AIRCRAFT ENGINEERAND AIRSHIPS
FIRST AERONAUTICAL^WEEKLY IN THE^WORLD .• FOUNDED tooo
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M. P0UU3EN
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G. GEOFFREY SMITH Chief Photographa
JOHN YOXALL
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No. 1515. Vol. XXXIII. JANUARY 6, 1938. Thursdays, Price 66.
The Outlooks
ResolutionsT
ilS is the time of year for good resolutions, but
before they can be formulated it is usually necessary
to take stock in order to see where one has failed in
the past, no less than to derive from previous successes
encouragement for further effort. At the present moment
the expansion and re-equipment of the R.A.F. is the most
vital preoccupation of the British aircraft industry. One
may, perhaps, say that it is going on as well as could be
expected, although the fact that Germany is believed to
have produced 7,000 aero engines in 1937 and to be pro-
ducing aircraft of all types at the rate of 400 per month
gives no cause for complacency. At any rate, there is
obviously nothing that can be done about it.
If one turns from military to civil aviation, there is good
cause to be alarmed. We publish in this issue an article in
which an American correspondent lifts the veil and reveals
an activity on the other side of the Atlantic which makes
our own efforts look lethargic. And last week Capt. Wil-
cockson, Imperial Airways' well-known pilot, expressed the
view that in the matter of training of personnel, operating
experience and instrument development and use, this coun-
try is three years behind the United States. Taken to-
gether, the two give one something to think about.
Losing a LeadF
ROM the point of view of technical progress, military
and civil aviation cannot be altogether segregated,
developments in one field having their immediate re-
percussions in the other, although possibly with modifica-
tions and adaptations. It is now a good many years ago
that Great Britain established a lead in flying-boat design
and construction. That lead appears to be in very great
danger of being lost, not because of inability among our
designing staffs to produce the world's best, but through
lack of support. Until Imperial Airways placed the order
for 28 Empire flying boats with Short Brothers, no British
firm had had any great encouragement to develop civil
flying boats. The Air Ministry ordered a few boats at a
time, but could not seem to make up its mind about what it
wanted, and changes in policy occurred which did not help
towards continuity of effort.
Without regarding as other than ambitious projects which
may or may not be built some day, the two American
designs for a 55O-ft.-span flying boat and a 500-passenger
one, there is sufficient actual planning, building and test-
ing going on in America to show how much in earnest are
our cousins on the other side. Glenn Martin is developing
a 100-passenger boat of 188 ft. span, intended for trans-
oceanic commercial work; his firm has already built and
flown the 157-ft-span boat for Russia described and illus-
trated in Flight recently. Martin, Boeing and Sikorsky are
building 60-tonners for the U.S. Navy, and Sikorsky is
reported, in addition, to be developing a 50-tomier for the
Atlantic service which will carry 36 passengers when oper-
ating Atlantic ranges.
Some warning that America intended to apply herself
seriously to the flying-boat problem has been evident for
some years from the fact that her research establishments
have carried out very extensive tests on hull forms. Thus,
when the Government purse-strings were loosened, Ameri-
can constructors had ready to hand a wealth of informa-
tion upon which to base, their designs. -,-..
Although it is known that Shorts have on the drawing
board an improved version of the Empire boat, and
although there are rumours of a very large machine, one
cannot quite feel that encouragement sufficient to enable
one firm to cope with the competition from three or four
American companies is being given British firms.
ExperienceI
N the meantime, as Capt. Wilcockson pointed out, the
Americans have been steadily accumulating experi-
ence in long-range transoceanic flying-boat operation.
Although weather conditions over the Pacific are very dif-
ferent from those over the Atlantic, the operation of the
Pacific route has enabled Pan-American Airways to train
their crews in long-distance navigation, and when the
Americans come to operate an Atlantic service, they will
start with a very great advantage compared with us. Navi-
gational equipment also has been greatly developed and
thoroughly tested in actual operational conditions, com-
pared with which the very limited, although very promis-
ing, experience which Imperial Airways had an opportunity
to accumulate during ten crossings of the Atlantic is insig-
nificant. Operation of the Empire routes will help to fill
the gap, but is not strictly applicable to Atlantic conditions.