THE SCHNEIDER TROPHY
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—In a comment on the Schneider Trophy in the Spectator of September 19th, it is suggested that the Air Force should rest content with their speed achievements and concentrate on safety of flying. The policy of giving up high speed research and concentrating on safety would be detrimental to the efficiency of the R.A.F. as a fighting force, and dangerous to the country if continued for any length of time. The science of aircraft design is still advancing so rapidly that a few years without high speed research would leave us well behind other countries in technical achievement. In the event of a war the loss of life and danger to the country caused by sending up our pilots in aeroplanes' which had an inferior performeme to those of the enemy might be disastrous.
The chief reason for the existence in the R.A.F. is that it shall be an efficient fighting force in case of war ; and the safety of the personnel is a secondary consideration. It is almost entirely due to the research work carried but in connexion with the Schneider Trophy contest that' our Air Force possesses the finest fighting aircraft in the world.
The success achieved in high speed research does not imply that safety is being neglected by the authorities. The number of deaths for every 10,000 hours of flying (about one, at present) has been steadily decreasing for the last ten years ; and our record of safety in Service flying is better than that of either France or the U.S.A. —I am, Sir, &e.,
E. N. B. BENTLEY.
7 Albemarle Street, Piccadilly, London, W.I.
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