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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0897.PDF
2 April 1954 409 CORRESPONDENCE The Editor of "Flight" does not hold himself responsible for the views expressed by correspondents in these columns; the names and addresses of the writers, not necessarily for publication, must in all cases accompany letters. "Frustration"—from Canada YX^ITH the biennial recruiting campaign for British Aircraft ™ technicians about to commence, I should like to point out some of the snags which are likely to be met in the Canadian industry by would-be immigrants. The reason for its being a biennial affair is that technicians are brought to Canada on a two years' contract; and, due to losses of personnel—for reasons such as those explained below—the stocks have to be replenished. Britain, unfortunately, is made scapegoat, the average American being on a much higher salary scale. Regarding senior men, frustration regarding promotion is a real thing here. Vacancies for section chiefs are filled by Ameri cans or Canadians; the necessary experience, qualifications and organizing ability in most cases are considered superior to those of the British engineer. Junior men are "hired" for production modification work, and the chances of design work are extremely remote. These condi tions cannot be remedied by moving to another firm, as the two main aircraft firms have an employee tie-up. Hence the drift south to the U.S.A., or back to England. Salaries which appear huge in England are very ordinary on arrival here; a comparison is one English pound to nine Canadian dollars minimum—i.e., a salary of £14 in the United Kingdom is equivalent to 126 Canadian dollars. The way of life is very different, and I personally feel there are much better things in life than washing machines and Yankee cars. P.Q., Canada. DISAPPOINTED. Scramble for Seats A LTHOUGH B.E.A. obviously arrange most things well for the ** comfort of their passengers, one important matter seems to have been overlooked; that is the booking of seats. The seating accommodation is limited and presumably no harder to arrange than that of a railway carriage. On a flight to Zurich last year I saw an undignified rush of passengers across the landing ground to the plane in order that members of families could sit near one another. At Zurich, on the return journey, it was worse; elderly and polite travellers were left in the rear of the stream from the waiting-room to the plane. Wives who had little experience of travelling, and were obviously nervous, were separated from their husbands; and so on. Hostesses do their best but they cannot be in a position to meet all requests with the time at their disposal. The jostling of British passengers was not an edifying spectacle to display in a foreign country. Esher, Surrey. H. S. TOOGOOD. Cierva Autogiro Recollection AFTER reading your special Helicopter Number and the news-«• item "Reminiscences of the 504K," I think it might be said that there is some slight connection between both subjects. In the winter of 1925 I saw at Farnborough a 504K converted into a helicopter. This aircraft had the wings removed and in their p'.ace was a single spar with paddle-like flaps fitted at each end. The tailplane was also modified with extending elevators; only the B.R.2 engine, the rudder, and the standard undercarriage skid were retained. The rotor was a four-bladed affair fitted mid way above the two seats. If I remember rightly, it was started up by six or more men pulling on rope. I am rather vague as to who was the pilot, but I think it was Capt. Barnard. After the helicopter landed, two strange planes loomed out of the late afternoon mist; one crash-landed in a nearby field, the other landed alongside the 504K. The crews, who were unhurt, had got lost. They were Japanese round-the-world airmen. Their aircraft were French Breguet biplanes, which, I noticed, had solid rubber tyres. Farnborough, Hants. T. DELANEY, Leading Fireman, Air Crash Crew. [The subject of our correspondent's recollection was, clearly, the Cierva Autogiro, which was having its first demonstration in this country. The basis of this aircraft was, as he says, an Avro 504K fuselage, but the pilot was Capt. Frank Courtney. The Japanese Breguet pilots, on a flight from Tokyo to Croydon, had been diverted to Farnborough by bad weather.—Ed.] The markings on this Camel, referred to by Mr. E. G. Ramsey, are suggestive of more modern "aerobatic" decoration. Camel Markings TN support of Mr. Ronald Sykes' letter (March 19th) on Camel ••• markings, I enclose an album, somewhat the worse for wear, in which are some photographs showing Camels bearing pilots' individual markings. I understand from the person who passed it on to me that these aircraft were of 1918 vintage, and that the pictures were all taken at Freiston. By the way, I think Flight at Is 6d is still very good value. Stoneygate, Leicester. E. G. RAMSEY. [A photograph from the album is reproduced above.—Ed.] No. 26 Squadron's Badge TN the "Service Aviation" pages of Flight for February 19th -*- you give a thumbnail sketch of the history of No. 26 Squadron and of its badge. [This information was from Air Ministry sources—Ed.] May I be allowed to give, as far as I remember, the more correct version of how the present squadron crest came into being? When I took over command of No. 26 (A.C.) Squadron in 1934, the badge was the head of a Grant's gazelle, a creature whose habitat is in Central Africa—not South Africa, be it noted. Subsequently, on taking the squadron to Catfoss in 1934 for the annual armament exercise, I met a wing commander of the armament staff who was a South African and who had actually served in No. 26 Sqn. in South Africa during World War I. This officer (whose name, unfortunately, I cannot remember) told me that when he was in the squadron the badge, most properly, was the springbok. Now, some time between 1918 and 1934 the springbok must have given way to the Grant's gazelle: when, how or why, I know not. However, further researches having confirmed that the crest in World War I was the springbok, the squadron decided to revert to the old original crest and the Goldsmiths and Silver smiths Co. drew a very pleasing and impressive design incorporating the springbok's head. This crest was subsequently ruled out of order by the College of Arms and the present badge substituted. Incidentally, I tried to get permission for the squadron to be called No. 26 (S.A.) instead of (A.C.), but A. Cdre. Brock, then commanding No. 22 Group at Farnborough, suggested that the initials S.A. might be misconstrued by the more ribald members of the Service, so no more was heard of that link with South Africa—this, I still maintain, was a pity. Callington, Cornwall. C. H. STILLWELL (W/Cdr., R.A.F. ret.). No. 47 Squadron's War I AM prompted to write this letter by the paragraph in the February 19th issue which referred to the presentation of a piece of silverware to No. 47 Squadron at Khartoum. My ire was aroused by the statement [Air Ministry sources—Ed.] that No. 47 was sent to Far East as a "transport support" squadron. As a member of the squadron at the time I well remember the reason for the move and the speed with which it was accomplished. The appearance of a Japanese naval force "near" Ceylon at the end of 1943 or early 1944 had made the Powers that Be aware of the lack of suitable shipping strike aircraft in Southern India and Ceylon, so 47 was whipped away from its snug hiding place at Gambut, Cyrenaica, and deposited on an airstrip outside Madras in April 1944. There the squadron, with its Beaufighter T.F. 10s, stayed until October, when it was re-equipped and converted to Mosquito fighter-bombers, equipped with rockets. For No. 47, history now repeated itself. In 1941, the squadron was to be re-equipped with Beauforts to replace the Wellesleys used in Eritrea, and came up to Egypt only to find that No. 39 Sqn. had been given all the new aircraft to replace the Marylands that had been transferred to No. 203 Sqn. to make up for that unit's Blenheim losses. Consequently, 47 would have been doomed to a stay in 107 M.U. without aircraft but for the rejuvenation of
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