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Aviation History
1929
1929 - 0371.PDF
FEBRUARY 21, 1929 IN PARLIAMENT Afghanistan and Kabul Evacuations SIR A. CHAMBERLAIN, on February 13, in reply to Mr. Day, said the follow-ing men, women and children were evacuated from Kabul by the Royal Air Force between December 23, 1928, and February 11, 1929 : British subjects, 216 ; Afghans, 32 ; French, 11 ; Germans, 34 ; Italians, 4 ;Persians, 19 ; Roumanians, 1 ; Swiss, 1 ; Syrians, 5 ; Turks, 42 ; United States citizens, 1. Making a total of 366, of whom some 280 were womenand children. Air Services in Africa VISCOUNT SANDON asked the Secretary of State for Air what steps arebeing taken to avoid the imminent monopoly of air transport and develop- ment throughout Africa by France and Belgium; and whether any Britishexploitation is to be anticipated immediately ? Sir S. Hoare : I am aware that proposals are on foot for the establishmentof new French and Belgian air services in West Africa, but I do not think there is any likelihood of their adoption resulting in the monopoly feared. ImperialAirways should be operating a service between London and Alexandria by about April 1, and I hope that this air service may be supplemented beforelong by another between Egypt and the Cape, proposals for which I am already considering. Bombing Accident MR. WARDLAW-MILNE asked the Under-Secretary of State for Indiawhether he has now received a full report upon the Peshawar bombing accident and, if so, if he will give the contents and the result of the inquiry made intothe occurrence ? Earl VVinterton : The following is the text of a statement made on thesubject in the Indian Legislative Assembly on February 11. His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief has received and considered thereport of the Court of Inquiry appointed to investigate the terrible accident that occurred at Peshawar on January 23. The story of the accident is asfollows : Bombing practice with live bombs is part of the normal training in units ofthe Royal Air Force and is regularly carried out by them over areas of ground which are reserved as bombing ranges in the same way as artillery and rifleranges are reserved for use by artillery and troops of the line. There is a bombing range in the neighbourhood of Jamrud, which is used by the RoyalAir Force stationed in Peshawar. It had been decided by the local Air Force authorities that bombing practice should be carried out on this range on Janu-ary 21, 22, 23, and 25. On such occasions the Royal Air Force unit concerned is responsible for taking certain preliminary steps. It has to notify thedistrict magistrate and obtain from him a statement that there is no objection to bombing taking place on the range on the dates mentioned. It has furtherto notify the superintendent of police, the Tehsildar and the local military headquarters, in order that human beings and cattle may be safely cleared offthe ground before practice begins, and in order that both the civil and military authorities in the station may be made aware of the fact that bombing is totake place. All these precautions were duly complied with on January 12, by the officer commanding No. 20, Army Co-operation Squadron, the unit ofthe Royal Air Force concerned ; and, in addition, a copy of the notice was sent direct to the officer commanding, Poona Horse, as that regiment wouldbe required in accordance with the usual procedure, to provide four troopers and a non-commissioned officer to help in clearing the danger area of humanbeings and cattle at the times and on the dates mentioned. Notice of bombing practice appeared in the ordinary course in the local military orders ofJanuary 16. Some days later it was decided at short notice by the local armoured carauthorities to allow, for the benefit of an Inspecting Officer, a technical exercise which had been carried out by an armoured car company over a large area,which included the Royal Air Force bombing range, on January 11. A feature of this exercise on both occasions was that a squadron of cavalry should enactthe role of a party of raiders supposed for the purpose of the exercise to tx- escaping from Peshawar over the border. It was the function of the armouredcar company engaged in this exercise to cut off the supposed raiders before they could have made their way into tribal territory. Arrangements were accord-ingly made by the Officer Commanding, Armoured Car Company, in Peshawar through the authorities concerned, for the repetition of the tactical exercisewhich I have described to take place on January 23, which was the third of the dates already notified for bombing practice by the Royal Air Force ontheir bombing range. On the morning of the 23rd, the " Safeties " that i s the officer of the Royal Air Force who was detailed to supervise the clearingof the bombing range for live bomb practice, went down early to the range where he met the four Sowars and the non-commissioned officer, who had beensent to help him. It was raining and the lorry which should have brought the Air Force personnel required for duties on the ground during the bombingpractice, as well as the signals which are used on such occasions, had not arrived. The Safety Officer thereupon went back to the aerodrome at Pesha-war, a distance of four miles, on his bicycle. He found the delay to have been due to the fact that the weather conditions were not very good, and that ithad not yet been decided whether the bombing practice would take place that morning or not. While he was there, a machine was sent up to test the weather.The Safety Officer was meanwhile told to return to the range and clear it, and, if no bombing had taken place by 10.30 to pack up and return. This was at about 9 a.m. The Safety Officer accordingly returned to th£ bombing range, this time in a tender, accompanied by two armourers and anIndian driver, taking with him the signals required on the range. He made his preparations for clearing the range, and sent out Sowars to remove anycattle and human beings that might be on the ground. At that moment " C" Squadron Poona Horse, which had been detailed for the tacticalexercise appeared with two British officers, neither of whom appears to have known that bombing practice was to take place that day. The party wereanxious to get across to the other side of the bombing range in order to carry out their part in the exercise. After some colloquy, the Safety Officer agreedto the squadron crossing the ground as there was ample time for it to do this before the range was cleared. The squadron accordingly moved off, led by thetwo British officers, to cross the range. Meanwhile the Safety Officer pro- ceeded to lay out upon the ground a signal which would be read by anyaeroplane coming over the bombing range and which means " await further signal • do not bomb." He had only just finished doing this when a bombfell from an aeroplane on to the squadron which was now some distance away, but still crossing the danger area. The o fficer who was piloting the aeroplanehad arrived immediately before at a height of 4,000 ft. over the bombing range, and had mistaken the signal to wait for the signal which means " allclear." This officer had, it would seem, good reason to suppose that the ground would have been cleared by the time that he arrived. The men of thesquadron were dressed in khaki overcoats, as it was raining, and wore white turbans. They were not seen by either of the two occupants ; and a verycareful reconstruction of the accident convinced the Court of Inquiry that a squadron thus clad could not have been seen from that altitude in the con-ditions prevailing. Both occupants had their eyes fixed on the target from which the squadronwas then about 200 yards distant. The bomb over-shot the target and, falling as it did upon the squadron in close formation, caused fearful havoc. ThreeIndian officers and 10 nJn-commissioned officers and Sowars were either killed on the spot or succumbed to their injuries the same day ; 12 non-commissionedofficers and Sowars were injured, of whom three subsequently died in hospital. Sixteen horses were killed. Fifteen were injured and had to be destroyed.Medical aid was rushed to the spot as soon as possible, and everything that could be done for the injured was done. The next-of-kin of the deceased wereinformed without delay, both by telegraph and by letter, and shortly after- wards messages of sympathy from His Excellency the Viceroy, the Secretariesof State for India, War and Air, His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, and the AirOfficer Commanding the Royal Air Force in India were received and conveyed to them. The Government of India considered immediately the question whetherspecial compensation or gratuities should be paid to the heirs of those who were killed, and also to those who were permanently injured. Under theordinary rules both these categories are entitled to pensions on an adequate scale, and pensions will be issued in the ordinary course. In addition, theGovernment of India have decided to grant to the heirs of the three Indian officers who have been killed gratuities on the same scale as are admissiblewhen death is caused by active service, namely, Rs. 1,200 to the heirs of Risaldars. and Rs. 600 each to the heirs of Jamadars. They are also sanction-ing gratuities of Rs. 200 each to the heirs of non-commissioned officers and Sowars. For such of the injured as may have to be discharged to pension,they are sanctioning disability pensions at a special rate instead of the ordinary- rate. From information at present before them, Government are provisionallyof the opinion that the following were the principal contributory cause? of the accident :First, the fact that certain authorities who had at different times received information both of the forthcoming bombing practice on January 23, andof the intended tactical exercise which was to be held in the vicinity on the same day, failed to connect these two events in their minds. It was thisfailure of memory and co-ordination that in the first instance apparently rendered the accident possible. Secondly, the despatch of the bombing aeroplane over the range beforethere had been time to clear the range. Thirdly, the mistaking of the warning signal for the signal that all wasclear. i The Court of Inquiry has found certain officers to blame in connectionwith the causes that I have mentioned. His Excellency the Commander-in- Chief has most carefully considered the proceedings of the Court ot Inquiryand the opinions of the local commanders, and has decided that summaries of evidence should be prepared with a view to the trial of certain officersby court-martial. To some extent, the disaster may be found attributable to a combination of mischances against which no amount of forethought couldhave prevailed. On the other hand, it may be found due also to failure in judgment on the part of individuals or to some defect in the prescribedsystem of safeguards. I would ask the hon. members of this House and through them, the press and public, not to form too hasty conclusions, andabove all not to express opinions or conjectures that might in any way prejudice the judicial proceedings. I need hardly add that the sympathies of the Government and, I am sure,of the whole House, go out to the men who have been disabled, and to the widows and children of those who have perished so tragically and so suddenlyin the prime Of lueir lives and in the performance of their duty. New R.A.F. College CONSTRUCTION is beginning on the new R.A.F. Cadet College at Cranwell. This was provided for in the Air Estimates of the current financial vear. Lecture on R.A.F. Far East Flight THE first of the lectures which Group Capt. Cave-Brown- Cave will give in connection with the recent R.A.F. Flying- boat Cruise to the Far East will be read before the Royal Aeronautical Society (and Institute of Aeronautical Engineers) on March 4 next. The title of the lecture will be " The Royal Air Force Far East Flight," and it will deal with the technical problems of the flight. It will be illustrated with a large number of photographs, many of which have not been shown before. Will those who wish to attend make a special note that the lecture will take place (at 6.30 p.m.) in the Lecture Hall of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, Savoy Place, Victoria Embankment, London, W.C.2, and not at the Royal Society of Arts. Celebration of Bleriot's Channel Flight IN view of the great progress now made by aviation, it is difficult to realise that it is not yet 20 years since the first cross-Channel flight was made by Bleriot. The anniversary of this event is to be celebrated at Calais on July 25 by fetes organised by the Aero Club de France and the Ligue Aero- nautique de France. The occasion is also to be marked by the issue of a propaganda stamp designed by M. Henry Sarusard, president of the Aeronautical Society of the Pas de Calais. The design shows on the right the rising sun, and on the left the sea and cliffs of Dover, with Bleriot's machine on its way towards England. Beneath this design appears the single word : " Bleriot." 147
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