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Aviation History
1948
1948 - 0911.PDF
JUNE iyra, 1948 FLIGHT C5 5 VALKOMNA! Thirteen Mustangs and Three Ju 86s Arrive from Sweden on Reciprocal Visit THE Chief of the Air Staff was at R.A.F. Station WestMailing on June 7th to extend a friendly welcometo the pilots of thirteen Swedish Mustangs. These included Major-General Ljungdahl, C.B.E., C:-in-C. of the Swedish Fighter Command, and Colonel Lindahl, who com- mands the Air Force station at Uppsala. The visit followed the recent trip to* Sweden by Hornets of No. 65 Squadron, R.A.F., and is due to conclude to-day (Thursday). Follow- ing the Mustangs came three twin-engined Ju 86 transports bearing ground crew and spares and bringing up the total *of personnel to seventeen officers and twenty N.C.O.s. The elderly Junkers had refuelled at Twente, in Holland, and were escorted over Netherlands territory by Dutch Spitfires. The Mustang contingent was greeted by His Excellency the Swedish Ambassador Mr. Eric Boheman) and by the Swedish Air Attache (Major N. M. Von Arbin). Representing the C.-in-C. Fighter Command was A.V-M. S. F. Vin- cent, C.B., D.F.C., A.F.C., and G/C. T. Warburton was deputizing for the A.O.C., No. 11 Group. For the nights of June 7th to 10th, the Squadron remained at West Mailing, and on June nth flew to Linton-on-Ouse (the base of No. 65 Squadron), where they stayed until June 13th. The follow- ing day they returned to West Mailing, via Horsham St. Faith, and were based there until their Co,one, Ljndah, ^ return to Sweden. At Horsham commands the Swedish St. Faith the pilots learned some- /\,r porce station at thing of the work of the Meteor IV Ubpsala. Lord Fedder hears about the flight to West Mailing from Major General Ljungdahl, C.B.E., Commander-in-Chief of the Swedish Fighter Command, who flew one of the thirteen Mustangs, some of which are seen above. intercepter fighter squadrons of Fighter Command. The Swedish Mustangs came in for a good deal of atten- tion at the various stations, for since the war this excellent American-built fighter, with its Packard-built Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, has rarely been seen in this country. It is still one of the finest all-round fighting machines. On Tuesday, June 8th, the Swedish party visited Canter- bury; later the officers inspected the Operations Room at Headquarters, Fighter Command, before attending a cock- tail party at Stanmore. The following day they saw West- minster Abbey, the Mansion House and St. Paul's, and were entertained at the Swedish Embassy. On the after- noon of June 10th the officers drove out to de Havillands at Hatfield, The Mayor of Harrogate entertained the party on June 12th and, having returned from Linton-on- Ouse to West Mailing? the officers attended a guest night in the mess. De Havillands had arranged a second visit to Hatfield for June 15th (this time for other ranks), and on the afternoon of that day there was an Air Council recep- tion for the officers. King Gustav's 90th birthday (June 16th) was to be celebrated with a visit to the Tower or London and another cocktail party at the Swedish Embassy.
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