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Aviation History
1928
1928 - 0252.PDF
separate air force whose function should be the larger and wider aims of war. As our slogan we adopted the phrase " One Air Service, one Uniform, one Badge," and we continued to preach this doctrine in and out of season, until at last,, on April 1, 1918, we had the satisfaction of being able to record the establishment of the independent service for which we had been asking, under the title the Royal Air Force. Space does not permit of going into detail concerning the history of the Royal Air Force during the first ten years of its existence, but it may be of interest to recall briefly that when the war ended in November of 1918, we had an air force numbering something like 200 squadrons and about 150,000 officers and men. Sir Hugh Trenchard, who then was, and still is, the service head of the R.A.F., was then faced with the incredibly difficult task of reducing this great air force to proportions more in keeping with peace conditions. The R.A.F. was gradually reduced in numbers, first to 79,570, then to 29,730 in 1920-21, and since then the service has varied in numbers between 36,000 in 1925-26, and 32,500 in the present year. Throughout it has been the chief aim of Air Marshal Sir Hugh Trenchard to keep the Royal Air Force efficient. In that we think it will be generally admitted he has succeeded, and the British Royal Air Force is, today, a service which need fear no comparison with any air force in the world. While its numbers have decreased, the duties of the Royal Air Force have multiplied, and thus by its very efficiency, the R.A.F. has saved the British taxpayer vast sums of money by taking over from the Army the policing of Iraq, a difficult task which the R.A.F. has carried out with commendable effect. " Control without occupation," is a phrase for which APRIL 5, 1928 we are indebted to Sir Samuel Hoare, and it very aptly describes the advantage of entrusting the maintenance of law and order to the Royal Air Force. That the R.A.F. has not attained its present posi- tion without opposition will be well known to our readers. For a number of years the Navy carried out periodically a strenuous propaganda having for its object the establishment, or rather re-establishment, of a Naval air service. That the Navy failed in its attempts has been very largely due to Sir Hugh Trenchard, and we believe that the Royal Air Force has now become so firmly established that no agitation can ever result in any serious harm being done to it. Its first ten years have been eventful ones, and full of difficulties. But its motto is still Per Ardua ad Astra. May we always be as proud of our R.A.F. as we are on its tenth birthday. • • * A short time ago we referred to the 500 question as to which was the more Km./h. impressive figure: 300 m.p.h. or 500 km./h. The regrettable accident to Lieut. Kinkead prevented us from discovering the actual speed of which the Supermarine-Napier S.5 is capable, and now the Italian pilot, Maj. de Bernardi, has settled the speed problem by being the first to exceed both the 300 m.p.h. and the 500 km./h., his feat will make it all the more difficult for Great Britain to gain the world's speed record, but that in no way lessens our admiration for the Italian effort. De Bernardi's average speed over the 3 km. course of 512 • 776 km. /h. (318-5 m.p.h.) was a magnificent triumph, and he, as well as the Macchi and Fiat companies which pro- duced the machine and engine, deserve our sincerest and unstinted congratulations. ["FLIGHT" photograph OUT AGAIN : The de Havilland " Moth " fitted with Handley Page automatic slots, was in dock but a veryfew days after its recent argument with the ground. It is here seen flying again, piloted by Capt. Hubert Broad. 224
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