§ 64. Mr. ROSEasked the Secretary of State for Air the amount of public money already spent upon the Brennan helicopter at Farnborough and the time the experiments have taken; and if the progress made justifies, in the opinion of his experts, any further expenditure upon this type of vertical flight machine?
§ Sir S. HOAREThe work in connection with the Brennan helicopter, which had previously been carried out under the Ministry of Munitions, was transferred to the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, in June, 1919, from which date until the 8th instant the expenditure, inclusive of salaries, wages, materials and costs, has amounted to approximately £41,000. The answer to the latter part of the question is in the affirmative.
§ Mr. ROSEIn view of the very extended period and the great amount of money involved in these experiments, has the right hon. Gentleman considered the propriety of invoking the aid of that eminent engineering specialist, Mr. W. Heath Robinson, to see if he cannot do something a little bit cheaper?
§ Sir S. HOAREIt is very difficult, with these complicated experiments, to know how long they will take, but I think, on the whole, in view of the point at which these experiments have arrived, it would be a pity to end them now.
§ Major PAGETIs not an enormous amount of knowledge obtained from failures in experiments, as well as from successes?