A WAIKATO AIR PILOT

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 47, Issue 2666, 6 September 1937, Page 8

A WAIKATO AIR PILOT

MAKING PROGRESS IN R.A.F.

NOW LOCATED'AT AIILDENHALL

Friends and acquaintances of Dir G. R. (“Digger”) Magill, the young Waikato man who left about a year ago to join the Royal Air Force, wilt learn witli interest that he has made, and is making steady progress in liis chosen profession. It will be remembered that Mr Magill, who was engaged in journalism and commercial work in Hamilton, made quite a name for himself as an amateur vocalist, and often visited Cambridge (where he was born), but Hying had such an attraction for him that he applied Io the Royal Air Force for training. The latest information as;to his progress was received by a relative this week, and we have been permitted to make some extracts of general interest. We quote: Preparing for Exam. “We returned, to Peterborough on June 18 after four weeks at North Coates. Al Peterborough our stay was occupied, chiefly, with arrangements and practices for our passing out inspection on June 28. We did a Io! of drill and had to get our aeroplanes spick and span. In that period we had a week-end off to visit Hendon for the annual R.A.F. display. It was a most interesting show, and attracted an exceptionally large crowd. The fly-past of 250 aeroplanes was the feature of the day, and was well worth seeing for itself alone. The new types on show were exceptionally interesting to us all. I "was recently promoted to squad commander and posted to No. 211 Bomber Squadron, which at present is at Mildenhall (the starting point of the Centenary Air Race). Our squadron has only just been formed, and the permanent C.(). does not arrive until July 5. About the middle of August we are to go to Grantham. Although I was trained as a heavy bomber pilot, this squadron is to be eventually equipped with the renowned Bristol Blenheim medium bomber aircraft. Meantime we will be issued Hawker Audax machines, Several. Colonials

“Keancy and Macnab. two South Africans, have been posted to This squadron also, so I am not a lone colonial here. r fwo of the other four officers of the squadron are Australians, so the colonies outnumber the Homeland by five to two. Results of my passing out tests at F.T.S. show that T managed to maintain my position third with 85.5 per cent points for the whole course. Of the first four placing's in the whole course we three New Zealanders held second. third and fourth placings—Bethune got 87.2 per cent and Clouston

81.1 per cent. What is even more gratifying is the fact that we three and the top man, a Scotsman named Hume (87.9 per cent) have been recommended for “distinguished passes;" If granted it means that we will not have to sit the promotion examination for rank of flying otlicer. and that our seniority will be advanced two months. . . . z He Likes the Life

“Il is too soon yet to form an opinion of squadron life, but we hope that it will prove a pleasant relief from the at times irksome F.T.S. existence, though we had many happy times at Peterborough. After nearly ten months of training together we got to know each other very well, and wore sorry to part company. The course is scattered all over England, and it is quite possible that in so large a service we may never run across many of them again, though we have tentatively planned a reunion in London at some future date. You will recall that when I left Yatesbury I was classed “above average” as a pilot, and at the end of this latest term that was again recorded in my log book.”

Dull Days

Air Alagill mentions that he has missed the blue skies and summery weather of New Zealand, for until April he “had not experienced a day in England when the sky was completely clear of cloud; even days on which patches of blue were about have been very few until just before date of writing.” He goes on to describe in racy style a visit late in April made by several officers to the Crystal Palace to see the opening meeting of the new road racing track there. The racing was of a high, standard and the leading drivers were splendidly efficient. There must have been about 75,000 people present. The ruins of the Crystal Palance building in the background looked very forlorn —a mere skeleton of its former beauty.

Reverting to his own doings, Air Magill told of Lewis gun ground exercises carried out on the range by lhe heavy bomber pilots early in May, when the writer managed to put up a very creditable showing. He adds: “However, it is going to be a different matter handling the gun m the air and fighting against the slipstream at the same time.” Target Practice

Another paragraph reads: “We fly during the day in weather in ’which we would not even do dual instruction last term. Yesterday another chap and I tried to do Lewis camera gun practice from the air on to a ground target while it was raining quite heavily. It was so thick that oa the way home from the target I could not fly above 500 ft, and even at that height I was in fairly heavy rain which nearly cut my face to bits when I ventured to look out from behind the windscreen. On

■S changing over into the back seat the position was no better, for there one gels even more rain, and by the time our half-hour was up we were both pretty wet and not a little fed up. There was no wind, and from an actual flying point of view it was perfectly safe, but as regards comfort it was ‘not so hot.’ To make matters worse, water got on the lens and the whole film was a washout, as nothing could be distinguished.

Piled Up

“I had a bit of a thrill recently, when I was being taxied across the aerodrome by L. A. C. Gale, who, as pilot, had just taken nie to Cranwell and hack, above the clouds.) We were proceeding merrily along when suddenly he spotted another machine coming in to land ahead of us. He applied his brakes in the usual manner, but for some reason or other they took rather drastic effect and up went the kite on its nose. As soon as I was sure he had

turned everything off, we commenced to get out of the bus. And then the fun began.

“In such a position it is extremely awkward, and the rear cockpit is some distance from the ground. Gale climbed down between the wings, whereas I had to hop over the side

and jump for it. My parachute harness caught on the way, with the result that I made a heavy landing,

the seat of my pants hitting the ground first.

“As you can guess, that amused several of the lads who happened

to be watching from the tarmac. By that time the fire engine and ambulance had arrived—as is the custom in the case of all accidents, no matter how slight. A couple of airmen turned up and took a snap of the kite. AA r e climbed aboard the ambulance and took a lift back to the tarmac.

“The machine suffered nothing further than a broken prop., as she had gone on to her nose so gently. She is back in service again now, There was a bit of a dust-up about it. but nothing serious. Although only a passenger, I was not altogether free from the ‘blast.’ The Hight commander of ‘D’ Flight did much the same thing one day since, but he made a regular mess of his kite, for he was going much faster than we were at the time of our misfortune.”