Relation Of Security To Aeronautical Research

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28480, 9 January 1958, Page 13

Relation Of Security To Aeronautical Research

Aeronautical research and development mean security—both physical and economic—to the man in the street, says the weekly newsletter of the Society of British Aircraft Constructors. Research in Great Britain is undertaken by both the aircraft industry and the Government. The two efforts are complementary: one cannot operate with maximum efficiency without the other. Yet already Government cuts have been made and more are threatened.

In the early 1930’5, a government economy drive hit aeronautical research and development, leaving industry to shoulder the main load. The result—and moral—was pointed out last month by Dr. Hooker, one of this country’s foremost engine designers.

“If Great Britain had maintained the tremendous lead in aeronautical design she possessed in 1931 due to R. J. Mitchell’s series of advanced racing seaplanes, she could have entered he last war with aircraft infinitely superior to the Germans* or anyone else’s. There might not even have been a war.” But, he recalled, a Government economy

plan meant that development of the aeroplanes which won the Schneider trophy outright for Great Britain in 1931 and their military derivatives had to be privately financed.

“The position is the same today," he said. “When the balloon goes up, we shall have to pay for it, as we have paid before.” That we survived the first year or two of the last war was due largely to the products of the industry’s own research and development, the Spitfire, Hurricane, the Merlin engine—and to the fruits of electronic research. The latter field, which emphasised the success of close industry-Govern-ment collaboration, was spotlighted by L. N. Ridenour, an American radar expert, in a recent Issue of “Atlantic Monthly.” Importance of Electronics

“Beginning as early as 1934, the British had vigorously sought to build an adequate system of air defence, and radar was, in a manner of speaking, invented to order. ... In addition to radar, the British first introduced on the Allied side microwave radar, airborne radar, the Pathfinder concept, radio navigation systems of great precision, the radio and radar countermeasures war, and turbojet engines. Generally speaking, the British fully appreciated the importance of electronics to war in the-air some seven years before we did.” The tremendous value of these developments to Great Britain in particular and to the Allies in general was incalculable during the war years. It is self-evident that advanced military techniques and weapons are the fruits of years of research and development. At no time has this been more true than today. A medium bomber built before the war carried radio and electronic equipment weighing less than 1501 b; the corresponding figure for one of our V-bombers is more than four tons. A wartime fighter carried two miles of wiring and its radio equipment included 20 valves: a present-day fighter has three times as much wiring and 140 radio valves, while a V-bomber possesses almost 20 miles of wiring. The modern aeroplane is infinitely more complex than its counterpart of 20, or even 10 years ago. The amount of time necessary for development is correspondingly greater and more expensive. The same, of course, applies to guided weapons—veritable miracles of electronic wizardry. Market for Aircraft The need for governmental economy nowadays is paramount but, as the “News Chronicle” asked in a leading article recently, “Is the aircraft industry a suitable victim?” Export trade is our economic lifeblood: successive governments have made this abundantly clear.

Since the end of the war, the aircraft industry has earned more than £6oom in exports. So far in 1957, orders worth almost £loom for military aircraft alone have been secured and, as the “News Chronicle” said: “For civil aircraft there is a huge potential export market. It is estimated that between now and 1970 there will be a world demand for some 6000 machines over and above those already ordered. “This glittering market is expanding fast. ... In both civilian and military aircraft production, research and development benefit engineering as a whole. In America and France there are heavy subsidies. “It 18 not a question of asking the Government to spend more money; but to think more carefully about where it decides to spend less. There must be watertight reasons for cutting back so savagely on one of the country’s largest export currency earners."