From a naval or military point of view there can be no disputing the fact that the standardisation of equipment of all sorts is highly desirable, it is, in fact, a necessity to efficiency in time of war, for without standardised equipment organisation becomes impossible. One cannot imagine an efficient army equipped with guns and rifles of many varying calibres, or a navy with numerous different sizes in guns and torpedoes, though a certain number of sizes are necessary.

Nevertheless, standardisation, when it becomes an obsession with the authorities, may become a national danger, for the desire to standardise everything may result in a new article. of equipment being ordered in vast quantities at too early a stage in its development, with the result that by the time the orders are executed the article in question is out of date, and that, in consequence of manufacturers being busy on the standard type, new and improved types are not produced. Also, it will follow that manufacturers who are not employed in making the standard type, and who do not receive orders for their own type, will be forced to retire from business.

We are receiving an excellent lesson in this direction in the aeroplane industry at the present moment. The military authorities, on the advice of civilian "experts," seem to be trying to standardise the "B.E." biplane, to the exclusion of everything else. Now the "B.E." is a good enough machine, when properly built, as it is by certain of the firms who are building it under contract, but it is not the best machine in the world, and until we discover the best machine in the world we cannot afford to standardise.

The Result of a Policy.

The result of the official policy is shown by the fact that firms whose machines gave considerable promise, such as the Deperdussin and Flanders, have practically been forced out of existence, though the last Deperdussin monoplane with the 100-h.p. Anzani engine was a particularly fine machine; and the first and last Flanders biplane with the 60-h.p. Isaacson engine is now flying exceptionally well-in fact, two most experienced pilots, Messrs. Barnwell and Sabelli, say they have never flown anything better. Yet all further development of these machines has been stopped, though the designers were only at the beginning of their ideas.

Three other firms, the Martin-Handasyde, Avro, and Sopwith, illustrate another phase of the question. By sheer obstinacy, and the good fortune to have adequate financial backing, they continue in business. The Martinsyde is by far the fastest passenger-carrying machine in this country, and her huge size has the advantage of making her very steady in a wind, a decidedly good feature.

The super

The Avro has proved itself more efficient than the B.E., power for power, and the makers have received a few orders. Recently they have produced a new type which is far and away more efficient than the B.E. of the same power, but not a single machine of the type has been ordered. ficial argument against ordering them is that the Army has to buy what the officer-pilots like to fly, and that because the 50-h.p. Avro, with warp control, is not so easy to fly in a high wind as is the 70-h.p. "B.E." it is therefore no use ordering any more Avros. No opportunity is given to the firm to show that their 80-h.p. machine with aileron control is better than either, and no experienced military aviator is asked to fly the

A curious commentary on this position is that when the 50-h.p. Blériot was found to be unsuitable for serious military work, several 80-h.p.'s were ordered. The exact reason for preferential treatment of a foreign firm does not appear, though undoubtedly the War Office was right in ordering the 80-h.p. Blériot, which is an exceptionally fine machine.

The Sopwith biplane has also proved its superiority to the "B.E." of the same power, and by dint of continually demonstrating that superiority in public and at Farnborough, a paltry order for nine machines has been received.

But for the open-minded way in which the Admiralty does i.s business, the Avro and Sopwith firms might as well have shut up shop.

A fair number of Farmans, mostly built in France, have been ordered from the Aircraft Manufacturing Company, but they cannot obtain an assurance of future orders which would warrant their equipping a big factory in this country as they would like to do, and the Blériot firm is in just the same position. The Short Brothers have had orders. for a few school biplanes, but have received no encouragement to build a serious military machine, so they have wisely devoted themselves to naval work.

Orders for Standard Machines.

Against this one finds that orders for something over a hundred "B.E.s" have been distributed among various other firms, the majority of these being from the Bristol Company, Vickers, Ltd., Armstrong-Whitworth's, and the Coventry Ordnance Company, and a few from the Grahame-White Company, Handley-Page, Ltd., Hewlett and Blondeau, and Saunders of Cowes. Now, the assumption is that these firms will flourish on orders for standardised machines, provided they make them well enough to obtain further orders, which most of them do; but that does not help to develop improved types, unless those at the head of the firms are prepared to spend their profits on experiments.

Some of them are doing so, but the question is whether it is worth their while. The trouble is that if any or all of them produce a type which is proved to be better than the "B. E.," there is nothing to show that it will be bought. Before any can be ordered the detail drawings of all parts have to be submitted to the Royal Aircraft Factory. Anything that is obviously good is promptly embodied in the next experimental machine made by the R.A.F., and the resulting complete aeroplane is then ordered in quantities from all the favoured firms, so that the producer of the improved type is merely working for the benefit of his competitors.

Straight competition between manufacturers is good for trade in every way, but where the man of ideas is only working for the benefit of a favoured competitor all progress, is blocked. Under the present system, if a manufacturer produced a really stable but controllable machine with a maximum speed of 120 m.p.h., a landing speed of 20 m.p.h., a climbing speed of 1,000 feet per minute, perfect range of vision, clear arc of fire of 180 degrees for a gun, a duration capacity of 6 hours and a factor of safety of 20 all over, there is no reason to suppose that a hundred would be ordered from him. He would probably receive an order for six, and by the time the last had been delivered, a new R.A.F. copy would have been produced and orders for the other ninety-four would have

Things They Do Better Abroad.

We should learn our lesson from France and Germany. In France the authorities recognise that all aeroplanes are still experimental. There are favoured types, but there is no standard type. Each squadron or "escadrille" of the French air service is mounted on machines of a certain make. There are numerous Farman and Blériot escadrilles, but there are also Caudron escadrilles, Deperdussin escadrilles, and others on Bréguets, Moranes, Nieuports, and so forth. Every reliable make has a fair chance, and an officer is appointed to an escadrille mounted on the machine he likes best. Some sort of attempt is made in this country to organise the "flights" of each squadron on similar lines. There are whole flights (of four machines each) on Henri Farmans, or Maurice Farmans, and one of Blériots; but the preponderance of "B.E.s" hardly gives anything else a fair chance.

Is there any reason why there should not be a genuine experimental squadron, composed of picked pilots of proved experience who volunteer to "try out" new types? The Flying Depot, R.F.C., at Farnborough, acts thus to some extent, but there seems to be a reluctance to buy, or even to test on loan, new types while they are still new.

Our flying officers are as keen as can be on trying new things; the senior officers are bringing the R.F.C. to a high state of efficiency in its work. The Department of Military

Aeronautics has worked wonders in a short time. But all this is of no avail if we are not to have the very best and most efficient machines as soon as ever they are produced by the makers. Standardisation at this stage of development is bound to kill progress.

The Proof of the Pudding.

The moral of all this was excellently set out by Mr. C. C. Turner in "The Observer" on Sunday last, and one cannot do better than give it in his own words, for, popular as is that splendid paper, I fear that all readers of THE AEROPLANE do not take it regularly.

"It is a good time to take a view of what is being done in France and Germany in aviation. The prospect is one that ought to give us a good deal of uneasiness, for whereas it was formerly supposed that our friendly neighbour, France, was merely keeping the lead to which, by her enterprise and engineering genius, she was entitled, there is now no longer any disguising the fact that Germany has by sheer force of determination begun to rival France. England, in short, has very little to show in the way of flying achievements, or-and this is far more serious-in the production of aircraft.”

Here Mr. Turner is perhaps in error, for no foreign machine approaches the all-round efficiency of the Avro and Sopwith, but there is no encouragement for them to do such flights as those shown hereafter. Mr. Turner continues:

"Among the flights to which attention should be drawn are those for the German National Fund prize, offered for the greatest distance flown in 24 hours :Viktor Stoeffler 1,340 miles Schlegel 925 miles

Kastner Friedrich

The Floating Dock.

800 miles 700 miles

Mr. John Wulffing writes:-"I am very much obliged for your kindness in publishing my 'Floating Dock for Airships' in your valuable paper, THE AEROPLANE, but I am extremely surprised to learn that you consider it necessary for the dock in question to have some comparatively smooth piece of water.' On the contrary, I am quite convinced, may the sea be ever so rough, and the gale ever so severe, the dock, provided with vertical pontoons of sufficient height as shown in sketch, page 511, will not only turn automatically round always exactly head to wind, but will keep sufficiently steady to allow easy anchoring, entrance and housing of airships. It has to be considered that in the open sea the waves and the wind follow the same one direction. The vertical pontoons are of 4 ft. diameter by 13 ft. height, about one third being above the water surface. If the dock is placed in a large river, or in the mouth of a river, means are provided to counteract the flow of the river and keeping the dock-point facing the prevailing wind. furthermore consider, that the resistance offered to the waves

If we,

Hélèn-18 consecutive days (still flying) 6,000 miles

"In France a regular aerial mail service has been established; the Paris-Cairo flight is in progress, and numerous big enterprises of the kind are being organised. What is England doing?"

Incidentally, these performances are an excellent argument in favour of speed for speed's sake, as an aid to progress in development. Mr. Turner's comment sizes up the whole situation.

"This is the price we are paying for past neglect of the home industry by the Government, and, to some extent, the relative lack of enthusiasm in this country. All the while it is to the interest of any Government institution to keep the work of private manufacturers in the background this state of affairs will become worse and worse. That, as the present writer has during the past three or four years steadily shown, is what has been going on; and from many indications, it appears that it is still to go on. The postponement of the War Office aero-engine competition is almost open to the interpretation that it is contrived particularly with a view to the embarrassment of the genuine British engine manufacturer."

I only hope that, as a result of these notes, I shall not again be accused of merely giving vent to destructive criticism. It is necessary to clear away mistakes before the right course can be pursued.

If British manufacturers of aeroplanes and engines are given a sporting chance they can at least equal any performance put up abroad, but some practical encouragement must be given them to produce new and improved types. If our Government departments would support flying competitions as the German Government does, much good would come of it, but the chief inducement should be the purchase of really good new types in something like reasonable quantities.-C. G. G.

from the dock is only about 5 per cent. that of a steamer of equal size, and that the area covered by the dock is about 70 ft. wide by 400 ft. length, and that the waves move longitudinally along the two rows of pontoons, we must surely come to the conclusion that the shed will keep almost entirely steady, the point always facing the wind, allowing the easiest possible anchoring and sheltering in most unfavourable weather conditions."

The Edinburgh Aeronautical Society.

There will be a lantern lecture-on "Aviation and its History" on Thursday, November 20th, at 8 p.m., in Dowell's Rooms, George Street, G. S. Wilson, Esq., in the chair. Admission to this lecture is free to the public.

The construction of a glider will be shortly begun and there will be a meeting on Tuesday, November 18th, at 6.15 p.m., at the Rutland Hotel to make arrangements. Those who wish to take part should attend this meeting.-G. T. COOPER, Hon. Sec.

The ownership of the air has peculiar interest at this moment, when each nation in turn is taking some steps to regulate the passage of toreign aircrait over its territories. A new problem has entered into international relations, a problem of great complexity, and one that will not be settled satisfactorily for some considerable space of time. The delimitation of frontiers both on land and water is comparatively a simple matter, but the air knows no boundaries. No ringfences indicate the division of property in the skies, and none can tell at sight whether aerial trespass be committed or not. The lawless habits and the strange manners of the typical aviator further complicate a question whose solution cannot be found in books of reference any more than in the brains of the great jurists of this age or any other age. The solution has to be made in the present and the future, and not sought for in the past.

The whole subject has recently been discussed at the Conference of the International Law Association held at Madrid during the opening weeks of October. The Committee on Aviation which reported to the Conference was formed in this country at the instance of Sir Walter Phillimore, Bart. (a Lord Justice of the Court of Appeal), following the findings of the Conference of 1912 in Paris. In the published Report of this Committee the entire subject is dealt with in some detail by Mr. E. S. M. Perowne. Towards the end of October an interesting address was read by Mr. F. S. Sheridan (Chief Clerk, Congested Districts Board for Ireland) to the Law Students' Debating Society of Ireland at King's Inns, Dublin. His address was entitled: "The Law in its Relation to Aerial Navigation," and is not confined merely to the subject of this article.

There are primarily two broad views as to the sovereignty of the air. One view, that probably of the young and guileless aviator as well as of a large class of jurists, is that the air is free of passage to all; the other view, that most widely held by international lawyers and politicians, is that of full sovereignty by each nation to the air above its possessions. Each of these views has a series of qualifications according to the circumstances of the nation under consideration. International law is based to a great degree on the common law of the contributing countries. That is to say, that in the generality of cases rights which are

admitted in regard to property by the common law of the land would not be controverted by the international laws accepted by that nation. If a landowner is admitted in certain privileges by the State, it follows also the State would not permit interference with those rights by any other nation. Hence, if a nation admits ownership of the air-space over his lands to the landowner, that nation will also exact sovereign rights to the national air-space. The rights of individual nations, or what they claim as their rights, are thus clearly defined according to the admissions of the common law in each case. The great question is how to adjust the slightly or greatly varying claims into one admitted international code. There are, of course, curious exceptions, but then that is what general rules are made for. Both Italy and Belgium are in favour of free passage for all aircraft, though the common law of each country admits the old Roman law axiom of "Cujus est solum ejus est usque ad coelum."

Some nations admit free passage to aircraft so long as they remain above a certain height. Such is the theory, though in practice one fancies all these things will change. France was recently in favour of freedom, arguing, as Mr. Sheridan says, with Ulpian, a Roman juris-consult, "who wrote in A.D. 200, 'mare commune omnium est sicut aer," " a doctrine perfectly easy of maintenance in the days when aircraft were only thought of in the disordered brain of some fevered dreamer.

An amusing point in regard to the ownership of the air lies in the interpretation of the limitation of the extent of air-space owned by each landlord. It is, it appears, based on an English Real Property Law principle which holds that a landowner possesses not only the land, but all that is above it and all that lies below. This principle dates from the days when the earth was still flat and before tiresome people like Galileo invented the globe. In those days the lines produced from the ground to show the limits of air possession would run parallel throughout, whereas to-day they are produced radially from the centre of the earth and are consequently divergent. Thus, the higher one rises above one's terrestrial property the more space one has in one's possession. The progression of ideas has thus given extended space to the land

owner.

The speed of