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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 1454.PDF
FLIGHT AUGUST 28TH, 1947 Service Aviation British flyers so honoured are A. Cdre. P. F. M. Fellowes, Lady Drummond- Hay and Peggy Salaman. After the ceremony G/C. Thomson gave the host of the mission the R.A.F. wings from his tunic Memorials to R.A.R V.C.M EMORIAL plaques to one of Scot-land's Royal Air Force V.C.s, the late F/S. George Thompson, of Milna-thort, Kinross, have been unveiled in two country schools in Kinross-shire.The ceremonies in the schools at Port- moak and Kinross where F/S. Thomp-son was a pupil, were performed by Air Vice - Marshal Kingston - McCloughry,A.O.C. No. 18 Group. Born at Perth in 1920, F/S. Thomp-son enlisted in the Royal Air Force in 1941 and served in Iraq aud Teheran asa wireless officer (ground) before return- ing to the U.K. in 1943 to train for air-crew duties. He had been on operations for only two months when, in January,1945, he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. F/S. Thompson was in a Lancaster ofNo. 9 Squadron, Bomber Command, in an attack on the Dortmund-Ems canalearly in 1945 when the aircraft was set on fire by a shellburst. He rescued theunconscious gunner from the blazing upper-turret, braving exploding ammu-nition and using his bare hands to beat DOWN TO EARTH— (I) Cpi Moody of Transport Command puts a peculiar finish to her long jump attempt at the Inter-Command athletic meeting. out burning clothing. Althoughseverely burned about face, hands and legs F/S. Thompson then went to therescue of the rear gunner, also uncon- scious in his blazing turret. Again hebeat out the flames with his bare hands and extricated the helpless man. Oneof the two gunners survived but F/'S. Thompson himself died in hospital fromhis injuries three weeks later, R.A.F. Drop Food in Bengal SUPPLIES of, rice are now beingdropped by the R.A.F. to relieve the flood-affected population of theChittagong area according to arrange- ments made by the Air Command, FarEast, in response to a request by the Governor of Bengal. Dakotas of No. 10 Squadron, whichrecently left Mauripur (Karachi) to carry- out this task, will drop an initial supplyof 80,000 lb of rice. The whole opera- tion is expected to be completed in atotal of 14 sorties. Similar operations were carried out inthis area during the floods which occurred in August last year, when over1,250,000 lb of supplies were dropped. Flying Training in Japan MIHO, on the Northern coast of Hon-shu, formerly a Japanese Army Air Force fighter station and navigationalschool, is now a main training centre for British Commonwealth Air Forcesin Japan. The airfield has concrete runways, large hangars and repair yards.The first R.A.F. squadron to take the course at the bombing range, built thereby British personnel, was No. 17. Dur- ing three weeks they dropped 584 iojlbpractice bombs and 26 251b high-explo- sive bombs. The average error was24 yards, and the most successful pilot missed by only 7 yards. During firingpractice, 8,500 rounds of 0.5 armour- piercing incendiary bullets and 1,30020 mrn cannon shells were used. One pilot scored 75 per cent hits on the tar-get. Another unit to use the Miho range was .No. 4 R.I.A.F. Squadron, fly-ing Spitfires, which carried out extensive air-to-ground firing practice before leav-ing Japan recently. Rocket-firing is performed on a float-ing target anchored off Atada Shirna, a sparsely populated island a few milesfrom the main B.C.A.I.R. base and headquarters at Iwakuni. Among unitswhich have recently used this range are No. 14 R.N.Z.A.F. Squadron (Cor-sairs) , the three Mustang squadrons of No. 81 Wing R.A.A.F., and Americanbomber squadrons. An 81 Wing prac- tice, in April, was watched by Armyofficers attending an "air-liaison" course with B.C.A.I.R. Another bombing range, at Mahoo-hama, was built by 81 Wing and is in regular use. Iwakuni, severely bombed by theAllied Air Forces during the war, was a Japanese naval air station, and also thebase for a squadron of "Kamikaze" suicide pilots. In addition to largenumbers of wrecked Japanese aircraft on the airfield. British forces found,lying on its side in the harbour, a light cruiser which had been built in Britainin the late 1890s, sold to Russia, and awarded to Japan as reparations afterthe Russo-Japanese war of 1905. Co-operation with Naval forces formspart of the B.C.A.I.R. training when this can be arranged. When units of a ,^;5 ..'• Jl f DOWN TO EARTH—(2) Territorial para- troops of the 16th Airborne Division making training jumps from a kite balloon. An instructor on the ground passes his orders by loudspeaker. Naval force visited Kure, during April,three exercises were carried out by the New Zealand Corsairs, and massed "at-tacks" on the vessels made by the Aus- tralian Mustangs. "Wings" FinaleW INGS," the spectacular R.A.F.pageant produced by Ralph Reader which has toured the provincessince April 28, is to have its finale at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on Sep-tember 14, the opening day of Battle oi Britain Week. The occasion also marksthe annual festival of reunion of the . Royal Air Force Association, and the jproprietors of the Daily Telegraph hav-' j generously offered to defray expense", jThe proceeds will go to the R.A.I' Benevolent Fund and to the RAF.Association. Artists engaged for this final performance are expected to in-clude Gladys Ripley, Denis Noble, the Alexander Choir of 250 voices and theB.B.C. Theatre Orchestra.
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