FURNITURE SPECIAL

Photo Legend History Hawker Demons RAF Display held at Hendon Aerodrome in 1934. The Demon is a fighter-bomber with an all-metal body and fabric-covered wings. It entered service in 1933 and, powered by a supercharged Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine, it has a top speed of 184 mph, making it faster than most contemporary fighters. It has two forward-firing machine guns and a third facing backwards, operated by the observer / bomb aimer. Its bomb load is modest: eight 20-pounders. As well as the Demons, spectators will have seen the Prince of Wales arriving, piloting his own aircraft, Bristol Bulldog fighters attacking bombers, a Cierva Autogyro taking off, some parachute drops and the destruction of a mocked-up building, together with the shooting down in flames of an observation balloon as a finale. Vickers-Supermarine Type 224, a clumsy open-cockpit monoplane with cranked or gull wings and a fixed undercarriage enclosed in trouser fairings or 'spats'. It had been subject to endless...