London, Sept. 12.
The continual stream of applications received at the Alr Ministry. ig" highly satisfactory. When the Government's expanded programme was announced in May last year, was stated that 2,500 additions! "pilots and 20,000 additional personnel would be needed before March, 1937.
With still over six months to gy, 2,870 pilots have been obtained and more than 10,000 of the additional personnel, and would-be recruits are coming forward In a steady stream. It may be added that many more ecruus could have been taken on. than have been, youths very for Indeed from the' 3 class, but for the extremely rigorous tests applied.
Those principally selected are
rained a5 fight-rlggersii) Might. most by be. méchanles, wireless 0 ators and. photographers.
An interesting statement has lately been made by a pilot who was en: gaged all. summer in what may be called a holiday aeroplane—one of those that take holiday makers 17 Aistant seaside resorts. He says that the parents may show some signs nervousness on first going into the "air, but children never. " Born Into an'age of aeronautics, they take the aeroplane as naturally as they would to train or motorcar. Certainly the new recruits for the RAP, seem to show a born aptitude for: the work, Aerial Photography Competition for the trophy, given by Sir Philip Sassoon, Under' Secre: tary for Ate, to the unit which gains highest marks in a very stringent test devised by the School of Photography, Farnborough, has just taken place.
The imparlance of this work needs no emphasis. Tis value was early learnt during the war and since then aerial photography has been developed out of all knowledge. For instance, the invention of infra-red plates has made possible photographs which formerly would not even have been attempted, "Ton. units entered for this year's contest, the winner, now announced, ing No, 101 (Bomber) Squadron, which is stationed at Bicester, and fly-{ing Boulton-Paul Oversteand biplanes, actually secured 02.7 por cent, of total, possible marks in this most din. cult contest, Details of the contest vary from year to year, In essence each com ering unit must produce a photographic mosaic of an area of country within 30 miles of its home aerodrome, The itea must not exceed 30 square miles in extent and may be wlangular of irregularly quadrilateral in shape, The scale to which the mosaic must be produced lies between 1 Ju 8,000 and 1 in 20,000, photographs previously taken may used, Marks are awarded for speed in production and despatch for judging to the School of Photography, as well og for the technical excellence of he product, Ench competing unit must Toport cxacily the weather conditions prevailing between the oficial open= Ing day of the contest and the date of despatch of the mosaic. It must algo report the times falcon in the actual photographie flying and In the production of the mosaic from the Photographs secured, The methods Adopted are not excessively stereotyped, and are taken into consideration by the judges.
The Boulton-Paul Overstrand is a twincengined craft with Bristol Pegasus motors, and provides en exceptionally steady platform for bomb-aiming and photographie work. Its other quailies include oblilty to carry big useful load, high rate of climb and service celling, long range and rear case and power in manquvre.
The Overstrand (s notable as the frst aeroplane in the world to be com: missioned for service with a rotate able gun-turret similar In working and purpose to naval gun-turrets. Mounted inthe nose of the fuselage fs an egg-shaped enclosed structure, with transparent, sides, for accommodation of machine-gun and gunner, This turret {s mechanically operated, thereby relieving the gunner of the immense physical exertion required move and train the gun on a fast moving target at high alr speeds.
Mrs, Markham's Great Feat Mrs. Beryl Markham's fight across the Atlantic, the first performed by dog woman alone from east to west, much more diffeult than in the Toverse direction, appears all the power more wonderful when its conditions are known, namely, that she flew in a single-engined aércpJane, with no radio equipment.
Eighteen hundred miles of open sea separate Ireland from Newfoundland along the route she followed. She flew through storm after storm. Head winds held her back, and"forced up her fuel consumption. She was obliged to fly low instead of at the mors economical heights several thousand feet up, and again fuel con. sumption climbed. Finally, after paseing over a fog-shrouded Now-found land, Mrs, Markham, with fuel at the point of exhaustion, made a heavy Janding in an exiguous clear~ ing at Baleine, on the north-east shore of Cape Breton Island. In all she flew about 2,700 miles from Abingdon, Her flight wes magnificent. But cold judgment compels one to add that, "in 1936, it is mot aviation. North Atlantic waters will not thus the conquered for the alrmuil and the passenger plane,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.