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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 0602.PDF
392 FLIGHT, 30 March 1950 SUPERFORTS WITH ROUNDELS First Four of Seventy R.A.F. B-29s Delivered to Marham Illustrated by "Flight' Photographs ON the misty morning of March 22nd,Mr. Arthur Henderson, Secretary ofState for Air, and Major-General Leon W. Johnson, Commander of the Third Air Division, U.S.A.F., flew to R.A.F. Station, Marham. Their agreeable duty was to wel- come the first four of seventy B-29 medium bombers to be delivered to Britain under the U.S. Military Aid Programme, and ahead of them flew a U.S.A.F. C-47, bearing, among others. Flight's representative. Arriving at Marham, he found the R.A.F. ensign and "Old Glory" streaming out side by side, for a breeze was fast dispers- ing the mist. An R.A.F. guard of honour, with rifles and fixed bayonets, faced a corresponding U.S.A.F. guard, unarmed and white-gloved. No 2 Regional Band of the R.A.F. stood ready. By this time one B-29 had landed (with its starboard inner airscrew feathered as the result of an oil leak), and at intervals the other three, looking spick and span, and with R.A.F. roundels emblazoned on wings and fuselage, made their steep approaches. As a single machine taxied towards the waiting parade the U.S. serial number—461599—could be made out on the Mr. Arthur Henderson, Secretary of State for Air, had a cordial word of greeting for the ferrying crews. Beyond is Major- General Leon W. Johnson, Commander of the 3rd Air Division General Johnson won the Congressional Medal of Honour— his nation's highest decoration—for courageous flying during the Liberator raids on he Rumanian oilfields in 1943. tin. The Two-row Cyclones were silenced and a tractor quietly jockeyed the massive Boeing to its allotted station behind the standard bearers; then crew-members, with varicoloured caps, denoting their respective aircraft, descended to trim the airscrews in accord with the orderly aspect of the gathering. This accomplished, they formed up before the starboard wing, with an R.A.F. crew on the opposite side. The British and U.S. official parties now arrived and, attended by the station commander, G/C. P. W. Stansfeld, D.F.C., Mr. Henderson made his inspection of the guard of honour. In company with General Johnson, General Anderson (Deputy Commander, Third Air Divi- sion), Colonel S. W. Agee (Deputy Chief of the U.S. Military Aid Advisory Group for the United Kingdom) and Air Marshal Sir Hugh Lloyd (A.O.C.-in-C, R.A.F. Bomber Command), he passed on to greet members of the U.S. crews, representing a contingent of 62 who had ferried the B-29S from Washington, by way of Bermuda and the Azores. The Assembly of American and British personnel and their friends then heard the Secretary of State express the hope that further B-ZQS—additional to the initial batch of seventy—might follow. They would never be used, he said, for purposes of aggression : neve^used, in fact, except in conformity with the charter of the United Nations. Their supply was further evidence of the intention of the U.S.A. and Britain to co-operate steadfastly in resisting any attempts at aggression and in the promotion of world peace. General Johnson spoke briefly and with deep sincerity, emphasizing that the machines denoted the intention of Britain, America and other countries who liked their own way of life to continue their task unhindered. " They will never strike out," he said ; " they will only strike back." After the ceremony the writer met Major W. C. Lewis, who led the delivery flight and who (as a bomb aimer, and not in his present capacity as pilot) participated in the first U.S. bomber raid from a British base, in August, 1942, against targets in Rouen. The major and most of the air- crew under his command will remain here for three months to assist conversion of R.A.F. crews, hitherto operating on Lincolns. A mobile training unit of the type used by the U.S.A.F., and equipped with sectioned engines, turrets and systems, has already been consigned to Marham. It was officially announced that the R.A.F. B-29S are
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