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Aviation History
1926
1926 - 0782.PDF
OCTOBER 28, 1926 CROYDON AIR DEMONSTRATION Impressive Spectacle Staged before Dominion Representatives ALTHOUGH many of our latest types of aircraft were absentfrom the demonstration given at Croydon on Saturday last for the benefit of the Dominion representatives gathered inLondon for the Imperial Conference, there can be not the slightest doubt that the display gave a picture of very con-siderable progress made in the science and art of aviation since the last demonstration of this kind. This progress was trace-able, as regards flying material, more on the civilian than on the Service side, but this was due to the fact that whereasall but one of our commercial types of aeroplanes were present at the demonstration, a number of new types of Serviceaircraft were absent for one reason or another. On the other hand the flying displays given demonstrated the very greatstrides that have been made of recent years in the handling of aircraft by Service pilots and the display given by pioltsof 41 Squadron of air manipuvres by radio-telephony cannot have failed to impress our Dominion visitors, although thestrong gusty wind which was blowing at the time rendered the work of the pilots a good deal more difficult than it wouldhave been in calmer weather. The Dominion Ministers and High Commissioners and othervisitors were received by the Secretary of State for Air, which might be required. The visitors grouped themselvesinto smaller parties and commenced making the round of the machines. Mr. Bruce, the Australian Prime Minister, inparticular, making a most thorough inspection of all the different types. One gathered the impression that Mr. Bract-is very keenly interested in and alive to the possibilities of aviation in Australia, an indication of the determination ofthe Commonwealth of Australia to make every possible use of the advantages which aircraft have to offer. A complete list of the types of aircraft present at the demon-stration was given in last week's issue of FLIGHT, and sothere is no need to repeat the list this week. Among some of the newer types of Service aircraft that were inspected, thefollowing attracted considerable attention, and came in for very favourable comment by discerning visitors : in the single-seater fighter class the Hawker " Woodcock " and the Gloster " Gamecock " and " Grebe " and the Armstrong-Whitworth " Siskin." It seemed rather a pity that our four latest high-speed single-seater fighters were unable to bepresent, these being, of course, the Avro " Avenger," the Hawker " Hornbill," the Fairy " Firefly " and the Gloster" Gorcock." Among the single-engined day-bombers the [" FLIGHT " Photograph BRITISH MINISTERS AND THEIR DOMINION GUESTS AT CROYDON : Left to right : Sir Philip Sassoon,Under-Secretary of State for Air ; Mr. Mackenzie King, Canadian Premier ; the Maharajah of Burdwan ; Sir Samuel Hoare, Secretary of State for Air ; Mr. Bruce, Prime Minister of Australia ; General Herzog, Prime Minister of South Africa ; and Mr. Monroe, Premier of Newfoundland. Sir Samuel Hoare, and by Air Chief Marshal Sir HughTrenchard, who were accompanied by Sir Philip Sassoon, Under-Secretary of State for Air, the Right Hon. WinstonChurchill, the Right Hon. L. S. Amery and Mrs. Amery, Air Marshal Sir John Salmond, Air Vice-Marshal Sir GeoffreySalmond and Lady Salmond, and Air Vice-Marshal Sir Sefton Brancker, Director of Civil Aviation. The day wasby no means an ideal one for such a demonstration, a cold north-easterly wind blowing right across the aerodrome, thedirection being such that it was impossible to find shelter from it anywhere. It is estimated that some 200 visitorsattended the demonstration, as the guests of the Government Hospitality Fund. Upon arrival at the aerodrome it wasfound that a large number of different types of aircraft, ranging in size and power from the small two-seater light'plane to the largest three-engined commercial aircraft, were lined up in the aircraft " park." and the first item of theday's programme was an inspection of all these. In the case of the Service types the pilots and crews of the machines werestanding by in order to give to the visitors any explanation Hawker " Horsley " with Rolls-Royce " Condor " and theFairey " Fox " with Fairey " Felix " were particularly admired, the former for its impressive size and generallybusinesslike appearance, and the latter for its clean lines and absence of excrescences. A Fairey " Fawn " was decoratedwith an air screw projecting on a bracket from the side of the fuselage and placed horizontally, and might have given theuninitiated the impression that this machine was gradually growing into an " Autogiro " The crew in charge of themachine explained, however, that the " Fawn " was used for towing targets for anti-aircraft gunnery practice, and thatthe function of the windmill was to wind in the 6,000 feet of cable or so, which connects the target to the machine. Whennot in use the windmill was turned into a horizontal position. The night-bombing class of aeroplanes included theVickers " Virginia " and " Vimy " and the Handley Page " Hyderabad." The troop-carrier class of aeroplane was represented by aVickers " Victoria " fitted with two Napier " Lions." This machine carries, in addition to its crew, 24 fully-equipped
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