FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1939
1939 - 1389.PDF
472 FLIGHT. MAY II, 1939 Formation work might not loom very large in the war duties of an A.C. Squadron, but No. 16 is good at it. direct-lift machines now being de livered to the Service. Under normal conditions in war time the Lysanders would operate singly, but heavy enemy opposition in the air would, it is considered, de mand formations of three or more, though the number of sorties possible would be correspondingly reduced. Mobility Sqn. Ldr. Charles emphasised the importance of mobility to an Army Co-operation unit. Particularly im pressive was a new type of tender which goes out with Advanced Head quarters and picks up messages from- the reconnaissance aircraft. This vehicle carries its own drinking water supply and can stay out as a self- contained unit for some days. Ground stations, which are marked with white ground strips, are usually "adopted" by a battery while listening-in for reports from artillery reconnaissance aircraft. The Squadron is issued with machine guns for local ground defence and for the pro tection of the forty or fifty vehicles which might be con centrated at one time. H. F. K. Sqn. Ldr. Charles (right), O.C. No. 16 (A.C.) Squadron, with the Station Commander, Group Capt. J. B. Cole-Hamilton. (Left) A sergeant demonstrates how the tail drift sight is used in a Lysander. For the purpose of the picture the fabric was removed—a particularly easy process on this machine. THE PERSONAL TOUCH "Fly With Me," by Victor Ricketts; is. Hurst and Blackett, Ltd., 34, Paternoster Row, London, E.C.4. W ITH one, or at the most two, exceptions, books telling the absolute beginner "how to fly" always appear to have been couched in somewhat strained and perhaps unsym pathetic terms. In some of them the author is rather obvi ously talking down to the reader, and in others it is painfully obvious that the writing is being done only with a consider able effort. Whatever may be the merits or otherwise of Mr. Rickett's book as a means of preliminary instruction, it is readable and almost exciting enough to be bought, at its extremely low price, by those who have never been in the air and have no intention of ever being cast loose in an aeroplane. After all, gome of the most popular books of biography and fiction in recent years have been those dealing with flying—and the authors have had no hesitation in using all the semi-technical slang without direct explanation. In Fly With Me it is claimed that the whole business of learning to fly is explained without a technicality or a long word. Of disguised technicalities there are many, but these are woven into what can only be called the story in such a way that the rawest of raw readers is not likely to notice them. Mr. Ricketts goes as far, in his personal instruction, as a fairly simple cross-country flight, and mentions such little matters as radio control and QBI in so far as they affect the amateur pilot. There are one or two little bits of practical advice which are, to say the least of it, unconventional and are not likely to be put forward by a real instructor, and the illus trations tend to be attractive rather than educative, but the book certainly is different. Shooting the Best Kind of Line "Knots, Splices, and Fancy Work," by C. L. Spencer; 6s. Od. Brown Son and Ferguson, Ltd., 52-58, Darnley Street, Glasgow, S.i. "piLOTS and others taking marine aircraft courses may find A this book useful. Though the sections devoted to fancy knot work—and amazingly intricate and decorative some of those knots are—may be mainly of academic interest, there are very clear explanations of all the standard knots and splices and a chapter is devoted to the handling of wfre rope. An appendix gives data on weight, breaking strains, etc.,' of ropes and cables. In this 6s. 6d. book there are 369 illus trations on 200 fijin. x8in. pages of art paper and the reviewer is once again led to wonder why—and how—some publishers charge half-a-guinea for a second-rate novel that can be read in three hours.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
