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Aviation History
1926
1926 - 0440.PDF
. JULY.1, 1926 [" FLIGHT " Photographs THE THIRD R.A.F. " PAGEANT," 1922 : A much-appreciated event on this year's programme was " bombing a tank " by four Sopwith Snipes, in which the "bombs " were clearly visible during their fall and subsequent hit. for the next war to teach us what size of formation it is really best to have manoeuvring at the same time under a single command ; and one wonders whether any one leader, when himself moving at 150 miles an hour, would be able to handle more than a Wing, to the best advantage. Yet to provide a stationary H.Q. in the neighbourhood of an aerial battle seems a problem as insoluble as the evolution of a satisfactory helicopter. Are we really going back to the days of Ancient Rome when the business of a General was (we imagine) to lead the charge and to strike down with his own hand the foremost champions of the enemy ? There is one respect in which the Display reached a zenith in 1924, began to deteriorate last year, and has fallen off lamentably in the present programme. The point in question is the representation of the work of the three main divisions of the Royal Air Force. These divisions are :—first and fore- most, Air Defence ; secondly, Army Co-operation ; and thirdly the Coastal Area which includes the Fleet Air Arm. It is . well that the taxpayer should be made to realize that the Air Ministry has to provide squadrons to perform three* totally different functions, and that, though the Admiralty pays a good deal of the cost of the Fleet Air Arm, the War Office does not contribute anything. As for the coastal defence machines, their function would seem to be more con- cerned -with marine defence than with the other branches of R.A.F. work. All these go to swell the Air Estimates, and tend to create a popular impression that the Air Defence Force which Air Marshal Sir John Salmond com- mands is a very expensive force. For this reason as well as for other obvious reasons, it would be good policy to use the Display as an opportunity of forcing upon the public attention the three-fold duties for which the service side of the Air Ministry is responsible. This was done well in 1924, Less well in 1925, while in the programme for the present year it appears that it is not to be done at all. The Army Co-operation Squadrons get their event, namely, picking up messages from the infantry ; but the event takes place before lunch when the number of spectators is not at its greatest. The Coastal Area is not represented in any of the events, and in the parade of new and experimental types ; [" FLIGHT " Photographs THE THIRD R.A.F. "PAGEANT," 1922;: Some fine formation flying was executed by N». 24 Squadron (Kenley) on Bristol Fighters, their take-off in formation (shown above, right) creating much enthusiasm. 378
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