مجموعة ٥/١٣ "أفغانستان: تقرير عن حالة سلاح الجو الأفغاني" [ظ‎‎٤‎٩] (١٠٦/٩٨)

2
The following machines constitute the effective equipment of the service at the
present time :
Two Bristol Fighters which were sold to the Afghan Government by the Govern
ment of India in 1924, one of which crashed near Gardes in September, 1924, when
piloted by the German, vVeisz, but was not rendered irreparable. Since then, one
Bristol Fighter has been flown about three times ; the other one is not in serviceable
condition. This is probably due to the fact that the Russians are disinclined to work
on these machines and prefer to allow them to remain unserviceable as evidence
(in Afghan eyes) of the inferiority of machines obtained from other than Russian
sources. All the ramaining machines of the service are believed to have been pre
sented to the Afghan Government under the Soviet Afghan treaty terms. These
are :
Four D. H.- 9 ’s with 240 h. p. Siddeley Puma engines which arrived in Kabul
in October 1924.
One Junker six-seater monoplane and four D. H.-9a s (400 h. p. Liberty engines)
wdiich were flown from Termez to Kabul in July 1925. In addition, one D. H.-9a
forced landed and crashed at Tashkurgan and one at Haibak during this flight, and
it is not thought that they have been salved.
Two D. H.- 9 a’s which were flown to Kabul from Termez in October, 1925.
As far as is known, therefore, the effective equipment of the air force is :
6 D. H.-9a’s (400 h. p. Liberty).
4 D. H.-9’s (240 h. p. Siddeley Puma).
1 Junker (185 h. p. ? ).
2 Bristol Fighters (R. R. Falcon 111 ).
Of these, the following were reported to be in flying condition during the Amir’s
visit to Jalalabad:—
4 D. H.-9a’s.
2 D. H.-9’s.
1 Junker.
1 Bristol Fighter.
No spare engines are in Kabul and when required they will have to be brought
from Termez either by camel convoy or by flying a machine there for installation of
a new engine.
Aeroplane and engine spares and petrol and oil are, of course, only obtainable
from Russian or British sources. The Russian supply is strictly curtailed owing
to the fact that the journey from the frontier to Kabul entails 12 days’ travel over
a road traversing passes of the Hindu Kush which are closed for several months
of the year. The road is impassable for mechanical transport and all material has
to be carried on camels or ponies. Convoys have lately been seen bringing petrol
in large quantities from the North, via Bamian and the Unai, each camel in the
convoy carrying two 15-gallon tanks.
Armament .—No bomb racks are fitted nor have any of the machines seen at
close range any fittings for automatic rifles. Although nothing is known of any
reserve equipment or bombs, they very probably exist, and during the Khost
rebellion some bombs were dropped in a field near the rebels. The Bristol Fighters
were handed over to the Afghan Government with fighting equipment. It may
be assumed that this force can be turned into a fighting unit rapidly and secretly.
Distinguishing marks —All machines have their numbers in large Arabic letter
ing and the crest of Afghanistan painted in white on the sides of the fuselag 3 . The
words “ Allah Akbar ” are written in large, white, Arabic lettering on the bottom
of each main plane.
Personnel .—The Afghan personnel of this service are the Commandant,
Muhammad Ihsan, a youth who after two years' training in Italy was deemed to
be a fully-trained pilot as a preventive measure against his doing any further
damage to Italian machines ; Muhammad Hashim, who was also under taining in