MECHANICAL MOMENTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 281, 30 November 1935, Page 13

MECHANICAL MOMENTS

By SILENT PETEK. Dear People,— The many and varied improvements in the amenities of civilisation conjured into existence by his august and omnipotent majesty, King Machine, are not by any means confined to the material aspects of life, in the study of the possibilities of the machine, and particularly of the lifegiving heart throbbing within its anatomy —the engine—as a means of facilitating world peace, scientists in the Old Country are now intent upon the orientation of many apparently diverse factors into one harmonious and utilitarian whole. The race of mankind is appalled by the danger into which the newest method of locomotion and transport is drifting of constituting a menace rather than an aid to the consummation of the joint ideals of science and religion. A close and scientific study of fundamental causes of the diversion of aviation away from constructive and into destructive activities has revealed to British scientists that there is one factor which more than any other single influence may be capable of deciding the ultimate trend of air-power. That factor is the type of engine eventually to be determined upon for international adoption in aviation. A leading English scientist has recently stated that it would be difficult to find a more - signal example for the frustration of science than is afforded by the art of the aviator. It may be conceded that the only adequate "defence by peaceloving nations against air-attack lies in the abolition of all forms of warfare. At the same time, useful measures on behalf of ensuring reasonable immunity from air-aggression might easily be secured by the liberation ol aviation from the bonds at present imposed upon it of narrow nationalistic outlook and by investigating the profession with the freedom of service in which were conducted the technical and scientific investigations which first gave it birth. Winged Policemen. The substitution of a single International Air Board of Control under the League of Nations in place of the 26 different controls now exercised by the separate states of Europe alone would remove many obstacles now hindering the development of civil aviation, including restrictions on design, flying pianos, prohibitions to engage in entrepot trade and the establishment of an. international police force. Among the technical difficulties which stand, in the way of unanimity of agreement for international control of aviation and the maintenance of the flying policeman, scientific research has discovered the outstanding bone of contention to be that indispensible portion of the 'plane’s internal economy—its engine. The whole development of civil aviation has been warped and twisted by the influence of war. Colonel Moore-Brabezon has pointed out that had it not been for considerations that are pre-eminent with many nations because c-f the everpresent possibility of warfare, aviation would have developed along entirely different and more humanitarian lines than those followed to-day. A mere stable balance in regard to conditions governing international aviation would ensure the steady and efficient progress of civil air-transport in the direction of that important role which is its province to play in the facilityt ing of international communications, peace and friendship. The military aspect of flying ought of right to take a secondary position to the more peaceable and the more civilised branch of aviation. As a result of warlike considerations, however, civil aviation has already become no more than an offshot of great military organisations of the majority of the nations of the world. Deus ex machine—the Engine! The Diesel engine provides a ecnspicious example of the ulterior effect of military influence on civil aviation. From the civil point of view, the Diesel engine has many advantages for aviation, notably in the burning of a fuel of high flash-point, the pricu of which in Great Britain is less than that of petrol. This engine, however, is c-f little interest to those engaged in military activities, because its performance is not so good as that of the petrol engine and because of its heavier weight. While war continues to be a possibility in the life of the world, the major outlook for a new type of machine depends upon its possibilities for military uses exclusively. There if?, therefore, little inducement for manufacturers to develop the Diesel engine, in spite of the fact that there is no type of transport for which, the patrol engine is more fundamentally unsuitable than for the ’plane, with its load c-f inflammable fuel. If the machine of the air is to render its due service to mankind in helping to foster the brotherhood of nations, both its sphere of activity and its source of power must be set completely free from military considerations and influences, whether technical or economic. Once the freedom of the air is permitted irrevocably to be tied up by natic-nal prejudices and conventions, mankind will find itself faced with a similar necessity for bitter struggles to regain a full, wise and beneficial control of the wide spaces of the air as have occurred in the past for the regaining of the freedom of transit by land and by sea. Once the machine is permitted to be shackled and tied to purposes other than to the greatest good of the greatest number, the clock of progress in all phases of civilisation will be put back for further wretched limping centuries of subterfuge and frustration. Yours as ever.

(To be continue.