PERILS OF PEACE

Evening Star, Issue 19723, 25 November 1927, Page 11

PERILS OF PEACE

BRAVADO AMD BRAVERY 1H THE AIR To the brief but tragic list of missing air pilots France and Holland : and America have contributed, and tho names of Colonel Miucbin and Captain Hamilton and Princess Lowensteiu-AVertlieim, if they arc indeed lost, will bo bracketed with those of Nuuges'ser and Coli and St. Roman and Mildred Doran and that gallant crew of tho Spirit of Dallas that went in search of their comrades, hut only succeeded in sharing their fate. —The ‘Evening News’ of London. “I’hero are risks and risks,” says tho 1 Manchester Guardian,’, “ and it is a fairly obvious principle of social conduct that dangers should not bo wantonly faced. War alters all things, and there are also many perils of peace—perils of rescue or research or exploration which may bo fully instilled- But to cress tho Atlantic by aeroplane proves nothing except that it can bo done. “ As much is proved by Niagara, ou a tight-ropc. Nobody would liud reasonable enr'ui'agouicnt for extensive experiments upon tho second feat, lb may be a display of cunning and of uervo, but it is socially useless. Perhaps tho distinction between bravado and bravery is that the former serves no purpose, while the latter sets courage as a goal which is worth the winning. “Tho fact to bo faced is that the Atlantic weather system is rarely a simple one. An anti-cyclone does not often hold the entire area in its beneficent grip, and in any case the clash of colder air at its, fringe may bo calculated to cause mist or storm at any time. Thus to effect the passage by air is not a matter of skill or courage only; it is a matter of luck, “Those who start aro not only staking their lives on the quality of their own hands and nerves and on the endurance of their machine. They are also gambling with climatic conditions in a zone of tremendous size where swift changes are to bo considered as more normal than strange. “The Atlantic is large enough to give the weather a maleficent, liberty. To sot an aeroplane against it is to throw a stake on a cruel table. The more wo applaud bravery the more duty liavo wo to prevent its confusion with bravado.”, “ For long-distance land travel, slill more for ocean travel,” asserts the ‘ Observer,’ “ the air vehicle that relics upon its engine both for speed and life is forever at a disadvantage as compared with tho air vehicle of buoyant structure. Tho biggest, most stable, best engined of winged carriages or launches has all, or nearly all, its safety in the engine. “Tho lightcr-than-air vessel is tho liner of tho air. Its safety is in its hull as well as its engines. While it faces foes common to all in wind and storm, it need run no risk from lire, and its risks from land and water are one remove away. “It is significant that the first round journey across tho Atlantic was by airship, ft was ill luck for the airship that it was bred for military uses. In this country a fresh start has been made with the" two airships now building. There is no mechanical , reason why an airship should not bo in time devised proof against fire, and at the least against storms of all but hurricane force. “ Tho airship is essentially a peace blud, primarily a vessel of transport. 3’he war tests were no tests. The Zeppelins were armed liners, and the less ainvortli because military requirements had influenced their design. Though tho Zeppelins succumbed to weather, to artillery, and to ‘ destroyer attacks’ by aeroplanes, nothing in German or British experience with airships bars tho way of development. AIRSHIP WILL BE THE BACKBONE. “Everything combines to, promise that .tho*’ perfected airship will be the backbone of Britain’s mercantile air service over the great sea spaces in the future. Great advances have been made in long-distance flying this year. We have not one word or thought of disparagement for its achievements or for exploits of human daring that are salt and health in the savorless nick of experience. But for the rapid expansion of air travel, especially of Empire air travel, more is likely to depend on tho airship trials of tho coming years.” On the bravery, courage, ami enterprise of the gallant ■ air pioneers tho ‘Evening News’ of London says: “ If the human race hue progressed, if it lias compiled that majestic record of achievement that we call History, if it lias mndo tho whole world its abiding place, and harnessed the elements to iris will, it is because there have always been men willing to take risks, to be the pioneers, to devote their akill and energy, and, if need be, their lives, to the tack of doing what has not yet been done, of going- where none lias yet gone, of learning what is not yet within human knowledge. “We aro tho pilgrims, master, and wo go Ever a little onward; it may bey Beyond that last great mountain white with snow, Across that angry or that glimmering sea. “Not in ones or twos, but in countless thousands about the face of earth, they ‘ wait and whiten peaceably,’ those great and hardy souls who have gone courting death for the sake of an ideal. In Himalayan snows and Arctic wastes, in jungles of the Amazon and the waste and waterless places of tho earth, they lie in unknown graves.. In frail ships and frailer aeroplanes, in balloons and ■ motor cars and what not, they have met splendid disaster, but always tlicir souls have gone marching on. “There is no uso in appealing to such with tho cry of ‘Safety first.’ Glory, accomplishment, discovery, Uic joy of adventure—these they will put first, but safety they will put last, as all must if the world is to be peopled with men and women worthy the name. Even the bright eye of danger has an allure all its own for these hardy souls. To have clone is no great satisfaction unless one has also dared. “ We cannot put our pioneers in the loading strings of prudence, and we should not wish to. Rather we should be proud that in tho Galaxy of Great Adventurers so many British names arc set.”-