RADIO CONTROL

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 150, 28 June 1938, Page 9

RADIO CONTROL

A ROYAL TOUR

: AEROPLANE AS EYE [ FOUR DAYS IN LANCASHIRE J (From "The Post's" Representative.) • LONDON, May 21. ; A police aeroplane was used for .the m first time in a Royal tour when the 5 King and Queen spent four days, in ; Lancashire this week. It communi- ; cated by radio with a control car, Z which exchanged calls with stations jat various points on the route. The ; Royal party travelled ' 211 miles by I road during the tour. » An advance pHot car, a big grey j sports model with a large yellow circle J on its tonneau cover, preceded the - Royal car, and the wireless operator 'i advised the aeroplane when "X 50"— " the Royal landaulet—was ready to folZ low. All through the journey the • procession kept constantly in touch : with patrols on the route ahead and ' with the all-seeing occupants of the circling aircraft, ready for any emergency and assured of an unobstructed passage. The use of the aeroplane • was entirely successful and punctuality • was maintained throughout. ; It was a busy tour for their Maj- ■* esties, 38 towns being visited. At ManChester crowds ignored the rain to welcome the King and Queen when they arrived to open the town hall extension, costing £700,000. Some of the spectators Waited patiently in the drizzle for five hours. The Queen was particularly interested in two curious ground-glass panels let into the wall on each side behind the dais in the new building. Her Majesty was told that it was a new electrical vote-recording device. Bending over one of the benches, the Lord Mayor demonstrated how, by pressing a switch, the vote could be ■ recorded either "for" or "against," the tabulated results being shown on the illuminated panels. THE WAR DISABLED. At Bolton the King inspected, ex-ser- " vicemen.. One of them, Mr. J. Tay- : lor, told the King that the local asso- ; ciation for limbless veterans had ceased •to exist "It is twenty years since the • war." he added, "and none of us are getting any younger. We should like I free passes on the corfporation trams " and buses, as they have in other : towns." • ' "Well," answered the King, "you >• must write me a letter about it." Mr. • Taylor promised to so do. X At Bury, their Majesties talked with 1 a group of crippled ex-servicemen who : stood with sticks and crutches or sat Jin bath-chairs. One, Corporal T. ; Birchall, of the Lancashire Fusiliers, » was asked by the King where and how -he was disabled. "Gallipoli, 1915," he »said, "in the last attack"; and held out »a large and jagged piece of shrapnel ; which had been extracted from his ; "You are very fortunate to be liv;ing after that," said the Queen. ; "Doesn't it give you headaches or H trouble your nerves still?" > "Yes," said Mr. Burchall, "it does." Zm The, organisation for: the tour includSed the making of order sheets for some j 2000 police, giving full instructions ; about their position and action to be -taken in varying circumstances; the •making of duty booklets for every ■ £ driver and others in the procession, Z giving detailed maps and times; and reIhearsalS with police cars, over the rwhole ikmteßtfff getperfect' timing.' - result was one of the'most successful of Royal' tours, without any appearance of haste at the stopping places lor on -the .roads where crowds had ■gathered to. see their Majesties, who 2 displayed real interest in the people : round them. . They were accompanied J throughout by the Earl of Derby. 1 A DAINTY MORSEL. 2 One night was passed at Knowsley, "■the Lancashire seat of Lord Derby. had been made of a local 5 county specialty commonly called •Eccles Cakes. Finding that their «Majesties were interested to sample "these, Lady Derby arranged that some J! should be provided at breakfast time. »Eccles cakes, mind in shape, consist 3of a rich puff pastry in which cur- £ rants are generously embedded, plus '£ plenty of sugar and perhaps a little reel. They are usually served at lunch*"eon or afternoon tea. But fresh and ~ crisp, they are delicious at any time. " On the train journey back to Euston -the King sent for Mr. C. R. Byrom, Schief operating manager of the «who has completed 64 journeys in icharge of a Royal train, and invested ihim with the C>V.O. The King also "presented a pair of gold cuff links to •Mr. Byrom, who retires at the end ot ••this month. . ' . . • The King told Lord Derby that he land the Queen had had a welcome Sthey would never forget.