AERIAL POSTS

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 42, 17 August 1918, Page 3

AERIAL POSTS

WAR FIRST, COMMERCE AFTER-

> WARDS.

The question of aerial posts is now attracting attention, and it has been suggested that there are machines, out of date for fighting purposes, which might be used for aerial transport by pilots who may no longer have the nerve for warfare. Thi3 subject is understood to have been Considered in official circles, and it has been pointed out that the old machines are usefnl for training purposes, and that some of their parts can. bo utUised in machines of new types. With regard to the pilots whose nerves may have suffered, their services are valuable, not only in training the personnel at home, but for a number of ground duties which require men with flying knowledge. The official view appears to be that during the war any energy expended on civilian enterprise would be energy lost in the prosecution of the war. "If we start an aerial post now and lose the war, it will not be of much avail," a military expert remarked. " After we have won the war we shall have plenty of opportunities for using our aerial forces and turning them to commercial account."

There does not appear to be any tendency towards underrating the value or the necessity of aerial transport in the future, and it appears to be recognised that the time is not far distant when there will be regular aerial routes, not only within the British Isles, but to countries overseas. The British share in the airborne traffic of the world is not being overlooked, and as now, in sailing around the world, nearly every port of call is British, so, it has been suggested, there may be a chain of British aerodromes. "The experience which is being gained by our airmen at the front will be of enormous value for commercial purposes. Take, for example, the bombing machines. The great object is to get machines that will go the maximum distance with the maximum number of bombs. When peace comes the bombs will be replaced by passengers and mails or other cargo; but until that time the efforts of the air force are being concentrated on the defeat of the enemy.