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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0351.PDF
area. Probably in real warfare a single " Southampton " could not have maintained its position over the Fleet all the afternoon when the Fleet included carriers. A single " Southampton " has some blind spots, and might be hard put to it to hold its own against a flight of " Ospreys." But before the next war comes (if it ever does) the " Southamptons " will have been replaced by something more modern. It may not be long, perhaps, before No. 201 gets " Scapas." By the same token, No. 201 Squadron is the only " Southampton " squadron to have an establishment of five aircraft. The others have only four. Therefore, if formation flying is a necessity for protection against attacks by fighters, we must have more flying boat squadrons, for a formation would be needed to do the work done last September by single boats. The normal work of the squadron includes co-operation with the anti-submarine flotilla at Portland and with the Rear Admiral (Submarines) at Portsmouth, exercises with the Home Fleet, photography, normal collection of data for record purposes about points on the coast, signalling with wireless, semaphore, and lamp, interception of ships, practice in methods of search, navigation, instrument-flying, and night flying to find darkened ships. All this makes a FLIGHT, APRIL 12, 1934 very mixed bill of fare. The officers also have to be ex-perts at identifying warships and other sea craft. On the Coast Defence Exercises it was astonishing to note howgood were their sea eyes. It is impossible to hold binocu- lars steady in a boat vibrating with the revolutions oftwo Napier 450-h.p. " Lion " engines, but the officers on the flying boat could see aircraft taking off from carriers4,000 ft. below, which were invisible to the eyes of a landsman. Likewise the navigation was of a very highorder, when after circling over the Fleet for some five hours out of sight of land the boat on its return madelandfall only 3J miles out of its reckoning. Seaplane work in winter is a very cold job, but it isalways fascinating. Moreover, there is always the feeling that in time it will be flying boats which will link up thedefence of the different ports of the Empire and make safe the airways, possibly also the seaways, between them.In the narrow seas round the British Isles there may be less need for range and more need for speed than overseas.We look to the flying boats to defeat enemy submarines, and to convoy our food ships safely to harbour. And whatmore we may come to expect of them, time alone will show. Royal Air Force Squadrons OTHER descriptive articles concerning the work ofvarious R.A.F. Squadrons, etc., have been published in FLIGHT as follow : — H.M. Aircraft Carrier Glorious. May 16, 1930.No. 4 (Army Co-operation) Sq., (South Farnborough) ; No. 17 (Fighter), Sq. (Upavon); and No. 33 (Bomber), Eastchurch. June 27, 1930.No. 601 (County of London) (B.) Sq., A.A.F. (at Lympne). August 15,1930. No. 43 (Fighter) Sq. (Tangmere). September 19, 1930.No. 2 (Army Co-operation) Sq. (Manston). December 19, 1930. No. 101 (Bomber) Sq. (Andover). April 24, 1931.Nos. 240 and 209 (Flying-Boat) Sq. (Mount Batten). June 12, 1931. " 1890-1912-1931." (An outline of the Growth of the R.A.F.) June 26, 1931.Cambridge University Air Sq. (at Old Saram). July 10, 1931. Central Flying School (Wittering). July 17, 1931.Submarine Aircraft Carrier " M.2." July 31, 1931. Oxford University Air Sq. (at Eastchurch). August 7, 1931.No. 600 (City of London) (Bomber) Sq., A.A.F. (at Tangmere). August 21, 1931.No. 605 (County of Warwick) (Bomber) Sq. (Cas. Bromwich). April 1, 1932. No. 40 (Bomber) Sq. (Upper Heyford). May 13, 1932.Nos. 7 and 58 (Bomber) Sq. (Worthy Down). June 10, 1932. A visit to H.U.S. Exeter of 2nd Cruiser Squadron, Home Fleet. June 17, 1932Oxford University Air Sq. (Eastchurch). July 22, 1932. Cambridge University Air Sq. (Netheravon). August 5, 1932.No. 1 Air Defence Group (A.A.F. and Cadre Sqs.). August 12, 1932. No. 100 (Bomber) Sq. (Donibristle). August 19, 1932.Scotland's Auxiliaries ; No. 602 (City of Glasgow) (Bomber) Sq. and No. 603 (City of Edinburgh) (Bomber) Sq. September 16, 1932.London Auxiliaries ; Nos. 600, 601 and 604 B. Sq. October 20, 1932. No. 25 (Fighter) Sq. (Hawkinge). December 8, 1932.No. 19 (Fighter) Sq. (Duxford). January 5, 1933. H.M. Aircraft Carrier Courageous. January 12, 1933.Lee-on-Solent. February 9, 1933. No. 23 (Fighter) Sq. March 2, 1933.Gosport. The Fleet Air Arm Base. March 30, 1933. Larkhill. R.A.F. Balloon Centre. June 8, 1933.The R.A.F. Staff College, Andover. July 20, 1933. No. 99 (Bomber) Sq. (Upper Heyford). August 3, 1933.No. 26 (Army Co-operation) Sq. (Catterick). August 10, 1933. No. 3 Flying Training School, Grantham. August 17,1933.No. 1 (Fighter) Sq. September 7, 1933. No. 207 (Bomber) Sq. October 12, 1933.No. 502 (Ulster) (Bomber) Sq. November 23, 1933. North Coates Fitties No. 2 Armament Camp. December 21, 1933.No. 14 (Bomber) Squadron. January 18, 1934. Calshot Seaplane Training Squadron. March 15, 1934. NO. 201 (FLYING BOAT) SQUADRON : A group of officers and airmen under the wings of a Supermarine " Southampton " in one of the sheds at Calshot. (FLIGHT Photo.) Germany's air budget THE German Budget for defence exceeds that of last year by some £10,000,000. The Air Budget is raised from £7,073,850 to £9,579,000. City Literary Institute lectures A COURSE of ten lectures on " Aviation—The Story of Flying " will be given by Mr. Fred Montague, former Under-Secretary of State for Air, at the City Literary Institute, Goldsmith Street, Drury Lane, W.C.2, on Fridays, from 7.30 to 9.30, beginning on April 13. The following are the titles of the lectures. (1) Flights—of Fancy, from Icarus to Leonardo da Vinci, (2) First Prin- ciples, Heavier than Air Science, (3) The Birth of a Plane, (4) Standards of Airworthiness, (5) Control from the Land, (6) Civil Aviation, (7) Special Uses of the Aeroplane, (8) Blazing the Air Trail, (9) Service Flying, (10) The Future of Flying. The fee for the course (London residents) is 2s. 6d. To London students already attending another course at the Institute this is reduced to Is. 6d., and to students who have already paid the inclusive fee the lec- tures are free. Special conditions apply to those resident outside the Administrative County of London, particulars of which are obtainable on application to the Principal. Garrying matches in aircraft AT an inquest held at Epping on Tuesday, March 27, on Norman G. Bartholomew, of Enfield, Middlesex, who was killed when an aircraft flown by Mr. Eric Dymond, of Palmers Green, crashed at Nazeing, it was stated by Police-Sergeant Billet that two boxes of matches which had been fired were found on Mr. Bartholomew. In his opinion, it was only the fact that air could not get to the matches, as they were in a trouser's pocket, that avoided an explosion. The jury recommended that there should be a regulation regarding the carrying of matches by occupants of aircraft. Maj. Fell, who represented the Air Ministry, said that, so far as he knew, there were no regulations against carrying maches. The recommenda- tion of the jury, he said, would definitely be taken up. 351 B2
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