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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1617.PDF
FLIGHT, 31 August 1950 a probable Wellington NNE of the Frisian Islands; but others were luckier. Captain Twysel, for instance, told us how he led two Meteor sections against a pair of Boeing B 50s, with—he claimed—success. The gist of his de- briefing was as follows: Locality of attack, near Hilversum; three-eighths cloud; e/a. flying at 22,000ft; sighted at 12 o'clock high from 15,000ft; Meteors' I A S. for attack 250-280; each section made two high-quarter attacks, opening fire at 600 yd and closing to 200 yd; duration of fire, 10ft cine gun film (equivalent to two four-second bursts); e/a. took no evasive action; J3-50S had orange tails. Before emplaning for France we saw a lone " Wimpey" overhead pounced upon by a pair of Meteors. Multiple contrails pointed from the south-east and eight R.A.F. Meteors thundered away to engage. Cupola was geeting under way. This evening it was stated that a group of Wellingtons of Flying Train- ing Command flew to the north-east boundary of the exercise area to begin their raids, while Superfortresses of the U.S.A.F. and B.A.F.O. Mosquitoes crossed the frontier from east and south. While some raiders concen- trated on Paris, Brussels, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, others made secondary attacks on Liege, Rheims and Metz and other focal points on Whiteland's main lines of supply. Spitfires from B.A.F.O. followed up the bomber attack, simulating photographic reconnaissance to assess results. Weather favoured the defence. Saturday, August 26th.—This morning we flew across to Coulommiers to call on the R.A.F. Vampire squadrons. Enemy incursions and the imminent arrival of the S. of S. notwith- standing, W/C. Stapleton found time to greet us. A.V-M George, the Air Attache, was observing, in company with General Michel Bouvard, Commander of the Second Air Region (Paris area). French light ack-ack was emplaced round the airfield, the runways of which, alas, were suffering severely under the repeated blasts of Goblins. A little army of sweepers was at work clearing the stones. In the Ops Room, a near-replica of that at the home station of the "Vamps," we gathered that the French G.C.I, control- lers—speaking English, of course,—were doing well and that, sortie by sortie, things continued to improve all round. We noted that there were two French Vampire squadrons at St. Dizier and two more at Villacoublay. A U.S.A.F. officer, attached to a Vampire squadron under the direct-exchange Armourers at work on a French Vampire S at Villacoublay. Some very smart work by French ground crew and pilots was noted, "scramble" times being especially short. Kapitein-Vlieger J. van Arkel, commanding a Meteor squadron at Twente (Holland), describes an interception for Air Marshal Sir Basil Embry, A.V-M. Atcherley and Colonel Zegers. The second pilot in the group is Lt. Henk Rauwerdink. scheme, sat alongside an R.A.F. flight lieutenant, conversing with a French officer W/C. Stapleton explained that, at that moment, eight Vampires were on stand-by and another eight on 15 minutes' availability. Yesterday a Vampire section cut down a B-29 frcrn 21,500ft in r5-2O minutes' elapsed time, and this morning a Wellington, at a mere 8,000ft, was duly slaughtered Leaving Ops. we were just in time to see a thin stream of " Wimpeys" being mauled by six French Vampires. Then there was some alarm as eight Mosquitoes materialized low down; but these proved to be friendly night fighters arriving from England. They made fast landings in a stiff cross-wind. Three more " Mossies " which flew over the airfield appeared to be B. Mk. 35s, probably marauding from B.A.F.O. The S. of S. was evidently impressed by the smartness of the Vampire scrambles. He had a word for everyone out at dispersal and seemed well pleased. It was especially gratifying to learn to-night from A.V-M. Brook, Sir James Robb's Chief of Staff, that the handing over of fighters from one National Sector to the next had involved no difficulties. Other good news was that although to-day's weather was worse from the defenders' point of view than the day before, the interception rate achieved wa1: even better than that initially attained. This, said the Air Vice-Marshal, was a clear indication thai the defence organization, as a whole, had settled down nicely and that even in so short a time all its various national components had been able to work in really effective co-operation. Sunday, August 27tb.—As our Dakota taxied in at Villacou- blay this morning, four French Thunderbolts of a Reserve unit were leaving to fly out over Germany and return in the role of raiders. We found the French Vampire 5s looking very spruce, and—except for a single khaki example—difficult to distinguish from those of the R.A.F., though the tricolors, of course, are reversed We were obliged to retreat sharply as the broadcast called for a three-section scramble to vingt mille pieds vertically above the airfield. Their quarry—a solitary reconnaissance Mosquito—hove into view at, perhaps, half the height prescribed and vanished above cloud. The Vampires were airborne from stand-by in double-quick time, and the whole operation, as we saw it, compared well with anything of its kind we have seen in the R.A.F. The Secretary of State for Air, who had now arrived, was, we believe, of a similar mind. He told us that late last night he visited the Paris Ops. Room with M. Moch, the French Defence Minister, and that he was satisfied that an effective and integrated radar system, covering all Western Union countries, was now established. A French officer said that roughly 50 per cent of intercep- tions had been effected from scrambles by the three Vampire squadrons, operating against Wellingtons, B-29S and Mos- quitoes. French fighter pilots seem as happy about the stan- dardized British operational procedure as they are with their Vampires, which is saying a great deal. It is to be expected, however, that French jet fighter types will eventually supple- ment, or supplant, the British machines. A communique states that Phase 3 of the exercise was
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