FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1931
1931 - 0615.PDF
Flifebt, June 26, 1931 AIRCRAFT ENGINEER AND AIRSHIPS First Aeronautical Weekly in the World. Founded January, 1909 Founder and Editor: STANLEY SPOONER A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM No. 1174. (Vol. XXIII. No. 26.) JUNE 26, 1931 Weekly, Price M.[Post free, 7Jd. Abroad, 8<1.r Editorial Offices: 36, GREAT QUEEN STREET, KINGSWAY, W.C.2. Telephone : (2 lines), Holborn 3211 and 1884. Telegrams : Truditur, Westcent, London. Annual Subscription Rate9, Post Free. United Kingdom .. 33s. Od. United States .. $8-75. Other Countries .. 35s. 0<J.» • Foreign subscriptions must be remitted in British currency. See last Editorial Page.) CONTENTS Editorial Comment: PAGE A Good Display Programme .. .. .. .. .. • • 569 Bad News from India . . • • • - - . . • • . • • 570 King's Cup .. .. .. .. .. .. .. •• •• 571 The Farman " Stratisphe ic" Aeroplane .. .. .. .• •• 572 Bristol Summer Meeting .. . . .. . • • • • • • - 573 Private Flying 575 Gliding ' 576 Air Transport 9 History of Britain'^ Air Arm.. .. .. .. .. •• 581-606 Airport News 608 Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . • . • • 609 Airisms from the Four Winds . . .. .. .. .. . - 610 Gliders and Gliding .. .. . • •. • • • • • • • • 612 Royal Air Force 615 Aircraft Companies' Stocks and Shares .. .. .. •• •• 616 DIARY OF CURRENT AND FORTHCOMING EVENTS Club Secretaries and others desirous of announcing the dates of importantfixtures are invited to send particulars far inclusionin this list:— 1931June 26. Aviation Day, Rochester Historical Pageant. June 26. A.I.D. Test House Inspection, Kidbrooke.June 26. R.A.F. Dinner Club Annual Dinner, Connaught Rooms. June 27. Royal Air Force Display, Hendon.June 28. Herts & Essex Gliding Club Air Display at Spel- brooke Bishop's Stortford.July 4. T.M.A.C, 3rd Wing, Inaugural Meeting, Stag Lane Aerodrome.July 4-5. Norfolk and Norwich Ae.C. At Home, Mousehold Aerodrome.July 4-6-7. Cricket. R.A.F. v. Army at the Oval. July 10-19. Circuit of Italy.July 15-16. Cricket. R.A.F. v. Civil Service at Uxbridge. July 18. Ramsgate Air Rally.July 18. Lincolnshire Ae.C. Air Pageant, Cleethorpes. July 22. Household Brigade Flying Club Meeting, Heston.July 25. King's Cup Race. July 25-30. Conference on Medical Utility of Aviation in theColonies, at International Colonial Exhibition, Paris. July25-Aug.9. Rhon Gliding Competitions, Germany.July 27-28. Cricket. R.A.F. v. Free Foresters at Camberley. Aug. 1-2-3. Southdown Skysailing Club's Annual Flying MeetingAug.3-4. Cricket. R.A.F. v. R.N. at Hal ton. Aug. 15. Scarborough Ae.C. Air Pageant.Aug. 15. Manchester-Liverpool Inter-City Race. Aug. 22. Newcastle-on-Tyne Meeting.Sept. 5. Norfolk and Norwich Ae.C. Display at Yarmouth. Sept. 5. Haldon Flying Meeting.Sept.12. Schneider Trophy Contest. Sept. 26. Garden Party, Bristol and Wessex Ae.C. EDITORIAL COMMENT HE special article which we, publish in the Supplement to this issue, dealing with the Royal Air Force Display, lays stress on one particular point, namely, that in a war where the pilots on both sides are approximately equal in skill and courage, victory in the air will incline to the side which has the best aircraft designers, and, it may be added, an industry which is capable of turning out the latest designs in sufficient numbers in a very short A Good time. The writer has illustrated his Display point by a sketch, necessarily brief Programme -when the magnitude of the subject is considered, of the development of the fighter aero- plane in the great war. While there was little to choose between the two von Richthofens and Man- nock, Ball and Barker, the real struggle for supremacy in the air was fought out between Antony Fokker and the German designers, on one side, and Geoffrey de Havilland, T. O. M. Sopwith, F. S. Barnwell and the Farnborough designers (to mention but a few), on the other. This emphasis on the fighter aeroplane does not imply any slight upon the bomber and recon- naissance machines. The Army could not get the best information about the enemy's dispositions if the machines which took photographs were not de- signed and equipped to be up to the work required of them. Likewise, the design of a bomber is a problem in which finality is never reached. A bomber requires range, the ability to lift a heavy load of bombs, and the capacity to ward off attacks by hostile fighters. Speed is a desirable quality in a bomber as in all other types of aircraft. A designer cannot give any one machine the maximum of all these qualities. A compromise is always necessary, and only practice in war or on manceuvres can give a decision as to which machine embodies the most useful compromise for a given purpose. The special aeroplane for army co-operation requires, perhaps, a greater variety of qualities than any other. During the war these problems came to light, and our designers began to discover the way in which they should be solved. But, during the war, at
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
