GREAT BRITAIN’S INFLUENCE

By MAJOR C. C. TURNER. MARTLESHAM, Wednesday.

In craft which use up the greater part of the power that drives them to keep off the ground the question of the weight so lifted is all important. For this reason altitude “records,” with one or more passengers, news of which so often appears in the Press, lack definiteness and value. It is notorious that the passengers participating in some of these flights have been selected because of their lightness; and it is equally well known that the machines employed (especially in foreign countries) have been ruthlessly cut down in weight, and that little or no standard of structural excellence has been imposed. But there is no reason to blame unduly the aeronautical sporting authorities for this slackness. World records are granted by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale; but aviation was in its infancy when the war broke out, and there had not been time or opportunity to establish a scientific basis for aeroplane “performance”; nor did the necessary data exist. The war brought its own standards of structural strength, and the loads carried were chiefly in terms of guns, bombs, and ammunition. Now, however, commercial aviation is beginning, and the Air Ministry, with a view to discovering what actually aeroplanes are capable of in the matter of speed and duration, combined with due provision for safety and comfort, inaugurated the prize competition now in progress at Martlesham Heath.

In doing this the British Air Ministry is in advance of the controllers of aviation in any other country, but by no means in advance of the times; indeed, the moderation of the minimum of performance and comfort demanded, of the competing machines is open to criticism, although the result may prove the judgment of the organisers to have been sound. It is perfectly well known, of course, that quite apart from the tests, and quite apart from the standards set up by them, progress is being made which might have profound influences upon the terms and conditions of any future Air Ministry competition. There are new wing forms; there is the new departure in design suggested by the German deep-section, all-metal wing; there is progress towards the practical solution of the helicopter. This, at least, is to be noted: the British Air Ministry are laying the foundations for scientific tests, and this may ultimately mean that, as in shipbuilding, so also for aircraft, our standards will be those most generally adopted. It will not be forgotten that the armistice found the British Air Ministry the only national authority ready with a complete programme for the formulation of aerial law, with the result that more than any other country Great Britain was responsible for the direction and the decisions of the International Convention now taking shape in air navigation legislation in all countries.

Sporting “records” are not being broken or attacked at Martlesham Heath. The work is very much more important. A man would have to be dull indeed not to be interested and impressed when an aviator flies at 190 miles per hour or attains a height of six miles; but such feats, to his mind, lose any direct personal appeal when he is informed that the “safety factor” of the machine has been ruthlessly cut down, or that to land it safely even an exceptionally skilful pilot required a very large and very smooth aerodrome.

There is nothing like such freak flying in the tests at Martlesham, interest in which is due to the fact that the machines first of all must possess the certificate of “airworthiness,” that is, they have an ample margin of safety so far as mere structural strength is concerned. Then marks are given in relatively small measure for mere speed, it being held of far greater importance that machines upon which it is proposed to carry passengers shall be capable of landing in small fields with imperfect surfaces, and, in getting out of such fields, have such a margin of power as will suffice to render them superior to the tricks and snares of the unstable air. Again, a two-engine machine must be capable of keeping aloft with one of its engines silent, and not only so, but it must be capable of flying straight (otherwise, indeed, one might well question whether there is anything but disadvantage in having two engines). And all machines must have sufficient natural stability to remain in balance for five minutes whilst the pilot does nothing.