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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 1213.PDF
MAY 23, 1935. FLIGHT. 563 was gazetted Instructor of Ballooning, and his pay of /600 p.a. was provided in Army Estimates. Two years later Sir Evelyn Wood was so much impressed by the observa tion work of the balloons on manoeuvres at Aldershot that he recommended the transference of the Balloon Estab lishment from Chatham to Aldershot. This was carried out in time, and so was founded the present famous Royal Aircraft Establishment at South Farnborough. In 1894 a move was made towards heavier - than-air craft, when man-lifting kites • were added to the equipment. Before that time (actually in 1890) the unit had become the Balloon Section of the Royal Engineers, with a strength of three officers, three sergeants, and twenty-eight rank and file. A balloon detachment was sent out to the South African War in 1899, and did some good observation work at the battles of Magersfontein and Paade- berg. Difficulties were discovered, however, which ought to have been found out and corrected on manoeuvres at home. No reliable means of com munication between the basket and the ground had been devised, and the gas cylinders used were difficult to transport in a war of movement. The South African War ended in 1902, and next year the Wright brothers made J he first aeroplane flights in America, the French pioneers were also suc cessful, and in 1908 Alliott Verdon Roe was hopping about in his fnplane. Both these machines were designed by Th ?°yal Aircraft Establishment, ne F.E.2B was a pusher with 120 D'P Beafdmore engine, and the O.C..2C was an automatically stable "actor biplane with 90 h.p. R.A.F. engine. (Flight photographs.) The Vickers " Gun Bus " shown in the upper picture did much good work during the early part of the war. It was fitted with a Gnome rotary engine. The Short " 225 " (Sunbeam engine) was our first torpedo-plane and was used extensively by the Royal Naval Air Service. (Flight photo graphs.) The British Army watched the new development, but hesitated (wisely, as it has since been proved) to plunge into the new form of aeronautics. In 1906 Lieut. J. W. Dunne, of the Wiltshire Regt., was attached to South Farnborough to experiment with his automatically stable aero plane, while in 1907-8 full Army assistance was given to Mr. Cody in building his imposing, but not very useful, " cathedral." At that time the Santos-Dumont airships seemed more promising, and Col. Templer went to Paris in 1902 to inspect them. In 1907 Farnborough produced the Nulli Secundus airship. Considering how undeveloped both aeroplanes and airships were at that time, more could hardly have been expected of the Army authorities. Progress, however, was made by private experimenters, and by 1910 matters had so far advanced that the Army decided to include aeroplanes in its equipment. An Army Order dated February 28, 1911, announced the formation of an Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers. The commanding officer was Sir Alexander Bannerman, a balloon expert, and there were two companies in the battalion. No. 1 Co. was com manded by Capt. E. M. Maitland, of the Essex Regiment, and dealt with airships. It was stationed at South Farn borough. No. 2 Co. was commanded by Capt. J. D. B.
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