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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 0723.PDF
MARCH .17, 1938. FLIGHT. Looking, in a way, unfamiliar with undercarriages extended—the Wellesleys taking off from Finningley. this operation. The relief comes up behind and releases a catch, which allows the pilot's seat to tilt backwards until his torso is horizontal and his thighs perpendicular. Even though, for our benefit, the operation was carried out inside a hangar, and the first pilot knew what was going to happen, the expression on his face as he felt himself beginning to go over backwards raised an unsuppressible smile from the spectator. But one can imagine that if a pilot had been flying half across Africa, the coming of the relief would be welcome even if it involved a half-back somersault fol- lowed by a wriggle and a crawl. Mr. Wallis allowed plenty of room to swing a cat on R.ioo, and he has now shown that he can do the opposite. Finningley is one of the new stations, and it has a large aerodrome with a good surface. All the married quarters for airmen have been finished, and the barracks have been built. One curious thing about the station is that the county boundary between Yorkshire and Nottingham runs through it. Most of the aerodrome is in Yorkshire, but the living quarters are in Nottingham. Therefore Doncaster, being a Yorkshire town, will not admit the children of the airmen to its schools. The squadron provides transport to take the children two miles to a school at Rossington. Of course Doncaster is the place which provides amuse- ment when officers and men leave the station, and the unit of the Territorial Army there is very friendly to the squadron. The officers of No. 76 have all been made honorary members of the local golf club and the Doncaster Aero Club. None the less, Finningley itself is not a place of all work and no play. Every week a cinema show is held in the N.A.A.F.I. hut to which officers are admitted for is. and men for 4d. Finningley aerodrome is a sanctioned bombing range for dummy bombs, but another range is being made at Mis- sion, five miles away, to serve several stations. No. 76 B.S. went to No. 2 Air Armament School at North Coates (it is no longer a "camp," and is no longer called by the in- triguing name of North Coates Fitties) in November, and did live bombing and gunnery. While there the machines had to be left out in the open, and the squadron was very pleased to find how well the Wellesleys stood up to the rigours of the season. No. 76 (B) Squadron impresses the visitor as a very good unit with a very good aeroplane. What is the Wellesley going to do in the future? It is a machine of promise, and we wait with great interest to see that promise fulfilled. AIR-MAIL NOTES A NOTABLE occasion in the history of commercialaviation was commemorated in the Dutch East Indieson November 27, when a cachet was applied to lettersleaving for Holland by K.L.M. The occasion was ex- plained by the wording " ^ooste. Vlucht" ; that is, the fivehundredth flight on this regular service. In Scotland, Allied Airways used a three-colour label oncovers carried over the new Aberdeen, Thurso, Orkney and I.erwick line inaugurated by them on November 23. One oftheir D.H. Dragons is—roughly—illustrated above wording which includes details of the route and the name '' AberdeenAirways, Ltd." Another Scottish company, Highland Airways, made the firstmail flight from Orkney to Fair Isle on Christmas Eve, and the pilot, Captain J. A. Hawkins, signed covers flown—which werere-stamped and posted in the ordinary way on reaching Fair Isle, as the flight was unofficial. Forty covers were carried. Meanwhile, in Denmark, to encourage the wider use of aiimail, a postmark for applying to non-flown mail has been in- troduced, which includes a line drawing of a three-enginedjunkers and the wording " Benyt Luftpost." Russia has, issued 50,000 copies of a miniature sheet con-sisting of four one-rouble stamps all in the same design—a very attractive one showing part of Leningrad's skyline with an ANT14 monoplane in flight over it. Considering this is a 36- passenger machine with five Jupiter engines, the large size°l the stamp—about three inches wide—is justified ! Now Whitfield King and Co. predict a set of seven furtherair stamps from Russia—in values from 10 kopecs to one rouble, and illustrating one-, two-, three-, four-, five- and eight-wjgined machines! Among new air stamps of the Americas. Salvador's latestset of seven shows a Douglas over the church of Panchimalco, with mountains in the background, and a set of two fromVenezuela illustrates an unusual type of machine—a three- engined high-wing monoplane on floats. Also from South America, and somehow onlv iust arrivedin England, are covers from the first internal air-mail service of British Honduras. These were flown, 129 from Belize toCayo, 91 in the opposite direction, as long ago as August 17 last year, the operating company being Transportes AereosCentro-Americanos, who have headquarters in Guatemala and operate Ford, Fokker and Stinson machines. Owing to therarity of specimens, their value is already rising. A D. '; C T 3EUZE ; F!R5T n.SGHT COVER H. O. *(•"«•. ij. H»B<S From the first internal mail service in British Honduras.
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