DROPPING OF SUPPLIES

Chronicle (Levin), 8 December 1948, Page 6

DROPPING OF SUPPLIES

Demonsiration by Land/Aic Warfare Team at linton The 'Australian Land/ Air Warfare team, at present in New Zealand, was i'n charge yesterdaylat Linton Military Camp, where the oliicers of the regular army, Central Military Ui^triet, are attending a refresher, course. The highlight of the day was the demonstration of siipply-dropping from Air Force planes. The weather was overeast and a ehange in the direction of the wincl forced the planes to drop their supplies acr.oss the wind. Though it is diflicult to estimate the height of a plane, yesterday's supp.ly-dropping must have been from over 500 feet. Coming in on the anglc, as they did, . the despatch teams had very little time to get ridtof the packages. ' The supply-droppin'g was . remarka'bly' a,ceurate. Three -ijlanes were used during the demousLraiion. One was the R.A.A.i'. Lincoln bomber, which has a bomb load jf 24,0001bs., and which is powered by .'our Rolls Royce Merlin engines. Uhe was made in Australia ' and. she fiew over to New Zeaiand on November 27, i ii o hours and 12 minutes. The others . orc a Uakota and a Harvard. The demonstration, arranged in conjunetion witli lectures illustrated with aiiiio, was given as part of the refresher ..ourse vviuch began last Monday week.. TheO Australian specialists were in charge of the lectures and the demonstrat.on was desigued to give some as; octs of inter service cooperatiou, part'icularly Ijetween the ground and air forces. Yesterday, shortiy before 11 a.ui., tlie three pianes were over .the iunton area and their piiots wero iu communication with a coutrul station adjacent the zone, marked out as the area upon w hich the supplies wero to be dropped. lt w as uot a oig area, boing only 1 10 yards long and 80 yards ncross -as big as a footuall ground. To make .mtteis moie difiicuit ror the piiots and iupplv despatch teams in, the planes, the wuul cnanged direction 90 dOgrees. Smoke was made to indicate to the piiots wliat they were up against. They had to take their planes in eross wind to drop their supplies.

After a prelimuiary explanation of the nature of the demonstraticn, orders were given for the demonstration to begin. The first run was made by thc Dakota. Whe dropped five paekages, the colour of the parachute indicating the nature of the supplies." The red parachute put down two boxes of dates, the blue. and orange paraehutes jam, and the yellow parachute tinned peas. All but one package dropped inside the boundaries of the zone. The' Lincoln dropped thirteen containers ou lier fiist run and then the JDakota flew in on a second run, dropping petrol (blue parachute), a Rren gun (greeu), and ammunition . (red), the three paekages ! dropping inside the /.oue., Tlieh the j Harvard flew in aud dropped two ppx-.k-i ages slap on the mark. This was folI lowed by the Dakota which dropped a ] box of smoke bombs. plump on the mark. The parachute did not open, but the box hit the mark with a real smack. The- -Dak-ota next dropped- hsllf a dozeu dummy paratroopers right where they j were required and later a dummy pai a- ; trooper nMiied 'bBquadron-Leader ■ Elockhead" with the British type of 'parachute. " ■ j An intensely interesting domonstaiai tion was.'\-on'(*'luded ia- " show ' ' put on by the giant Lincoln. She was brought in first in a"flat out" run low • down across the ground, She was trav ! elling very fast and leaving vaxiour j trails. Iler next run was slow and this, i i n striking eontrast with the first run, 'gave some idea oi' lier aniazing size, her mauoeuvrability, and lier astouuding performaiice. Oue time as she passed I overhead her s[ieed was given at 95 air knots. Anotlier time, after she had flashed over, it was said she was travelling at 240 knots. No one doubted the statenient. Austrhlian Land/ Air Warfare Team. The niembers of the Australian Land/Air Warfare team are Air Oommodore A. M. ' Churlesworth, O.B.E., A.F.C. (('oliiniandaiit of the School of Land/Air Warfare in Australia), Oolonel R. G. Pollard, D.S.O., Wing Commander D. R. Uhapman, Wing Cominander J. F. Lush, Lt. Oolonel C. xi. I'l. Fraser, M.B.E., and Licut.-C'oiuinandci

N. G. Hallett, D.S.C. and Bar. Lieut.('onunander Hallett is from the Royal Navy and the other niembers of tho team are drawn from the • Royal Aus- , fralian Air Force and .Australian Regular Army.

JHE Iraq Petroleum Company are negotiating with the Syrian Government for a new pipeline across Syria from Kirtutsk, diverting supplies from Haifa,