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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 1256.PDF
394 MAY 2, 1940 prestige which our absence this year from the Atlantic will cost us. The converted civil aircraft, and par- ticularly the requisitioned ones, are performing well on the Coastal Command work, but the urgency of pro- viding real military types for this important duty can- not be over-emphasised, as it is essential that Caribou and Cabot be released to proceed upon their lawful occasions. Equality in DecorationsA N interdepartmental committee, representing the three fighting Services, is now sitting to considerk the question of making decorations for gallantry similar in the case of officers and "other ranks" who have won them. In the case of the Distinguished Fly- ing Cross and the Distinguished Flying Medal, two men may have volunteered for the R.A.F. at the same time. They may have passed together through the I.T.W., the Elementary School, and the Flying Training School as airmen, and may well have become intimate friends during their course of training. At the end, one receives a commission while the other becomes a ser- geant pilot. Later on they may both have been en- gaged in the same air combat and have behaved with equal gallantry and been awarded decorations. It seems incongruous that one should receive the Cross and the other the Medal. One carefully refrains from writing "only the Medal," for the honour conferred by both is equal. It may be useful to examine the whole question. In the first place, all war medals are the same for all ranks. Among decorations the Victoria Cross and the Empire Medal for Gallantry are also the same for all ranks. These are common to all Services. Next in honour to the V.C. comes the Distinguished Service Order, open to officers of all three Services. The equivalent for other ranks in the Army is the Medal for Distinguished Conduct in the Field (D.C.M.) and for naval ratings the Distinguished Service Medal (D.S.M.). There is no equivalent to.these last two open to R.A.F. airmen. It may be thought appropriate to confine the D.S.O. to officers, as it is an Order, and Orders have old tradi- tions. Moreover, the records of the D.C.M. and D.S.M. are so glorious that any interference with them might well be resented. The real crux of the matter is the intermediate cate- gory of gallantry for which each Service gives its own pair of decorations, namely, the Distinguished Service Cross and Medal (D.S.C. and D.S.M.) for the Navy the Military Cross and Medal (M.C. and M.M.) for the Army, and the D.F.C. and D.F.M. for the Air Force. To combine each of these pairs into one decora- tion open to all ranks would probably be popular with officers and other ranks alike. Telling the WorldA QUESTION asked in the House of Commons last week gave the Under-Secretary of State for Air, Captain Harold Balfour, an opportunity to em- phasise the Government's policy in letting British aviation journals go abroad. In so doing, Capt. Bal- four paid the British aviation press a compliment of which we are proud: "They (British aviation journals) are of high repute and provide a means of making known to the world the excellence of our products." To the question of whether any German publication provided for us the same information.. Capt. Balfour replied: "German publications, even in peacetime, have never furnished information comparable with that contained in British aviation journals." We quote this partly because we are not unmindful of the honour which the Under-Secretary of State for Air has thus bestowed upon the British aviation press, but also to let those of our readers who do not see foreign aviation journals know that they are well served by their own. A TWIN-ENGINED DECK-LANDING FIGHTER : The new Grumman single-seater twin-engined fighter built for the U.S. Navy as a deck-landing machine. It is popularly known as the Skyrocket. The engines are Wright Cyclones, and it is believed tnai x armament comprises two shell-guns and four machine-guns.
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