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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 0166.PDF
54 JANUARY I6TH, ANTIPODEAN : Bristol Beauforts are being made at, among other places, the railway aircraft annexe at Chullora, near Sydney, Australia, where this importantwork can go on out of the gentle Hermann's reach ! The Passing of Capt. Horsey WE record with sincere regret thedeath, as a result of a Hying acci- dent, of Capt. H. J. Horsey, a founder-pilot of Imperial Airways. Capt. Horsey was, it appears, ferrying a military aero-plane and trouble developed just after the take-off. In hospital he appeared tobe making good progress, but haemor- rhage set in. His son Michael, who isa pilot officer in the R.A.F., wus with him when he died. "Horse," as he wasaffectionately called, had flown some i| million miles, avid had never had aserious ctash, nor was a single passenger of any aircraft he piloted ever injured.It seems a cruel trick of fate that after such a record he should end his life on acomparatively trivial flight, To British Overseas Airways, the A.T.A. and hisfamily we extend our sincere sympathy. Eagle Squadron's First Loss THE first member of the Eagle Squad-ron, the ail-American _ fighter squadron of the R.A.F., was buried withmilitary honouis last week. He was Pilot-Officer Philip Howard Leckrone,killed in a flying accident, who was one of the many Americans who came overto this country to join the R.A.F. soon after the outbreak of war. P/O Leck-rone was buried in the village church- yard near his station in England, andthe Stars and Stripes, sent by the Ameri- can Embassy from London, was drapedbeside the Union Jack over his coffin. Posted to a Spitfire Squadron soon afterreaching this country, he took part in the air-fighting early in the Battle ofBritain last autumn. He was 28 years old Sir Lancelot Rides Again! MANY a time has the fighter-pilotbeen compared with the knight of old—and with every justification—riding the skyways on his aerial charger to challenge the foe in mortal combat.The bimile will. grow even stronger if anything comes of a development nowtaking place in the experimental depart- ment of the Breeze Corporation, of NewJersey, in the form of bullet-proof armour. Said to resemble a coat of mail, it con-forms to the shape of the human body and fits over the back and top of thehead like a cowl, but there is, presum- ably, no visor. As this modern " tinsuit" weighs less than 120 lb.—they say it will be in production in a few weeks—the modern armour-clad knight will be able to mount his steed with consider-ably less difficulty than was, we under- stand, experienced by his mediaeval an-cestor, but whether American ac-emmas will in future be issued with can-openersin case of emergency is not stated! Milometer for Aircraft ? IF the claims of a 21-year-old workschemist in Surrey materialise in practice, then a very useful instrumentwill be added to the already imposing array that faces the pilot of a modernaircraft. For, according to the air correspondent of The Times, this youngman claims to have invented " an instru- ment called a milometer for aircraftwhich will enable pilots to tell what ground mileage they have covered." No particulars are yet available onthe exact capabilities claimed for this instrument, but presumably the in-ventor believes he has found some means of allowing for drift, otherwiseits usefulness would be very limited. Nobody has yet managed to forgethis link between the variable medium in which an aircraft moves and thesolid ground beneath it, much less to record the variations on a dial. But ifthe young Surrey chemist has actually achieved this feat, then the step fromair-milometer to ground-speed indicator should be a very simole one ! Aviation Growing Up IT is often said that aviation is still inits infancy. One begins to doubt if this is really so when one hears that justrecently two firms famous in Britisii aviation have presented certificates toemployees who have been in the service HERE AND THERE of the firms for twenty and twenty-fiveyears respectively. At Rolls-Royce, Ltd., certificates werehanded to no fewer than 710 employees who had been in the firm's service for 25years. The certificates were signed by Lord Herbert Scott, and it had beenhoped to make a formal presentation. This, however, was not possible, and thecertificates 'were instead handed to the men while they were at work.The De Havilland Aircraft Co., Lud., presented a certificate to 17 men wimohad been with the company for twenty years; in addition each received acheque for £20. It is of interest to note that five of the seven directors were in-cluded, i.e., Capt. Geoffrey De Havil- land, and Messrs. F. T. Hearle, C. C.Walker, W. E. Nixon and F. E. N. St. Barbe. "77ie R.A.F. Can Stop Invasion" AIR CHIEF MARSHAL SIR HUGHDOWDING, former Chief of the R.A.F. Fighter-Command, does notcompletely share the opinion recently expressed in London by another R.A.F*.officer of high rank who said that the Navy and R.A.F. could not defeat aninvasion without the. help of the Army. Speaking at Washington, Sir Hughsaid that a successful invasion of Great Britain was impossible so long as theR.A.F". maintained its command of the air over this country. He added thateven if the R.A.F. had lost command of the air last autumn, thus enabling aGerman invasion to have been at- tempted, it would still not necessarilyhave been successful because the in- vaders would have had to contend witfhthe Navy and Army. 4. '' The British people will never breakunder air attack," he said. "They are filled with a cold anger and a steelydetermination to see the war through." U.S. Production Plant Extension ACCORDING to Mr. Arthur Nutt,**• President of the Society of Automo- tive Engineers, the expansion facilitiesin U.S. aircraft production have been "terrific—beyond our greatest hopes." Too pessimistic a view was beingtaken of, the aircraft portion of the national defence programme. "Resultsmay not show yet because it takes time to get started," he said, "but when theplants begin to go they will go very fast." By means of a questionaire sent outto some 50,000 of its members, the National Association of Manufacturershopes to obtain, by January 25th, an inventory of their facilities available to,the defence programme which are not yet so employed. This covers two-thirdsof the country's manufacturing capacity and includes firms both great and small.
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