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Aviation History
1926
1926 - 0786.PDF
OCTOBER 28, being buffeted about. On this occasion the Squadron Com- mander did not fly in the formation, but cruised around some distance away, thus obtaining always a view of the whole of the squadron. This should materially facilitate keeping an eye on the various units, and it is somewhat of a mystery how the Squadron Leader of the famous 25 Squadron manages to see what each of his pilots is doing, since to do so would appear to require telescopic and universally pivoted eyes. The "Heavy Stuff" Immediately the " Siskin " squadron had landed, two AirForce squadrons of Vickers " Virginias " from Nos. 7 and 9 Bombing Squadrons, flew over the aerodrome in formation.What this squadron of ten huge bombers lacked in agility it made up for by sheer weight, and it was estimated that theten machines as they flew across the aerodrome represented something like 80 tons of matter (some of it very unpleasantmatter for somebody in time of war) in the air. The next item on the programme was a display by Mrs.Eliott-Lynn on a De Havilland " Moth." Mrs. Eliott-Lynn, noticed that the whole of the flying was done with the slotsopen, so that although one got an excellent impression of how- slow this machine can fly, one was unable to form an opinionof what sort of top speed it has with slots closed, although this is believed to be distinctly good, and probably even betterthan the figure of 118 m.p.h. given in FLIGHT recently. While some of the visitors were tasting the joys of flyingin modern passenger aircraft, others paid a visit to the hangars near the level crossing, where the control of aircraft operatingon the cross-Channel routes as conducted in the aerodrome control tower was duplicated. A similar reproduction wasmade of the working of the air route meteorological service, while a very interesting exhibit was that of the AircraftOperating Co., Ltd., and the Air Survey Co., Ltd., who illustrated the progress which has been made in air survey-ing. Much work has already been done by these companies in various parts of the British Empire. Thus it may berecollected that in South Burma an aerial survey of some- thing like 15,000 square miles of forest was done in aboutthree months' flying. By ordinary means a similar survey would, it is estimated, have taken several years. Forest ["FLIGHT" Photograph 80 TONS OF MATTER IN THE AIR : A squadron of Vickers "Virginia" night-bombers flying over the Croydon aerodrome in formation. whose " swan song " this was believed to be, wheeled the" Moth " out of its hangar, unfolded its wings and took the air, and after giving a series of evolutions she alighted,again folded the wings of her machine, and garaged it. In the meantime, Flight-Lieut. Bulman went up on the Hawker" Cygnet " on which he won the Daily Mail competition recently, while Flying Officer Ragg ascended in the R.A.E.Aero Club's " Cygnet," the two machines performing in the air together. A number of commercial aircraft then went up carryingfull loads of passengers drawn from the more distinguished visitors to the aerodrome, and it is significant that, althoughseveral mofe machines than those originally scheduled to give " joy rides-*" were pressed into service, there were long queuesof people lining up for each flight. The Armstrong-Whitworth "Argosy" was the type which "did most of the trade,"and the manner in which this machine leaps off the ground and climbs almost like a scout is truly amazing, this, ofcourse, being due to the reserve of power which arises out of the fact that the machine is designed not only to fly levelbut to climb with any one of its three engines stopped. The Handley Page "Hamlet" also " evoluted", but it was stock maps were prepared on a 1-in. scale, which showed theboundaries between 13 different forest types, a subsequent check on the work carried out from the ground proving theboundaries to be verv nearly as accurate as if they had been fixed by normal methods. At the end of the passenger flights and the inspection ofthe various exhibits in the hangars the machines commenced taking off for their home stations, and it was then that onehad an opportunity of seeing some of our more recent Service types in flight. Particularly impressive among these wasthe Fairey " Fox," the Fairey " Felix " engine of which emits a most reassuring note of a character likely to bemusic in the ears of a pilot. This sound is quite different from any given out by any British aero engine, and withoutseeing this machine one could easily identify it by the sound. As we said last week, we sincerely hope that an opportunitywill be afforded the Dominion representatives of going to some seaplane station in order to see the latest developmentin British marine aircraft. We understand that a visit will be paid to Cardington for the purpose of studying airshipwork, and we trust that time and opportunity may be found also for a visit to a seaplane station. 702
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