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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1642.PDF
Tf, 29 -Sefttcvnber 1949 EXERCISE "BULLDOG" (continued from p. 403) Feltwell. From there a large number of low-level sorties wereflown against fighter airfields with considerable success. Flight's representative flew on the second raid to be made byHarvards against an airfield in S.E. England. Six aircraft were dispatched and the plan was to fly in pairs—or sectionsof two—in loose vie formation, keeping low enough to escape radar detection. Approaching the Colchester area (writes our observer) wecame down to tree-top height and saw no sign of defending fighters. Over the Isle of Sheppey a quick turn to starboardalong the coast gave the first indication of our probable target to observers, and we caught a glimpse of the aircraft of theearlier wave with fighters in pursuit. Fortunately we passed unseen aTong the low cliff-edge and in a matter of minutesdropped into line astern and made a fast climb to i ,oooft at the edge of the airfield to go in for a front gun attack. Therewere a number of Meteors on the ground and also Mosquitoes, Brigands and others. All six of our aircraft were able toattack before a lone Meteor on the circuit closed in. Manoeuvring in a remarkably skilful manner, the Meteor 4joined almost at once by a fellow, made repeated attacks from Refuelling arrangements for the foreign visitors were in the hands of the R.A.F. A French Vampire is having its tanks replenished. astern, even though it meant reducing speed to suit our 120 knots, and flying at less than 50ft. Although we attacked our target, we had to concede, 100 per cent casualties. Similar raids on Martlesham Heath were more successful ; complete • surprise was achieved and the aircraft were not intercepted. STRATEGY AND TACTICS BOMBER stations had rather a wearing week-end, for thelikelihood of widespread fog on return caused night opera-tions to be postponed twice, and some units in the sizeable force of Lincolns and Lancasters did not get off until Sundayevening. A member of Flight's staff listened to the planning of theMosquito low-level marking force operating from Lincolnshire. They employed tactics similar to those in the late war and aforce for a "spoof" attack, carefully timed, was sent off in advance. At Waddington, nearby, a large force of Lincalnsrepresenting several squadrons received its briefing during the afternoon, and was by early evening on its way to the industrialtarget in the North Midlands. The routes both in and out were planned to give the best exercise to all concerned inattack and defence, and they entailed flying out over the North Sea, over Holland, Belgium and France, and then turn-ing west towards the Atlantic, and finally north to fly in over the south coast of England. Operating heights for thebomber forces varied from 10,000 to 25,000ft. THE EAGLE'S SHARE A VISIT to Marham, Norfolk, one of the three bases fromwhich the U.S. Air Force's 43rd (Refuelling) Bombard- ment Group operates, ga\»j encouraging evidence of the high degree of Anglo-American co-operation in military air affairs. The Group, which began its 90-day stay in Britain last August, consists of three B-50 squadrons, the 63rd, 64th and 65th, flying from, respectively, Sculthorpe, Marham and Lakenheath. Dispersed at each station are a number of B-29S which, devoid of gun turrets and carrying extra fuel in their bomb-bays, act as tankers for the larger B-50S. On Saturday afternoon we flew with a force of the tankers which, after rendezvous at 25,000ft over Bremen, were to cross the east coast of Britain at Yarmouth in an attempt to divert the fighters from the main U.S.A.F. effort—a formation of B-50S which followed 2omin behind us at 35,000ft, with the Millwall dock area as their objective. Whatever their reasons, the defences failed to react, and we returned to base un- molested. The B-50S reported two interceptions at 35,000ft some six to eight minutes' flying time from the target. After '' bombs away'' bad weather was encountered and they descended to 25,000ft, where some half-dozen fighters made another attack. During Saturday night, 64th Squadron B-50S proved that the U.S.A.F. is not restricted to day operations alone—and appeared to set the defences too severe a test. The bombers took off from Furstenfeldbruck, in the U.S. Zone of Germany, and made a night attack on North London at 35,000ft. They were not intercepted. Flying at the same -altitudes as on Saturday, both Strato- bombers and Superforts were out again in force on Sunday. Visibility was splendid, and impressive condensation patterns traced the progress of the bombers and the numerous Meteors and Vampires which intercepted them. AUXILIARY ENTHUSIASM ROYAL Auxiliary Air Force squadrons and Fighter Controlunits were given a real taste of simulated war-time con- ditions in the Colerne sector. For most of the airwomen ofthe Auxiliary Fighter Control units it was their first experience of operations on a large scale. Many had given up their work-ing time and travelled great distances under adverse weather conditions in order to attend. An air-lift by Dakotas of Trans-port Command brought Auxiliary F.C.U.s from places as far away as Glasgow, Birmingham and Northolt to man a com-plete fighter sector for the first time. Of these, only 3604 (County of Middlesex) F.C.U., under thecommand of W/C. J. Cherry, O.B.E., and based at Stanmore, managed to reach Colerne in full strength. Extreme keennessand enthusiasm was the keynote of their efforts, and, consider- ing the fact that, although well-trained, they were as yet '' un-practised '' under operational conditions, their technique was good. Two Auxiliary Meteor squadrons were to have beenbased at Colerne but, due to bad weather, only 500 Squadron (Meteors) were able to operate from there. The rest of thesector was manned by 614 and 502 Auxiliary Squadrons at Llandow and 609 Auxiliary Squadron at Chivenor, all usingSpitfire 22s. Routine sector patrols occupied Saturday afternoon, and onlythree intruder raids materialized. Colerne airfield was success- fully attacked by a section of Hornets at approximately 1530hr, and they also attacked Llandow airfield shortly afterwards. There they were intercepted by Spitfires of 614 Squadron, whocarried out stern and quarter attacks and followed the intruders to the coast. Five Harvards attacked Chivenor airfield, butcame in too low and failed to spot aircraft parked near the trees. They were chased and attacked by a section of 009Squadron, which was on airfield patrol at the time of the incident. No further activity was seen until Sunday morning, whennumerous intruder and one area raid of 30 plus were plotted throughout the sector. The area raid turned out to be a for-mation of Ansons heading towards Gloucester, and interception was carried out by a Spitfire section. No. 500 Squadron(R.Aux.A.F.) (Meteor 3s) gave an exceptionally good display of "scrambling" technique, and many of their 18 scrambleson Sunday were made in approximately one minute. Two Hornets again attacked Colerne at low level at 1530 hr,but were "claimed" by the 40 mm Bofors guns surrounding the airfield as they pulled up to 300ft to turn into position fora further attack. All fighter squadrons were very active during Sunday after-noon, but pilots expressed the opinion that the small number of successful interceptions was due to the comparative inex-perience of controlling personnel and to the extremely low level at which most of the intruder attacks were carried out.It was, however, valuable practice for the "week-end" Air Force and notable for the remarkable enthusiasm displayed bypilots, ground-crews and control personnel alike. ... "•'-.-'. -.- - . .". . -.. "' .-'.'•• . . •_'•'• •••••••. E 12
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