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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 0603.PDF
FLIGHT, 30 March 1950 393 At left is the scene as the Secretary of State addressed the parade and assembly at Marham. American and British aircrew are lined up in front of one of the first four B-29 Super- fortresses to be delivered to the R.A.F. A welcome sight for Bomber Com- mand—one of the B-29s about to touch down on British concrete. The front-upper, front-lower, rear- lower and tail barbettes are visible. A short-range view to show the R.A.F. roundels and fin-flash, sighting sta- tions, and rear-upper, rear-lower and tail barbettes of a Superfortress being drawn from the stored reserves of the U.S.A.F. and from squadrons which have been re-equipped with later types. The B-29 has a considerable advantage over the Lincoln in bomb load, range, cruising speed and operational ceiling ; specifically, it can carry 20,000 lb of bombs further than the Lincoln can carry 12,000 lb. Four instructor crews of Bomber Command, each consisting of a pilot, navigator, engineer, wireless operator, bomb aimer and gunner, have already spent a month at Marham, familiarizing themselves with B-2y operation under the guidance of American personnel. Two additional crews have recently reported for duty, and a total of eight is foreseen for the R.A.F. B-29 conversion unit, which will be based at Marham and may be equipped with ten aircraft. Though the U.S.A.F. normally operates its B-29S with a crew of eleven men, the R.A.F. proposes to reduce the number to eight—pilot, 2nd pilot, engineer, signaller, navigator, radar operator, and two gunners. The twin 0.5111 tail guns will not generally be directly manned, but will be trained from one of the sighting stations in the elaborate and highly effective fire-control system. In the House of Commons last week Mr. Henderson announced that the U.S.A.F. has undertaken to assist the R.A.F. in the "major maintenance and overhaul" of the B-29S until other arrangements are made for this work to be done either within the Royal Air Force or by civil contractors. ANTARCTIC RECONNAISSANCED URING the past quarter of a century aircraft have played a greater or smaller part in quite a number of Arctic and Antarctic expeditions, and with widely varying degrees of success. The end of one of the definitely successful efforts was marked last Saturday when the members of the K.A.F. Antarctic Flight returned to this country after some two months of arduous operations within the Antarctic Circle, They had been attached to the British-Scandinavian expedi- tion to Queen Maud Land, where their principal duties were "concerned with reconnaissance; in addition, they were able to accumulate some useful experience for the R.A.F. The aircraft used were two Mk. 6 Austers (Gipsy Major 7 engine), and they were provided with alternative ski, float and wheel landing gears. The principal departure from standard equipment lay in the fitting of Plessey cartridge starters— which, it was reported, gave certain starting, without pre-heat- ing, throughout the operation. Cabin-heating was provided by a duct from the exhaust system. Navigation was by radio- compass; normal V.H.F. communication equipment was used. S/L. CT. B. Walford was in command of the flight, with F/L. H. M. T. Tudor, D.F.C., assisting him in the flying duties. The aircraft were serviced by Sgt. P. D. Weston, B.E.M., and Cpl. W. B. Gilbey, while Cpl. L. A. Quar was radio operator; the last-named remained behind with the members of the ex- pedition for a two-year sojourn on Queen Maud Land. As the Norsel approached her objective two problems demanded solution : to find a way through the pack-ice to the ice-barrier which constituted the mainland and, having found it and closed the land, to discover amid the ice cliffs a suitable inlet and "shelf" where a landing could be made and a base- camp established. The first air sortie was made on January 31st, when pack-ice finally stopped the Norsel at 69 deg S, 4 'leg E, and Capt. John Gavier, the expedition leader, asked for a reconnaissance, for which purpose he withdrew to clearer water so that S/L. Walford could take-off. No way throughcould be found, but next day F/L. Tudor, with Capt. Giaver as his passenger, found a "lead" which enabled the ship toget within sight of the barrier. There followed a week of daily sorties by the two Austers, allmade without incident, until, on February 10th, F/L. Tudor, flying low under an overcast sky, suddenly came upon«a likely-looking inlet. Capt. Giaver was flown in and confirmed it, and the ship was taken in forthwith. While the landing was being made a mild blizzard raged,which precluded flying but did not prevent the aircraft being put ashore and having their ski gear fitted. No flying was possible until February 15th, on which day,however, 10J hours were flown with various specialist members of the expedition as passengers. F/L. Tudor had a radio-com-pass failure, but skilfully found his way back to base in spite of low cloud and poor visibility. Next day, while on a test flight with Sgt. Weston, S/L. Wal-ford found visibility so good that he decided to confirm the suspected existence of a range of mountains which were ofparticular interest to the expedition's geologists. In this he was completely successful, and returned to base after beingairborne for over three hours. F/L. Tudor was despatched on a confirmatory survey and, altogether, the two aircraft flew12 hours on that one day. Flying continued steadily until February i9t'., when theplanned total of 50 hours was completed and, the members of the expedition being well satisfied with the information pro-vided, the aircraft were taken aboard the Norsel prior to her withdrawal. On arrival in London, S/L. Walford and his party, who wehad the privilege of interviewing, were loud in their praise of the reliability of the two Austers, their engine- and theirequipment in general.
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