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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0831.PDF
FLIGHT, AUGUST 19, 1932 A Vickers " Vildebeest " (Bristol " Pegasus ") with which No. 100 B.S. is to be re-equipped this summer. (FLIGHT Photo.) Ancient Club, has brought it fame and has induced inva sions from other counties and kingdoms. Still, from north and south it is not easy of access. The good burghers of Edinburgh spend much time gazing across the Forth at the hills of Fife, but to get from the capital across the water and arrive at a given time requires fore thought, The famous Forth Bridge takes the trains across, but has no roadway. Trains are useful, but they do not always start just when you want them to. To go by road means driving up to Stirling, crossing the river there, and coming back along the northern bank. There is a ferry which will take cars across, but it, too, does not always start when you want it, and it is not cheap. In fact, to get from Edinburgh to Fife is a problem which is most easily solved by air transport ; so if you have a friend at Turnhouse aerodrome who will fly you across, it is as well to accept his good offices. The trip is short, but, unless the Forth is much obscured by " haar," the view is fine, and it is fascinating to see the great Forth Bridge down below, looking like a twisted ribbon. If you should land on Donibristle aerodrome, your pilot needs to keep his wits about him. It is a picturesquely situated aerodrome, and picturesqueness and happy land ings do not accord too well together. The latter call for a bleak blank plain, with lots of room and nothing in par ticular to admire. The charming wooded hill in the neigh bourhood of Donibristle makes for whimsical down cur rents of air, and the aerodrome itself is not of the largest. Moreover, what there is of it is cut up considerably by the tail-skids of the heavy " Horsleys." Moreover also, if the machine on which you have come over has wheel brakes, let your pilot again be cautious. It is so tempting to put them on if the boundary hedge seems to be coming unpleasantly near, but if they make your wheels stick suddenly in a muddy, rutty surface, your propeller may find the ground quite as damaging as the hedge would have been. Used with due caution, however, brakes will be a present help in trouble. Apart from its somewhat limited area and its truly rural surroundings, Donibristle is an admirable site for a coast defence squadron. It is within easy reach of Rosyth, and warships are constantly going up and down the Forth. Naturally, most of them have to run the gauntlet of the dummy torpedoes of No. 100 B.S. That adds great in terest to the life of the squadron, and it must be quite good fun for the Royal Navy, too. Take for example the little story told by our photographs. H.M.S. Champion is going down the Forth from Rosyth one morning on her lawful occasions. The naval authorities duly inform Wing Commander G. S. M. Insall, V.C., M.C., who commands the station of Donibristle, and he arranges with Sqd. Ldr. L. G. le B. Croke, the CO. of No. 100 B.S., for a flight of " Horsleys " to go up and take tea with her as she goes. Up go the three great machines in formation, the " Condors " barking as birds of prey should do. From up above, the Forth makes a glorious sight with hills on both shores. To the south can be seen the castle rock of Edinburgh, once stormed by Robert Bruce's men and more recently bombed by a Zeppelin, and beyond it lies the small but quite imposing range of Pentland Hills. The Forth itself is dotted with picturesque rugged little islands, of which Inchkeith is the most important. To-day, A GROUP OF OFFICERS AT DONIBRISTLE : L. to R.:—P/O. V. P. J. G. Doherty, P/O. G. L. C. Jenkins, Wing Cmdr. G. S. M. Insall, V.C., M.C. (Station Commander), Fit. Lt. R. Jones, Fit. Lt. G. V. T. Thomson, F/O. C. E. Morse, F/O. C. E. Spencer. (FLIGHT Photo.) 775
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