LATE CABLE NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 22 April 1931, Page 6

LATE CABLE NEWS

gift stolen. LADY DE CHAIR’S LOSS. LONDON'. April 12. A .valuable crocodile leather case, containing an Australian presentation tortoise-shell set, with the gold monogram, “De.C.,” was stolen from Laly de Chair, whirl her car was parked in Cambridge Circus. AIR FILM TRIUMPH. WONDERFUL BRITISH ’PLANES. LONDON, April 11.Thc most wonlerful aviation film record ever made is not of sensational freak acrobatics, says the aeronautical correspondent of “The Times,” but one of an actual manoeuvre carried out in the ordinary course of drill by a squadron of Royal Air Force machines. The film which shows squadron drill by Hawker Hart bombers, will shortly be released for exhibition throughout the world. It was the first time in the history of the Air Force that a squadron lias been filmed.

The display illustrates the possibilities of aerial warfare, although the impression of speed is not fully represented, as it is filmed from another Hart, also speeding at 180 m.p.h., but if tbe speed is assumed, the film proves that the pilots have extraordinary control.

The four Harts take off in squadron formation, and climb 7000 feet among the clouds, where the sound is practically inaudible, while the sunshine, making the wings transparent, renders them almost invisible. and indicates the difficultv of spotting them at 10,000 feet, which is their normal working height. After that they dive, reaching a speed of 270 miles an hour, before zooming within 100 feet of the ground, all keeping their position in formation perfectly. The film was made with tlm greatest difficulty. The camera needed a specially-riveted handle, and despite tbe doubly-secured machine-gun ring, the force of the side-slip dislodged fb.> camera from the mounting before tlm film roll was exhausted.