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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 2047.PDF
JULY 22, 1937- FLIGHT. 95 and out of action, and one Red Heyford was seriously: damaged in a forced landing. The Red Navy had to carry on without; air help, and its submarines were manoeuvred so as to try io catch the Blue Fleet on its way out of the Channel. But Blue scored two quite dramatic little suc cesses. Some Blue destroyers found the Red flying boat base in the Scillies and naturally played Old Harry with it and its wireless station. Then Furious came promi nently into the picture. Four Londons of No. 204 (F.B.) Squadron were lying at their moorings at Mount Batten when suddenly seven Nimrods dived out of the clouds and made themselves as rude as possible for a few minutes. Scarcely had they disappeared when twelve Ospreys (pre sumably No. 801 F.F. Squadron) also appeared and really set about the unfortunate Londons. Three boats were judged to have been put out of action. These Ospreys had come in from the North, flying over the Cornwall- Devon peninsula to reach Plymouth. Despite the bad weather they all got back safe to Furious. The rest of the fighting was sporadic, and the details were of little interest except to those engaged and to the staffs who have to study details and extract morals from them if they can. At 8 a.m. on Friday morning the exer cises were brought to a close. , FROM A REDLAND FLYING BOAT ByJX •• QEARCH at dawn, as quickly as possible, the English •J Channel from Portland to o° 30' west'." In view of this signal passed from the Observations Room of Redland it was rather surprising that Coastal Area should order 85 knots at 2,000ft., for the Singapore Ills of No. 209 (F.B.) Squadron are inclined to be rather soggy at this speed, which seemed inconsistent with the order '' as quickly as possible." However, as soon as the first streak of light appeared on' the horizon a boat from the submarine mother ship Titania came alongside to take us off' to flying boat Z. It was unfortunate that just as we approached on the starboard side the port rear Kestrel started and upset the coxswain's finesse somewhat. The bump, however, was taken on the foot rail, and no damage resulted. While the engines were being warmed up, and while we waited for just sufficient light to see that the take-off path was clear, I looked over the Singapore's hull. Every thing is very well found, and there is plenty of room to move about. On a cruise a crew of eight is carried, and the boat has to operate as an independent unit, the crew- sleeping and feeding on board. Right at the rear of the hull is the gunner's cockpit, with a hemispherical field of fire to discourage any fighter who thinks flying boats are easy meat. Then, in the portion of the hull aft of the step there is provision for carrying all sorts of stores, in cluding two spare props, one for the front and one for the rear engines, the shape being different owing to the fact that each pair of engines is in tandem. Moving for ward, next comes the centre gunner's cockpit with a sea drogue tucked in at each side. In action one would hope to have a cool-headed gunner at this particular point, as the field is rather limited, and enthusiasm might be the cause of several punctures in the wing-tip floats and tail. Forward of this position, on the port side is the fitter's workbench, while opposite, on the starboard side, is the kitchen, where tea was already being brewed—and very excellent tea it was, too, served in bakelite cups to save weight. Speaking of weight, the Singapore III weighs nearly i5 tons when fully loaded. Now we come to the real " works " of the boat. On the . port side is a very complete wireless panel where the operator can sit in comfort to do his job, while on the starboard side are the engine panels, one for starting and °ne bearing all the gauges showing temperatures and pres sures, complete with levers for opening and closing the radiator shutters—looking for all the world like a toy signal box. I would have liked to have played with it, but the result might have been expensive. The course taken during the flying-boat patrol described on this page by one who took part in it. In the widest section of the hull comes the part which, on a cruise, becomes the ward-room, a table being fitted in the centre. When on service, however, a large chart table is rigged for the navigator to work upon, and on each side are large, square ports opened in flight for observa tion, taking bearings, and so forth. The pilots' cockpit comes next to this, dual control and an automatic pilot being fitted, while the extreme nose forms a gunner's cockpit with sliding Scarff ring and a chain locker with room for various other mooring gear. The steely grey dawn had arrived, and we took off easily, the slight sea and moderate wind being ideal for the pur pose, and our course was set due south for the Casquets. I was given the second pilot's seat, and observation on that side was my particular job in life. It was very im pressive to watch the various types of shipping below as the sun slowly crept over the horizon in a blaze of gold. However, no enemy vessels were to be seen on this leg of the patrol, and we turned due east for a while and then north of east for ten miles to avoid flying over French territorial waters—it must be remembered that France was really neutral in this war. Next we went east again for another fifty-two miles. There was little to be seen- on this run except merchantmen, and Singapore Z sailed along under the benign influence of George, the automatic pilot. To watch the controls move gently of their own accord put one in mind of a Wellsian fantasy, and this feeling was particularly striking during the frequent periods when Fit. Lt. Paddon left his seat to go aft. Under Fire Turning again on to a diagonal of our previous two bear ings we soon found ourselves mixed up in the war. First a submarine dived about a mile and a half ahead of us and then H.M.S. Courageous, attended by one destroyer and two cruisers, appeared on the port bow, and although we were roughly in the sun from them it was not long before a dazzling searchlight was aimed at us to let us know we had been seen and were under fire. When we came in sight of the aircraft carrier we donned life jackets and parachute harness, for, as the pilot said, "you never know when some clumsy goof is going to knock your tail off." Then I achieved a piece of spotting on my side. With binoculars I, just discerned dim outlines of naval craft to
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