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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 1285.PDF
MAY 30, 1935. FLIGHT. 583 The three Flight photographs on this page show three stages in the " quick getaway," which is now assiduously practised by London's defence squadrons. In this picture pilots of No. 32 (F) Squad ron are running from the crew rooms at Biggin Hill. The end of the sprint —the pilots reaching their "Bulldogs," which are waiting with engines warmed ready to start. demonstration was given on Empire Air Day) in which all nine machines dive out of a line astern formation on to a ground target, a convoy for preference, firing with their twin Vickers guns and " strafing " it with small bombs ; in time of war these would probably be of the fragmentation or incendi ary variety. A converging attack follows. Among the spectacular items arranged by No. 3 Squadron was an exhibition by live machines of aerobatics with smoke —look for this event in the Hendon programme this year—for which the "Bulldogs" had special exhaust systems with long tail pipes, into which stannic chloride, or something of a similar nature, is introduced. They were having a spot of bother the other day : the smoke would insist on percolating through any little cranny near the tail and floating up the fuselage into the cockpit, to the discomfort of the pilot. This, however, did not prevent the " smoke flight " practising their act, which is rather similar to that given at the K.A.F. Display last year by five "Bulldogs" of No. 19 (Fighter) Squadron. At Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey, which we visited on the eve r, £ Air Day, is the only air armament school in this country. Here officers and N.C.O.s are taught to become gunnery and bombing instructors, and airmen are trained as observers, bomb aimers and air gunners. The training programme of the school includes horizontal or high-altitude bombing, which is done from heights between 6,000ft. and 15,000ft., dive-bomb- mg (of which more later), low bombing by fighters, air fight- mg with camera guns, carried out between 2,000 and 15,000ft., an: firing at ground targets with fixed Vickers and free Lewis guns, and a certain amount of photographic work. Experi mental machine guns of British and foreign manufacture are tried out and reported upon and new bomb sights tested. The spectacular and highly effective dive-bombing tactics Away within two minutes of the alarm. This last photograph, actually, is of " Bull dogs " of No. 17 (F) Squadron, Kenley, which also demon strated this evolution on Empire Air Day. have not long been practised by the school. Hawker " Hart" light bombers are usually employed for the work, and although under war-time conditions they would be armed with their full bomb load of about 5oolb., only practice bombs, having characteristics similar to their larger and more harmful brethren, are carried for training purposes. A floating target moored out at sea off Leysdown, which, of course, is also employed for horizontal bombing practice, is the object of the attacks. The crack R.A.F. dive-bombing squadrons are reported to start their dives at 12,000 or 15,000ft., but for practice, at least, the Eastchurch units divide such a dive into steps of two or three thousand feet, in order to acclimatise the eardrums of the personnel to the variations in pressure. The final dive is usually started between 5,000 and 6,000ft. and at 100 m.p.h. An angle of 50 deg. to 60 deg. is assumed, and speeds up to 250 m.p.h. are reached before the release of the bombs and pull-out at 2,000ft. Regular squadrons some times reach over 300 m.p.h. during dive-bombing. The accuracy attained is astounding. This new method of attack may be used to particular advantage against warships ; the main fly in the ointment, so far as the pilots are concerned, is the multiple pom-pom or "scatter gun," which uses roughly a ton of ammunition a minute. One demonstration of special interest was that of testing the synchronising gear used with fixed Vickers guns. A large disc of three-ply wood is bolted to the airscrew boss and revolves accordingly at the same speed as the airscrew. On the firing of the guns the bullets make holes in this disc at various points, depending of course, upon the r.p.m. of the engine, which controls the rate of fire. For example, when an engine is "wide open" it is possible that the gun is firing at the rate of 900 rounds a minute.
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