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Aviation History
1936
1936 - 1793.PDF
8 FLIGHT. JULY 2, 1936. The high aspect ratio of the wings of the Vickers medium bomber shows up to advantage in this view. half rolls before starting his demonstration with a dive to 350 m.p.h. from 4,000ft., followed by three successive upward rolls. Very interesting were the speed figures given. Ap parently the Gauntlet is slow-rolled, for instance, at 175 m.p.h. 01 thereabouts. Most impressive of all were Fit. Lt. Broadhurst's remarks during a surprisingly spectacular yet deadly accurate approach. "Holding off—now!'—and the landing was fortunately of the thistledown variety on one of the less mountainous parts of Hendon Aerodrome. • This year Heyfords of No 102 (Bomber) Squadron took the place of Virginias in the skittle-bombing item. The " skittles " are huge wood and canvas affairs, light enough to be over balanced by the blast if one of the 8|-lb. practice bombs bursts reasonably near. After a series of attacks the targets were duly bowled over, with the exception of one, which, after defying several close shots, capitulated somewhat mysteriously to a much wider one. Smoke-trail aerobatics, carried out with fine precision by five Bulldogs of No. 54 (Fighter) Squadron, suffered a little in effectivenes3 through very quick dispersal of the "writing," probably caused by the super-heated, bumpy air. The centre machine belching green smoke, its two neighbours orange and the two outside machines white, the formation led off with the familiar but impressive Prince of Wales's feathers, then tried a "true lovers' knot," wove a plait right across the sky (magnificent flying here), went on to more or less individual bits of caligraphy, and finished up with the feathers again. Air dril1 by a squadron is always one of the favourite attrac tions at Hendon. and usually the event has been entrusted to A panorama of a section of the enclosures, in which were congregated some 150,000 people and 12,000 cars. It is obvious that the Whitley is re lated to the A.W. 23 bomber trans port. A machine of their war- story thrillers come to life ! Schoolchildren on the day before the Display clustering eagerly round the Sopwith triplane. a crack regular squadron. This year it was entrusted to an Auxiliary unit, No. 604 (County of Middlesex) (Fighter) Squadron. Squadron drill implies continuous practice such as usually can only be indulged in by whole-time pilots. How men who can only give week-ends and summer evenings to practise can attain the precision shown by No. 604 F.S. is somewhat of a mystery. Seven times the squadron crossed the aerodrome, each time in a different formation, and they lost no time in changing their formation, wheeling, and flying back. With the first formation (Squadron V), the third (flights abreast in squadron formation), and the last (a variant of flights astern) the most captious critic could find no fault. Each was quite perfect. The other formations were distinctly good, and the squadron deserves high marks. Qround'strafing Then arose a weird and wonderful sound from the aerodrome, which we were told was a war song of an unknown race of white savages—-at least they were dressed in white—who had been marauding and carrying off loot. It seems that in some quarters it is thought less reprehensible to bomb white savages than to employ similar tactics against black men. Anyway, No. 32 (Fighter) Squadron was ordered to deal with the marauders. In a moment the sky was full of whirl ing, diving, zooming Bulldogs. First the whole squadron fell in mass upon the target, and then the three flights each made independent attacks. One flight broke up and let its three machines make converging attacks. Then each flight dived in line astern, fired, bombed, and climbed up to turn and dive again. It was an action picture, full of grace and movement. Parachutes always make a pretty sight, and the more there are of them in the sky, the prettier the picture. On Saturday we saw no fewer than sixteen fluttering down at once. Two Virginias flew across, evidently with evil intent, but they did not escape the notice of a flight of No. in (Fighter) Squadron. which is now equipped with Gauntlets. >^
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