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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0071.PDF
JANUARY 13TH, 1944 FLIGHT HERE AND THERE J*<~ fcr mand of the U.S.A.A.F., a day-and-night service delivers every bomb dropped on the Japs by the U.S. 14th Air Force and the petrol for their aircraft, not to men tion all the supplies needed by General Stilwell's forces. Begun 20 months-ago, this military air transport service carried ten times the tonnage in December, 1943, that it delivered in December, 1942. Curtiss Commandos and Liberators are used, and although unarmed, they fly unescorted within range of Jap fighters, and over the 17,000ft. "hump," as the American pilots term their Himalayan route, to China. Licensed Aircraft Engineers THE Foundation Committee set up by the meeting on December 15th last held its first meeting on January 5th at the offices of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and decided that two whole days would be devoted to its next meeting in view of the problems to be solved in fram ing the constitution and the need for urgency. It is hoped at this meeting to fix a date for a general meeting, to which all licensed aircraft engineers (in cluding flight engineers) will be invited tlirough the medium of the Press. R.Ae.C. International Conference THE Royal Aero Club, at the sugges tion of several Allied countries, has agreed to hold a conference in London to discuss the future international control of flying and air touring. Invitations have been issued to the representatives of 28 Allied and neutral countries, and the conference will take place at the Royal Aero Club on January 19th, 1944. Lord Brabazon, president of the Royal Aero Club, will preside. Canuck Gongs C ANADIANS in the R.A.F. and R.C.A.F. have covered themselves with glory during 1943, having been awarded more than 700 decorations for gallantry. These included 15 D.S.O.s, 450 D.F.C.s, 27 bars to the D.F.C., 210 D.F.M.s, five C.G.M.s and five George Medals. Incidentally the First Cana dian Fighter Wing led all other wings of Fighter Com mand in the number of enemy aircraft destroyed over a period of several months. Gallant Exhibit T HE Spitfire II flown by Sqn. Ldr. " Bluey" Truscott, D.F.C. and Bar, the Battle of Britain pilot who lost his life in a crash off the Australian coast last year, is to become a museum exhibit in Australia, it was announced recently by Mr. Arthur Drakeford, the Aus tralian Air Minister. " Bluey" Truscott, who was a close friend of the equally famous Paddy Finu- cane, himself bagged 15 Ger man aircraft before he re turned to his native Australia to fight against the Japs. He and his "Spit" belonged to the 452nd Australian Squad ron, the first R.A.A.F. fighter squadron to be formed in the United • Kingdom and one which is still in action. X-ray Conference T HE third conference on '' X-ray Ana lysis in Industry " has been provisionally fixed for March 31st and April 1st in Oxford. It is being held under the auspices of the X-ray Analysis Group of the In stitute of Physics. Remote Control AN amusing story of improvisation in the wilds comes from the December News Letter issued by B.O.A.C. W'h e n their remote station at Laropi, Uganda, was opened, they managed to acquire a small generator and some wiring to fix up electric light for the staff's quarters, but, since switches proved to be as scarce as bananas in England, the only way to .put out the light on retiring was for . someone to walk some 50 )^ards to stop the generator. Then one man had a brain-wave. He rigged up an auxiliary petrol tank with a small sixpenny oil tin, and just before retiring, the generator plant was switched over to this from the normal tank. This let the engine run for about 20 minutes, giving everyone nice time to undress and' get into bed before it auto matically stopped. Museum. Piece THE Sikorsky VS-300 helicopter, the one with which its designer, finally achieved success, has been presented to the Edison Institute at Dearborn, Michigan. p-^afir MISCELLANEOUS MISSILES. A 4,000 lb. bomb about to be hoisted into the capacious bay of a Lancaster, with lesser " eggs '' and incendiaries wait ing their turn. It will "join other outstanding ' firsts ' in aviation in the museum there," says Eugene E. Wilson, vice-chairman and president of United Aircraft Corpora tion. Toward 1944 and M PER A. Norlin, business/executive of Swedish A.B. Ata^ransport, has made a prolonged AM^ffi the United States, where he hrfWpiM manufacturers of aifc^|^\nd^*±t\ngs with plans for new/Ytcyi»^MpsiJso used the oppor- tuntty^re^^cuss possible peacetime air trafaspQjr^ co-operation and mutual arsaaifements with similar American companies. Mr. Norlin was not 30 years old when, with Capt. Karl Florman, he helped to establish Swedish Air Lines r O.K.! clever puss—I'll rivet whi "Unbelievable!" O FFICIAL jargon appears to have taken the bit between its teeth while Mr. Churchill has been away. One of the worst recent examples came from the Directorate of Public Relations at the Air Ministry in an embargo on the jet pro pulsion story. This, it was stated, was " Unpublishable, Un,broadcastable and Untrans- arissable " before 2200 hours AJ.M.T.," Thursday, January 6th. One feels tempted to apply this specimen of Air Minis try English the heading of one of the chapters in Jack Lon- on's book, The Cruise of the Snark — "Inconceivable and Monstrous."
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