STAGGERED EXPERTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 June 1936, Page 10

STAGGERED EXPERTS

BRITAIN’S NEW SUPER-BOMBER

On the shoulders of a slim, quiet ‘little man who wears sun glasses fell i recently the responsibility of demoni strafing for the first time Britain’s ’newest bomber —a super warplane that I he had only flown for five hours previ- ; ously. The man was “Chris” Stani- | land, famous motor-race driver. exj Schneider pilot, now test pilot to i Fairey Aviation. The machine was the Fairey “Battle.” It is the first really highspeed British bomber to be built. It only flew for the first time, a gleainI ng. silvery, stream-lined monoplane. I >vith a staggering performance. All the Air Ministry will reveal ■ bout the “Pat tic's” speed is that it •an reach the south coast from London in ten minutes. Central London is more than 50 miles from the nearest point on the coast. Among tiie crowd who watched Mainland none was more anxious than burly six-foot-three Charles Fairey, head of the firm that bears his name and made the “Battle.” Staniland had the most powerful engine ever put into a fighting machine o help him. It is a Isuper Rolls Royce, the twelve-cylinder Merlin, with : roar like condensed thunder. It is ar more powerful (han the 825 h.j'. '■tolls “buzzards,” biggest engines yet put into R.A.F. aircraft.

It is another secret of Britain’s Royal Air Force expansion. No outsider was allowed even to look into Staniland’s cockpit. He spent ten minutes warming his giant engine and settling comfortably in his parachute harness. Then he took off, and did things with a heavy bomber (hat air fighting experts deemed impossible in 1936.

He rolled his machine at 250 ft. while treaking “flat out” across Heath Row Airdrome.

He made climbing turns, roaring up at an angle until now reserved for tiny, single-seat fighters. He dived on us. trailing plumes of exhaust smoke at a speed to dwarf our “Fury” interceptor fighters. Low down over the hangars he did vertical turns that made war flyers present gasp.

When he landed before Air Ministry officials he had shown that Britain has built a bomber that can outspeed and outfight most modern defensive fighters in any air force. He had given air staffs another lesson to learn in air tactics.

A big Royal Air Force order has been placed for “Battles."

The machine carries a heavy bomb load concealed in its body. In flight its landing wheels draw out of sight to reduce resistance. A system of red and green lights warns the pilot if iiis wheels are up or down when he comes in to land.

In spite of its huge speed the “Battle” has special flaps that will bring its landing speed down to a very low figure. That would enable it to be used from advanced war airdromes in small fields.