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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 0273.PDF
JANUARY 30TH, 1941. EYES FOR THE ARMY (Continued) evacuation last year. The classic fore- runner of this epic was the attempt to drop sufficient supplies to General Townsend's men who were besieged in Kut-el-Amara in 1916. There were just over 17,000 persons to cater for, and Gen. Townsend asked for 5,000 lb. of food per day. Nine aircraft were available for the task : four B.E.2.C.S, one Voisin, one Henry Farman and three Short seaplanes. These last five belonged to the Navy. Release gear was quickly designed, and it was found that the B.E.s could carry a 50 lb. bag alongside the fuse- lage on each lower wing and a further t;vo 25 lb. bags between the under- Jirriage struts. The Voisin and Henry Farman each carried approximately the same load under the nacelle, while the Short seaplanes carried their greater load of 250 lb. held up by canvas bands to keep the supplies from the water. The dis- tance from the aerodrome to Kut was about twenty-three miles, and in all some 140 supply-dropping flights were made. In the fifteen days between the 15th and 29th of April, no less than 19,000 lb. weight of food was dropped. The first day was the most successful, with a total of over 3,500 lb. Unfortunately, all this effort was to no purpose, since the garrison had to surrender. The Machines Flying the types prior to the B.E. and Avro 504 (the latter, by the way, never became an A.C. type in any quantity, although it was built in vast numbers for other purposes) was rather like flying a piece of brown paper. There was little or no speed range, and the light loadings put them at the mercy of bumps or "air pockets," as we called them then. It was thought that these were caused by patches of '' thin '' air. The writer's most vivid memory of the B.E., and com- mon to its numerous variants, is draught. The deeply cut-away cockpit sides (presumably to allow beefy army personnel to boil over from the narrow fuselage) could pro- duce a draught of unbelievable intensity. It was, however, extremely stable in the air. Automatic stability was con- sidered at that time to be a very desirable feature. Pro- FINAL BIPLANES : (Above) The 805 h.p. Napier Dagger-engined Hawker Hector was the last biplane type to be issued to A.C. Squadrons. Its speed was 187 m.p.h. at 6,500ft. The port gun chute can be seen between the upper and lower exhaust- manifolds. PRACTICE FOR CALAIS : (Above) Parachute supply con- tainers being dropped from a Lysander. The rear gunner has slid his cockpit cover back. FOR RE-ARMING : (Below) Filling a parachute container with small-arms ammunition. The soft aluminium nose of the container is designed to absorb the landing shock. UP-TO-DATE : The mobile wireless equipment of a modern A.C. Squadron.
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