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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 0070.PDF
34 FLIGHT. JANUARY 12, 1939 SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Force and Official Announcements : Fleet Air Arm News Fleet Air Arm Division AN Admiralty order announces the following measure: — The reorganisation of the Fleet Air Arm under the control of the Admiralty will entail the permanent allocation of a large num ber of naval ratings for duties with aircraft. These duties make it necessary for drafting of F.A.A. permanent personnel to be carried out from a central establishment. Their Lordships have therefore approved that when control has been assumed by the Admiralty, a separate division, to be called the " Fleet Air Arm Division," shall be formed as an addition to the three home ports, to which all permanent F.A.A. ratings shall belong, and that all drafting of such personnel shall be carried out from a Naval Shore Air Base. The ratings whose drafting will be controlled from the Naval Air Base will be those holding the following substantive or non-sub stantive ratings: —Air Artificers, Air Fitters or Air Riggers, Air Mechanics, and Air Apprentices (Aircraft Maintenance Branches); Rating Pilots, Observers' Mates, and Air Gunners. R.A.F. ranks who are transferred to the Aircraft Maintenance Branches of the Royal Navy will be allocated to the new Fleet Air Arm Division when it is formed, and in the meantime will be attached to Portsmouth Port Division. Other naval shore aero dromes are in future likely to be established in the vicinity of the Naval Air Base; a considerable portion of the shore service of Fleet Air Arm personnel will therefore occur in the locality, and advan tages will arise from attachment to the new division. A Qallant Airman THE award of the Military Medal to the undermentioned airman, in recognition of bravery displayed by him in Palestine, was published in the London Gazette of December 13; — A/C.i James Leslie Lee Crerar. More Pilots Wanted ABOUT four hundred short-service commission pilots, who will be entered from civil life, are required within the next three months to complete the largest intake of short-service officers for any year in the history of the Royal Air Force. It was in June last that Sir Kingsley Wood, Secretary of State for Air, announced that owing to the further expansion of the Service some 1,700 pilots would be required from civil life. 1,300 candidates have been accepted up to date, and applications are now invited from suitable candidates to fill the remaining vacancies. They must be between 17^ and 25 years of age, have been educated to approximately the standard of the school certificate, and be medically fit. Full particulars can be obtained from the Under- Secretary of State, Air Ministry (Dept. S.7.e.), Kingsway, London, W.C.2. A limited number of medium-service commissions for a further period of five years, and of permanent commissions, are granted annually to short-service officers. Air Mission to Australia ON the invitation of the Australian Government, it has been agreed that a Mission from the United Kingdom shall visit Australia in the near future for the purpose of examining," in con sultation with representatives of the Commonwealth Government, the possibility of the creation of further capacity for the production of aircraft in the Commonwealth, and to prepare a scheme for the consideration of both Governments. The mission will consist of Sir Hardman Lever, Bart, K.C.B., who headed the recent mission to Canada, Col. Sir Donald Banks, K.C.B., D.S.O., M.C., Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Air, and Air Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore, K.C.B., D.S.O., lately Com mandant of the Imperial Defence College. The Mission will be assisted by experts whose names will be announced in due course, and will proceed shortly to Australia. Sir Hardman Lever was born in 1869. He was Financial Secre tary to the Treasury 1917-19, an assistant Commissioner for Finance, U.S.A., 1918, and Treasury Representative at the Ministry of Trans port 1919-21. He was a member of the United Kingdom Air Mission to Canada in 193S. Col. Sir Donald Banks was born in 1891, was educated at Eliza beth College, Guernsey, and entered the Civil Service in 1909. He served in the Territorial Force before the war and commanded the 10th Essx and 8th Royal Berkshire Battalions in France. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, the Military Cross, and the French Croix de Guerre, and was twice mentioned in despatches. Sir Donald was appointed a Member of the Air Council in August, 1936, and Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Air in 1938. Pre viously he was Director-General of the Post Office from 1934 to 1936 and earlier, Deputy Controller and Controller of the Post Office Savings Bank (1924-1934). During his service as Director-General of the Post Office the policy in regard to the carriage of mails by air was fundamentally altered, and resulted in the successful inauguration of the Empire Air Mail and other schemes for the conveyance of mail without surcharge. He was the Post Office member of the official Committee on Inter national Air Communications and was one cf the Delegation which visited Canada and the United States towards the end of 1935 to discuss with the Governments concerned the establishment of a •transatlantic air service. After the war he commanded Princess Louise's Kensington Regiment, Territorial Army, from 1927 to 1931. He was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1935- Air Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore, lately Commandant of the Imperial Defence College, was born at St. Leonards, New South Wales, on October 8, 1885. He was educated at Bengeo School, Herts; Stubington, Hants; and H.M.S. Britannia. He was gazetted as Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy in 1904. He obtained Royal Aero Club Certificate No. 72 in 1911, and in 1912 was transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (Naval Wing) with the rank of Squadron Commander. He served in the Royal Naval Air Service until. 1918 and was granted the rank of Wing Commander, Royal Air Force, in 1919. He served as Lieutenant Commander in H.M.S. Tiger in the battle of Jutland, and as Lieutenant Colonel, Royal Air Force, in the Adriatic Group 1917-18. For his war time services he was men tioned in despatches and awarded the D.S.O. and the Croix de Guerre. The Belgian Order of the Crown was conferred on him in 1915 and the Legion of Honour in 1916. In 1919 the Italian Order of SS. Maurice and Lazarus and the Croce de Guerra were con ferred on him. He was Director of Equipment in the Air Ministry in 1924 and commanded the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, from 1929 to 1933. He commanded in turn the Inland Area and Coastal Commands, and in 1936 became Commandant of the Im perial Defence College. He was created a Commander of the Bath in 1925 and a Knight of the Order in T935. He was promoted to his present rank in 1935. Making Ready IT is announced by Brigadier Street, the Federal Minister of Defence, that the committee to investigate the large-scale pro duction of aircraft and parts in Australia, in preparation for the visit of the British Air Mission, will include Mr. L. J. Hartnett, managing director of General Motors (Holdens); Mr. R. G. Russell, managing director of the Russell Manufacturing Company, Mel bourne; Mr. James Kirby, managing director of the Associated Equipment Company, Sydney; and Mr. F. S. Daly, of the produc tion staff of General Motors. Reunion Dinners THE annual reunion dinner of the officers of the Electrical and Wireless School will be held at the Royal Air Force Club at 7 p.m. for 7.30 p.m. on Saturday, January 2r. Tickets, price ns. each, including wine and gratuities, may be obtained on application to the hon. secretary, Fit. Lt. F. S. Wainscot, No. 1 Electrical and Wireless School, Cranwell, Lines. Dinner jackets will be worn. Past and present officers of the school who have not received an invitation are asked to communicate with the hon. secretary. A reunion dinner for officers on the strength of the Central Flying School before and during the Great War and on the staff since that period will be held at the Central Flying School, Upavon, Marl borough, Wiltshire, on Friday, January 20. Particulars are obtainable from the hon. secretary, at the C.F.S., Upavon. F.A.A. Squadrons Form H.M.S. Ark Royal, which now flies the flag of the Rear-Admiral (Carriers), will receive certain units transferred from H.M.S. Courageous, the former flagship. In addition she will take on board two new squadrons recently formed, namely. No. 803 (Fleet Fighter) Squadron which formed at Worthy Down and is commanded by Lt. Cdr. (Sqn. Ldr., R.A.F.) B. H. M. Kendall, and No. 814 (Tor pedo Spotter-Reconnaissance) Squadron which formed at Southamp ton and is commanded by Lt. Cdr. (Sqn. Ldr., R.A.F.) N. S. Luard. A New Staff College Building WE learn from The Hawk (the organ of the Staff College) that a new building for the accommodation of the College is to be erected in the vicinity of iVndover at an early date, and that it will probably be ready for occupation by 1941. Apart from this interesting piece of news, the latest issue of The Hawk is a very excellent one. The coloured frontispiece is a repro duction of " From Ypres to the Sea," a painting by W. L. Wyllie, R.A., whose son, Lt. Col. H. Wyllie, O.B.E., appears as observer in a Bleriot of No. 6 Squadron over Ypres in 1915. Col. Wyllie has lent three of his father's pictures to the Staff College, and the latter hopes to purchase them in due course. The issue includes articles from old Staff College graduates on expeditions in various parts of the world, and the suggestions in " Conversation ir. the Train " and " A Potential Weapon " are well worth study. The latter article suggests that the Mayo Composite idea could be adapted for launching a seven-ton bomb on an impor tant target (e.g., a battleship) using the lower component as a pilotless bomb carrier. The unit would be flown to its objective by a pilot in the upper component.
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