FUTURE OF FLYING

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18304, 11 February 1925, Page 13

FUTURE OF FLYING

HEIGHTS OVER 100,000 FEET ! WHOLE EMPIRE WITHIN A ! DAY'S RANGE. (MOM OTJB OWN COnEESPONDEIfT.) LONDON, December 31. Commander C. D. Burner, MJP-, in an interview, gives bis opinions regarding the development of aircraft in the next decade or two. "The development of science," he says, "has taken from thiscountry those great natural advantages it was built upon at the beginning of the industrial era. The question before the British people is whether science, which has thus taken away, can again come to the .aid of Britain to rectify this position. I believe this is tho function of aviation. contains four times tho area of tho United States of America, and four times the population, tt greater mass of raw materials, and a wider range of climatic conditions. But it is so scattered that we have no real economic or political cohesion. Tho stumbling block is that it is almost an impossibility to havo that complete and personal touch between statesmen, captains of industry, and others which is necessary to form and stimulate public opinion in the various parts of the Empire. "If aviation can so advance that its machines will bo capable of transporting mails and passengers to any part of.the, British Empire within 24 hours, we can develop the same self-support-ing and self-contained political entity aa that which now exists in the United States of America. The new airship which I am building with the assistance of a very able technical staff will, I believe, bring India within four days of this country. This will bo a start, and no one who has any imagination can believe that great development will not follow.

"No one would be rash enough to prophesy when we shall arrive at speeds of 500 or 600 miles an hour with an aeroplane, but the lino of technical development that is. indicated is to devise an engine that doeß not have to use oxygen in its fuel cycle, and so allow the machine to be totally enclosed and to fly at heights of over 100,000 ft. If this can be done, wo shall be in sight of our goal—namely, to reach any part of the Empire in 24 hours. "The other aspect of aviation, namely, the naval and military, will also have developments which are not yet fully appreciated. The more the aerial machine is developed the more will it bo able to take over the functions which have hitherto been undertaken by the Royal Navy. The Army is a holding service, in the sense that it occupies and consolidates a position which has been won. But the Navy and the Air Force are both carrier forces in the sense that in them are comprised two vehicles self-contained in themselves, which arc able to attack and destroy, but not to hold. It is impossible, therefore, to separate the functions of these two carrier forces; and, accordingly, the more that air power develops the more will complete co-operation become necessary, ending, I believe, in a complete amalgamation of the Admiralty and the Air Ministry. An Inevitable Ee-Orientation. "Even to-day the defence of these islands is mainly aerial, but owing to the vast distances to be covered the defence of the outer Empire is almost entirely naval. To-day, however, while the dockysrds of the Navy are concentrated in these islands, they arc not really required here, but in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South

Africa. So long, therefore, as the amalgamation of our carrier forces is kept back there will be inefficiency and waste of public money. "I believe it would bo in the interests of the efficiency of our fighting forces for public opinion to be directed to this inevitable re-orientation which has been imposed upon us by the development of science. I would say, in conclusion, that the possible advantages which are held out to the British Empire by. the development of aerial machines, whether of the aeroplane or airship type are greater titan those which arc held out to any other Power; and just as in tho last few centuries our whole prestige and heritage has been enhanced and maintained by the acceptance of public opinion in this country of. the necessity of a supreme Navy, so I have every hope for the future if public opinion speedily emphasises the necessity of in the air."