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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1668.PDF
FLIGHT, 18 November 1955 787 BENTLEY PRIORY . . . by the Royal Drawing Society, and the original coloured drawing of the Westminster Abbey Battle of Britain memorial window by Hugh Easton. Of great historical value are framed originals of two letters from Lord Dowding to Lord Balfour, then Under- secretary of State for Air. One, dated October 2nd, 1940, is in reply to congratulations on its writer's appointment as G.C.B. Lord Dowding says that if he could he would tear the distinction into a thousand pieces and distribute them to those who, he felt, had really won it. The other is dated May 16th, 1940, and, addressed also to Lord Balfour, notes that fighter strength is reduced to 36 squadrons, instead of the considered minimum of 52 squadrons. It foresees the necessity of defence against air attacks coming from the French coast as well as from Germany and asks that no more fighters should be sent abroad. The fore- cast of the outflanking of the air defence front was at that time disbelieved; but the subsequent German occupat.on of France and their full use of air bases there proved the forecast completely correct. The rotunda is lined with the badges of 58 squadrons which took part in the Battle of Britain and is hung with portraits, by Eric Kennington, Cuthbert-Orde and William Dring, of many of the Battle's aces—"Sailor" Malan, Stanford Tuck, "Johnny" Johnson and Sir Harry Broadhurst among them. Similar histori- cal material in the form of combat reports dating from 1915 to 1943 and signed with such names as J. M. Robb, W. S. Douglas, McCudden, Mannock, Portal, Johnson and Cunningham, hang on the walls of the conference room. In less serious vein are the caricatures of past members of the headquarters, hung in the passage from the ante-room to the bar. With such material, the principal rooms of Bentley Priory have once again taken on some of the colour and grace of an old country house, and it can be said that the work which has been done in the last three years has gone far towards restoring the dignity of the Priory. There is little evidence in the building itself of the operational tasks which are performed in the headquarters as a whole, because, fortunately, the more warlike activities are carried on in special buildings, under or above ground, which have accumulated in the park. Most impressive of all the rooms, however, is the newly- decorated dining-room which has been turned into something of an art gallery. It contains a number of fine paintings, including a portrait of the Queen by Denis Fildes and the large picture by Roy Nockolds, A Day in the Battle of Britain, showing a Ger nan mass raid being intercepted over the Isle of Sheppey. The original of the famous Looking for Trouble picture by Frank Wootton is there, together with other originals of his excellent war-time paintings. Pictures by Frank Beresford and Pamela Drew are also displayed. Though certain of the works are on loan from the Imperial War Museum, most of them belong to the H.Q., a few having been presented by well-wishers in the aircraft and oil industries. None has been bought with public funds. This col- lection, in common with the other features of the house, is a real contribution to the historical record of Fighter Command, and something of which the R.A.F. may be justly proud. It is the basis on which the already worthy traditions of the Command are being steadily developed. 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. The Vickers Victoria "I WAS very pleased to see a photograph of a civil version of the * Vickers Victoria in the issue of Flight dated October 21st. These machines were extensively used by No. 70 Bomber Trans- port Squadron during the time they were situated at Hinaidi, Iraq. The earlier type was made of wood, but a later type was of metal. The power units were two Napier Lions, as stated, but later there was one powered by Bristol Jupi- ters. This marchine was exceptionally fast com- pared with the others, and was piloted by the commanding officer of No. 70, the late A.V-M. (then W/C.) Blount. This Jup-Vic crashed in a % *"JPI^^^^H^^^^^^^^^^H sandstorm and was a *" •Jl*1^^^^^^^^^^^^^^™1 complete write-off. For- tunately no one was hurt. One of the enclosed snaps shows the interior of one of the Victorias and seat- ing arrangement. J. T. BENNETT. Darlington. The Victoria's interior, with hammock-type seats lashed back. Note the cockpit. Squadron History T WAS delighted to see, in the October 28th issue of Flight, that -*• you have once again met the requirements of those of us who are interested in squadron histories. You certainly perform a valuable service to us and I, for one, greatly appreciate it. There is one aspect of your histories which concerns me, however, and it is rather striking in the 100 Squadron history; namely, the lack of photographs of the squadron between 1935 and 1955, a gap of 20 years. Something similar is evident in your previous history, that of No. 47 Squadron in the April 8th issue. I have found the same thing in building up my own photographic collection on each unit. Very few photos of squad- ron aircraft are available for the period of 1938 to 1947 for almost any of the R.A.F. squadrons. In an attempt to reduce the gap in the 100 Squadron history by a year or two I enclose a negative depicting one of the squad- ron's Lincolns at the Coronation Review at Odiham in 1953. [We regret that we have not space to print this photograph, which shows a Lincoln bearing the serial RE411, with RA665 in the background.—Ed.] For the information of any of your readers who are interested in insignia, No. 100 Sqn. was allotted the code letters "RA" in 1938-39 but whether they were ever carried on the Vildebeests has never been confirmed. After re-forming, the squadron's Lan- casters were coded "HW," which was painted in red on the fuselage sides. This was retained by th? Linco'ns after the war, but in white, until code letters were discarded for operational units in 1950. Soon after, the large serials were adopted. Epsom, Surrey. JOHN D. R. RAWLINGS. Glider Towing I WOULD like to draw your attention to a misprint in theexcellent article entitled "Tug and Glider," by Mr. P. W. Brooks, which appeared in your issue of November 4th. The size of the nylon rope normally used for towing gliders is fin circumference and not lin as printed in this article. The Certificates of Airworthiness of both tug and glider pro- hibit the use of a rope with a breaking strength of more than 1,000 1b, and as £in circumference nylon rope breaks at about this figure it is normally used. A thinner rope would soon become too weak, while anything stronger would necessitate the use of a weak link. Farnham, Surrey. LORNE WELCH. IN BRIEF Mr. C. J. Robins sends a photograph of his three-wheeled car, which is propelled by a 3ft-diameter airscrew. The latter is— or was—the windmill used to drive the target-cable winch on a Miles Master. Our correspondent (whose address is Vicarage Street, Yeovil, Somerset) wishes to obtain another propeller of the same type, or to know who the original manufacturer was. * * * Two Dutch students taking the aeronautical course at the High Technical College in Haarlem write to say that in their fourth year, which is a practical one, they hope to spend three months in the Fokker factory and six to nine months at an aircraft works in Great Britain. They have a fairly good knowledge (conversational and technical) of the English language, and would like to know if there is any factory willing to receive them. The letter is signed by L. G. A. Lutter, c/o Veenbergstraat 2, Haarlem.
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