SKYLARKS AT HENDON
THIRTY acres or so for a stage and the whole firmament of heaven for a back-cloth, what a chance, I thought, for the dramatist, and then I fell to thinking of luncheon. The R.A.F. annual display at Hendon has now become so popular, so much an important social event, that One's first difficulty is to get into the ground, then to find sustenance, then a chair and finally (greatest difficulty of all) to get out again.
It is estimated that 100,000 people were at Hendon on Saturday, and if this figure, which does not include R.A.F. or police forces, is correct, the Air Force charities, for whose benefit the display is held, will be deservedly helped to a considerable extent. The King and Queen arrived during the afternoon ; King Sun, in grilling mood,. was with us all day ; the Diplomatic Corps was present in force—with the Air Attaches, one may suspect, urbane but vigilant. I caught sight of a well-known German flying officer whom I had come across when he was a prisoner during the War. I noticed, too, a remarkable number of Japanese spectators. The proceedings were additionally graced by the presence of 250 members of Parliament and their ladies. If these gentlemen hoped to get away from hot air, they must have been disappointed, although they were given a special enclosure flanked by pleasant box trees and various other facilities which the rest of us, while we sweltered in the crowd, sorely envied, Was this flaunted luxury, I wondered, a subtle move on the part of the Air Ministry to safeguard the acceptance of the Air Estimates ? For my part, I can see no reason why members of Parliament should not have had to look for seats like the rest of us. Looking for seats, is, after all, their job.
The traffic arrangements outside the flying ground were admirable and, as usual, a great tribute to the courtesy, humour, and efficiency of the police. Inside there was a good deal of chaos. I suggest to the authorities that the deployment of 5,000 motor-cars to either side of a narrow road used for both entrance and egress is a diverting pastime, but, as a "practical proposition," beyond the ingenuity of the human mind. The R.A.F. is accustomed to do things in the grand manner. The aeroplane petrol bill alone for the afternoon must have cost a small fortune, to be provided for, presumably, out of the taxpayer's pocket. The taxpayers who were at Hendon on Saturday, driving their own ears, would stand, I think, for the construction of an extra cinder track to save hours of irritating delay.
The aerial display itself was magnificent, a noble epic of daring. I can only speak as an ignorant layman on the technical side of flying. From the point of enjoyment, I think the display suffers from a certain sameness, a certain aloofness and that absence of personality without which a great sporting carnival is never wholly satis- factory. The machines seem so far away, except when they perform spectacular dives over the heads of the people in the enclosures, when they seem too near. From a distance the untrained eye cannot make out a Bristol- Jupiter from a Siddeley-Jaguar. One can only reflect upon their jolly names. The men in the driving seats —heroes all—are merely names to the average spectator and for the most part one cannot see them. The giant birds rest contemptuously in the paddock. Without passes and a variety of formalities one cannot view them at close quarters.
These disappointments are merely my impressions. They are in no way intended as criticisms of the manage- ment of the programme. They are, perhaps, inevitable. Nothing, however, could have been more thrilling or more beautiful than the combined air-ride of nine squadrons, all in perfect formation. I thought of the Valkyrie maidens symbolized in terms of modern machinery. Some amusing and terrifying machines appeared in a parade of new and experimental models. There was a terrible bomber which made me shudder for the sanity and safety of civilization ; but the dark cloud passed and a curious 'plane with wings like a bat hovered above us, the sort of toy one would like to possess to sail gently over one's garden in the cool of the evening to see how the tomatoes were doing.
E. S. A.
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