FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1922
1922 - 0682.PDF
• aeroplanes in another way. Turkish bands pressed down from the hills against Sikh outposts, and we had to evacuate Sulaimaniyeh and Rania hurriedty. . . . Between dawn. and noon next day a succession of aeroplanes flew into the town and took away some sixty persons and the detachment of Arab levies." Thus, whatever may be one's opinion of the wisdom of our being in Iraq at all, the justification of handing over the command of Iraq to the Royal Air Force appears to be rapidly forthcoming, and we have not the slightest doubt that in Sir John Salmond the R.A.F. in Iraq has a chief, a man of action, who has been given full authority, and who is not afraid to use it to the best advantage. E . It was with extreme regret that we Hendon learned recently that in a short while Hendon as we knew it will be no more. The extension of the Tube from Golders Green, instead of, as we had hoped, being an opening for civil aviation and causing most of our sporting aviation to revert to the old aerodrome, has had an entirely different effect. The aerodrome, we under stand, is being split up into building plots, and thus the chance of restoring Hendon's former greatness as an aviation centre vanishes for ever. We shall not attempt to deny that we are sorry. Hendon was always connected in our thoughts with the earliest—and glorious—days of flying. From the Circuit of Britain to the Aerial Derby in 1921, all important flying events took place at Hendon. Hendon was the scene of many early struggles to master the air, and it was the scene of many a glorious race. Everybody who was anybody could be found at Hendon on Saturdays and Sundays, and the popularity of the aerodrome could be gauged by the " gate." Although there was never a great deal of shouting and no big prizes, a week-end at Hendon was never wasted, and the Saturday races under the clever organisation of the late and ever-to- be-regretted Richard Gates, small as they were, were usually more full of entertainment than the more formal flying meetings Waddon has seen. And now Hendon is no more. With the advent of the Tube, presumably the ground has become too valuable to retain for the problematic use as an aerodrome, and has been given over to the prosaic, but immediately useful, purpose of carrying rows upon rows of " semi-detached." In a few years' time we shall be able to take our children up to the <$> <s> Recruiting for London Air Defence RECRUITING is now open for the first Territorial Battalion of Royal Engineers, to be formed under the War Office scheme for defending London against aerial attack. The new unit is designated the 10th (London) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, Royal Engineers, and the training of the battalion, which is of scientific nature, will consist of operating the searchlight projectors, engines and sound locators. Men of a high standard are being selected, and engineering students and men with technical knowledge in electrical or mechanical engineering are particularly asked to join. The rate of pay during camp or if embodied will be gs. a day for sergeant, 55. to js. 3d. for corporal and 35. to 65. for sapper, in addition to bounty and, under the usual condi tions, marriage allowance. Those desirous of joining should apply any weekday (except Saturday), between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., at the Headquarters, 10th (London) A.A. Battalion, R.E., Duke of York's School, Chelsea, S.W. An Aeronautical Library Saved for Britain THE Council of the Royal Aeronautical Society announces that through the generosity of the Trustees of the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust it has been able to arrange for the NOVEMBER 23, 1922 top of the hill by the old church—the mere mention of the edifice brings back memories—and point out to them that down there, just beyond the railway, Britain grew her wings and made her early fledgling attempts at conquering the air ; there worked many of the pioneers to whom Britain owes her position in the air today. Elsewhere in this issue we publish a F"fn^Gnd'\ ^ew notes dealing with the opening of School what may be considered England's first school of gliding. If the sport of motorless flight is to become what we all hope for, it is essential that the greatest possible number of enthusiasts should be attracted to the practical, no less than to the theoretical, side. At first it is to be expected that a goodly proportion of those who take up gliding and soaring will be recruited from the ranks of pilots or ex-pilots, who see in this form of flying a means of " keeping their hands in." We are convinced, however, that the new sport will soon spread outside the relatively narrow limits of those who have in the past been associated with aviation in one form or other, and the formation of a school for the training of glider pilots should help materially in this respect. The fee asked is to be so reasonable that large numbers should be in a position to afford it. Apart from the training specially for glider pilots (and incidentally the Royal Aero Club will soon have to draft a set of rules defining the tests which a pupil should be able to pass in order to be considered entitled to a glider pilot's licence), the practice obtained on motorless aircraft should be a very valuable asset when and if the pupil decides to go over to power-driven machines. It is not difficult to envisage a system of tuition comprising a series of carefully graduated steps by which a pupil starts on a slow, stable, easily controlled glider; from that proceeds to a more highly-loaded and efficient monoplane; from that, possibly, to a very low- powered machine, and so by easy stages to the full- powered military or commercial aircraft. Should it prove to be the case that preliminary training on gliders was an asset in the training of pilots for power machines, it would appear that it might easily be worth while for the Air Ministry to grant a small subsidy to glider schools for each pupil trained, as his preliminary training on gliders might very easily have the effect of considerably reducing the expense of later training on power-driven aircraft. purchase of a large number of valuable historical books on aeronautics which would otherwise have shortly been sold to an American purchaser. This purchase, together with the works already possessed by the Society, renders its collection of early and modern aeronautical literature probably unsurpassed in this or any other country. Comprising as it does many early works of extreme rarity, as well as the most modern English and foreign treatises, the Society's library will now form a complete collection of all important works on aeronautics from the XVIIth century down to the present day. In recognition of its appreciation of their generosity, the Council of the Royal Aeronautical Society has, at the request of the Carnegie Trustees, agreed to make the books in the Society's library available for any student in the British Isles through the medium of the Central Library for Students, 9, Galen Place, London, W.C. 1. The Central Library for Students has been formed by the Carnegie Trustees to provide a loan collection for students of technical books which are unsuitable for placing in rural libraries. By receiving permission to use the Royal Aeronautical Society's Library, the Central Library for Students will be spared the necessity of forming a special section devoted to aeronautics. 682
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
