FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1941
1941 - 1270.PDF
388 JUNE 5m, 1941. PER BOMBER : Mr. Ralph Bell, Director of Canadian Aircraft Produc- tion, hands a cheque for £20,000 to Sir George Wilkinson for the Lord Mayor's Fund. The contribution was from the Queen's Canadian Fund and Mr. Bell brought it over in a new bomber. Expensive Speed! /"^ORRESPONDENCE from this coun- V—' try to the Far East can now be sent all the way by air, but the postal rate of 5s. per £oz. for letters and 2s. Gd. for a postcard is not likely to encourage a rush of patronage. Such air-mail, in- cidentally, goes via the United States as an alternative to the normal route which is by sea as far as South Africa. An all-air mail service was already in operation at these rates via U.S.A. to Hong-Kong and Macao, and also to Australia, New Zealand and the Philip- pines at the slightly lower rate of 4s. 6d. per ^oz. and 2s. 3d. for postcards. The HERE AND THERE extended facilities now bring in Burma, Ceylon, India, Malaya, Siam (or Thai- land) and the Dutch East Indies. U.S. Negro Fighter Squadron A NEGRO squadron, the 99th Pursuit,will be formed in the U.S. Army Air Corps. Thirty-three pilots and 276 ground personnel will be trained at Chanute Field, Illinois, by white officers, but later it is hoped that negro instruc- tors will be available from the trained fliers to continue the work. Safety Regulations NEW regulations designed to increasethe safety of passenger-carrying air- liners in Australia have been introduced by the Civil Aviation Department. A first or second class navigatoe* must be carried on every daytime fligflt of 100 miles or longer and on every jpght flight of more tha.11 15 miles, lian sections of Internation a first-class navigator must aeroplane for all flights 1 miles over the sea or ov< without radio beam aids. New Scots Air 7>i AIR training centim*^ror Scottishyouth are to be eRablished in the eastern and western areas. It is ex- pected that\eachx-centra will have aceom- modatio% for 1,000 r^ruits for the Air Training -Corps. Th| Glasgow wants a accommodation for West of Scotland opportunity should lie exploited by a coast or other holiday town which wants e Austra- air routes, aboard the than f/20 land sections Lord Provost of itable site and cadets in the d says that the BOOO a steady income from air training. Scot- land needs at least two air training centres to obviate the necessity of lads going south to be trained. New Zealand Fighter Squadron /COMPOSED almost exclusively of New >—' Zealanders, a fighter ^quaclt^jg-ij / recently formed in England under t.W/7 Empire Air Training Scheme will now go into action at an operational station after completing its training. The pilots of this squadron are all R.N.Z.A.F. men except their squadron commander and two flight commanders who served in the R.A.F. before the war and who are experienced air fighters, one having served with the Burma Squadron, another with a bomber squadron in France, and the third being a Dunkirk "veteran." Other members have seen action with other units. Central AustraliaT HE popular impression that the centre of Australia is a vast waterless ^ert has gained such firm acceptance' j'v-'t.hat it is very difficult to combat it with ^ the real facts. Consequently many readers will be surprised to read that in February of this year there were such terrific downpours in Western Queens- land and the Northern Territory that many aerodromes were out of action and the mails were dropped at the towns without landing. One "river," which in normal times is a chain of waterholes, be- came a sheet of water 60 miles wide. The truth is that Australia is so vast that climate and vegetation vary very much from place to place, and the character- istics of any one district vary according to the rainfall. THAT it would not greatly matterif all scientific work stopped nowwas the surprising statement made by Sir Henry Tizard, rector of the Engineering Society of the City and Guilds College, University of London, when he proposed the toast o£ the society at its recent annual dinner. Sir Henry, who is known throughout the world of aeronautical research, ex- plained that this was because practically all the scientific basis of the work for this war was well established and what was now required was the successful application of it by engineers. Speaking of the work of scientists and engineers in this war, he emphasised the difference between them. The scientists, he said, were better known to the public, while the engineers were " hidden in in- dustry." "Are there ten engineers in this country," he asked, "of whom the Cabinet must take notice—or pretend to? " The City and Guilds College is com- prised of the faculties of civil, electrical and mechanical engineering, and last, and also least in numbers but not in importance, the faculty of aeronautics under the guiding hands of Professors SCIENTISTS AND THE WAR Aeronautical Expert's Views at City and Guilds Engineering Dinner T\f\4- rr*-t>'i •l-l IT t-r\ n ffof T cnria t-i^ T^.rt iref A«r n r\r\ T7 T T-Ti It TK10 T \tc mvt t-o» in iLeonard Bairstow and F. T. Hill. This year the Society has been fortunate in having as its president another leader of British aviation, Mr. F. Handley Page. Still Much to Learn Mr. Handley Page, as "an unknown warrior of the engineering profession," replied to the toast in a witty speech and told his audieuce that though they must learn the rudiments of engineering at a college, they have still much to learn after they start work. He asked them to remember that there were other sides to engineering than calculation for design, such as the planning, jig and tool, and progress departments. Engineers, said Mr. Handley Page, in attempting to get their ideas accepted, come up against tremendous " sales resistance," and of all the conservative minds which they meet, the military mind is the most conserva- tive. He instanced the resistance to the introduction of the long bow at Crecy, and then spoke of that most modern of weapons, the air force. His final advice to students was to bear in mind the wis- dom of Ecclesiastes about time and chance coming to every man and to grasp opportunity when it appeared. The course i Aeronautics is a vet necessary part of the war eifort and hi been so recognised by the Ministry Labour and the Joint Recruiting Board,, for though post-graduate activities have; been drastically restricted everywhere; this course continues. The present academic year is nearly ended, and the next one will commence early in October. Only students who have, in general, an honours degree in engineering, mathe- matics or physics (of any university) are eligible for entry to the one-year course. As much of the laboratory work is done on wind tunnels, only a small number of students can be accommodated. Should there be a surplus of applications, the places will be filled by selection. The syllabus includes aerodynamics, aircraft materials and design, structures, aero-engine theory and design, and navi- gation and instruments and meteorology. There is also a programme of visits to factories and scientific establishments. Any enquiries may be addressed to, and a syllabus obtained from, Prof. F. T. Hill, Department of Aeronautics, City and Guilds College, Imperial College of Science and Technology, South Kensing- ton, London, S.W.7.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
