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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0775.PDF
MAY 27TH, 1948 FLIGHT 587 military transports. For specialist roles, the aircraft can be quickly adapted. As a troop-carrier it carries thirtyfully equipped troops; the seats face aft and the large I centre gangway enables an airborne unit to disembarkI rapidly, making simultaneous use of the nose doors and I the port door towards the rear of the fuselage. Seats and [ attachments are stressed for crash-landing or ditching. I Converted for use as an air ambulance, the New Type \ 170 accommodates 28 stretcher cases, and arranged for i paratrooping, carries twenty paratroopers with full equip- ment, and containers. Paratroops drop through the reardoor and the slow-flying qualities of the New Type I7p are claimed to permit a high dropping concentration.Supply-dropping containers can be slung externally on carriers under the wing or stacked inside the fuselagefor dropping through the rear door, by means of a roller conveyer. A total of twenty 350-lb containers or pannierscan be carried. A standard fitment is a glider hook which enables the NewType 170 to operate with a Hadrian or Horsa. EXERCISE "DAWN" Navy Attacked from Both Elements : Submarines All Detected (Continued from page 560, May 20th) r t ^HE naval strike, which was to have been co-ordinated with theMd high-level bombing, also ran into trouble with cloud—and a JP«- wrongly passed vector!—and the R.P. Seafires, scheduled toattack escort vessels, had to return to base before their tanks ran dry, without sighting the Fleet. The Fireflies were equally unsuc-cessful, and the Firebrands had to make their torpedo attack with- out cover. They apparently achieved surprise and claimed one hitwith a torpedo on the bows of Implacable. The carrier later claimed that it was turning at the time and would probably have escaped. . By this time the high-level bombers were back on the job, andat 10.20 the eight Lincolns from Binbrook, led by S/L. P. A. Wimberley, were over the target area. They found the clouds hadbroken and saw the Fleet below steaming at 25 knots. The Lincolns got in their first bombing run at 20,000ft, without fighter opposition,but were fiercely attacked by carrier aircraft on their second run. Cloud conditions hampered bombing, but they claimed several hitsor near misses from the first run. One Lincoln went down to 17,000 feet below cloud to attack and returned with full photo cover ofthe Fleet. At 11.45, the three remaining Hemswell Lincolns (one landedwith supercharger trouble) arrived over the target at 20,000ft and apparently achieved surprise. They picked up the Fleet by radar,saw it from cloud cover and attacked out of the sun. They were able to make two perfect bombing runs over Implacable, on whichaircraft were landing at the time, before the fighters arrived, and one aircraft claimed to have photographs showing a stick of bombsstraddling the carrier. The third run was stiffly opposed, and the Fleet began to take evasive action during the fourth. The Lincolnswithdrew into cloud cover. Five minutes later, the naval strike wing—12 Firebrands, eightSeafires and eight Fireflies—arrived at " nought feet." The Seafires beat up the destroyer screen, and, as one of the pilots later com-mented, "we like to think we made a hole in it." Fireflies and Firebrands went in together, and, with the fighters making a wayfor them, the torpedo aircraft managed to press nome an attack from 1,500 yards range, claiming at least one hit on the bows of abattleship (probably Anson). Rocket attacks—"Uncle Toms" were used—were claimed to have started fires on the carrier. The Navy had another taste of low-level attack just about anhour later, when ten Hornets from Acklington went in with rockets. The first six, on anti-flak duty, attacked the destroyer screen withcannon, while the other four smashed i£> rockets each at point- blank range into two destroyers which they claimed afterwards assunk. Fighters did not get near them till after the attack; then there was " a glorious melee—sea Hornets and land Hornets takesome sorting out in a scrap," as F/L. G. M. Smith, one of the Hornet pilots, remarked later. ^The afternoon was quieter for the big ships. For twelve hoursiJrt.' Fleet was running the gauntlet of Blue submarines until or.00 next day- __. . 1 STARTING-UP : A scene on the flight deck of H.M.S. implacable during the exercises. The ships astern are H.M.S. Superb, Anson and Howe. Coastal Command Lancasters turned "Red" to help the escortvessels hunt the subs, while the flying boats from Alness took up shadowing duties. The Lancasters and the destroyers did a grandjob. Not one of the submarines, even though they had the cover of darkness for part of the time, managed to press home anattack; and four were officially claimed as destroyed, two by Lan- casters from Leuchars, detecting by radar and attacking by thelight of flares, and two by escort vessels. Next morning, Lancasters took over shadowing duties from theSunderlands. One of them was caught "napping" by Sea Furies and " shot down." But the Fleet, then about 60 miles east ofSumburgh Head, was accurately plotted, and positive identification was made by two Naval Mosquitos from Arbroath, which did ahigh-speed run over them without being intercepted. Seventeen Lincolns and seven Lancasters (the Lanes, again drop-ping "window "), airborne at 05.30 from East Anglia, had to operate without fighter cover in perfect weather, the Hornets having returnedto Lin ton to fulfil other commitments. Granted, however, the fighter " umbrella," without which an attack such as this could not bemounted unless intent on suicide, the bombers claimed a highly successful attack from 15,000 feet. They had to fight off attacksfrom Sea Furies in pairs—24 attacks in all. The official 3 Group report comments: "The attacks were generally good, but thebreakaways were dangerously close. The pilots are unanimously of opinion that, in real combats, almost all the fighters would havebeen shot down because of this." The Wyton Lincolns made seven attacks on Implacable and one on Anson. The Lancasters, afterdropping their "window," also attacked and claimed good results, though they, too, had 20 fighter attacks to meet. The C.-in-C. Red Fleet, commenting on the raid, said .the bomberswere picked up by radar at a distance of 55 miles and intercepted by fighters at a distance of 16 miles in ideal radar and visibilityconditions. "Window" did not completely mask the attack. He considered that, though the attack was well conceived, conditionsmilitated against a successful attack. The R.A.F. claimed Red Fleet "wiped out"; the Navy claimedall the bombers shot down twice over; they will be arguing this out for a long time to come. The final phase of the exercise was laid-on to give Coastal Com-mand practice in submarine detection and attack. Sunderlands and Lancasters were out on patrol round the Orkneys and Shetlands,looking for six submarines as they dispersed to their home bases, two operating on the surface and four submerged, using "Snort."Within half an hour of the start, three, of the subs had been sighted and attacked; and within three hours seven attacks were carriedout. The authorities were so satisfied that they called off the hunters an hour earlier than intended. And so ended ExerciseDawn. There remains the analysis of the lessons of the exercise byexperts on both sides—" if things creaked a little, that's what exercises are to find out," as someonecommented. But the general impression remains of heartening keenness on all sidesand a striking efficiency. Except for weather interference with the first bombingattack, everything ran to time. Take- offs were bang on the minute; unser-viceability was nil. One naval Firefly fouled an arrester wire and went over theside without loss of life; otherwise there were no incidents. But probablv the fullest value was gainedat Combined Headquarters, where the Con- trol Room staffs were able to obtain somemuch-needed experience and confidence. There must be a special word of thanks fromthe visiting Press to Senior R.A.F. Con- troller, G/C. P. D. Cracroft, A.F.C. (19Group), and his Controllers, W/C. P. Watts, D.S.O., D.F.C., S/L. C. J. Mackenzie,D.F.C., A.F.C., and S/L. H. R. Hastie, who, in the midst of their work, werealways accessible and helpful, and to H.Q. 18 Group Mess for some open-handedhospitality.
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