AVIATION

Hokitika Guardian, 2 July 1930, Page 6

AVIATION

AIR. FORCE DISPLAY AT

HENDON

NEW TYPES OF MACHINES

(Official Wireless.)

RUGBY, June 28

, The eleventh annual display of the Royal Air Force at Hendon was a superb demonstration of tlie great progress made by British aviation, military and civil. At least 1.50,000 people pa'd for admission, and the principal enclosures" were crowded with distinguished personages. Prince "George, representing the King- and Queen, and, Prince and Princess Takamatsu, of Japan, were present. The'display maintained the remarkable 'unbroken record o! freedom ol accidents. Three sqmuulrons of fighting aeroplanes and three squadrons of bombing aeroplanes, althogtliei 54 machines, gave a magnificent exhibition of concerted manoeuvring and fighting. A perfect display of formation flying was given by the City of London day bomber auxiliary squadron/of Wapiti's. It spoke well for the bard practice which the pilots, who '.are inisinoifs-ineiij:-pu.t h) -at- evenings % Mid/week-euds ¥ s.; . l; < N;.,„ s!' "riii*" parade of~iiew TVpeß.'of 'machines, was chiefly important for the examples of the latest interceptor .fighter, which i.s a class peculiar to Gycat Britain, called for by t|(d need /for machines wiifcii v fbn : crliniTv. qujfekly .enoirgH to challenge, fast eiiemyjJKiinbers,. pf whose approach only a;, few minutes 'warning nlay be possiHje. Tlie-per- - forimaftee. of the new interceptor fighters was approximately a speed of 200 "miles an liouf, and a climb" to .10,000 feet in five minutes, to ]5.000 feet in eight minutes, and to 20,000 feet in 12 minutes.

The Hawker “Hornet’'’ machine, which is the supreme type could not be on view, but there was the Fairey “Firefly,”’ second type, of approximately tlie same performance, and the DH.77, with its Napier 300-liorse-ppwpr engine, which is air-cooled, marking a new departure which may prove technically very rimportant. Y.; • % , The pageant; provided' spectacle!" items illustrating flying at its bestjand gave evidence of technical progress far in advance of any achieved in orie year in the'history of -this mbbile service,. ;,/Hie.re .were, no fewer than 16 new or practically new types of aircraft, both service and civil, and for the first time were seen thoroughly, effective military fighters, with speeds in excess of '2oo' miles hourly, at heights of over three miles above the. earth. This speed, which only a few years ago would have been considereo creditable in a Schneider Tronhy racer, just capable of bolding the pilot is to-day combined -with such ps.se.ntinl military qualities as a, roomy cockpit,, electrically heated clothing, oxygen apparatus, a couple of machine guns and ammunition, and possibly wire, less apparatus as well.