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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1956.PDF
FLIGHT, i December SERVICE AVIATION , V- commanded the R.A.F. stations atHawarden, Northolt and Biggin Hill during the war, and also served with theNorth-West Africa Coastal Air Force and the Mediterranean Allied Air Force. Aero-medical Appointment THE Air Ministry announces that AirMarshal Sir Harold Whittingham, K.C.B., K.B.E., F.R.C.P., F.R.C.S.,(E.), has accepted the invitation of Mr. Arthur Henderson, Secretary of State forAir, to succeed Sir Edward Mellanby as chairman of the Flying Personnel Re-search Committee. As a former Direc- tor-General of R.A.F. Medical Services,Sir Harold Whittingham has a wide and intimate knowledge of the problems ofaviation medicine. The Committee was formed in 1939 toadvise the Secretary of State for Air in all matters relating to the efficiency offlying personnel. It has been respon- sible for most valuable pioneer work inresearch on the physiological and psychological environment of aircrew. In this way, and particularly in regardto the provision of efficient oxygen sup- plies at high altitudes, the Committeehas made an important contribution to the efficiency of the R.A.F. and aviationin general. It has sought to avoid the danger of engineering research out-stripping consideration of the vita] UNIVERSITY TYPE : A new aspect of the Boukon Paul Balliol 2 advanced trainer (Rolls-Royce Merlin 35), examples of which are now undergoing service tests at R.A.F. training establishments. ' • ....-..• factors of human capacity and limita-tions, and has formed the model on which similar research committees havebeen based in this country and else- where. • , * .- - Long-range Athletics AT the annual meeting of the R.A.F.Athletic and Cross-Country Associa- tion the executive committee was in-creased to include one member to look after road-walking in the Air Force. Thenew member is W/C. F. C. Hornsby- Smith, of Bridgnorth, a road-walker ofmany years' experience, and veteran of several London-to-Brighton walks. The R.A.F. seven-mile road-walkingchampionship will be held on March 18th, over a course to. be decided later.This championship was first held in T939J buf owing to the war was not held again uritil 1948. It is run on an inter-station team basis, each station being permitted to enter six athletes, of whomthe first four to finish qualify for places. The area elimination races lor the 1950R.A.F. cross-country championships will take place on February 22nd, with thefinals at St. Athan on Satnrday, March 4th. The inter-command athletic cham-pionships will be held from July 3rd to 5th at Uxbridge. Culinary Champions - . .. FOR the second year in succession,R.A.F. Station, Wellesbourne-Mount- ford, Warwickshire, has won the shieldfor the best airmen's dining hall in Tech- nical Training Command. The competi-tion was inaugurated in 1942 at the same time as the similar, though larger, com-petition throughout all home commands of the R.A.F. for the Jolliffe Trophy.The shield was handed back to the station by the A.O.C.-in-C, TechnicalTraining Command, Air Marshal Sir John Whitworth Jones, at a ceremonyheld there on November 22nd. Occupational Pastime AIR SUPPORT : The Norwegian ship Norse/ left London last week on its way to theAntarctic, for a two year exploration of the characteristics and resources of Queen Maud Land by British, Norwegian and Swedish scientists. This R.A.F. party, photo-graphed on departure, will fly and maintain two ski-equipped Austers in support of the expedition (left to right) : Sgt. Weston, Cpl. GiFbey, Cpl. Quar, S/L. Waifordand F'L. Tudor. has become so popular invT the British Zone of Germany that the B.A.F.O. Gliding Association (chair-man : A. V.-M. C. B. Spackman) now embraces seven gliding clubs with a com-bined membership of 230 men, women and children. Launched from sitesthroughout the British Zone, enthusiasts spend many hours of their spare timepiloting, or riding as passengers or pupils, in a wide variety of gliders. At Scharfoldendorf, on the edge of theHartz Mountains, where the head- quarters of the club are situated, fivewomen (two nursing sisters from the R.A.F. Hospital at Rinteln, twoW.R.A.F. corporals, end the wife of a member of the club) are among the 35members. One of them, Corporal May, recently set a record for the longest flightby a woman in Germany since the war when she was airborne in a GrunauBaby 2b for 5 hr 45 rnin. Chief flying instructor at the Odle Club, in HanoverProvince, is F/L. Kenneth Hirst, holder of the British national two-seater dis-tance record, established during the B.A.F.O. gliding contests this year. At Luneburg (the scene of the Wehr-macht's surrender), the secretary is Flt./O. Howard, of the W.R.A.F. Of-the 38 members, not one has experience as a powered-aircraft pilot. S/L. Pellinghas made over 900 flights in two years at Luneberg, out of the club's total of6,500 launches. Members of the Ueter- sen club, near Hamburg, include twoboys aged 13 and 14, sons of a Control Commission official. At Gutersloh, afamily fly together; F/L. R. A. Carson, his wife (the club secretary) and theirfour-year-old son spend their afternoons gliding in a tandem Kranich glider, theboy sitting on his mother's knee. Gutersloh is the base for a mobile repairunit which serves all the clubs. n 14
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