The Great Unrealised Potential
The Seven Skies, By John Pudney. (Putnam, 30s.
TRANSPORT iation was a gift from the gods to the British Empire and Commonwealth. Yet successive governments have prevented the bene- fits of that gift from being realised. That is the central fact which this study of the British Over- seas Airways Corporation and its forerunners makes clear. H. G. Wells saw the potentialities and declared that a 'boldly conceived air service is essential to our Imperial pretensions.' Hosts of men of vision saw that the Commonwealth was a ready-made and ideal frame upon which to hang air lines for mails, passengers and freight. But ill-informed criticism, mainly in Parliament, forced the country's 'chosen instrument' to model itself on the lines of foreign companies; to concern itself with competing directly with American car- riers rather than with improving Commonwealth communicat ions,
It is a remarkable and a sad story. Mr. John Pudney gives it a personal flavour without intrud- ing personal opinions. The conflict between Sir John .Reith. as he then was, and the much greater man aeronautically, Mr. George Woods Hum- phery. who had been managing director of Imperial Airways through the most difficult years. was the outcome of Parliament's muddled ideas of what aviation could do and of how it could serve the country'. But Reith's view that it was a simple contrast between the 'dividends motive and the public services motive' was incorrect and un- just to Woods Humphery, whose politically manceuvred resignation was a heavy blow to British aviation. Considering the political inter- ference to which the Corporation has been sub- jected. one must look upon BOAC's more recent record as praiseworthy.. although it seems prob- able that it is now entering another period when it will have to call upon the taxpayer's support.
Mr. Pudney's achievement in marshalling the vast amount of information that was put before him and in constructing from it a story which does not miss the lighter side. yet which presents a true picture, is valuable at the present time. For the reader can see at once that the recent discussions about the advisability of developing supersonic aircraft are no more than repetitions in a different key of discussions that have taken place in the past. The hook points with uncompromising clarity to the risks that will attend the continued lack of a firm Commonwealth air policy in the
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