“‘Experts are saying that seaplanes require much stronger frames, vastly more powerful engines, and far more effective float devices than have yet been provided. In short, design must be revolutionised. Clearly this is the time for experiment, and not for any wide scheme involving heavy expenditure.’
THE SOPWITH ROLLS-ROYCE-ENGINED BIPLANE, “ATLANTIC,” IN WHICH HARRY AND GRIEVE ATTEMPTED THE ATLANTIC CROSSING. THE TOP OF THE FUSELAGE WAS MADE IN THE FORM OF AN INVERTED BOAT, WHICH THEY DETACHED IN MID-ATLANTIC. THE UNDERCARRIAGE WAS DROPPED SOON AFTER THE START, IN ORDER TO REDUCE AIR RESISTANCE.
[Facing p. 108.
“Now, this impresses us as being specious argument, since it is the sort of thing with which it is impossible not to agree in principle, but before we arrive at complete agreement we must examine the proposition and see what we mean by it all. Nothing was ever yet first produced in its final and perfect state, but this last has inevitably been reached by stages involving long and careful experiment. From the line-of-battle ship of the Nelson era to the last Centurion is a far cry. Again, in the case of under-water craft, there is an enormous gap between the original Holland boat and the latest submarine of the day. Now, what would have happened in either case if it had been agreed that these vessels were still ‘experimental’ and everyone had sat and waited for someone else to perfect them? Once more, the answer is obvious. We should be where we were a hundred or more years ago. Instead, however, of having adopted any such foolish policy, we have gone on building and equipping ships which were the best we knew how to construct at the time, and have developed accordingly until we have reached the super-Dreadnought and the submarine as we know them now—and still the end of development is not in sight.
“Next, Mr. Bracher makes it a cause of complaint that the Naval and Military Defence Committee propose to:
“‘Equip all the coast defences and defended ports of the Kingdom with aviation stations, and in the case of the former, permanent establishments are to be maintained as soon as the necessary buildings can be erected and fleets of aeroplanes provided. Of the cost of this scheme one-third will be borne by the Navy and two-thirds by the Army.’
“He adds the surprising information that:
“‘The trouble is that, as a cold fact, the whole cost will be borne by the taxpayer’!!!