مجموعة ٥/٧٣ "سلاح الجو الأفغاني: تقارير" [و‎‎١‎٤‎٠] (٤٣١/٢٧٩)

F lying Training School,
There have been no developments during the quarter, Thel^it,^
students who joined ’the school early this year are continuing their'-'-w
sillies in the theory of aviation, and will not commence their flying
twining until the spring of 1943.
5, Aerodromes.
The position shows little change during the quarter under review.
At Khwaja Hawash aerodrome the construction of workshops has been
delayed by financial considerations and Hie difficulty of obtaining
materials. Some slight progress has been made in the construction of
hangers. At Kandahar the construction of a hanger is held up for the
lack of materials for the roof. The work of constructing a hanger
at Herat is said to be progressing. Details of this hanger were given
1:. the last quarterly report.
6 • Ayiation petro 1.
(a) Stocks of aviation petrol at the Sherpur aerodrome at the end of
October, 1942 were believed to consist of approx 100,000 gallons
inclusive of petrol contained in 45 gallon drums of wnich there are 103,
Petrol arriving from India is now being stored when possible in 45
gallon drums as all the petrol storage tanks available are full.
of tnis petrol is believed to have deteriorated in quality through
having been stored for a considerable period, and the lask of a proper
system of turnover,
(b) It was previously reported by the British instructors that the
petrol storage tanks at Khwaja Rawash aerodrome had a capacity of
10,000 gallons. They now state that this was a mistake and that the
7 tanks installed there only have a capacity of 5000 gallons each.
Stocks of aviation petrol at the Khwaja Rawash aerodrome are now
believed to consist of:~
(i) Five 5000 g^Ion surface tanks, all full, installed near the
entrance gat of the aerodrome.
(ii) Two 5000 gallon tanks, both full, installed at the foot of
the hills to the Forth of the a -rodromo.
A pit for one 5000 gallon tank has been dug at the foot of the hills
to the north of the aerodrome. There are no 45 gallon drums of petrol
at the Khwaja Rawash aerodrome,
(c) No aviation petrol has been despatched from Kabul to the
provinces during the quarter. There are believed to be small stocks
of aviation petrol at Jalalabad, Gardez and Kandahar, The aviation
petrol previously stated to have been held at Ghazni in 45 gallon
drums has been returned to Kabul, and it is believed that tnere are
no stocks of aviation petrol at Ghazni at present.
7. British Instructors.
(a) Squadron-Leader B,D f . Wigginton, R.A.F., arrived in Kabul from
England on 13th August and took up the appointment of pilot instructor
to the Afghan Air Force on August 17th, The Afghan Chief of th
General Staff stated at the end of October that they are very glad to
have officers from the R.A.F. attached to tneir Air Force and hoped
that this connection would continue. The position had not been very
easy for his Government during the war, but fortunately the connection
with the R.A.F. had been established before the present war broke ou +
‘They had been compelled, for political reasons, to give up much of
the programme they had mapped out for dispatching a few of their army
and air force officers and students to India for training, but later
when the international situation became me
to carry out some of these projects.
;re clear it might be possibl
- i pun