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Aviation History
1933
1933 - 0636.PDF
FLIGHT, SEPTEMBER 28, 1933 AT ZERO HOUR : At noon on Friday five " Southamptons " of Nos. 210 and 201 (F.B.) Squadrons left their moorings at Port Edgar and started off on long reconnaissance. (FLIGHT Photo.) available. The two " Hart " squadrons, Nos. 12 and 33, used an ancient aerodrome at Gullane, west of North Ber wick, as a refuelling station, though they spent Friday night at better equipped stations. The squadrons on the Furious and Courageous were given in our last issue. We may repeat them. On the Furious were No. 801 (Fleet Fighter) Squadron, with six " Nimrods," and No. 822 (Fleet Spotter Reconnaissance) Squadron, with 12 " 3F.'s." On the Courageous were No. 800 (F.F.) Squad ron with nine " Nimrods " and three " Ospreys," No. 810 (Torpedo Bomber) Squadron with six " Darts " and six " Ripons," and No. 821 (F.S.R.) Squadron with nine " Seals." Friday's Operations—The " Southampton* " Out at Sea Early on' Friday morning a haar lay over the Forth, but the war was not to start until noon, and before then an east wind had cleared the murk away, and most of the area lay in brilliant sunshine. That day the Blue bombers were not to put out to sea. Blue was to send out the flying boats to try to locate the Fleet. An attack on the fortress of Elie and perhaps on the Blue aerodromes by the Red bombers from the carriers was expected, and the two " Hart " squadrons were sent up as defensive air craft to patrol over Blueland. I was to make a flight in one of the " Southamptons," and so was down at Port Edgar by 10.30 a.m. A Royal Air Force launch was drawn up by one of the derelict jetties of Port Edgar, while the nine boats looked splendid as they rode at their moorings out in the Forth. I remember Port Edgar in war time, when it was an Admiralty station of some im portance, and I once, when on sick leave from France, saw a hospital train steam down the main pier and take off to hospital a large number of wounded naval ratings who had been brought in from some unchronicled fight in the North Sea. Since the war, no attempt has been made to keep the place in repair. The railway lines are rusted and overgrown with grass, and the wood of the jetties seems on the point of disintegration. It was low tide when I walked down the jetty and met Wing Com. Ker shaw. Far, far down below lay the pinnace, and I wondered how on earth he had got up. There was one wooden post at the edge of the jetty, and they led me to that and pointed to a vertical iron ladder which led down to a plank which projected over the water and almost reached the bulwark of the pinnace. I said I did not like the look of it, and would prefer to go down by parachute. However, I could not get into the air unless I first went down that ladder, so grasping the wobbly and apparently disintegrating post, I contrived to accomplish the passage perilous. That was the only unpleasant moment in the day. The Wing Commander came down, too, and while we were in the cabin of the pinnace signing " blood chits and being allocated to particular " Southamptons," a message came down that two squadron leaders from other units wanted to speak to the Wing Commander. He said, " Bring them down," to which the messenger replied, " They don't like the look of the ladder, sir." I am afraid that I chuckled. If intrepid bird-men did not fancy that ladder, then surely my qualms were excusable. But down they had to come. Then I got into a motor dinghy and was taken out to boat S.1229. The flight lieutenant in command impressed on me the great importance of being warm, and I was not AS PANTS THE HART FOR COOLING STREAMS " : The machines of No. 33 (Bomber) Squadron just in from a raid gather round the petrol tank at Turnhouse Aerodrome. (FLIGHT Photo.) 962
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