COMMERCIAL AVIATION.
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Some Topical Notes and Comments.
The Stoppage of Airship Building.
TUE SUDDEN cessation of the construction of airships by the Admiralty is an example of economy run mad, or perhaps one should say of supposed economy that is really gross waste. At the outbreak of war we were years behind the Germans in the construction of airships. At its termination we had made up nearly, if not quite, all the leeway. The ships recently under construction were, of course; not primarily intended, and therefore not ideally fitted, for purely commercial purposes. With the increase in size they were, however, approximating to the commercial vessel. The stoppage of construction will therefore mean a serious delay in our national experiments which must necessarily be carried on as a preliminary to the establishment of Imperial airship services for Empire development purposes. Presumably, considerable numbers of men and women practised in the construction of airships have been cast adrift to find jobs of other kinds. Thus, the nucleus of the personnel of an essential industry has been dispersed. Now there is talk of selling the partially-completed ships. Their selling value must be less after an interval than it would have been had they been disposed of while actually in course of construction. The industry of airship building has been almost if not quite a national industry and was extraordinarily well fitted to serve as the subject of an experiment in the efficiency of national ownership of a manufacturing industry. For some time to come the nation, if not actually building the ships in a national factory, should direct and allocate their production and should use them when produced for the purpose of ascertaining to -what extent and in what districts this new means of transport can be utilized so as to develop the value of Empire territories. This should be possible to a degree great in proportion to the cost and apparent loss involved in running the services before adequate traffic has been created to justify them on a commercial basis.
London to Paris.
The starting of a regular eerviee between London and Paris is an important landmark in the history of commercial aviation. It seems extraordinary that the General Post Office has not yet gained sufficient confidence in aerial transport. to convince it of the desirability of utilizing this service under some organized scheme. One would hesitate to suggest as yet that the ordinary mails should be sent over by aeroplane, nor can one ignore the facts that there are contracts unexpired, but surely the Post Office could work out a more or less picturesque and at the same time profitable scheme which would serve to show its goodwill towards the promoters of the London-Paris service and to keep the Post Office necessarily and regularly informed as to the degree of reliability secured. There are plenty of people who would be willing to pays.special prices for letters and small parcels to be sent by the aerial route and identified as having been so sent by means of some special postmark.
The Government Competitions.
The Government offers prizes to the value of £64,000 in respect of competitions to take place during the early part of next year. The object is to encourage the evolution of machines safe for civilian flight and, particularly, capable of alighting in and rising from a small space. For the moment no special
B42 effort is made to encourage improvement in the re liability or fuel consumption of engines. This, it is recognized, must be a gradual process, whereas it is expected that improvement in machines themselves can be secured at far shorter notice, presumably because hitherto designers have concentrated on military requirements differing very materially from ordinary civilian needs. The competing machines are to be divided into various classes. The first is the Small type intended to carry two persons, including the • pilot : in other words, the private or light car of the
air. The next is a large type, which may be called the public-service vehicle, and could no doubt be easily adapted to act as a mail or goods van. This large type is to accommodate 15 persons, exclusive of the crew.
A separate class is provided for seaplanes capable of alighting and rising from land as well as water. These are to have accommodation for four persons, exclusive of the crew. This should be a very useful type, corresponding more or less to the inotorcab or hire car. It should be valuable for the carriage of mails and for rapid travelling, more or less regardless of the existence of proper landing grounds.
-In every case, the machines and their engines are
to be of British construction, but this does not apply to secondary equipment, such as the ignition apparatus, carburetters and instruments. The first of these exceptions is rather curious, having regard to the fact that ignition apparatus is classified as a" key" industry, and the efficiency of our militaryflying organization has been long dependent on British-built ignition systems. The light aeropIanee are to travel at not less than
80 miles and the public-service type at not less than 75 miles an hour -with fall load. The highest speed, namely, 80 knots, is required of the seaplanes, and these must be able to fly level at a low altitude at a speed of 40 knots or less.
It is superfluous to go into details here as to exact conditions in respect of landing and getting off or of rapid climbing. -Et will suffice to say that these regulations evidently aim at the production of 'machines that shall not be dependent on large prepared aerodromes at all points of arrival and departure. In view of the nature of the objects of the competition, the actual flying tests will not go far towards showing durability or engine reliability, though they should suffice to prove the qualities of the machines as distinct from their mechanism. One does not gather that the competition will be so arranged as to attract public attention to any great extent, other than by the publication of results. In the opinion of the writer, the advertising value of a competition of this kind should be emphasized as far as possible. For this purpose the thing should be made spectacular so far as that quality is consistent with the sound
conduct of the event. It is not clear whether all entries will be tested at one time or immediatelyafter one another, or whether they will merely be put through their paces on any days most convenient to -each entrant. On the grounds of publicity the latter method is to be deprecated. For the small aeroplanes and also for the seaplanes the first prize will • be £10,000for the large aeroplanes, 220,000. The Government will, if the entrant agrees, buy the firstprize machine in each class, the designs, of course, remaining the property of the manufacturer. Entries close at the termination of this year. We are assured that the -whole of the regulations have been worked out very carefully by a committee consisfing of members of the Air Ministry and of the aviition industry,