FLIGHT OVER PEKIN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18202, 25 September 1933, Page 7

FLIGHT OVER PEKIN

JAPANESE AEROPLANE THREAT OF INVASION LONDON, Sept. 23. The Times Pekin correspondent says: “For the first time since the truce, a Japanese aeroplane circled Pekin to-day, dropping showers of leaflets, containing an ultimatum to Fang Chin-Wu to leave the demilitarised zone before September 26, otherwise the Japanese army will launch a, punitive expedition without further warning.”

CHINESE AIK FORCE RAPID DEVELOPMENT NEW YORK, Aug. 21. The recent purchase by the Chinese Government of 36 Curtiss-Hawk pursuit S lanes was viewed in aviation circles toay as part of a movement to build up a powerful air force in significant proximity to the Japanese Empire. Japan, it was said, is watching with increasing apprehension the activities of the Central Aviation School at Hangchow, which is under the command of Colonel John B. Jowett, an American who conceived and built up the so-called attack aviation in this country —the only one where this phase of aerial warfare has been highly developed. Colonel Jowett has with him a dozen expert United States pilots recruited from either the army or navy, and, like their chief, they still hold commissions as reserve officers. In addition the group contains four skilled mechanics who formerly were enlisted men in the United States flying services. Colonel Jowett’s contract calls for the graduation of 50 Chinese pilots every eight months. Their training is then continued along the line followed in the U.S. Army Corps.