THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 1924. BRITISH AVIATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18756, 9 July 1924, Page 10

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 1924. BRITISH AVIATION.

The international complications arising from the attempts of the new British aerial transport company— Imperial Airways, Limited—to send its" big aircraft into Germany call attention to Britain's revived activity in aviation. That revival is recent and incomplete. There has been urgent need for it. Once Britain had the finest air service in the world. That was in wartime. Then progress was rapid. " We went into the war with 272 machines," says an expert • contributor to a recent number of the Air League Bulletin ; " toward' its. close we had

nearly 3000; to-day we have 395." The fact is that Britain has very few more service machines than she had ten years ago. In the air she is not a first-rate Power. The explanation is contained in one word — economy. At the close of the war the need for economy was paramount. Consequently, the Royal Air Force was reduced to about a

tenth of its size, the demand for air equipment vanished, with but one or two exceptions aircraft firms went into liquidation, technical staffs

assembled in the three previous years were scattered, and re-

search was starved almost to death. Once the leading air Power of the world, Britain virtually ceased to think of aviation as a practical interest. About, a hundred machines were retained for military work, and the employees of the aircraft in-

dustry dwindled rapidly to 2500 men. In 1922 only 200 machines were built, an output that would have been accomplished in .1918 in two days. France in that year built

3300. Civil aviation suffered little less than military, and Britain was quickly surpassed by other countries. America has 150' air-transport companies, Britain 'less than half-a-dozen. Over Germany a network of air lines runs, radiating from Berlin to Switzerland, Scandinavia and Russia. The French operate lines as far as Constantinople and Northern Africa. Soviet Russia plans to construct 10,000 machines. In comparison with such advance, British lethargy has been appalling. That lethargy has been broken somewhat by a renewal of activity in civil aviation. This bears with

fair directness upon the military position, for commercial aircraft, liko the mercantile marine in its relation to the navy, supply a valuable reserve to the service machines in an emergency. Moreover, the manufacturing power, the skill of designers, and the ability of workmen employed in civil aircraft are kept available for that emergency's constructional demands. Not for itself alone, then, but for its potential activity in the event of war, the devotion of means and skill to a peaceful aviation programme is highly important. The Baldwin Government's plan to raise thirtyfour new military squadrons and the present Air Ministry's undertaking in conjunction with the Airship Guarantee Company to develop an extended mail service, have been indicative, therefore, in related spheres, of a British determination to overtake a neglected need. There has been some Treasury criticism of the Air Services' " overestimate of requirements " in the accounts for th« past year, and the Burney air scheme has met with op position; but the days of neglect are being outgrown. Especially significant is the formation of the company whose fleet has mention in to-day's cable message. Sir Eric Geddes is its chairman, and there are two Government representatives on its board of directors. Its purpose is first to develop the freight services to Paris, Cologne, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, and the Channel Islands, and afterwards to put an extended passenger service into operation. The super-air-liners whose landing in Germany is now held to be a breach of the Versailles Treaty are apparently a part of its rapidly-growing equipment and incidentally a proof of the venture's success..

The news of the Piatt brothers' intention to essay a flight from Australia to New Zealand brings this recent British advance jn aviation close home. Under these southern skies aviation should flourish. The very type of machine these adventurers propose to use is significant of the direction development in air-

craft should take; in New Zealand They are ueeking a suitable flyin boat, apparently something akin to the machine , in which Squadroi Leader MacLaren is now making hi i sensational flight northward throug] (Japan in his endeavour to circum ! navigate the world eastward f ron England.. He has a flying boat witl a land under-carriage - which can b( withdrawn above the keel line, an< this makes him able to rely chiefli on landings in harbonrs an< sheltered bays, instead of being a the mercy jjof such little-used anr poorly-maintained aerodromes as h< might find on his route. New Zea land's aircraft should be of th( flying boat or hydroplane type. Areas suitable for extensive aerodromes are far less characteristic oi this country than are its harbour? and inlets. For every mile of plain we have a hundred miles of coastline. It is strange, in view of this, that the only aircraft enterprise our Government is fostering is of the landplane type. Full credit must be given to the enthusiasm that established the flying school and aerodrome at Sockburn in Canterbury. Excellent work has been done there. That the Government should take advantage of the generous terms under which the Hon. H. F. Wigram made the equipment's purchase desirable is no cause for wonder. But a better thing would have been the taking over of the seaplane school at Kohimarama. During the war this Auckland school, equipped with seaplanes, did good service in training airmen for the front. Although its equipment remains and has occasional employment, it represents an occupation practically gone. In view of its peculiarly serviceable qualities as a training school fotf seaplane pilots, the Government should seriously consider acquiring it for national purposes. The British Air Council is prepared to grant shortservice commissions in the Koyal Air Force to New Zealand candidates undergoing British training; but training in our own waters, under conditions giving a practical knowledge of the Dominion's coastal characters, would be very much more valuable as a preparation for service here. The Kohimarama equipment represents an opportunity that, in view of $he Dominion's need of aerial defence in war and aerial service in peace, should not be any longer neglected. j