AIR TERRITORIALS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18858, 8 November 1935, Page 12

AIR TERRITORIALS

FIGHTER TACTICS 200 M.P.H. LIGHT BOMBERS (From a Special Correspondent) LONDON, Oct, 1. England's Territorial airmen have not been overlooked in the Royal Air Force expansion scheme. Already the Air Ministry has announced the formation of three new bomber squadrons of the Auxiliary Air Force— No. 609 (West Riding)/ No. 610 (County of Cheshire), and iso. 611 (West Lancashire)—and the recent transfer of other A.A.F. units from bombing to lighting duties has extended the work of the '"spare time flyers. . A diversity of callings is represented in the personnel of any A.A.F. Squadron.' For example, No. 601 (County ol London) Squadron includes among Us commissioned officers, four barristers, a solicitor, a stockbroker, and an estate agent; in the non-commissioned ranKs are clerks, artisans, and workers in the technical industries. These men devote most of their leisure-to the squadron, attending lectures in the evenings and working as a military unit at the week-ends. Their standard of efficiency is extremely high, proved not. only in the "parade ground" testing of Hoyal ;Air Force Display but in the severer test of aerial manoeuvres. And in planning the expansion programme, the Air Staff has given due consideration to the fact that a territorial unit costs about half as much to run as a regular squadron. The decision to convert some A.A.J! • squadrons to fighter units, taken about a year ago, was a tribute to their efficiency. In many ways the work of a fighter squadron, which is intended primarily for defence and must operate to split-seconds in a war emergency threatening Great Britain, makes heavier demands on the personnel than bombing duties. It has certainly asked for a large measure of adaptability in the territorial pilots and airmen concerned. Pilots have had to abandon the relatively simple task of steering a bomber on a direct course in a raiding formation for fighter tactics, which involves a more delicate judgment of distances in the air. Bullets are wasted that are fired before the quarry is within range ; on - the other hand, the fighter pilot _is unwise who avoids pulling out of a diving attack or away from Hie enemy plane till ho cannot avoid it. AIR GUNNERY The change of outlook required ol the airmen was equally radical. They had spent years studying aerial photography and bomb-timing. Now they are rapidly becoming equally skilled in air gunnery from the rear cockpits of the two-seater craft with which the units are equipped. Within the past few weeks the County of London Squadron has shown in extended gunnery practice and "battle" climbs to heights of 16,000 ft. and more that Hie territorial fighter unit mav be expected to fall little, if anything short of the standards reached' by the regular squadrons, a result which must be attributed to the keenness of tho "spare time" flyers as much as to the excellence of the instruction given them. .Hart ami Demon two-seater biplanes are the aircraft concerned in the changeover from bomber to fighter duties. Stripped of its bomb gear the Hart becomes a good two-seater fighter, affording excellent training for the territorial airmen till they receive tho Demon, which is a modified version «f the Hart especially designed and equipped for fighting. Recently, Iho Air .Ministry hns decided to re-engine the Demon, replacing the Rolls-Royce Kestrel US 525 h.p. motor by tho newer and more powerful Kestrel VI model, which develops 640 h.p. up to a height oi 14,000 ft. above sea-level. The result of the change will be a considerable improvement in performance, increasing maximum speed with full load on board to more than 200 miles an hour and adding notably to rate of climb and attainable "ceiling." -NEW 200 M.P.H. BOMBERS After nearly six years of service in the. Royal Air Force the Hart is due for replacement. This ' fine Hawker machine set a new standard of performance among military aeroplanes when it was introduced to the Service. It was the first military aircraft in the world, apart from a few single-seater fighters, to fly at more than three miles a minute. Since 1930 it has been adopted for service in the British and many overseas air forces in several versions— Demon two-seater fighter, Osprey shipplane, Hardy ''general purpose" machine, Hart Trainer. Its immediate substitute in the British service will be the Hind, a modernised version of the Hart equipped with a super-charged motor instead of the normally aspirated unit fitted in the- Hart and capable of carrying its full bomb load at a speed of approximately 200 m.p.h. In range, rate, of climb, "ceiling" and speed in the dive the Hind considerably surpasses its forerunner.