There are times when thoughts of the future charm, when the past loses fascination and the present is too much with us. The past has its mysteries, but even the wildest of historians is bound down by a substratum of incontrovertible fact. Louis XVII may have escaped from the Temple, but he never came to the Throne; Jean de la Cloche may have been the eldest son of Charles II, but the History of England was not inaterially altered because of that. The "Nelson touch" may or may not have won the battle of Trafalgar, but the battle was won, and that is all that mattered. The results we know, whatever may have been the causes, and we have not all of us the imagination and the freedom of James Anthony Froude. But the future is untracked. We can dream what dreams we will, and there is none to say us nay. Prophesy as we may we can still go to our last rest uncontradicted and satisfied.

There are few subjects within the knowledge of humankind in which prophecy and dreams can grow with such ease as in aviation. None knows at this early stage the future of aeronautics. Tendencies may be noticed and conclusions be drawn all equally inaccurate and equally pleasing. The mind can picture the doings of to-morrow and before to-morrow dawns the picture may have changed. Therefore, must all essays of the future be taken from the personal standpoint.

In civil aeronautics the future is a blank. It is almost impossible to predict the various steps of progress yet to come. The past and the present have given no indications of value as to the course to be taken during even the next generation. But in military aeronautics it is perhaps a little easier to guess what may come with years, but here, too, all ideas are matters of personal opinion, and not of certainty.

It is clear to any who are intimate with military affairs and with aviation that the present organisation

of the Royal Flying Corps will not live many years. It was not intended as a permanent effort, and it will be altered as occasion demands. In France, where military aeronautics has a far longer history than in this country, hardly a day passes without some more or less important change, or rather, development. As we gain experience in this country the result will be the same. This article deals with a few possible lines of development in the Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing) during the next few years.

Personnel.

Flying at present is still a matter of difficulty requiring an amount of training out of proportion to its present use, and, in addition, requires, if flying of a high order is to be expected, a temperament fitted for the work. Hence, it has been found desirable to train officers for this purpose in preference to N.C.O.s and rank and file. Initiative counts for more in aviation than any other virtue in the world.

The Army, as it is, is short of officers, and especially of young and efficient officers, and the drain caused by the calls of the aeronautical service is very heavy. It also results in the R.F.C. being as heavily staffed with officers as is a South American army with generals. It is an uneconomic system so far as the Army is concerned. To counteract this lack of pilots and the over large call on the commissioned ranks Colonel Seely proposed to take in a number of civilians for a term of years. The supply of these in the result has proved neither adequate nor satisfactory, and the shortage in the Service cannot be filled up in this way much longer.

[One may, perhaps, question whether it is the supply or the selection which has been at fault so far. Certainly, many civilians of the right type are anxious to join. ED.]

As time goes on the practice of flying will becom

both simpler and safer-or, at least, one hopes so. It should at some future date become no more difficult or complicated than the driving of a motor-car. When this shall be the case there will be no valid reason against training a number of rank and file as pilots, and also in enlisting a number of civilian mechanicpilots. There will be little difficulty in obtaining as large a supply of this class as is required, for the wages of aviators in civil life will decline very greatly in the future.

This done, the officers in the aviation Service will no longer need to act as pilots, though they may be capable of doing so. They can undergo a long and severe course as observers-work in which only highlytrained, efficient men are of any use. The art of observation is as far beyond that of piloting as is that of navigating an Atlantic liner removed from steering such a boat. Proficiency and efficiency cannot be gained without much practice and continual training. More and more as time drifts by will the observer be expected to read the meaning of a movement of troops from a height of 3,000 feet as easily as though he were acting as umpire in a Kriegspiel. The scrappy reports brought in by observers of to-day under the most favourable conditions will not be tolerated in a year or two.

If one assumes that this elaborate training will be undergone by observers then is it not unlikely that these specialists will be wasted on the routine work of piloting?

This change in method carries with it other changes. At present the R.F.C. is staffed by officers

to

seconded from their regiments, who will return to those regiments at the conclusion of their service as aviators or observers. Such civilians as are employed retire into civil life when the R.F.C. has no further use for them. There are at the present time good reasons for this system, but in the future these may fade and be of no further account. At present none knows how long flying nerve lasts. It varies according to the man, but it is unlikely to last longer than the four years at present laid down as the period of service. If an R.F.C. officer's nerve does give then it is as well that he shall be able to return to his own regiment that he may not be wasted for the Army.

It seems possible that after a time when aviation has come into its proper place that men on entering Woolwich or Sandhurst shall be given permission to name the Royal Flying Corps as their intended destination in the future. If permitted they would then be trained with view to service in this corps. On passing out of Sandhurst they would be gazetted to the R.F.C., and seconded for two years to an infantry regiment, that they might become soldiers Some of these before they became anything worse. could remain in the R.F.C. throughout their military career, employed, if not as pilots and observers, in routine matters. Those whose nerve became unsteady might be transferred, if they so desired, to another arm of the service.

It is not likely that civilians, if present indications are significant, will be taken into the Royal Flying Corps much longer.

(To be continued.)

and by the inhabitants of the land, would ensure the free He was this latest aid to civilisation. development of not in favour of legislation at the present time, as he thought a great deal more study of the question, and further experimenting with a view to safety of aircraft, were required as an essential preliminary.

The Experiences of Mr. Hucks.

Mr. Hucks has related his experiences to many people since his return from France and the writer has overheard some of his views. He speaks most highly of the machine which M. Blériot has prepared specially for "looping the loop," and says that the amount of control it allows to the pilot is extraordinary. The aeroplane is slow, about fifty miles an hour, but in directional movements it is very fast. Before he looped the loop he found he could bank vertically without the slightest trouble and with perfect confidence.

As to the actual evolution which now gives sensationalism to the almost stale science of aviation, he says that the rush downwards is appalling. The sensation was to him not comfortable. Once when upside down in the air he attempted to make the machine climb, but with the result that it stalled, the wings fluttered strangely, the machine slipped backwards and overturned right side up sideways. From his descriptions the sensations of the flight appear to be exactly what one would imagine them to be.

He says that M. Blériot is most careful in everything connected with these flights, M. Pégoud's monoplane being overhauled every few days of flying. He is also, according to my authority, most particular that only the finest pilots shall attempt this feat.-A. G.

The "Britannia" Airship.

The ladies' committee in connection with the subscriptions for this airship met at the Hotel Cecil on November 21st during the evening, with Lady Muriel Paget as chairman. After some references by the chairman to the need of sacrifices in the good of the Empire, Captain Hawtrey Cox said he had reason to believe that the Admiralty could be induced to reconsider their decision as to the acceptance of this airship when built. It was decided to raise money by means of skating carnivals, tango teas, and theatre matinees under local committees.