AIR FORCE ACCIDENTS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 60, 12 March 1927, Page 9

AIR FORCE ACCIDENTS

PREMIER'S INVESTIGATIONS

LONDON, 11th March. In the House of Commons, Mr. Baldwin made a statement on the subject of accidents in the Air Force, based on personal investigations extending over several days. It could not, he thought, be said that any particular type of machine was more likely to meet with accident than another. Moreover, the number of accidents due to remediable causes were a' small proportion of the whole, while the improvement in design was continuous. .Research was being made for safety. New machines travelled at greater speed and greater heights, thereby increasing the risks, as a .slight error of judgment meant, disaster. THE PERSONAL EQUATION. The majority of accidents were traceable to the personal equation. The type which made the greatest airmen was not the type which used the motto "Safety first." He could discover no signs of inefficient training. He thought the training could not be better, and the spirit of the Air Force was one of the marvels of the time. There was no finer spirit in any service in the world. As regards economy, Mr. Baldwin, though the staff of flying units had ben reduced to somewhere near danger point, but had not affected accidents, for, if the ground staff was unable to supervise all the machines, flying was curtailed. The Air Ministry was allotting some extra men to these units. The majority of accidents were due to some error, often a very slight error, of judgment on the part of the pilot. Ho asked the House jlnd people of the country not to hamper airmen by encouraging a type of criticism which would only make them introspective and nervy, but to support them all they could.