MARCH 23,

1939

FLIGHT.

293

SERVICE AVIATION
Royal Air Force and Official Announcements : Fleet Air Arm News : Military Aviation Abroad
SEA WARRIOR : A n o t h e r v i e w (the first is o n p a g e 282) of t h e Gloster Sea Gladiator w h i c h r e veals t w o of its special features. O n e is t h e bulge b e t w e e n t h e undercarriage legs which c o n c e a l s a dinghy a n d t h e o t h e r is t h e d e c k - l a n d i n g arrester hook. Flight " photograph

Air Ministry Staff Qoes to Whitehall

URING the week-end March n-12 the Secretary of State for Air, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, the Chief of the Air Staff, together with his Department, and the Permanent UnderSecretary of State, togethei with t h e Parliamentary, Press and Pnblicity Branches of the Secretariat, moved from Adastral House, Kingsway, t o the offices in King Charles Street, Whitehall, recently vacated by the Board of Education. The postal address of the Whitehall building i s : Air Ministry, King Charles Street, Whitehall, S . W . i . T h e telephone number is Abbey 3411. The removal has been carried out in order t h a t Ministers a n d the departments of the Air Ministry referred to above may be nearer to Government Departments with which they h a v e to work closely. 1 he rest of the Air Ministry will remain in the Kingsway area (telephone ijumber: Holborn 3434), and in Berkeley Square House (Crosvenor 4050).

reliable, a n d t o obtain a check in the coming esercises an arrangement has been m a d e with British and Australian ships to report by radio when they sight a reconnaissance machine. Thev will then give their positions and their reports will be compared with the pilots' logs. Six specialist navigators, who have undergone a long course of training in theory and practice, will take charge of the reconnaissance exercises and instruct pilots in the work of celestial navigation. This is a new departure for Australia, since, up to now, pilots in th'. Australian Air Force have used only dead reckoning on reconnaissance flights The flights will be made from Laveiton (Vic), Richmond (N.S.W.), Pearce (W.A.) and, later, from Darwin.

F.A.A. School at Qravesend

P E R A T E D by Airports. Ltd., a new Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School has been opened a t Gravesend airport for the training of personnel for the Fleet Air Arm. The school started operations on March 6 with sixteen Tiger Moths and nine instructors.

Blind-approach Equipment
T is reported t h a t a large order has been placed by t h e British Air Ministry with the American company which manufactures the Air-Track radio blind-approach equipment. From this fact it is to be presumed t h a t difficulty has been experienced in obtaining delivery of the Lorenz transmitters and receivers which have been ordered both for service and for civil use. The Air-Track scheme is, generally speaking, similar in operation to blind-approach systems used in Europe, and t h e first installation was completed last year for Pennsylvania Central Airlines. The ground equipment includes a main transmitter and a single marker beacon which is placed a t the edge of the runway, b u t the important feature of the Air-Track system is t h a t it is designed to be portable, the main transmitter being comparatively small in size and mounted on a car trailer. T h e Air-Track instrument is of the now familiar two-crossed-needle t y p e , the horizontal needle giving relative altitude ndications and the vertical needle giving directional indications.

Fleet Air Arm- Specialisation

H E Admiralty announces t h a t (A) Branch Officers who volunteer t o specialise as Technical Officers will be required to pass a qualifying examination before being allowed to take the specialising course. The examination will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, April iS and 19, and will continue to be held in April of each year. (A) Branch Officers who have transferred from the Royal Air Force and who hold the rank of Lieutenant, may, in certain circumstances, be permitted t o specialise without necessarily completing a whole commission on general flying duties.

Unit Badges

IS MAJESTY T H E KING has graciously approved the undermentioned badges and mottoes for t h e units concerned and they may now be taken into use:
Unit Badge On a terrestrial globe the figure of Perseus. In front of a fountain a demoiselle Crane's head erased. A broken wheel. A dexter arm in bend couped below the elbow grasping in the hand a battle axe. An ogress pierced by an arrow point downwards. In front of a torch a rose. Motto Fortiter in Re. Nili Nomen Roboris Omen. Ab Uno Disce Omnes. Pone Nos Ad Hostem.

Australian Air Force Tests

TTHE R 0 y a i Australian Air Force is reported to be undertakJ- ing a series of reconnaissance flights t o sea in which it will be aided by the Australian N a v y and British and Australian merchant shipping. Flights of between 200 and 300 miles from shore will be made first and, later in the vear, two or more large*>cale exercises will be conducted with the Navy. The exercises are based on the fact t h a t , because of the speed of modern ships, it is possible for a vessel some 300 miles off the coast in the evening to be close enough in-shore in the morning to launch attacking aircraft or to m a k e an a t t a c k with gunfire on a vulnerable capital city. Constant practice a t this aircraft reconnaissanctf work is necessary m peace-time, especially in Australia, where all the large cities re within gunfire range of the sea. For long, it has been a major unction of the Australian Air Force. Extremely accurate navigation necessary to ensure t h a t the reports of patrolling aircraft are

No. 42 (Torpedo Bomher) Squadron. No. 47 (Bomber) Squadron. No. 50 (Army Cooperation Squadron). No. 63 (Bomber) Squadron. No. 97 (Bomber) Squadron. No. 1 Armament Training Station.

Achieve your aim. Altlora Peto.