NEW CORPORATION

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 14, 17 July 1939, Page 8

NEW CORPORATION

THE AIR MERGER

DEVELOPMENT OF SERVICES

AID TO RESEARCH

(By Air Mail, from "The Post's" London

Representative.)

LONDON, June 15

Manifold expansion of the Imperial air services and development of airliner design and production on an unprecedented scale are foreshadowed in two official documents, released this week, which, between them, constitute a new charter for British civil aviation. The Bill prepared to give form and substance to the British Overseas Airways Corporation—a public utilitymerger which will acquire and operate the organisations and servioe now belonging to Imperial Airways and British Airways—contemplates great expansion of services, an increase in State subsidy from £3,000,000 to £4,000,000 annually, and borrowing by the new corporation to finance development up to a limit of £10,000,000. Simultaneously, the report of a committee formed to advise the Secretary of State for Air on the future development of civil aeroplanes makes its chief recommendation—accepted in principle by the Government—the appointment of a small but extremely powerful body to be called the Civil Aviation Development Committee, which shall be charged to maintain Great Britain in the lead in design and production of civil aircraft. Mr. Harold G. Brown, a prominent City of London solicitor and director of important trustee companies, presided over the committee, of which the other members were Sir Charles Bruce-Gardner, chairman of the Society of British Aircraft Constructors, and the Hon. W. L. Runciman, who has been provisionally appointed to high executive office with the British Overseas Airways Corporation. They examined many witnesses. DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE. The report suggests that the new Development Committee shall consist of three or four members only—a chairman who should be a "man of outstanding personality, holding an acknowledged position in aeronautics, and possessing drive and initiative"; a representative of the new corporation; a representative of the Air Registration Board, which in recent years has relieved the Air Ministry of responsibility for air-worthiness of important categories of civil aircraft; and a representative of the Society of British Aircraft Constructors. The chairman and the two latter members must be independent of any airline operating company or aircraft constructing firm. They would have direct access to the Air Minister, but would work outside the Air Ministry organisation though with full authority to keep themselves "fully and currently informed*' of all civil and military research work done or controlled by the Ministry. The report declares that the cost of developing new public transport aeroplanes is so great that, except for the smallest aircraft, neither operators nor constructors can undertake the work without substantial assistance from public funds. "The cost of the general research and development work on the scale necessary is out of relation to the probable market. Given a sufficient market the industry could, and no doubt would, finance the necessary development, and we consider that it would then be better left in the hands of the industry. It should be the long-term policy of all concerned to reach this position." KOYAL AIR FORCE CONTRACTS. In tire meantime, adds the report, the creation of a sufficient market for British civil aircraft is all-important. It refers to help that might be given by the Royal Air Force in using civil aeroplanes as transport vehicles. (Already a substantial order has been placed for de Havilland Flamingo twinengined monoplanes to meet some of the force's transport requirements.) The committee recommends that "so far as military considerations allow, it should be established as a general principle that civil types of aeroplane produced by British constructors should be used, with as little modification as possible, as transport machines for the Royal Air Force, and for such other R.A.F. purposes as may be appropriate. "We think that this would have such an important effect in increasing the market for certain types- of British civil aircraft that the Royal Air Force might reasonably be asked to accept some small inconvenience in making do, for some subsidiary purposes, with types that might not be quite as suitable in all respects as types specially developed for them. "In doing this the Royal Air Force would be rendering a very valuable service to themselves as well as to British civil aviation, as they would be assisting to keep a strong and virile industry in being'in normal times to which thej' could turn in times of emergency. It - would be a mistake, however, to allow the prospect of getting military orders to influence the basic design of civil aeroplanes to the detriment of their merits as purely civil machines." Air Ministry help must be restricted. "While all the information available to us goes to show that one of the best ways of giving Government assistance to civil aviation is to incx-ease the market for British civil aircraft, sevei*al witnesses, with experience in building and selling civil aeroplanes, have expressed the opinion that one of the worst ways is for tlie Air Ministry to lay down the detailed specification of a new type civil aeroplane, and to initiate the construction of that aeroplane by placing a direct Air Ministry order for it. STANDARDS OF SAFETY. "The reason for this view is that when this procedure has been adopted it has usually led to the development of aircraft which did not satisfactorily meet the needs of civil purchasers. According to these witnesses, this method of giving Government assistance slows up the production of the aeroplane nt every stage by the necessity for the conforming to an Air Ministry ipproval and certification procedure which is necessarily more vigorous than ordinary civil procedui-e. because the aeroplane is the property of the State." Safety is of paramount importance. The committee recommend that information from all sources about air accident and about incidents .vhere accidents might have happened, shall be most carefully considered. '"There is also need for systematic anticipation of the effects on safety of advances in performance and trends of design, and for initiating and carrying through to a practical conclusion research and development work specially aimed al safety." Suggested terms of reference of the new development committee are comprehensive, including co-ordination of the needs of airline operators for newtypes of aircraft, close watch on technical progress at home and abroad, general supervision of research iind

development, close contact with the Secretary of State, whom the committee would advise as to the use of public funds to assist development, and suggestion of remedies for delays and difficulties which may hamper the advance of the national civil aviation.

October 1 is the likely date on which the new air monopoly will take over. Thenceforward, it will participate as operator and. through its representation on the Civil Aviation Development Committee, in the technical progress of British civil aircraft, though design and construction will remain in the hands of the industry.