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Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0283.PDF
FLIGHT, MARCH 27, 1931 o!.".-vr in this position has been appointed to R.A.F. work.,.., -r tlian that on aircraft carriers. The Fleet Air Arm i. rks with ship 'planes with wheels, not with seaplanes, but-::il a naval officer may be expected to know a lot about ; ..ndling craft on the water. We have no doubt that Brinton;...> also shown himself to be above the average when in the •r, and his chance of flying one of the machines in thei aitest will depend entirely on his merit as a seaplane pilot. : rom among these seven, we certainly ought to find threepilots as good as any who have flown for Great Britain in the I iast. The Date and the CourseThe Royal Aero Club announced, on Monday, 23rd, that the Schneider Contest will be held on Saturday, September 12,over the Solent and Spithead. It was added that " The Royal Aero Club has given the fullest consideration to theclaims of other localities but, after careful review of the facilities available, and the prevailing conditions at eachplace, has decided that the Solent and Spithead provides the most suitable stretch of water for the safe and efficientconduct of the contest." The detailed course has vet to be decided. RE-EQUIPPING R.A.F. SQUADRONS The "Fury," the '-Gordon" and the "Hart Fighter" **HE following is the programme for re-equippingsquadrons of the Royal Air Force in the first two quarters of the present year. In the first quarterthe squadrons to receive new types of aeroplanes are as follows :— No. 28 (Army Co-operation) Squadron (Ambala) or No.31 (Army Co-operation) Squadron (Quetta), Wapiti for Bristol Fighter (re-equipment to be commenced).No. Ill (Fighter) Squadron (Hornchurch), Bulldog for Siskin. No. 501 (City of Bristol) (Bomber) Squadron, Wapiti forD.H.9.A. (re-equipment completed). No. 203 (Flying Boat) Squadron (Basra), Rangoon forSouthampton (re-equipment completed). No. 10 (Bomber) Squadron (Upper Heyford), Hinaidi forHyderabad (re-equipment to be commenced). For the April-June quarter the programme is as follows :— No. 23 (Fighter) Squadron (Kenley), 1 Flight with HartFighter for Gamecock. No. 43 (Fighter) Squadron (Tangmere), Fury for Siskin.No. 40 (Bomber) Squadron (new squadron), to be equipped with the Fairey Gordon with Panther 2A engine.No. 28 (Army Co-operation) Squadron, or No. 31 (Army Co-operation) Squadron, Re-equipment with Wapiti to becompleted ; -Re-equipment of the other with Wapiti to be commenced. The above list is full of interest. We heartily congratulatethat very fine squadron, No. 43 F.S., whose performance with wing tips looped together at Hendon and Croydon lastsummer aroused universal admiration, on being selected for the first issue of Hawker " Fury " interceptor fighters. Thesquadron has won this distinction on its merits ; but it is also interesting to note that the " Fury " will in the firstinstance go to Tangmere, one of the coast aerodromes. Whether tactical considerations have influenced the selectionof the first squadron to receive the interceptor, we cannot at present say ; but it will be interesting to see whether thenext Air Exercises show that a coast aerodrome is the right place for the interceptor or not. Squadron Leader Slatterwill have quite as interesting and busy a summer this year as he had in 1927, when he commanded the Schneider team. A very interesting experiment (for we suppose that itcannot be called anything else at the moment) is the re- appearance in the R.A.F. of a two-seater fighter. One flightof No. 23 F.S. is to receive the " Hart Fighter," doubtless with the idea of trying out thoroughly whether a two-seaterfits in with modern ideas of fighting tactics. In the Fleet Air Arm, the " Osprey," which is another version of the" Hart," is being introduced as a Reconnaissance Fighter. No. 23 F.S. is to be congratulated on having been selectedto make this very interesting experiment. It is the only squadron which still has the" Gamecock" ; and though thatmachine has always been popular with fighter pilots, it is certainly an obsolescent type. Another innovation is giving the " Wapiti " to two armyco-operation squadrons in India. Hitherto the standard A.C. machine has been the " Atlas," but these two squadronshave had to cany on with the old " Bristol Fighter." Over- seas the " Wrapiti " has been a general purpose machine,and so far has only been handed out to bomber squadrons. Now we see army co-operation squadrons also getting it. Itwill undoubtedly serve the purpose very well. All the four bomber squadrons in India already use the " Wapiti " andnow the army co-operation squadrons are getting the same type. It is well fulfilling its title of a general-purpose machine,and it will be a great advantage for the stores branch in India to have to deal only with one type.Another item in the programme of considerable interest is that a new squadron, No. 40 B.S. is to start its career withwhat is partially a new type, namely the " Gordon." This is a Fairey 3F machine with Panther 2A engine. The air-cooledengine will look strange at first in the nose of the familiar " 3F," but it is performance which matters. One more squadron gets the " Bulldog," namely, No. IllF.S. We confess that we should like to see the replacement of " Siskins " proceeding at a more rapid pace, but a goodbeginning has been made in this programme, and we look forward to the publication of subsequent replacement pro-grammes with more than a little interest. At St. James's Palace AT the Levee held by His Majesty the King at St.James's Palace, on March 24, the following were present : Air Marshal Sir E. Ellington, Principal Air Aide-de-Camp,Group Captain L. W. B. Rees, Wing-Commander Louis Greig, and the Rt. Hon. Lord Amulree, Secretary of Stateor Air. Amongst those pressnted to His Majesty the King were:—Flight-Lieut. J. Addams, Flight-Lieut. J. Armour,Flight-Lieut. D. Bett, Flying Officer V. Bowling, Flight- Lieut. D. Boyle, Flying Officer G. Buxton, Wing-CommanderF. Cowtan, Sqdn.-Leader J. D'Albiac, D.S.O., Sqdn.-Leader A. Ellerton, O.B.E., Sqdn.-Leader O. Gayford, D.F.C.,Group Capt. L. Gordon, D.F.C., Wing-Commander A. Gregory, M.B.E., M.C., Wing-Commander W. Hargrave,O.B.E., Flight-Lieut. G. Hayes, Flying Officer F. E. Hayter, Flying Officer H. Hayter, Air Vice-Marshal F. Holt, C.M.G.,D.S.O., Wing-Commander B. Huskisson, D.S.C., Sqdn.- Leader H. James, O.B.E., Flying Officer G. Klein, FlyingOfficer J. Markby, Air Commodore J. Mclntyre, M.C., Group -apt. A. Miley, 6.B.E., Wing-Commander E' Norton, D.S.C.,Flight-Lieut. H. Nowell, Flying Officer H. Piper, Flight- -ieut. J. Ryde, Flying Officer V. Smuth, Sqdn.-Leader C.Stevens, M.C., Group Capt. B. Sutton, D.S.O., O.B.E., M.C., 7light.-Lieut. R, Waite, Sqdn.-Leader F. Wilkins, etc. U.S. Airman Adrift for Four Days AN American pilot, Mr. Harshman, was picked up onMarch 22 by the Hamburg-Amerika ss. Cerigo, adrift in a rubber boat in the Pacific, and brought into Buenaventura,Colombia. He stated that he was forced down on March 17 by exhaustion of his petrol. After a while his machine sank,and he remained four days afloat in the rubber boat— worried by sharks—before he was sighted and picked up. Revised S.M.A.E. Competition Rules. IN our issue of March 13, we published the revised generalcompetition rules issued by the Society of Model Aeronauti- cal Engineers, in which a formula for fuselage models wasgiven. We are requested to point out that this was incorrect and should read as follows : Minimum value of maximumcross-sectional area = /overall length of body\ V io J T.M.A.C. Meeting THE inaugural meeting of the 2nd Wing (Nos. 4, 5 and6 Squadrons) of The Model Aeroplane Club will be held at Parliament Hill on Sunday, March 29, at 11 a.m. 267 B 2
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