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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1608.PDF
372 FLIGHT, 22 September 1949 THE R.A.F. REMEMBERS Battle-of-Britain Week: The Fly-past and Displays Illustrated with "Flight" photographs) -..'•••v-.' Fly-past: The lone Hurricane draws _.'.:'; ahead of the first Lancaster for- mation after passing Tower Bridge. IN any attempt to assess the merits of Battle-of-BritainWeek, 1949, as represented by the fly-past on Thursday,and the "at homes" staged by 82 R.A.F. stations in all parts of the country, two aspects stand out clearly:first, the general excellence and varied nature of the Saturday displays, and particularly of the "static" shows which mostof the stations staged; and, secondly, the high degree of flying skill and of flying-control organization which enabledthe occasion to pass off with only one accident, two others which occurred on the same day having nothing to do (news-paper headlines notwithstanding) with the displays. When the enormous aggregate of hours flown is taken into account,together with the fact that an intricate timetable of visits by aerobatic and other touring teams and individual aircrafthad to be fitted into local programmes—themselves compli- cated at some stations by civilian joy-riding activities—theday's record leaves no room for criticism on such a score. Perfect weather on Saturday encouraged large crowds, andthe K.A.F. Benevolent Fund and R.A.F.A. should benefit accordingly. Biggest attendance was at Castle Bromwich(60,000), while Biggin Hill was second with 55,000. In the notes that follow are brief commentaries on theThursday fly-past and on a number of Saturday's displays. Reference to the Thanksgiving Service in Westminster Abbeyis made on p. 397. In spite of a meteorological postponement of four hours,the fly-past brought thousands of Londoners to their office roofs. From the roof of Flight offices the traditional Hurri-cane could be seen weaving behind the first twelve Lancasters as these work-stained old-timers boomed along to TowerBridge. Level with the Tower the fighter had gained the lead. Another dozen "Lanes" passed, in fair order, thentwo bunches of five Lincolns each. The port machine of the first group, and the starboard of the second group, were badlyout of station, but in view of the prevailing conditions of bumpy air and poor visibility one readily sympathized. After a lengthy pause ten U.S.A.F. B-50S passed near St. Paul's infine style, followed closely by five Hastings, also doing well, but rather too high. The earlier of the Mosquito flights, nextin the parade, were none too happy in their formation, and one machine broke away violently; the seven B.A.F.O.'Mossies," however, presented a much more orderly array. The Spitfires, and the Naval Sea Hornets and Sea Furies, A feature of Henlow's display was the reconstructed 50 h.p. Blackburn monoplane of 1912, flown by G'C. A. H. Wheeler. together with the R.A.F. Hornets, also flew well, and rivalledthe massed Meteors and Vampires which made a really im- pressive showing at the last. Especially unexpected and unwelcome, in view of the sunny months beforehand, had been the bad weather. After a grey. drizzly morning, the forecasters had. hopefully predicted better " met." for the afternoon, and the four-hour postpone- ment was made accordingly. As a concession to the probable decrease in visibility, the interval between the six formations which followed the leading Hurricane was extended from one to three minutes. West Mailing contributed 25 Mosquitos to the fly-past, and in one of them flew a Fligli t representa- tive, who briefly re- cords his impressions below. Ahead of us (he writes), as we assem- bled over the grey- green haze which re- presented the Kentish hop-fields and apple- orchards, were if Picture which could have been duplicated over and over again at the stations open to the public on Sat- urday : A general view of the crowd and car park at Little Risiington. B 4
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