1000 MILITARY AEROPLANES.

Mataura Ensign, 18 December 1911, Page 5

1000 MILITARY AEROPLANES.

1 FUTURE OF FLYING. Mr Mervyn O'Gorman, constructor to the Army Balloon and Aeroplane Factory at Farnborough, holds optimistic views on the future of flying in the British Army. Discussing the statements made in the House of Commons 'by Colonel Seely, Under-Secretary of State for War, Mr O'Gorman said to a press representative: "I have every reason to believe that fin five years' time the British Army will have 1000 aeroplanes. It will simply resolve itself into a question of which nation shall lead in numerical' strength. If one country has 100 ma-! chines, her neighbor wll'have 120, and:' so on. It is the odd 20 aeroplanes! which will govern the output. j "And in this connection I would like; to say what an excellent thing it is' that the Army factory has outside i competition. Monopoly never helps! progress, and the fact that aeroplanes; are being designed and built by private' | firms as well as here at Farnborough, j | must have a beneficial result on both i sides. j "As regards airships, it is a great mistake to conclude that they will never be any good just l>eeauso there have been disappointments. Hero again comes in the all-important question of official factories and private enterprise, here have been-comparatively few airhips built in this country, all in Government factories, and people have been too eager to criticise the failures which j inevitably attend experimental begin-j ings. I firmly believe that there is a! big future before the dirigible." Reverting to the Army aeroplanes, j Mr O'Gorman -remarked: "What woj are trying to do it to create a raw of j air-sailors —men who live in loose-fit-1 ting-clothes and whoso lives are ordered on the lines of sailor's lives." j