Crowds Amazed By R.A.F. Pageant

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 768, 14 September 1929, Page 18

Crowds Amazed By R.A.F. Pageant

DARING FLYING DUELS AND MASS ATTACKS Britain’s finest air pageant filled the blue sky above Hendon with strange, and, at times, almost unbelievable sights, writes Sfr Percival Phillips, In the “Daily Mall,” when describing the Royal Air Force pageant held at Hendon recently. For five hours some 200 gentlemen of the Royal Air Force engaged in what was modestly described as their “tenth annual display,” and made free with the heavens in a manner that would have confounded the prophets of old. They began to rise at noon on a series of 22 consecutive adventures of peace and war, and the thrills thus evoked would be considered wasteful by any earth-bound purveyor of public entertainment if spread over a month. Blithely, and with superb skill, they went through every phase of airmanship from duels at high altitudes and mass attacks on ground targets, to broad clowning a few feet above the heads of the fascinated spectators. There were at least 100,000 people packed round the broad flying ground. The Prince of Wales arrived early, and sat in the Royal pavilion the greater part of the afternoon. Almost every nationality could be found in the crowd that filled stands, motor-cars and house-tops, and extended for miles in every direction. Even the distant slopes, where sightseeing was free, contained solid blocks of humanity, each as large as an army division. I saw a party of Japanese, including two women, smilingly caught in the crush when the display was over. There w.ere Indians, Chinese, Africans. to say nothing of the ordinary diverse tourist element. The praise elicited by the feats of the afternoon was expressed in every language of Europe. From the spectacular point of view the “air battle,” which closed this gorgeous show, was its chief feature, for it involved the annihilation, in a most emphatic way, of an “enemy” port complete with shipping, docks, and stores. But the real lesson of the day was the terrible efficiency of the fighting and bombing airplanes in more prosaic forms of warfare.

They revealed every aspect of active service in the air, even to the picking up of ground messages at high speed. Fights under every imaginable condition were grimly executed at all angles. Shining squadrons of singleseaters swooped down on an encampment and blotted it out in a blanket of smoke. Other single-seaters grappled with a hostile bombing airplane and brought it down (symbolically) in flames. Fighting Bulldogs and bomber Foxes, now in alliance, made clear the fate which befalls ground targets when pelted with high explosives.

A real tragedy occurred during this mock attack, for the Foxes, in swerv-' ing to renew their assault, ran into a flock of frightened birds, and some of them were destroyed. The comic side of airmanship yielded many laughs. There were the two crazy airplanes that apparently could not get properly aloft. They lurched and staggered drunkenly about the field for all the world like the tramp comedian of the music-halls, trying to stand on one wing, sometimes gyrating like a top, and always, it seemed, on the verge of disaster. The liberties taken by their pilots with the law of gravity were appalling.

Other aerial acrobatics were the work of flight Instructors at a higher altitude. They looped, “slowrolled,” spun hilariously, and flew upside down as often as they flew right side up. The winning pilots In the Fighting Area Acrobatics competition put a pair of Gloster Gamecocks through other illogical antics which appeared to lack credibility. They did everything except sit up and beg. One fine thrill was evoked by the six parachutists, who rose standing at the tips of the wings of Vickers Vimy airplanes and dived off into the blue when high above the field. They swayed like pendulums below their snow-white umbrellas as they drifted down, down, at decreasing speed to a " fold in the field, where they landed and rolled over and over.

Hardly had they regained their feet when five flying boats from Calshot appeared over Hendon and circled above the crowd. One came low for inspection and lingered rather wistfully above a large tent marked “refreshments” before joining its comrades on the return journey to Southampton Water.

The “air battle and set-piece” was very dramatic. Here was a seaport convincingly constructed on dry land, but complete with waves, quays, and small craft that “steamed” up and down the roadstead outside the harbour. A two-funnelled transport lay alongside the dock, behind which were harbour buildings, a pilot’s light and storehouses.

It appeared that a foreign Power was preparing to dispatch an expedition from this port against British territory without waiting for the decision of the League of Nations on a dispute concerning certain territory. Sure enough, men in overalls could be seen loading the ship with stores which were arriving by lorry at the quayside.

British aircraft received orders to stop this expedition. A photographic airplane engaged in reconnaissance was attacked by anti-aircraft. An “enemy” balloon was sent up off the harbour, only to be brought down in flames. An ammunition lighter outside ceased its nefarious work and scurried to shelter inside the breakwater.

Then British fighting airplanes appeared and were met by enemy fighters. A fierce fight followed, with casualties on both sides, but quay and transport were soundly peppered before the British retired. Then came the British bombers, two lots of them, and, despite the frantic efforts of “enemy reinforcements” and a general engagement in the air, explosive rained on shipping, wharves and buildings and all vanished in a blinding wall of flame. When the smoke drifted away only a skeleton remained. A fine vindication of the League of Nations.