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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 0565.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER Editorial Director G. GEOFFREY SMITH. M.B.E. Editor - - C. M. POULSEN Assistant Editor - MAURICE A. SMITH, D.F.C (W/NG COX. R.A.f.V.R.) Art Editor - - JOHN YOXALL FIPST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY W THE WORLD .• FOUNDED WOQ Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telegrams : Flightpres, Sedist, London. Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (60 lines); 8- 10, COVENTRY : CORPORATION ST. BIRMINGHAM, 2: MANCHESTER, 3 : GLASGOW, C2 KING EDWARD HOUSE, 260, DEANSGATE. •>,*, RFKIrlrln ,T NEW STREET. Telegrams : Iliffe, Manchester t, ,.' , Telegrams: Autocar, Coventry. Te/egrjms: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Blackfriars 4412 (3 lines). Telegrams : Iliffe. Glasgow. Telephone : Coventry 5210. Telephone: Midland 7191 (7 lines). Deansgate 3595 (2 lines). Telephone: Central 4837. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Home: Twelve months, £3 Is. Od. Six months, £ I 10s. 4d. Overseas: Twelve months, £2 18s. 6d. BY AIR.: To any country in Europe (except Poland). Twelve months, £5 Is. Od. Six months, £2 tSs. id. To Canada and U.S.A. Six months, $14. No. 2T02. Vof. LV April 7th, 1949 Thursdays, One Shilling Outlook Back to Methuselah v HOW far away seem the days when there was nosuch thing as air power! Yet in point of timeit is only 37 years since the first faltering steps were taken to lay the foundations by iour«&Jg the Royal Flying Corps from which was to grow the Royal Air Force and all that that has meant to the nation and to the world. When that momentous event happened, on April i2thy 1912, Flight had already been in existence far more than three years, the first issue having appeared on January 2nd, 1909, the frontispiece picture showing Mr. J. T. C Brabazon (now Lord Brabazon) flying a Voisin biplane which looked rather like an animated bookshelf. British Government encouragement of flying had been to _al intents and purposes non-existent until the RoyaJ Frying Corps was founded, and the pioneers were private ex- perimenters who spent their own and their friends' money on what appeared to most people naad adven- tures. But they persevered, and ultimately tha Govern- ment coaM n© longer disregard the need for military preparedness in the air. The Royal Flying Corps was formed initra.Hy with two Wings, a Naval Wing and a Military Wing. The first few pilots of the former were trained at Eastdrarchv where Mr. (now Sir Francis) McCkan had tent two of his private aircraft. Pilots of the Military Wing were trained at Farnborough, where was established the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers. Later a common training centre, the Central Flying School^ was estab- lished at Upavon on Salisbury Plain. The Military Wing was administered by the War Office, the Naval Wing by the Admiralty. Just how small were the beginnings can be realized when it is recalled that the initial establishment for the Military Wing was seven squadrons, each with 12 air- craft and 182 pilots, half of whom were officers and half N.C.O.s. A similar number were in reserve. There was a less clear picture of what the Navy would want in the way of aircraft and so the requirements were less specifically stated. The rates of pay, per day, were: a squadron com- mander 25s, a flight commander 17s, a flying officer 12s. In addition all received an extra 8s a day flying pay. For other ranks the rates were: Warrant officer 9s, sergeant 6s, first-class air mechanic 4s, second-class air mechanic 2s. Yet, as Sir Philip Joubert stated in a recent article, they lived " like fighting cocks." Feeling Their WayT HE Army was fairly certain of what it wanted. The purposes for which aircraft would be ised were laid down as follows (the order of impor- tance is noteworthy): reconnaissance, prevention of enemy's reconnaissance, intercommunication, observa- tion of artillery fire, infliction of damage on the enemy. The Navy, on the other hand, could not yet quite see what use these newfangled contraptions would be, bet the following quotation from the official Memorandum is IBumiaating: " It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of ex- periments foe the development of hydro-aeropiianes ftbat was what we called seaplanes in those daysj, and in flying from and alighting on board ship, and in the water under varying weather conditions. Until such experiments haree proved conclusively how far such operations are practic- able it is impossible to forecast what the role of aeroplanes will be in naval warfare, or to elaborate any permanent organization." However, the memorandum went on to state that steps had been taken for the purchase of twelve aero- planes, bydro-aeroplanes and feats for first reqtrire- erttswThe Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps broke away in 1914 and became the Royal Naval Air Service.
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