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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0926.PDF
FLIGHT. SEPTEMBER 6, 1934. THE OYAL Service Notes and News Air Ministry Announcements THE FLEET AIR ARM One of the two new flights for the Fleet Air Arm which are to be formed during the current financial year will be known as No. 408 Flight. It will provide " Ospreys " for the cruisers Ajax, Areihuga, and Galatea, all of which have been launched during the past six months C.I.G.S. TO TOUR IN A "ROTA" Gen. Sir Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, is about to undertake a tour of in- spection of Army units. On September 15 he will visit a Territorial Infantry Brigade at Porthcawl, and will travel there from Salisbury Plain by "Rota" autogiro. He made use of an autogiro on one of his tours last year. CRASH INTO A GRID CABLE F/O. J. G Bigelow, of No. 29 (Fighter) Squadron, was seriously injured on September 3 when his " Bulldog " hit a cable of the grid near a pylon at Ham Street, Ashford, Kent. His flight were flying in formation, taking part in Army manoeuvres, when the accident occurred. Soldiers extricated the pilot from the wreckage, and he was sent to Shorncliffe military hospital. •- . - • AIR COMMODORE HASKINS Air Com. F. K. Haskins, D.S.C., has been placed on the retired list at his own request. He entered the Royal Navy in 1905 and learnt to fly in 1913. He was present at the Heligoland action in H.M.S. Lurdher. From 1915 to 1917 he served as a flight lieutenant in the R.N.A.S., and for his gallantry was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Croix de Guerre, and was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. COMBINED OPERATIONS Our contemporary, the Army, Navy, and Air Force Gazette,holds that the need is now urgent for equalising the promotion in all three Services, as commanders and staff for combinedoperations must be selected. " It will not do, ' writes our contemporary "as is proposed for the combined operations atHull, to have three commanders and avoid the issue by calling them ' directors,' because only one man can act as commander,and he must have a combined staff to help him. It would simplify the problem of choice if the senior officer could nor-mally take charge, and if he were normally of about the same age and had had sufficient experience of the other Services toentitle him to command them. At present it might quite easily happen that the senior commander might be by tenyears the younger and have no such experience, even so far as his own Service is concerned." The senior officers of the Royal Air Force have practicallyall been drawn from either Army or Navy, and so have experi- ence of other Services, but they have reached high rank at amuch earlier age than is normally possible in the Army or Navy, and may easily be now senior to experienced officersof the other Services under whom they formerly served. AMERICAN AIR STRENGTH Mr. Clark Howell, chairman of the U.S. Federal Aviation Commission, is reported to have said in an interview that the air strength of the United States was 1,800 war machines, which would probably be increased to 2,000. With the manu- facturing facilities of the country it could be brought up to 5,000 machines in three months. He declared himself a be- liever in an international air force. ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE Australian papers report that catapults are to be installed in the cruisers of the Royal Australian Navy, and possibly also on the seaplane carrier Albatross (which is now in reserve) for launching the new " Seagull 5 " amphibians, of which 24 have been ordered from the Submarine (Vickers) firm. It is hoped that six of these will be delivered by the end of the present year or early in 1935, when they will be tested in Australian conditions. If any modifications appear desirable as the result of these tests, they can be incorporated in the remaining 18 machines. Eighteen Hawker '' Demons'' are also on order for the Royal Australian Air Force, and it is hoped that at least six of these will have arrived and been tested in Australia in time to give a display when H.R.H. the Duke of Gloucester pays his visjt to the Commonwealth. The fighter which is being supplanted in the R.A.A.F. by the "Demon" is the "Bull- dog." The general-purpose aeroplane in the Service is the "Wapiti." Two wooden " Southamptons " are also on charge. ROYAL NEW ZEALAND AIR FORCE Eight Vickers " Vildebeests " have been ordered for the use of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and it is hoped that at least four of them will reach Auckland before the end of the year. In preparation for their arrival extensive improvements are to be carried out at the Hobsonville aerodrome with the object of providing a better surface and a longer runway. Unemployed labour will be used for this work, as is the regular custom in New Zealand, and it is estimated that some ^10,000 will be distributed in wages. In addition, a new plot of ground of 28 acres has been acquired on which a new hangar measuring about 150 ft. by 150 ft. will be erected, together with housing for the officers and men stationed at the aero- drome. It is obvious that New Zealand is now taking air defence quite seriously, and is determined to live up to the title " Royal " recently conferred by the King upon her Air Force. R.A.F. BASE IN IRAQ The R.A.F. base at Sin Dhibhan, some 60 miles west ofBaghdad, has now assumed the definite shape of a newly planned city, and construction is proceeding apace. Thefencing round the area is now almost completed. Workmen are busy at different points and already some of the buildingshave been finished. All thoroughfares in the future R.A.F. cantonment are now ready for asphalting. It will be recalled in this connection that the treaty betweenthe United Kingdom and Iraq provides for the grant to the British Government of a site for an air base in the region westof the Euphrates to which air forces now maintained at Hinaidi and Mosul shall be withdrawn. The treaty also provides forthe maintenance of the R.A.F. base (Shaibah) in the vicinity of Basra. FRENCH AIR MANOEUVRES. French air manoeuvres were held last week on an extensive scale. Paris was represented by Le Bourget aerodrome, which was heavily attacked. The attacks were held to have been mainly successful. _ ~;) R.A.F. COLLEGE, CRANWELL The following flight cadets successfully completed on July 27,1934, their course of training at the Royal Air Force College. The names are arranged in alphabetical order:—Ashton, N. D., AsbtonP. W. (Winner of Sword of Honour), Beck, H. D., Burrough, R. J., Charlton-Jones, C, Clayton, G. A. V., Cornabe, K. E., Curry, R. E.,Hackforth, P. D: W., Hards, A. F., Hobbs, H. J., Hughes, W. A., Jeudwine, J. R., Kirk, J. E., Lister, R. C. F. (Winner of R. M.Groves Memorial Prize), Lowe, J. H., MacDonell, A. R. D., Man- son, T. R., Molyneux, H., Riddell, P. J. A. (Winner of Air Minis-try Prize for Humanistic Subjects), Saward, D., Spurrier, A. F., Stokes, D. G. (Winner of Abdy Gerrard Fellowes Memorial Prizeand J. A. Chance Memorial Prize), Vielle, E. E., Williams, D. W., Wright, C. L. Y., and Yaxley, R. G. (Winner of Air Ministry Prizefor Aeronautical Engineering).
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