FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1928
1928 - 0780.PDF
AUGUST 23, 1928 counties. But if a county proposes to raise a squadron,the proposition is sure of a very sympathetic hearing. Next year it is hoped that the squadrons from the City of Glasgowand the City of Edinburgh will take part in the exercises. The Special Reserve squadrons are No. 502 Ulster BombingSquadron, No. 503 County of Lincoln B.S., No. 504 B.S. (at Hucknall, Nottinghamshire). Surely there are other countiesand cities in Great Britain which would wish to take part in this really important movement ! The Territorial R.E. Searchlights. On Thursday evening I wended my way, causing no littletrouble to the long-suffering escorting officers, to Kenley aerodrome. It was a splendidly lurid evening for the lastphase of the exercises, with great banks of clouds through which the sunset lights kept breaking. I found the pilotsof the fighters all very tired and short of sleep. The whole Fighting Area had been very hard worked during the fourdays. Not only had they put in many hours in the air, but the "standing by " had taken it out of them considerably.While I was there No. 23 F.S. was standing by, while No. 32 was more or less waking up from belated slumbers. All wereagreed that such intensive warfare with so few squadrons could not be carried on for much over four days, or the humanfactor would break down. While we were discussing this, the But the rear starboard " Horsley " was slightly out of forma-tion, and, seeing that, the " Gamecocks " concentrated on the one machine. We could see them diving onto it, andfancied we heard the rattle of their machine guns. Then the " Horsleys " climbed into the clouds, and fighters were notallowed to fly through clouds for fear of a collision. No. 23 Squadron broke up, working apparently two machinestogether, and quested round searching for a gap in the cloud bank through which they could climb. At intervals wecaught glimpses of the " Horsleys," and presently one of them emerged below the cloud bank, lost, and hunting forits comrades. At that moment a " Siskin " came up from behind us,flying high and straight. Who it was, where it came from, and what its business was, we could not guess. The " Game-cocks " were by now out of our ken and all our attention was fixed on the " Siskin." Would it see the lone " Horsley "?I wanted to shout and wave to it. Yes, something must have prompted the " Siskin " pilot to look over his rightshoulder, and he descried the " Horsley " several miles away from him. At once he turned and gave chase, thethrottle of his " Jaguar " full open. Steadily he overhauled it, climbed above it, and dived onto its tail. Then itmanoeuvred under its tail and put in a good burst from there. The sins of that " Horslev " had evidentlv found it out. mm Some A.A.F. "Nurses": Attending the Liberty engine of a D.H.9a. The regular partici- pation by A.A.F. units and the absence of forced landings prove the efficiency of the " amateur " engineers. [" FLIGHT " Photograph '••*• alarm sounded for No. 23 to go up. We dashed out of themess to the aerodrome, where the Hucks starter was hurrying frantically round from "Gamecock" to "Gamecock."The " Jupiters " were speedily running, and in less than 2 mins. the first flight was off the ground. No. 2 flight wasonly a couple of seconds later, followed by No. 3 less two machines. The squadron had run short of pilots. Saying good-bye to our hosts, we climbed into our car andwent off to find a searchlight post and learn something about its share in the war. Presently we found one, in charge of acaptain of Territorial R.E., wearing war ribbons. It was still not dark enough for the searchlight to be working, so wewere allowed to examine the sound-locator, the details of which must not be described. As we watched, a formationcame into sight below the very high bank of clouds, and binoculars showed it to be a flight of five " Horsleys." Thatmust be No. 100 B.S. from Andover, for No. 11 would have out either a squadron of nine or a flight of three machines.Almost at once a squadron of fighters, less two machines, was descried flying towards the raiders. Undoubtedlythe " Gamecocks " of No. 23 ! The coast watchers had given true tidings of the " Horsleys' " approach, and SirRobert Brooke-Popham had timed" the take-off of No. 23 nicely. They had been in the air just about an hour, andthey were now up many thousand feet. They engaged the bombers, but it seemed that they were met by heavy fire. The " Siskin " then banked and took up its former course, asit evidently was in a real hurry to get somewhere, and this little scrap had been an interruption. I need not describe a searchlight and I must not describea sound-locator, but, of course, all the praise due to the Auxiliary Air Force and to the corps of observers is also dueto the Territorials who work the lights. It used to be the fashion, previous to 1914, to consider Volunteers and Terri-torials fair butts for witticism. One does not qualify for the Volunteer Officers' Decoration without having learntthat. Now things are improved. The Territorials have proved that we cannot do without them, and the captainwho showed me his searchlight was a model of enthusiasm on his job. So were the men who obeyed his orders. Itwould be hard to improve upon them. All the same, it is my opinion that air defence is the job of the Royal Air Force,and that every unit which contributes to that defence ought to be in blue uniform, not in khaki ; even as the armouredcars in Iraq are R.A.F. units and are not lent by the War Office. The searchlights work in groups of three, and where thethree beams intersect there is probably a night bomber. If he is not actually at the point of intersection, he is probablynot far off, and the fighters know that it is usually worth while going up to investigate. The diffused light from the beamsmay reveal to them a bomber which has not actually been 724
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
