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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 0657.PDF
MARCH IO, 1938. FLIGHT. 235 AIR FIGURES Gross Value of £111,502,000, Reduced by randum Describes Progress : Six " Ex- vice : Generous Civil Aviation Votes and on sub-contracting work for the aircraft firms. Still greaternumbers will be necessary during the coming year as the shadow production gathers momentum and the professionalindustry approaches its maximum output. The provision of aircraft for new Royal Air Force squadronsfell necessarily into two fairly distinct phases. There was first the necessity of providing for newly formed squadrons asufficient supply of service aircraft to enable them to train and to acquire experience as operational entities. For thispurpose large orders were placed for types of aircraft already available in production, and deliveries were made at a ratewhich enables service training to proceed without interruption or delay. Simultaneously, as already explained, arrangementswere made for the large-scale production of more powerful types, re-equipment with which was a cardinal feature of theprogramme. Re'equipment It is the second phase, that of re-arming with new and morepowerful types, which is now in operation. Much progress has already been made, and substantial numbers of aircraft of thefollowing expansion types are already in the squadrons: — Harrow, Blenheim, Wellesley, Whitley, Battle and Hurricane.The process of re-arming has been slower than was hoped when the programme was planned, as delivery of new-type aircrafthas been affected by three important factors. In the first place, the scale of the orders placed was such that much timewas necessarily absorbed in constructing new shops and in arranging for the supply of the jigs and tools necessary forlarge-scale production. Secondly, the decision to expand coincided with fai-reaching developments in design, and thenew types ordered were larger and more difficult to construct than pre-expansion types. Thirdly, there has been a shortageof draughtsmen and skilled labour. Re-arming will, however, be substantially completed during the coming financial year,and full operational effect will be rapidly achieved with the more powerful types of aircraft as a result of the great pro-gress made with other parts of the scheme, particularly in the matter of squadron training. Coupled with these orders on an unprecedented scale foraircraft and engines, there have been correspondingly large demands over the whole range of armament and equipment,and many new types of equipment have been introduced. Requirements for such equipment were worked out and plannedfor the whole programme, and productive capacity was arranged on this basis. Where equipment of foreign designhas been chosen, fo: example, one type of machine gun and certain flying instruments, initial orders were placed abroadto avoid delay, and adequate arrangements have been developed lor manufacture at home. In most cases, however, require-ments have been met by the use of British inventions and developments, and these have been put into production. The problem of securing the greatest possible operationalefficiency for defence purposes of the materiel of the Royal Air Force has involved an intensive programme of research anddevelopment. Particular reference should be made, on the research sides, to the revolution in aerodynamic efficiencywhich has occurred in the last few years, based on studies of the flow of air over the surfaces of aircraft bodies and wings,and of the origin of drag forces. Important improvements have also taken place in the designof aero engines, and the result of many years' painstaking research and development work has been the introduction into Handley Page Harrow Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley the Service of a series of engines of outstanding performance.Work is continuous, and there is every reason to believe that the engines under consideration for introduction into theService will keep this country well in the forefront in this sphere of development. . The staff of the Air Ministry scientificand technical establishments has been increased by more than half since 19^6. The expansion programme has necessarily involved a greatexpansion of training facilities. In the vital matter of train- ing of pilots, not only have these extended facilities enabledthe full requirements of pilots for the programme to be met, but they have also been organised in such a way as to resultin a general raising of the standard of training. This result has been achieved by the introduction of a new system oftraining, under which pupils are instructed in elementary fly- ing at civil schools before being posted to the Service flyingtraining schools. In consequence, it has been possible widely to extend the scope of instruction at the Service schools, andit is the general opinion of the responsible officers that the young pilots leaving the schools, who now receive an averageof 150 hours' flying experience before joining their squadrons, are bettei trained than ever before. One further advantageof the new system should be mentioned. The higher standard of training of the pilots now leaving the schools relieves thesquadrons of the responsibility for much of the individual training which fell to them under the older system, and enablesthem to concentrate on operational training at an earlier stage. Over the period of the expansion, moreover, there havebeen drastic changes of both operational practice and training methods as a result of developments in the use of wirelessand flying instruments. Before expansion started, a course of instrument flying had been introduced at the Central Fly-ing School, and as qualified instrument flying instructors have become available, instrument flying has been introduced inthe syllabus at flying training schools. All dual control service aircraft at such establishments have now been fittedwith hoods for blind flying practice, and in order to maintain the efficiency of qualified pilots in this form of flying, dualcontrol aircraft fitted with hoods are available in all Service squadrons. The Missing Link The Royal Air Force was the first Air Service to makelarge scale use of the Link trainer, a device which enables all the operations of instrument flying to be taught and practisedon the ground under remarkably realistic conditions. Ex- perience has shown that this device can be used to advantagenot only in the initial stages of training, but also for giving practice to experienced pilots, and for instructing them in theLorenz blind landing system. All Service flying training schools and the majority of bomber stations at home arenow equipped with this apparatus, and as supplies become available arrangements will be made for every station at homeand overseas to be equipped with at least one such trainer. A new standardised panel of all the instruments requiredby the pilot for blind flying has also been introduced into the* Service and is being incorporated in all the latest types ofaircraft. A large increase has been effected in directional wirelessand meteorological facilities. Apart from civil stations, 35 meteorological and 19 direction-finding stations will be avail-able by the end of March, 1938, compared with 21 meteor- ological and 6 direction-tinding stations in 1935, and 31additional meteorological stations and 11 additional direction- finding stations are now in course of construction. The provision of adequate facilities for armament traininghas been an additional requirement of great importance. The number of Armament Training Camps has already been in_creased from three in 1934 to seven, and four others are in course of preparation. Intensive use is made of these facili-ties throughout the year, and the pilots and crews of all squadrons are required to go through a course annually.Armament training has also been introduced into the syllabus of flying training schools, and a new and extended air arma-ment school with a large range area, for training armament instructors, will be opened at Manby, Lincolnshire, in August. It is a matter of great regret to record that there has been
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