Arms and the Airman
By OLIVER STEWART
rr o strike a note of optimism about the future I of the British aircraft industry would be unfashionable. Yet last week's Farnborough dis- play was a reminder that it still produces inven' live and technical achievements of outstanding merit. The P1127 vertical thrust, vertical take- off fighter- - hich attracted most attention—was but one of a host of arresting exhibits ranging from the cheapest twin-engined touring aircraft jet n c lturda transport p to the most powerful intercontinental liner and oar tminiature (r i)n i aexecutive ture Autogirot raveLand a Not one of the twenty-two preceding SocielY of British Aircraft Constructors displays had so f many solid engineering advances to show. merit had anything to do with the prosperity an aircraft industry, the British industry, instead. of preparing to sack thousands of workers al miniature to accept further reductions in exports, be on the eve of a great revival. that One thing and one thing only suggests such a revival may not take place: the comMer- cial dependency of the companies upon nail orders. It is aviation's special tragedy that .s thrives on war and the threat of war and it is t present special weakness that, in the existing_ international situation, government defen.c, orders are influenced more by political exPenl" ency than by technical merit. With an eye to those funds which flow so copiously from the taxpayer's pocket, manufac- turers try to place a military gloss upon the most civilian of civil aircraft. Thus the splendid VC10 intercontinental liner becomes a 'strategic transport'; the DH125 and the Beagle 206 execu- tive aircraft become `navigational trainers' and 'service communications' machines. This enables the Air Ministry and the Ministry of Aviation to bring useful aid to the industry in the name of national defence.
At the same time it gives the Government the Power to guide aeronautical progress; a power it has shown itself incapable of using well. While government-selected fighters and bombers pour from the factories, the manufacturers are pros- Perous. There is nothing better than a long pro- duction run for earning profits. Civil orders are Chicken feed by comparison. If Mr. Amery contradicts Mr. Duncan Sandys about the future need for manned fighters and bombers, he also helps to remove the anxieties of the directors of aircraft companies. If no such thing as war had ever existed it would be necessary to invent it for aviation's sake.
All aircraft industries, not only the British have a vested interest in wars, both hot and cold. President Kennedy has said that the United States economy need not be geared to armaments Production, but the huge American aircraft works Would assuredly be in trouble if there were a Period of peaceful stability. And the British in- dustry's best hopes of profits lie in the new military aircraft, the twin-engined TSR2 and the 111154 which is to be derived from the P1127. Everything will depend on how firm and how fast are government actions.
There is already a complete case for defence orders for the P1154 and for massive support for development of the P1127 because the tactical benefits of VTOL and of short take-offs and landings with overload are marked and because vectored thrust achieves both. The vul- nerability to modern weapons of conventional aerodromes seems to increase as their runways
lengthen. But there is also a complete case for more vigorous development of the composite P"ver plant, or Griffith VTOL method, demon- sbtrated by the Short SCI. This uses a separate , alterY of lift engines. It has been allowed to 4,,uguish. But it is not yet proved that vectored lt.trust is better than composite power. What is Proved is that British engineers are doing well
_with both; that both have military significance :rid that both deserve immediate and generous 11.13Port from defence funds. But none can tell whether that support will come.
The case of the Handley Page Herald is not Inrgotten. The Royal Air Force wanted Heralds lic'r Transport Command. The Herald is cheaper ,t1 first cost than the Avro 748 and has been 'Lle`. re extensively tested. But to support its doubt- Gull theories on the structure of the industry, the e,?vernment ordered the 748. Thus a fine techni- ;al Product and a competitive price did Handley ge no good at all because the biggest customer wa s being guided by political considerations. riot e determination of government departments tar t° let aviation shake itself loose from mili-
AVYI assoc ns iatio was shown by the Ministry of ber_ation's childish intervention in the Farn- 'ugh display to prevent the Society of British Aircraft Constructors from inviting Russian guests. In a show that concentrated largely on civil aircraft, military secrecy was invoked for the purpose of delivering a silly pinprick. Fortunately Sir George Edwards did something to correct this rudeness.
Technically this year was Farnborough's finest hour. It revealed the industry's courageous efforts to go civil and it revealed outstanding engineering prowess and originality. But it did not indicate that the industry's new, government-imposed structure has strengthened it commercially or
made it inherently better able to face competition from abroad. These were among the advantages promised by Mr. Duncan Sandys when the changes were being made
For profits and for commercial stability the industry remains dependent upon military orders. However proud the Farnborough show made us feel of British designers and builders—and of their interpreters, the test pilots—the sad con- clusion must be that if the industry does decline in prosperity, it will be because too many aero- planes are chasing too few wars.
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