58o

FLIGHT.

DECEMBER 5.

1935.

THE FOUR WINDS

ITEMS OF INTEREST FROM ALL QUARTERS
Alexandrian Activity
A large number of R.A.F. machines staged a mock attack on Alexandria last week. They were received, on behalf of the community, by " Archie."

Searching for Spots

Mr. Gandar Dower left Croydon by air recently for Kenya, where he hopes to secure a specimen of the extremely rare spotted lion.

Royal Interest at N.P.L.

During an informal visit to the National Physical Laboratory last week the Duke of Kent showed interest in the Aerodynamics Department, and subsequently witnessed, in the Engineering Department, demonstrations of various apparatus for testing the mechanical strength of materials.

FOR DROPPING HINTS : To induce natives to conform to instructions, the R.A.F. has employed loud-speakers from the air. So successful has this system proved in Iraq that it is likely to be tried on the NorthWest Frontier and Somaliland. These views show an installation in a Vickers Valentia.

Qraf ZeppelinSky Squatter

On arrival at Pernambuco on its latest trip the Graf Zeppelin was prevented from " d o c k i n g " by reports of fighting and of the occupation of the aerodrome by insurgents. The South American mails were dropped at Maceio and later 2 cwt. of fresh provisions were picked up from a Spanish steamer off the Brazilian coast. Eventually a landing was made after 119 hours in the air.

Variable Areas Again

It is reported ffom Rome that four engineers have designed and constructed a variable-area-wing machine

Back in Commission
The Latecoere flying boat Lieutenant de Vaisseau Paris has successfully completed its trials aft^r repairs occasioned by a damaged wing. It is hoped that the boat will soon make a demonstration mail-carrying flight to the French West Indies.

Canadian Sharks
An order has been placed by the Canadian Government for a number of Blackburn Shark T.S.R. biplanes with Siddeley Tiger engines. The Shark is already a standard type in the R.A.F. and has also been adopted by the Portuguese Government.

Twenty-five Years Ago

(From "Flight" of December 3,
1910.) " Mr. Drexel's latest achievement should indeed take a bit of beating, according to a ' heading ' in the Bath Daily Chronicle, which puts it at ' 5^ miles high ' at Philadelphia last week. Curiously enough, the paragraph only mentions that the official height was 9.970 ft."

South African Re-equipment

The first two Hawker Hartebeest machines ordered for the South African Air Force arc already in use. Sixty more are to be built under licence in South Africa. The Hartebeest is yet another variation of the Hart design. Some of the South African machines are to have armour plating.

Exonerated
The Boeing Aircraft Company, in a letter to Flight, states that, although the recent accident to their big 299 bomber was a terrific blow, they find solace in the report ot the U.S. Army Air Corps board which investigated the crash and which indicated that there was no structural or functional failure on the part of the machine.

In Recognition of Resource
("apt. Clover, late chiel instructor to the Southern! Flying Club, and presently to ho assistant instructor at the Airwork School, is to he presented with a gold watch by the Carnegie Hero Trust. It will lie remembered tli.u lu- rescued Mr. lvni.- Smith, the parachutist, from a more than perilous position. The latter's -t.iii caught in the bracing of the machine while he was already out on the wing, and Capt. Clover released him. held him over the from cockpit, and Kadi- a ->.ik lauding.

WHERE'S THAT AIRFLOW? "Dishing it out " and "taking i t " are the two main jobs of the Vought Corsair and, for that matter, of any naval aeroplane. This particular Corsair is not, for the moment, engaged in dishing anything out.