R.A.F.’S GREAT RECORD

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 April 1935, Page 12

R.A.F.’S GREAT RECORD

47,000.000 MILES IN 1934 Major C. C. Turner. "Daily Telegraph” Air Correspondent writes: — Reports *>u the flying in the Royal Italian Air Force in 1934, and a comparison with the reports-on that of the British service, show that the British. though numerically weaker, flew more than twice as many hours as the Italian. The Italian force flew an aggregate of 185.176 hours covering more than 20.000.000 miles, at an average speed of 109 miles per hour. The British R.A.F. flew about 400.000 hours, a computed distance of i 47.000.000 miles, at an average speed l of about 116 m.p.h. Although the figures for France have not yet been published, there is reason to believe that they would show

’approximately the same proportions as those for Italy. On an average the Royal Air Force pilot flies annually in a year more than twice as many hours ■ as the French or the Italian* I The total strength in aeroplanes, in- . eluding immediate reserves and training aircraft, at the end of last year 1 was approximately: — Great Britain, 1,434. Italy. 1.507. r France, 2.286. 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 injerease. it is probable the difference’ I will be somewhat lessened in the near! future. The satisfactory result is due to the’ high organisation of the British Aft I Force, the high standard of training, and the quality of British aircraft and their 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.