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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 0984.PDF
4D2 FLIGHT. MAY 2, 1935. WHEN His Majesty the King or any member of the Royal Family supports a cause, the British public feels with out questioning that that cause ought to be supported. That is one of the many advantages enjoyed by kingdoms over repub lics, especially when the kingdom has at its head such a Royal Family as the House of Windsor. The progress of flying in the British Empire has owed not a little to the interest taken in it by the Royal Family. King Edward was on the throne when Orville Wright made the first aeroplane flight at Kitty Hawk and when, five years later, A. V. Roe (now Sir Allio+t Verdon-Roe) showed that a Briton could aesign a better aeroplane than either French or Americans could do, and could teach himself to fly it. Queen Alexandra took grea* interest in the new discovery, and was a frequent visitor at flying meetings at Hendon in the early days before the Royal Flying Corps had come into existence. That epoch-making event took place when King George had been on the throne some two THE ROY/ A Jubilee Appreciation of the In of Aeronautics L years, and two years later the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service were engaged in war. Throughout the war the Prince of Wales was at the front as an active officer in the Army, and in the first three years of the war Prince Albert (now the Duke of York) was a midshipman in the Navy. As such he was present at the battle of Jut land. Then Prince Albert's health suffered, and, after an operation, he was unable to take a further active part in naval warfare. Accordingly, when the Royal Air Force was formed in 1918 he was transferred to it, and the youngest of the fighting Services was thus honoured by numbering one of the King's sons among its officers. In due course Prince Albert learnt to fly and quali- (Left) His Majesty the King—a photograph taken when, in the early days of the Royal Air Force, he honoured that Service by wearing its uniform. (Below) H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, who, as is well known, takes an extremely practical interest in flying ; he is seen talking to Scott and Black before the start of the Melbourne Air Race. (Right) Their Majesties the King and Queen at Mildenhall before the start of the Melbourne
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