BRITISH AVIATION

Opunake Times, 23 August 1932, Page 3

BRITISH AVIATION

A GREAT DISPLAY. FLYING DEMONSTRATIONS. Two of the great air displays that any flying nation has yet staged will ensure a permanent place in the chronicles of British aviation for 1932. Nearly 200,000 spectators watched from the enclosures and grandstands of Hendon aerodrome the pageantry of the thirteenth Royal Air Force display, acknowledged to be the world's supreme demonstration of military flying. Recently a thousand experts, representing between them nearly every country, inspected at Hendon the latest products of the British aircraft industry and applauded the astonishing powers of speed, rate of climb and ease of control exhibited in individual flying demonstrations that succeeded one to another all through the afternoon. The trade display was the materialisation of a new idea. Never before had types of aircraft representing an entire national industry been collected together and demonstrated before a specially invited assembly of foreign and Imperial technical experts and high air service officers. No fewer than 35 different types of aeroplanes, worth in the aggregate half a million sterling, were arranged on the aerodrome; most of them were flown in the afternoon, after a morning spent in close study of them and of a small exhibition of aero engines ad accessory equipment located in tents alongside the flying field. The range of machines on view was comprehensive indeed, from light aeroplanes to the immesse 40-seater air liner operated regularly on the British cross-channel air routes, and the new four-en-gined monoplane—never previously seen in public—built especially for the British airway through Africa: and on the military side, from single-seater fighters to the world's largest troop carrier, a giant biplane fitted to carry 30 fully-armed infantrymen and their equipment at speeds which a few years ago were attained only by the swiftest fighting craft in the service. There were two-seater fighters, uew and highly efficient "general purpose" aerjplanes, torpedo bombers, training machines, said new night bombers of unprecedented range and power. Multiengined light transport planes, their long, slim lines eloquent of the beauty that is typical of the modern British aeroplane, highspeed mail carriers, and efficient and inexpensive "aerocars" shared with the militarv aircraft the admiration of the distinguished vistors. Terrific Aerobatic Displays. Round after round of applause —evidence in that highly critical gathering of exceptional merit in the demonstrations —greeted the displays of aerobatics given by the pilots of the new singleseater fighters. These tiny warplanes, all of them capable of speeds in level flight considerably exceeding 200 miles an hour, were put through every aerial evolution, including certain "stunts" that no other service aeroplanes in the world could perform. One single-seater, for example, actually made four consecutive upward spins with the tail pointing almost vertically towards the earth, proof of power that made the experts gasp. Another climbed for several seconds upside down and with the engine throttled right down. And all of them were dived at speeds ranging up to 400 miles an hour, moving like falling stars, while every watcher held his breath, and flattening out barely a hundred feet above the aerodrome. In sharp contrast the same aircraft were flown slowly across the landing-ground, demonstrating wide speed range and magnificent control, and were then accelerated with great rapidity to more than 200 miles per hour as the pilot pushed open the throttle. The big new night bombers, menacing in their coats of protective olive green, showed their paces in majestic circuits of the aerodrome, flying at first slowly and later moving at full speed with thunderous bellow of engines. Even in this size of aeroplane control is outstandingly simple and effective: one of the night bomber pilots made almost a complete circuit of the aerodrome with his head, ' not once touching the control level as the big 'plane moved round. Much interest was aroused in the performance of the new African air liner, a beautiful monoplane with accommodation for 17 passengers in a cabin roomier than the most luxurious of Pullman rail cars and able to fly at more than 150 miles an hour. Eight of these machines will be placed in commission on the African ail' route .before the end of this year making possible the speeding up of the existing time schedule all along the line.