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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0259.PDF
FEBRUARY 26TH, 1948 FLIC HT R.NVR.AIR SI After joining formation in dirty weather, Harvards and Seafire 46s of No. 1832 R.N.V.R. Air Squadron fly past the visiting Admirals. Culham Pilots FlyJM)O Hours in Seven Months •' -• ^ Illustrated by "Flight" Photographs *\ TWO Admirals—Vice-Admiral Sk Wilfred Patterson,K.C.B., C.V.O., G.B.E., Admiral CommandingReserves, and Vice-Admiral R. H. Portal, C.B., D.S.C., Flag Officer (Air) Home—visited H.M.S. Honibill,the. Royal Naval Air Station at Culham, near Oxford, on February 14th, to inspect and congratulate No.1832 R.N.V.R. Air Squadron. Their congratulation^ were prompted mainly by the splendid flyingrecord of the Squadron during the seven months rtJL\as been in operation. Since July 12th lasteat.r, when Lt. Cdr. (A) I. P. Godfrey, O.B.E., K7N.V.R., the Commanding Officer, and Lt. (A)K. Talbot, R.N., Senior Staff Officer and Chief Instructor, made the first sortie, in a Harvard,well over nine hundred hours' flying have ft been chalked up. The top scorer is Lt. (A)A. R. Michie, who, at the time of the Admirals' visit, had logged over sixty-six hours. Formed in the early summer of 1^46, No.1832 Squadron was intended to attain an R.N.V.R. Officer complement of sixteenpilots. The eager response of volunteers from the London area has caused this to beincreased to thirty-two, of which number twenty-nine have already received theirappointments. As originally laid down, the equipment was six Seafire Mk. 46 Navalsingle-seat fighter reconnaissance aircraft euid three Harvard trainers, but in con-formity with the increased officer establish- ment, the Squadron now possesses, in addi-tion to the half-dozen Seafire 46s, two Seafire XVIfe and six Harvards. Though the squadron is primarily a fighter unit, it wasdecided to recruit not only from ex-fighter pilots, but from those who had flown torpedo-bomber reconnaissance air-craft during the war. Conversion has proved most success- ful and the Chief Instructor has reported no difficultyin passing out on Seafire 46s pilots who had been used to flying the heavy Avengers and Barracudas. In theearly days there was some apprehension that con- version straight from Harvards to the 450-m.p.h.Seafire 46s would be too great a step and a few Mark III Seafires were kept for intermediate flyingtraining. Experience, however, proved these to bt unnecessary and they have been withdrawn. Eighty per cent of the pilots have had con-siderable operational experience. They have been recruited from a wide area and from avariety of civilian occupations. Nine of them (the younger and less experienced) are students,and aircraft operating concerns are strongly represented. Such is the keenness that,although officers are expected to report for training on only two week-ends a month,attendance is, in fact, of the order of two long week-ends and one short week-end in everyfour. Even in the long summer evenings, little flying is done during the week, most ofthe pilots finding it impossible Vice-Admiral R. H. Portal, C.B., D.S.C., the Flag Officer (Air) Home, congratu- lates personnel of the squadron to get to Culham from theirwork or studies. One or two, however, have managed acontinuous week or more oi training during their holidayor University vacation. Of the 900-odd hours com-
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