R.A.F. DISPLAY

Hokitika Guardian, 15 August 1932, Page 8

R.A.F. DISPLAY

PILOTS FMRT WITH DEATH..

SOME- THRILLING SPECTACLES

.... . LONDON, August 10. The thirteenth “display” of the Royal Aiy •.Force Was held at Hendon Aerodrome, before some quarter of a million ..spectators. Although people are becoming , increasingly “peace-minded” these days, the dashing performances given by ou.r flying officers were.regarded; not so much as a- military demontration as a series of sporting’ events in which /skilful pilots “flirted with death.” Certainly the, organisation’!' of the display was carried out. with, ' the clockwork precision of the parade ground.. One could tell the time by what was going on in. the sky. The programme announced “3.l3—Air Drill by Day Bqmber Wing”—and, to the. minute, th e formation of 27 machines came roaring overhead. And! at “3133—Inverted Flying” half a dozen Tiger "Moth machines could be! seen uncomfortably chasing each other in circles with their land.ng wheels sticking up in the air and their 'pilots hanging head down in , their cockpits. I For five hours —'from noon till 5-p.m. —the nfen of the R.A.F. .went ..slick y through with their demonstrations of various /air m’anoeuvrings. . "’Supplies were dropped, messages picked up, trpops deplaned. Great formations of flights, squadrons and' wings were, drilled with nifitiqulpus ‘ exactitude. Parachutes were dropped, to open like monstrous flowers from- the clouds and deposit j ’ their dunimie's (for it was too gi.sty j foi ; human parachutists) on to the centre!, of. the flying field. , ■Air fights arid “aerobatics” thrilled airmen and’ “ground lubbers”' who stared into the 'sunshine in a state of suitable awe. The fastest single-seater ' fighters \ in the world .dived .headlong, shot verti- ’ caily aloft, flashed in an upward spin or flicked off a loop at the t0p.,,0f ; the/r. zooming climb. ' In mimic comba.t, machines lurched and slithered or were “shot down” with trailing plumes of realistic (but carefully released) coloured smoke. In. three tints of smoke, the letters “R.A-F.” were written in the sky by‘other enterprising aircraft. FlffihtrLieiitenant Stainforth, who /has flown faster than any man,, delighted, the 'crowd by racing about in thp, a’r in a hideously camouflaged “pterodactyl” machine . without a tail—in order to.| ,destroy a number of whimsical | designed' as' “hostile. Martians.’' ~ 1 There was' a tortoise. race--4i event—in which was shown how hard it is to control a stalling aeroplane. There was a demonstration by three quiet find ffidy-like gliderg.. .There was, some brilliant stunting, by three machine of famous Number One Squadron. At the end, there was the uaual / .yffijue “enemy” force ■whose cardboard/ must-be mercilessly sent up in flames and, whose . kite balloon must slowly rise to suffer its';/inevitable explosion from a ruthless fighter’s machine-gun. • Air Duke of York '.‘Was present, and tjhp Marquis of Londonderry, Air Secretary, flew over to Hendon from Geneva for the occasion. There were.hundred?. of foreign visitors, including 14ir Attaches and eight special foreign missions, and the usual expressions of (admiration ..fop. our. .small,. but brilliant flying service were heard at the end of the day’s work.