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     Great Britain had the second most powerful air force in the world at the end of 1933. with approximately 2,500 combat planes, including 800 in active service, 100 per cent reserves and 900 modern machines distributed among the air forces in the British possessions.

Ranks and Pay

     Flight pay is 1s per day, plus 6d for gunners. Officers and enlisted men having good command of foreign languages can earn 1s per day for each, up to a 5s per day limit. Retirement is allowed for enlisted men after 20 years service; for officers, the required service can be as short as 10 years.

Aircraft Types in Service

Land-based Aircraft

• Gloster "Gauntlet" - single seat fighter; these replaced the previous Bristol "Bulldogs" in 1935
  

• Hawker "Demon" - two seat fighter

• Handley Page "Heyford Mk II" - night bomber

• Boulton and Paul "Overstrand" - medium bomber

• Westland "Wallace" - day bomber and general purpose

• Hawker "Audax" - army co-operation (photo-recon, light bomber, artillery spotting, courier, etc.)

• Cierva "Rota" - army co-operation autogiro
  

• Avro "Anson" - coastal reconnaissance

• Vickers "Valentia" - troop carrier

• Avro "Tutor" - training

• D.H. "Tiger Moth" - training
  

• D.H. "Queen Bee" - aerial target drone

Carrier Aircraft

• Hawker "Nimrod" - fighter (developed from the Hawker "Fury")

• Blackburn "Baffin" - torpedo bomber
  

• Blackburn "Shark" - torpedo bomber

• Fairey "Seal" - reconnaissance and spotter
  

• Fairey "Swordfish" - reconnaissance, spotter, and torpedo bomber
  

Catapult Aircraft

• Hawker "Osprey" - fighter and reconnaissance floatplane (developed from the Hawker "Hart")
  

• Supermarine "Walrus" - reconnaissance, spotter and rescue amphibian
  

Coastal Command

• Short "Singapore III" - long range reconnaissance flying boat

• Saro "London" - general purpose flying boat

• Vickers "Vildebeest" - coast defense floatplane

• Saunders Roe "Cloud" - training amphibian
  

     Some aircraft that exist only as prototypes, or are just being introduced:  Supermarine "Spitfire", Hawker "Hurricane", Bristol "Blenheim", Handley Page "Hampden", Fairey "Battle", Fairey "Hendon", Handley Page "Harrow", Vickers "Wellington", Westland "Lysander", Gloster "Gladiator"

Active Squadrons 1937

     I'm aware that there are some squadrons that prefered Roman numerals at certain times, but I'm using Arabic numerals in this list.

• 1 Squadron: fighters, at Tangmere
  

• 2 Squadron:  army co-operation, at Manston
  

• 3 Squadron:  fighters, at Kenley
  

• 4 Squadron:  army co-operation, at Farnborough
  

• 5 Squadron:  army co-operation, in the North West Frontier
  

• 6 Squadron:  Hawker Hart day bombers, in Egypt

• 7 Squadron:  Handley-Page Heyford bombers, at Bircham Newton
  

• 8 Squadron:  Vickers Vincent army co-operation, in Aden

• 9 Squadron:  Handley-Page Heyford bombers, at Manston

• 10 Squadron:  Armstrong-Whtworth Whitley Mk II bombers, at Dishforth

• 11 Squadron:  Hawker Hart day bombers, at Risalpur in the North West Frontier

• 12 Squadron:  Hawker Hind light bombers, at Andover

• 13 Squadron:  Hawker Hector army co-operation, at Kenley

• 14 Squadron:  Fairey Gordon army co-operation, at Ramlah in the Palestine

• 15 Squadron:  Hawker Hart day bombers, at Abingdon

• 16 Squadron:   Hawker Audax (version of the Hart) army co-operation, at Old Sarum

• 17 Squadron:  Gloster Gauntlet fighters, at Hawkinge

• 18 Squadron:  Hawker Hart day bombers, at Upper Heyford

• 19 Squadron:  Gloster Gauntlet fighters, at Duxford

• 20 Squadron:  Hawker Audax army co-operation, in the North West Frontier

• 21 Squadron:  reformed in December 1935 as a Hawker Hind light bomber squadron, at RAF Bircham Newton, and various UK airfields up to WW2

   

more to come ...

Emergency Supplies

     The equipment carried aboard a Vickers Vildebeest (three man crew):

• boarding ladder

• three sleeping bags

• first aid kit

• collapsible mast antenna for using the radio from the ground

• drinking water tank, plus 3 cans of drinking water and 3 canteens
  

• 10 pounds of emergency flying rations in metal tins, two types, 10 of each:
  

• barley sugar, chewing gum, malted milk tablets, energy (benzedrine) tablets; 7.5 ounces, 568 food calories
  

• peanut-oatmeal-molasses biscuits; 8.5 ounces, 950 food calories ... deliberately unappealing flavor, to make sure they aren't consumed too quickly, or when not required

• Very flare pistol and flares (the pilots may or may not be carrying pistols)
  

• repair tool kits

• from 1938 onwards:  an inflatable rubber dinghy (only in seaplanes before that date)
  

   

Sources

     Much of this information comes from "The King's Air Force - Its Story in Word and Picture", published in early 1937 by The Amalgamated Press, Ltd.; editor, Clarence Winchester. There is a photograph of the original Spitfire in flight, so the information is current as of late 1936, I presume.

     The Aircraft Year Book For 1934, pub. by The Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America, New York City.