be claimed that so far as the reconnaissance machine is concerned, the British aircraft are more than able to hold their own with those of the other European nations.
In the main the "proprietary" machines built by private firms have lacked the all-round qualities of those turned out by the Government factory, or under contract to the Royal Aircraft Factory specification. In some cases they have failed from a constructional standpoint; under the exacting conditions of service the alighting chassis have sometimes proved inadequate; in other cases the weather-proof qualities of the "proprietary" machines have been found deficient. These defects have not only shown themselves amongst British-built machines, but also some of the best known of the French makes have failed, or at least are reported to have cut a very sorry figure when submitted to the rigorous test of service conditions in real warfare. Possibly it was not anticipated (as it appears is the case) that machines would be required to remain permanently in the open night and day, shelter being the exception rather than the rule. It is under these conditions that our own Aircraft Factory machines have exhibited an unrivalled robustness of constitution. On behalf of the "proprietary" makes of machine, however, it must be said that some of the most notable of the exploits performed by the Naval Air Service (such as the raids on Düsseldorf and Friedrichshafen) have been performed by such machines,[1] which proves that, from the point of view of
- ↑ The execution of these sensational feats of arms by our naval airmen must not be taken to mean that they could not have been performed equally well by members of the Royal Flying Corps, but rather that the latter are fully occupied by their regular daily work of military reconnaissance, and are certainly no more than numerically sufficient for the needs of our Army in the field. In the Navy, the routine or "business" employment of aircraft (more especially aeroplanes) is not yet understood; the efficient patrolling by aircraft of the seas in which a state of war exists—mainly the North Sea, in the present instance—should be considered by the Air Department of the Admiralty to be its most important duty; this will require the systematic employment of a considerable fleet of aeroplanes, which should, if possible, be machines of 16 or 18 hours' capacity and at least capable of 80 miles per hour. The large airship, until recently in contemplation for this duty, provides, in the author's opinion, a doubtful solution, without recapitulation of its other
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