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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0935.PDF
JUXE I2TH, 1947 FLIGHT customers, but anything approaching Neville Stack's al-most private airline, which he operated for the Navy at Trincomalee with such success, using American aircraft,has completely vanished from the scene. Now this is a very sore point with those who have grownup with naval aviation, since you can't run a railway with- out shunting engines, nor a harbour without routine boats,nor even an airport without transport cars. How, then, they ask, can you run an air force without communica-tion aircraft ? The official answer is that if the Navy wants air trans- port, all it has to do is to ask Transport Command of the R.A.F., or at least ask the R.A.F. to supply the aircraft needed for particular journeys. ./J||__ How this worked out in practice during the war can be seen by the fact that the Fleet Air Arm was forced in the end to run its own airline from Donibristle to the Orkneys, and to operate Stack's "private" airline in Ceylon. Meanwhile, in crucial days in the Eastern Mediterranean, when Admiral Cunningham wanted air transport to Cairo from Alexandria, he had to ask Heliopolis to send aQ.6 to Dekheiia and thus make a double journey-each trip. Mr. Charles Taylor (right), Fairey's representative, with Lieutenant (E) Bouwer, R. Neth. Navy, and the Warrant Officer in charge of No. 860 Sqdn. Fireflies at Souravoya. After many months of battling for one aircraft for naval communication, a Proctor finally arrived. This, unfortu- nately, crashed on its second flight, and thereafter those 'vho had tried so long and so hard to secure a communica- Cdr. K. W. Beard, R.N.,Commander at the R.N. Air Station, Sembawang,12 miles from Singapore City. • Cdr. Beard is one ofthe old-time Fleet Air Arm Observers. tion aircraft gave up the un-equal struggle and relied on Swordnsh or Walrus to dothe job. It was an instruc- tive sight to see seven staffofficers climbing into a Wal- rus, and on at least oneoccasion four were flown in a target-towing Stringbag. It was also instructive toread the excellent talks given recently by distinguishedofficers on Naval Aviation at the Royal AeronauticalSociety. No reference at all, as far as I could see, wasmade to the need for a trans- port and communication ser-vice for the Fleet Air Arm. This may be due to thesmart felt in the Admiralty by an abortive attempt tostart such a service in 1943. After a great paper battle with the Air Ministry, withM.A.P. striving to keep the peace, finally the Navy was offered (I think) eight Warwicks. Admiral Bell Da viespresided over the meeting following this news, and the general opinion of the aviators present was that this wasa small enough offer but at least a start. Alas! This scheme died at birth. Almost at once theWarwick tally was reduced to two aircraft; but much more than this, the Directorate of Naval Stores weighed in withthe killing demand that if the Fleet Air Arm started its own naval air transport service then the capacity should beavailable to all sections of the Navy. And even before the astonished hearers had recovered breath, as they saw theirhopes of flying naval air stores to carriers abroad dashed or horribly diminished, the stores men blandly askedwhether a Warwick could carry a 6in gun barrel as these were urgently needed at the Cape. The trend of economic and political events in the GreatEast is such, in my opinion, that the defence of the zone and the military control of lawlessness must rest on seapower which is as indissolubly linked with air power in these parts as elsewhere. Singapore, changed in status afterthe inglorious collapse in 1942, is nonetheless the nodal point of communications for the area. Since the twonearest naval bases are Ceylon in the west and Hong Kong to the north-east, and both many hundreds of miles fromSingapore, it is only common sense that a naval air trans- port service should come into being at that central base. Otherwise, it will be just like old times, with the situa-tion pre-war at Hal Far, Malta, duplicated in almost every detail—to the great disadvantage of the defence plan andthe maintenance of order over a restive and rising section of the world. For, in the memorable words of GeneralSmuts, spoken nearly three decades ago, in the Great East: '' The tents have been struck—the Great Caravan ofHumanity is on the march again." AMPHIBIANS IN THE ANTARCTIC Tl/TR JOHN STRACHEY was the guest of honour at Mr. 1V1 John Grierson's lecture to the Royal Geographical Society on June 2nd, and among those present was Sir Henry Self. It is to be presumed that the one represented gastro- nomic considerations, the other aeronautical. A very useful contribution was made by Mr. Hugh Lamb, the Air Ministry meteorologist, who was able to surmise, from his weather observations, that there is probably in the Antarctic a moan- tain range running north-south in a certain area, which has never yet been plotted on any map. This was related to an exceptionally good weather area between 104 and 108 deg E. The lecture began with a brief description of the different tvpes of whale found in the Antarctic. This was followed by an historical sketch of whaling and a description of the 1946-47 equipment of the Balaena, including the Walrus amphibians and the precautions taken to ensure the safety and well-being of their crews in case of a forced landing or other mishap. (It may be recalled that in our issue of March 27th. 1947, wepublished an article on this subject, sent us by Mr. Grierson while he was still on board the Balaena in the Antarctic.)After describing the training of aircrews, and the experi- mental catapult launchings, Mr. Grierson explained the natureof the work on the scene of operations. From the aeronautical point of view his account was chiefly interesting in showingthe good results obtained, the ease with which whales could be spotted from the air, and the complete satisfaction givenby the Walrus amphibians and their Bristol engines. "Even to-day, thirteen years after its original design, this machineis as good as any in the world for the type of work we were doing," Mr. Grierson said. A rough uncut film taken during the expedition illustratedhow well whales can be seen when they are surfacing, or even swimming some 30ft below the surface. In spite of theirsize, the movements of these huge animals are extremely grace- ful. Mr. Grierson reported that whales had been seen, onthe surface and under ivater, from heights as great as 10,000ft.
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