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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1893.PDF
FLIGHT, 17 November 1949 659 the west door, the dignitaries of the Church, and after them the R.A.F. party bearing the Books of Memory, with; the A.O.G.-in-C.,- Bomber Command, Air Marshal Sir "Aubrey Ell wood, K.C.B., D.C., at its centre. No. 1 Group's Book was carried by W/C. D. R. Stubbs, D.S.O., D.F.C., and that of No. 5 Group by W/C. K. P. Smales, D.S.O., D.F.C, while the R.A.F. Ensign was borne by' S/L. D. A. Green, D.S.O., D.F.C. No one who served in Bomber Command will need reminding of -the brilliant records of these three officers, all of whom, incidentally, are still serving; between them, they flew 164 operational sorties. No less remarkable was the record of the six members of the escort, F/L. N. Mackie, D.S.O., D.F.C., F/L. J. W. Carr, D.F.C., Gnr. II S. J. Marshall, ^.Jg.F.M., Sigll J. Wrigley, D.F.M., Engr. W. R. Brown- john, D.F.M., and Gnr. I J. G. Arnold, who shared a total of nearly 300 sorties. The Ensign having been received by the Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt. Rev. Maurice Harland (himself a fighter pilot of World War I), and laid upon the Altar, and the Books placed on tables to either side, the simple but impressive service began, the lesson being read by the Rev. J. N. Keeling (Assistant Chaplain-in-Chief of the Royal Air Force) and the Bishop delivering a brief sermon. Speaking of the Cathedral—"mercifully preserved from harm and destruction"—the Bishop said: — "We think of the men of the aircrews looking at it asthey passed on their way to the infernos of peril, terror 4 and destruction, and their sense of relief as they saw itagain on their return, knowing they were home and safe, if only for a space." He concluded: " The spirit of courage,loyalty and devotion to what we believe to be right is our • tradition. . . . This for us all is a day of proud thanks-giving and remembrance. We need its inspiration for the days that lie ahead." The procession then re-formed and moved in slow time to the Airmen's Chapel of St. Michael in the north transept. One of three chapels dedicated to the three Services, it has, thanks to generous donors, been completely refurnished and redecorated: its walls now bear the crest of the Royal Air Force, flanked by those of Bomber and Fighter Com- mands ; below them is the heraldic shield of the R.A.F. College, Cranwell; and on the grilles of white bronze are the badges of Nos. 1 and 5 Groups. The north wall bears a tablet to the memory of A.V-M. Sir Edward Rice, K.B.E., C.B., M.C., who was A.O.C. No. 1 Group from 1943 to 1945, and who died last year as a result of wounds received in the first World War. Accompanying the Commander-in-Chief in the move to the Chapel were A.V-M. G. H. Mills, C.B., D.F.C., (A.O.C. No. 1 Group); A.V.-M. A. Hesketh, C.B., C.B.E., D.F.C. (A.O.C. No. 3 Group); and A/Cdre. G. R. Beamish, C.B., C.B.E. .(Commandant, R.A.F. College). The Memorial Books were then formally handed by the Commander-in-Chief to the Sub-Dean, Canon A. M. Cook, and the Bishop said a prayer in dedication of the Books and the new appointments of the chapel. In format the Books are well worthy of their content: each bears the R.A.F. crest on its blue morocco gilt- lettered cover and has an illuminated vellum title page ; the thousands of names have been painstakingly inscribed in copperplate style on the parchment-like pages by a pro- fessional caligraphist. The dedication concluded, the procession returned to the nave; the infinitely sad, sweet echoes of the Last Post gave way to the stirring notes of the Reveille; a hymn, a prayer and the blessing, and the memorial service was over. Outside the Cathedral, the Commander-in-Chief took the salute at a march-past of some 300 officers, airmen and W.R.A.F. personnel of Bomber Command, together with 50 Cranwell cadets who had attended the service. This brief account would be incomplete without a word of praise for the precision with which the parties carrying the Memorial Books and Ensign carried out their elaborate ceremonial duties; no one, officer or N.C.O. aircrew, put a foot wrong, and the occasion gained immeasurably in dignity by this complete absence of hesitation or hitches. .••-... R. E. C. CORRESPONDENCE The- Ediloy of "hlight" does not hold InmselJ responsible lor the views expressed by correspondents in these columns. The names and :-'.,-. addresses of the writers, not necessarily tor publication, must in all cases accompany letters. MEDITERRANEAN MEMORY . I WAS very interested to read the history of No. 600 (Cityof London) Squadron, R.Aux.A.F. in the November 3rd issue of Flight, and particularly the paragraph on the destruc-tion of a Cant Z 506B near Cagliari. The interesting point about this action was that the navi-gator of the aircraft was "on loan" from No. 500 (County of Kent) Squadron, R.Aux.A.F., who were flying Hudsonsfrom Blida. The 600 Squadron Beau was piloted by F/O. Hilken and was on detachment at Bone to carry out dailypatrols between Bizerta and Cagliari to intercept an Italian convoy. Another aircraft from Malta patrolled from Sicily toBizerta. The latter route was eventually used by the convoy; it was intercepted by the Navy and, as far as I remember, wastotally destroyed. Thus, for this job, the navigator was on loan from 500 asthey were from Coastal Command and had previously been on anti-shipping work. The particular trip when the Cant was destroyed was fairlyhectic. The Beau took off from Bone as a stick of bombs dropped on the airfield and flew out below the formation ofJu88s responsible. At Cagliari a sketch was made of the shipping in the harbour, which included a number of U-boats,and it was planned to shoot-up a row of Cants moored on the lake just inland. There was no A.A. fire, and the reason was obvious when acouple of Meiogs came out of the sun and attacked from the port quarter. Presumably they had been patrolling above theBeau, which was at 2,500ft. A hurried exit was therefore made, but the 109s had in any case overshot and didn'tfollow—a single aircraft in broad daylight and a clear sky must have been quite beyond their comprehension! About half-way home the Cant was met, and succumbed toone very short burst from the Beau's cannon. The survivors p 20 ' piled into a rubber dinghy—quite cheerfully—and although atrawler looked for them that night, and the Beau searched on the way home, they were not seen again by the Beaufightercrew when doing a similar patrol next day. Probably another Cant had picked them up in a quiet moment.Kenton, Middx. THE NAVIGATOR. (R. F. Mason, ex-500 Squadron.) SIMULATED FLIGHT TRAINING ON reading, in your issue of October 27, the description ofthe Curtiss-Wright flight-simulating trainer that B.O.A.C. has ordered. I gathered the impression that the use of thistype of trainer was a new idea. May I therefore point out that way back in 1942-43, F.S.T.swere being used, by the R.A.F. at St. Athan for type-training aircrew for four-engined aircraft. Apart from the radio equipment these were very much thesame as the Curtiss-Wright; the "engine" and "flight" units were built into the nose portion of the type to be simu-lated, so that all the controls, etc., were in the right place, and, as with the C.-W., there was an instructor's panel fromwhich various "snags" could be simulated as required. The simulating units used only 14 radio valves (two or thesefor intercomm) and 22 electric motors (1 h.p.), and a 3 h.p. motor as prime mover, tht- whole system being- operated byelectro-pneumatic means. Engine conditions (both ground and flight) were reproducedin accordance with the makers' data charts. All the instru- ments on the pilot's and flight engineer's panels " worked,"including the P2 and D.R.C. " Feel " varied according to speed and attitude, and the trimmers were very effective (the Lane.F.S.T. could be " flown " by its trimmers). Both the " flight " and " engine " units could be adapted tosuit any type of aircraft by merely changing " characteristic"
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