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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 2376.PDF
ibo FLIGHT. AUGUST 25, 1938. " Flight " photoaravh. TRAPEZOIDAL : The unusual pian lorm of the Handley Page Hampden is well brought out in this picture. The machine is now in large-scale production at Cricklewood, where, the makers claim, the new system will " result in a peak rate of production at least twice that of the Harrow for the same floor space." chiefly preoccupied. It is an Army matter, and it is not for the Air Ministry to thrust tactical ideas upon the Army, but to supply what the War Office may require. The latter department of late years has shown but a very half-hearted interest in its air arm, perhaps trusting that in war the R.A.F. will provide it with whatever it would like to have. If the Army were suddenly to ask for a number of fighter squadrons while an enemy were engaged in a series of air attacks on Great Britain, it is certain that the re quest would have to be refused. Moreover, it is doubtful whether fighter aeroplanes are the best class to use for attacks on ground troops. It is also doubtful whether the machine gun is the best weapon for ground-strafers to employ; the bomb would seem more effective, and fighters cannot carry a heavy load of bombs. The Army ought to have its air arm cut and dried before there is any likelihood of war breaking out, and therefore we venture to urge this point upon the Committee of Im perial Defence. Visits of Courtesy G ENERAL MILCH, of the German Air Force, is great at arranging interchanges of visits with Air Force officers of neighbouring countries. Last year the German and British Air Forces exchanged visits, and now Germans and French have done likewise. Gen. Vuillemin, Chief of the General Staff of the French Air Force, has just been in Germany, and has been cordially welcomed by Gen. Milch, Field Marshal Goering, and Herr Hitler. Visits to air stations form a natural part of such visits. Of course, nothing which is secret is shown to the visitors, and in a way the " inspections " might be described, in the vernacular, as flapdoodle. But they do make for a more friendly feeling between hosts and guests. After eat ing a man's bread and salt, one naturally feels some distaste for the idea of bombing his country or shooting him per sonally down in flames. Kindly feeling is what is chiefly needed between all nations just now. Agitated as European politics are, there is no cause whatever for war anywhere, and if these visits pour even a little oil on the troubled waters they are well worth while. On or Off A LTHOUGH it is very seldom mentioned, or even perhaps considered, by the average pilot, a very con-L siderable danger is permanently waiting for the un wary through a very simple matter of habit. For good reasons, in some cases vital, all Service pilots are taught from the very earliest moment in their training to turn off their fuel before leaving a machine. On the other hand all civil pilots, with very few exceptions indeed, are taught that on no account must they turn it off. This may seem to be a very small matter, but the dangers involved in such a difference of opinion, particularly at schools and other places where different pilots are flying the same machines hour by hour, are very obvious. Not very long ago a famous designer and a serving officer were in volved in an accident, which might very easily have been extremely serious, simply through this cause; the Service pilot had automatically and instinctively turned off the petrol, and the designer, who had been civil-trained, did not think of looking at the tap before opening up to take off- Some time previous to this incident a member of the staff of Flight suffered a similar experience, though in tnis case the fact that the fuel tap had been turned off was
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