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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 1016.PDF
APRIL 6, 1939 FLIGHT. 35i SERVICE AVIATION G>" Royal Air Force and Official Announce ments ; Fleet Air Arm News : Military Aviation Abroad nDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDnDDO D D D • • D D D D D • • • D • • D n D D D D D D n D • • D • Ibis /IDajesfg's /Iftessase on tbe Coming of Bge of tbe "IRopal Sir iForce the occasipn of the 21st Anniversary of the Royal Air Force, I send my congratulations and good wishes to all ranks of the Service and to all employed in the Air Ministry. I have known the Royal Air Force from its earliest days, and I am proud to think that its spirit remains unchanged — a spirit that has enabled it to surmount so many difficulties and to rise, true to its motto, to even greater heights of achievement. Signed) GEORGE R.I. • • • • • • D • • G • • • • DDDDDDDDDDODDDDDDDDD R.A.F. Official -photograph, Crown copyright FAST FORMATION : The first picture released for publication of Vickers Super- marine Spitfires in formation. This formidable fighter, with Rolls-Royce Merlin II engine, is capable of 362 m.p.h. Take-off, climb and cruising speed will be improved upon when three-bladed v.p. airscrews are fitted. The Coming of Age JN addition to the message from His Majesty the King, repro- •*- duced above, the following congratulatory messages on the coming of age of the Royal Air Force have been sent by Sir Kingsley Wood, MP., Secretary of State for Air; Marshal of the Royal Air Force the Viscount Trenchard; and Air Chief Marshal Sir Cyril Newall, Chief of the Air Staff :— Sir Kingsley Wood: "lam proud to have the privilege as the Secretary of State for Air of sending a message of con gratulation and good wishes to the Royal Air Force on the 21st anniversary of its creation as a separate Service. "Since I became Secretary of State I have visited a large number of units in the Service and have seen much of the daily hfe and work of the Royal Air Force. I have been deeply impressed by the high standard of zeal and efficiency every where displayed; and I feel it to be a very great honour to be associated with a force which, in the comparatively brief period of its existence, has won for itself such a high place in the esteem of the nation and in the respect of the whole world.— (Signed) KINGSLEY WOOD." • Marshal of the Royal Air Force the Viscount Trenchard: I would like, if I may, to send on this day that means so much to the Royal Air Force my congratulations to all those who are now in it on their ' Coming of Age.' 'As I was present as its first Chief of, the Air Staff at its birth on the 1st April, 1918, I well know with what anxiety we all watched those early days. I think that history will record that no other Service has within twenty-one years made such remarkable progress. The Royal Air Force has had to face tremendous difficulties which it- has successfully lived through, and I feel certain that the spirit that was created in the Great War of 1914-1918 is not only alive to-day, but is the source of its strength. The whole world is now anxiously watching this Service, and I hope that by its strength it will help to prevent that appalling catastrophe, war. May its life in the future be more peaceful than in the past.— (Signed) TRENCHARD." Air Chief Marshal Sir Cyril Ncwall: '' Twenty-one years ago the Royal Air Force was created, in times of stress and danger, a new Service to fulfil a great duty. To-day we come of age, proud of the tradition we have inherited and confident in our ability to maintain it. " The task which in these critical times we may have to perform is greater than it has ever been before; but the success with which the efforts of all have been rewarded in the vast expansion we have undertaken is evidence of an untiring efficiency and an unshakeable determination. '' I am convinced that if the Royal Air Force should be called upon once more to defend our Country and Empire it will maintain that reputation for high hearted courage and devotion to duty which it so fully earned in the past. " The work immediately before us is that of bringing the peace-time efficiency of the Royal Air Force up to the highest possible level; and to this each of us is in his own way con tributing whether in the air or on the ground. "All ranks of the Royal Air Force, regular, auxiliary, and reserve, are, I know, resolved that nothing that they can do to promote the efficiency of the great Service to which they have the honour to belong shall be left, undone.— (Signed) C. L. N. NEWALL, Chief of the Air Staff. R.A.F. Mission for New Zealand THE R.A.F. Mission which is at present fn Australia to study production possibilities, will next visit New Zealand, at the invitation of the Dominion Government, to make a similar survey. As recorded elsewhere in this issue Mr. Hugh Buckingham, of the De Havilland Company, has left for New Zealand to take charge of a D.H. factory to be established, as likely as not, at Rongotai Aerodrome, Wellington. Thirty Vickers Wellingtons are soon to be flown out for the re-equipment of certain bomber units of the R.N.Z.A.F
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