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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1275.PDF
FLIGHT. 6 July 1950 27 coins fitted with four Rolls-Royce Merlin 68 engines. Exercise Sunray is an intensive monthly flying pro- gramme for Bomber squadrons, and it has been centred on the Middle East since its inauguration in the summer of 1947- All Bomber squadrons have carried out one Sunray, and most of them two. During the summer months a detachment from one squadron at a time goes on the exercise ; in winter time, with poor flying weather at home, detachments from two squadrons, plus three marker Mosquitoes, take part at a time. The Mosquitoes fly out independently, joining in the exercise in the Middle East. Transport Command supply transport aircraft for ground personnel, equipment, kit, etc. In the next wintei (December) exercise, there will be four Hastings, four Dakotas, and one York, carrying 140 personnel and 12,000 lb of kit, in addition to spares. Squadrons participate in their entirety. On the way out, Filfa Island near Malta is bombed and Malta-based fighters attempt interception. Any British vessels at sea at the time are simulation-bombed and the detachment is required to put a fully combatant force in the air within a few hours of arrival at Shallufa. Bombing, fighter affiliation, and air-to-ground firing by day and night, and air-to-air firing by day, are all included in the month's training programme. The first fortnight of the course is confined exclusively to local operations. From Shallufa, individual raids are made with live practice bombs on a range in the desert six miles away, when air gunners come into their own, strafing ground targets and firing at towed drogues. Night flying, too, is an integral feature of the first half of the exercise. A long-distance bombing raid on a range near Habbaniya coincides with the half-way point on the training schedule. The target is pinpointed and straddled with practice bombs. The culminating operation and the highlight of the exer- cise is the bombing sortie to Khartoum in the third week. A strong element of operational realism is introduced into this 1,100-mile practice mission. Precisely the same tactics are adopted as if the bomber force had been briefed to attack real military objectives. During the closing stages of the exercise, sorties are made against Cyprus and buildings on the R.A.F. Station at Nicosia are " bombed " photographically. Vampires attempt interception. The flight home is conducted as a long-distance navigational exercise. Pre-take-off check of the load—Target Indicators or bombs to be carried by a Marf.er Force Mosquito. Members of a Lincoln crew board their aircraft at dispersal. COASTAL COMMAND From Air Marshal C. R. Steele, ce D.F.C, Air officer Commanding-in-chief.. I WONDER how many of the general public realize the importance of CoastalCommand and just what part its aircraft play in the defence of this country. Thenames of Fighter and Bomber Command are self-explanatory, but "Coastal" in no way explains the activities of my Command. In simple language, Coastal Command, in conjunction with the Royal Navy, is responsible for our trade protection. On this task, its aircraft range far out to sea (1,000 miles or so) as well as operating over coastal waters. This country came within an ace of defeat in our last two wars because of the grievous losses caused by enemy submarines to our merchant shipping and vital supplies. Admiral Doenitz said in 1940, " I will show that the U-boat alone can win the war ; nothing is impossible to us! " He was nearly right. Had the Battle of the Atlantic been lost, our fighting forces would have been immobilized through lack of fuel, we should have starved, and we should undoubtedly have lost the war. In the event, the battle was won and the major contribution to our victory was made by anti-submarine aircraft, operating over an area of some ten million square miles, which destroyed over 50 per cent of all the U-boats sunk at sea. Hence, to-day, the protection of our trade has become a joint responsibility of navies and air forces working as one—air power and sea power indivisible. When Germany collapsed, a new and more deadly U-boat fleet was nearly ready tor sea. Its submarines were equipped with schnorkels and new forms of underwater propulsion and would have been far more difficult to detect and kill than were the submarines which fought the Battle of the Atlantic. In a future war we should have to contend with even more advanced and dangerous craft. Navies alone cannot under- take this task ; Coastal Command's shore-based aircraft must be available in sufficient numbers to play their vital part in protecting our trade.
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