taken as a safe figure. A charge of £5 per passenger to Paris, certainly a commercial price atthe speed of conveyance, would be a profitable rate, so long as the machines were fully loaded ; but a reduction in the full load very easily turned a profit into a loss, and therefore either subsidies or guarantee against loss must be forthcoming. Mails were even more commercial. A letter weighing one ounce could be profitably carried to Paris for or a 31b parcel for 2s: but again full loads were necessary. He thought the solution was a mail service subsidised bv the Government, with the right to carry passengers. Another outlet lor commercial aeronautics lay in providing a means of communication by which at eomparatively small cost a communitj- or colonv of moderate size might be established at." sav 100 miles from the railway in many of the Oversea Dominions. While small, it would depend on the aeroplane, and when grown large enough it would have its railway. In other words, the new science of flying might be regarded as a means of development, as a feeder for existing railways, without laying a road at all for either motor cars or railways until warranted. LANDING GROUNDS.

~ A . f . t . er touching on the question of reliability and the effect of weather conditions, such as wind or fog, which he considered would not seriously detract from the advantages of commercial flyin«*. the lecturer expressed the view that* it "would be necessary to establish landing grounds all oyer the country and all over the world at distances not more than, say. 10 miles apart. This sounded a stupendous undertaking, but when analysed it was quite simple. Allowing £250 per annum as the cost of hiring and maintaining a landing ground, a tax of about 2d a mile on each machine would return the whole costs of the landing grounds between London and Paris, supposing fpur machines to pass daily in each direction, or 2.920 a year. Landing grounds were of the greatest importance. Forced land-

"ings, the bugbear of aviation, would be avoided, as a pilot at a height of 3.500 ft. even if his engiue stopped midwav between two landing grounds, could arrive at either of them. A long distance, as from London to Tokyo, would really be made up of 10mile stages, and the journey would be aerodrome Hying, the pilot always having a flying ground on which to alight. Fog would be certainly overcome, as some form of mark would easily he developed, and the 'question of night flying would also be solved, since, with a searchlight every 10 miles, a pilot could fly on regardless of maps or routes, always giuded" by it. Again, once this principle was accepted, even crossing the Atlantic became feasible. \Yhat was there to prevent the Keepingjarof a ship, not necessarily anchored, but always cruising, say every 50 miles from the Azores to Newfoundland? Compared with the enormous scheme an air mail between London and New York would present, the cost of 10 or 20 ships was infinitesimal. Finally, he desired to dispose of the idea of the discomfort of aeroplanes. At

present they were not suited for carrying a large number of passengers, but it was perfectly easy to design a comfortable cabin in which they would be as much at their ease as with anv other method of transit. The present unpleasant features of an aeroplane—noise, oscillation, cold, cramped positions—were all due to war design, and could be eliminated in a passenger-carrying machine without very great reduction of speed. After a discussion on the lecture, Lord Cowdray (President of the Air Board) said there were many difficulties to be overcome before aviation was made a a commercial success. Whatever efforts were made between now and the end of the war, it could not be expected that thtaircraft industry would continue at the present high pressure after the war. He " agreed that the industry ought to be , favorably treated by the tax-gatherer in regard to excess profits. After tho .war

there would be available thousands of aircraft, thousands of skilled pilots, and many thousands of mechanics for employment in commercial aviation. The working expenses would not exceed 5s a mile. But commercial aviation would not at once step into a business that would cover this cost, and therefore some years might elapse before it would carry a trade which Imperial needs demanded. But the trade was bound to come, and it might come so quickly that commercial aviation would not require Government assistance beyond the first few years. 'Aviation would bind nations together, and it would lengthen life in so far as it would enable us to do much more in the same time than we had been able to accomplish in the past. (Cheers.)