ROYAL AIR FORCE TRIBUTE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22521, 1 October 1938, Page 8

ROYAL AIR FORCE TRIBUTE

TABLET TO KING GEORGE V FIRST REVIEW BY REIGNING SOVEREIGN (non otT2 on coa exspo sdes t.)

LONDON, August 25.

A tablet commemorating the first occasion on which a reigning Sovereign reviewed the Royal Air Force has been unveiled at Mildenhall. Suffolk, by Sir Kingsley Wood. Secretary for Air, during a tour by air liner of the Royal Air Force stations in East Anglia. The review was held at Mildenhall on July 6. 1935, by King George V as part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations.

The tablet was draped with the flag of the Royal Air Force. Before pulling it aside. Sir Kingsley said: “King George V had many gifts and qualities. He was the father of his people. He had a care for all of them, and not least the members of our defence forces. When the Royal Air Force came info existence as a third arm of the defences of the Empire, in 1918. King George V, as General-in-Chief, was the first to wish it a vigorous and successful life. Thereafter, and throughout his reign, he always followed with the keenest personal interest the performances and achievements of the Force.

“At the supreme hour of victory King George sent his greetings and heartfelt congratulations to all ranks of the Royal Air Force. He recalled how our aircraft had ever been in the forefront of the battle, and he thanked them for their magnificent work, self-sacrifice, and devotion to duty. “In those days he referred to the Royal Air Force as the keen-eyed, swift-winged knights of the air, who had given to the world a new type of daring and heroism. When King George V reviewed the Air Force here he was accompanied by the present King. Marshal of the Force to-day. “Our present King, like his father, is a constant friend of the Force, and ever mindful of its welfare. The Royal Air Force is a strong force today and every day it is getting stronger and more powerful. It possesses the same high qualities as were shown by those members of the Force who have gone before. . “We can to-day with profit ana pride remember a great and good. King who was head of the Force, his high example of duty and singleness of purpose. We also count it a privilege that his successor, the present King, occupies that same position ana how he is worthily succeeding father as the head of the nation.