Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-08-03
WORLD MUST
TRAIN NEW FLYERS
M. Painleve Fears knowledge
Gained in War May Be
Lost
ART DIFFICULT TO ACQUIRE
Asserts Present Pilots Should
Teach New Generation Va
rious Aviation Fcats.
ART DIFFICULT TO ACQUIRE
BY VI. PAISLEtE.
Former ESre m, Ier ~ t-'tn 10 -

LONDON. August 2.-i':ophecy is the
most diticuit OF al art; as 50 many
cost during, the war. Anyone who
dares 10 take as his chosen province
aviation and to make forecasts about
prophets, for If ever there was a field
where speculation on the future has
failed ridiculously it l. that one
Yet. am encouraged to say some
thing about the future Of flying when
| remember that as far back as 1907
] was Il convinced believer in the
aeroplanc. and tia; even my rashest
true. Every one then thought that I
had suddenly become crank Now.
even in the snort course Of ten years.
not only have the things ] saw In the
far beyond what ! dared to say.
II IL Tor something graver than a
mere pride of Cassandra that remem
her :hat in 1910 tried to persuade
the French government to provide for
the construction OF 1000 aeroplanes.
II that had been done the course OF the
war might have been very different.
The conquest of the air has been
the continued solution of .nso.Ubie
problems. Before the war they were
hp" TO get height. speed, security.
insoluble ones. The greatest and most
fundamental of these is how TO pass
over from war conditions to peace and
commercial flying.
Heroic Youth Pioneers.
Flying is the true heir TO the war.
Our heroic youth IN the ar by their
incredible daring. b. their lives and
than il could have learned in nifty or
100 years OF peace flying. IT is for US
TO see that the world does not lose this
precious. precarious knowledge. Let
me explain what ] mean.
At the present moment we have thou
sands Of trained pilots in whom the
acquired. bitterly acquired knowledge
Of the art OF flying is: at it were. in
carnate-some,hing like the way in
which II. c. Wells Imagined knowledge
TO be stored up in the living brains Of
write it down; IL is an art. They, will
forget il themselves IL they are allow
ed 10 get rusty and out Of practice.
lie as pilot. may be roughly estima-
ted under peace conditions as ten
years. After this time they are only
a new generation, the heirs and devcl-
opers OF their knowledge.
Most Important Generation.
The present. generation OF pilots
war-trained. Is much the most impor.
bearers OF precious knowledge which
IL lost will take decades OF tolls and
risks. equal to those ALREADY past. to
We have paid the full price for the
secrets of the air; we must see that
at all costs this terrible price does
not have TO be paid again.
But ;his is exactly the difficulty.
Every European country. your own
as well as mine, is staggering under
an enormous, crushing. financial bur
den. 1t is bod man who proposes
to lay more on their backs. Yet IL
must he done. Commercial flying is
far from being on sound basis yet.
1t will be. and inNnot many years, but
for the next ten years j, must be
nursed. subventioned just as were the
great Atlantic lines of steamboats, in
their inception.
Governments Must AID.
Left 20 itself. commercial flying, as
ii is at present. would perhaps sink
10 the level of a holiday sideshow-
hvc-mile trips at so many pounds n
head. Governments must back it with
money and encouragement so that
the art of opening up new lines and
methods for its expansion. The couu-
Try which will do this courageou Sly,
in spite OF the burden the war has
laid upon it. Will reap An enormous
advantage.
difficulty by tho establishment of reg
uiar marked-out trade routes. liher-
ally equipped with Herzan light
houses sending out wireless rays which
will enable the pilot 20 find his hear
ings with relation TO the ground. much
as ship does. This means the greater
and greater nternationaliZation OF fly
ing. The war has left us with the he
cinnings of this. as we'll as the ele-
ments for meeting tho lesser prob
lens OF the policing of the skies. Such
an ordinary difficulty as smuggling.
for example. We will meet with the
same apparatus we used for greeting
+ a n