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Aviation History
1939
1939-1- - 0178.PDF
5° $J> @LW JULY 20, 1939 where all other means of absolute altitude-judging had failed. A few months ago the development of a wire less system of indicating height above the ground was announced in the United States, but not much has been heard of it since. Presumably, it will duly appear in production form. Weasels ASUPPLEMENTARY Estimate for the Royal Air Force was expected, and an extra £32,000 does not seem excessive. The reasons given by the Air Council for needing this sum are interesting. First comes a really comprehensive reason, namely, "various measures to augment the effectiveness of the Royal Air Force." This, of course, would cover a multitude of virtues, but the House of Commons would naturally like to know a few more details, so the second reason is the formation of more squadrons overseas, which had already been announced in Parliament. The third reason given sets one thinking. It is "the permanent manning of sections of the balloon barrage squadrons." The balloon squadrons are part of the Auxiliary Air Force, manned by part-time officers and men who train in their spare time. Part of the personnel of the squad rons round London are being called up for continuous training, and while so embodied they will train a number of airmen of the regular R.A.F. in the management of balloons, with the result that when the A.A.F. men return to their normal existence there will be enough regulars to man a part of the London barrage perman ently. In these days it is generally thought that declarations of war will be dispensed with, and that if a nation decides to attack us it will try a surprise attack with its Air Force. If that should happen we should be able to man some of our balloons without delay, which is a comforting thought. Consolidating a Friendship I T is inevitable that one's imagination should be stirred by the flight in three "hops," recorded elsewhere in this issue, of the American Consolidated flying boat, from San Diego, Calif., to Felixstowe, Suff. The boat is one of several ordered by the British Air Ministry for experimental purposes, and comparisons have been made between it and such British military flying boats as the Short Sunderland. Actually, the two are not comparable, being in different classes and designed with different objects in view. The American boat has a gross weight of 27,000-28,500 lb., while the normal gross weight of the British boat is about 48,000 lb., and the normal overload weight 50,000 lb. It is mainly in the matter of range that the two boat are compared. The maximum range of the Consolidated is stated to be slightly more than 4,000 miles. With it standard tankage the Sunderland will do about 3,00.1 miles. It has, however, been taken off very successful! with a vastly increased overload, and if all of that wen- used in the form of petrol the Sunderland would have about the same range. The Consolidated boat is certainly very " clean," and with two engines and retractable wing tip floats it should require proportionately less power than the Short boat A more comparable British type is the Saro Lerwick, but as this machine is still quite new it is not permis sible to quote the figures for it. In order to preserve a proper sense of perspective it is necessary to bear in mind that if the Air Ministry wants maximum range British designers can provide it just as well as can American. It just so happens that no boat specification calling for it has been issued, and the American boats were, presumably, ordered because the question of long range had become important, and this was the quickest and simplest way of finding out all about it. The Staff College I N 1922 the Royal Air Force, then a very young Service, decided that it must have a Staff College, so one was started in some war-time huts which had been erected by German prisoners at Andover. In 1925 a decision was made that those very unworthy habita tions must suffice for another ten years. Now, in 1939, the Chief of the Air Staff has just cut the first sod on the site where a really worthy Staff College building will arise. It is expected to be in full working order by 194J:. It may be said that the brains of the Air Force are located in the drawing offices of the firms, and some of them at Farnborough. If so, the heart of the Force is the Staff College. In that College are taught the doc trines whereby the machines and their human directors are converted from mere specimens of brute force, of horse-power, in fact, into thoughtfully directed instru ments of defence. The man-in-the-street may not realise that both strategy and tactics are concerned in the use of air power in war. Yet nothing would be easier than for ill-considered use of that power to waste all its potentialities. The student of the Great War can find all too many instances of gallant efforts being wasted for lack of proper planning. The Air Force was then new, and its leaders wrere groping their way towards a sound doctrine partly by trial and error. Such mistakes must not be made again, and it is the business of the Staff College to see that throughout the Service there are numbers of officers trained in sound principles. Sat., 8th-Sun., 23rd Son., 16th Sun., 23rd. Rimini. JULY. Brussels Aero Show. Italian Aero Club : Littorio Rally, Forthcoming Events Sat., 22nd. Sat., 22nd- Tues., 25th. Frl. 28th Sat., 29th. Sat., 29th- Gospor Reunion, Brooklands. Tues., 25th Deauvllle and Planta&enet Air Rallies, France. Alliance Franvaise : Bleriot Channel Flight 30th Anniversary Banquet, Dorchester Hotel, London. Club: Oeauville-Sun., 30th. Cannes Aero Vichy-Cannes Rally. Civil Aviation Benevolent Fund Air Display Redhill. Sun., 30th. Meeting. Frankfurt International Flying AUGUST. Sat., 5th. Cinque Ports Flying Club: Folkestone Aero Trophy Race. Suo., 6th. London Air Park Flying Club : Garden Party. Sat., 12th. Eastbourne Flying Club : Flying Display and Garden Party. SEPTEMBER. Sat., 2nd. King's Cup Race and Wakefield Trophy Race. Birmingham. Sun., 3rd. Gordon Bennett Balloon Race, Poland. Sat., 16th. Cinque Ports Flying Club : Wakefield Cup Race. Sat., 23rd. Cardiff Aeroplane Club : London-Cardiff Race. OCTOBER. Sun., 1st. Aero Club de France: Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe, Etampes. Mon., 2nd-Sun., 17th. Milan Aero Show.
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