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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1057.PDF
£65 FLIGHT JUNE O,TH, 1949 With the visible tail-pipe efflux characteristic of American jet fighters, a Shooting Star of the U.S. Air force pulls awa derelict aircraft on the West Down ranges. A STUDY IN TACTICS Modern Air-support Methods Demonstrated on Salisbury Plain ASTIFF, breeze piled great masses of cumulus cloudover the pitted chalk ridges of West Down rangesas officers of the 7th Special Senior Course assembled on Tuesday of last week to watch the demonstration of air weapons staged for them by the School of Land / Air War- fare, Old Sarum. Present also were several other members of the Services, a number of air attaches—and an im- pressed group of schoolboys, whose numbers now doubtless include many would-be pilots. The programme began punctually and remained punc- tual throughout with a colourful display of pyrotechnics from the School of Artillery, in the form of neatly placed 25 lb smoke shells. It was evident that the resulting red, yellow, green and blue plumes are an effective guide for fighters waiting to pounce on front-line enemy targets. Eed smoke, incidentally has been found the most easily seen from the air. Flare-shells, of similar calibre, illumin- ate the signals at night or in dull weather. Carrying their 180-gallon belly-tanks, four Meteor 4s of No. 11 Group, Fighter Command, were the first aircraft to arrive. More smoke-shells threw a red veil over an ex- posed line of lorries—the tar- get for sixteen Hispanos— while the Meteors made a j-» seemingly peaceful circuit of the ranges. Their approach in pairs took on a more busi- nesslike aspect as noses dipped and throttles opened ; a fountain of rebounding tracers showed that, in two successive runs, accuracy was good and that the Meteor is a steady platform for four 20 mm. guns. Displaying slight differ- ences in technique, but equal proficiency, were four F-80 Shooting Stars of the U.S. Air Force, likewise loaded with extra fuel, in the now familiar wing-tip tanks. Bat- A concluding demonstrator was this Meteor 4 of Fighter Command, "stopped " by the camera in two poses which speak for the liveliness of Izs performance.
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