R.A.F.'S GREAT RECORD

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 98, 27 April 1935, Page 11

R.A.F.'S GREAT RECORD

MILAGE LAST YEAR

•■■Reports on the flying in tne Royal Italian Air Force in. 1934, and a comparison with the reports on^ that, of the British service, show that British/though numerically weaker, flew more than twice as many hours as the Italian (states the "Daily Telegraph"). ■ • , The Italian force flew an, aggregate of 185;i76 hours, covering more than 20,000,000 miles, at an average speed of 109 miles per hour. . . n . nnft The British R.A.F. flew about 400,000 hours, a computed distance of 47,000,000 miles, at an average speed of about 116 m.p.h. .■'•'■• ' ■ Althoughthe figures for France have not yet been .published, there is reasog to believe that they would show ap--proximatelythe same proportions .as i those for Italy. On an average me Royal Air Force pilot flies annually in-a year mire than twice as many hours as the French or the Italian. The total strength in aeroplanes, including immediate'reserves and train-.: ing aircraft, at, the end of. last ye^r was approximately: Great Britain, 1434, Italy 1507, France 2286. The average speed of flying is greater in the British Air Service, but both in France and in Italy, by attention, now being given to equipment and organisation rather than numerical increase, it is probable the difference will be. somewhat lessened in the near future. ■ . The satisfactory result is due to the high organisation of, the British Air Force, the high standard of training, and the quality of British aircraft and thdir engines. Engine failure is steadily becoming a rarer occurrence, and" the fact that 500 hours is the usual period for which engines are run between overhauls, regarded ten years ago as an almost unattainable ideal, speaks volumes.

A public park, dedicated to the late King of the Belgians, was officially opened at Cannes recently.