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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 0159.PDF
Half-way home : Pan of the inhospitable coast of Trueial Oman. Crossing the snow-covered Jura mountains in the south of France. and when the Americans think big they do a big job. Some of the accompanying photographs will show how well they have succeeded. The station houses fighter/bomber and P.R. squadrons. The first are primarily to show the U.S. flag over Formosa and the latter is engaged on an extensive remapping programme. In addition, the station is respon- sible for all U.S. Air/Sea rescue work, right up to Japan. For all its long-range qualities the Dak could not make the remainder of the journey across the South China Sea to Changi (Singapore) in one hop and so we were routed via Labuan in North Borneo. Despite the time taken for an inspection of a suspected oil leak we were away again by 1130 hr (local time) flying over the tropical green landscape of Luzon and leaving Mt. Narib (4,322ft) on our left. Here, as elsewhere in the tropics, one saw below brilliant reflections from some of the roofs, for all the world like those seen when flying over the green- house areas of Guernsey or the Lea Valley. There is, of course, no need for glasshouses out here, where the whole atmosphere is moist and rarely falls below a temperature of 75 deg F. The reflections are, in fact, from corrugated- aluminium roofs, which have been found to keep the houses cooler by reflecting the heat rays. This is interesting in view of die fact that some of the airlines now cover the bare aluminium of their fuselage roofs with white paint in order to obtain the same result. Navigation for this leg of the journey was simple, for the coastline of Pelawar island ran parallel with the line of flight for over 200 miles. By 1450 hr we were running down the N. Borneo coast, which was obscured by such thick cloud that Mt. Kinabalu (13,457ft) only just peeped out at the top. Eleven minutes after the original estimated time of flight of four hours we landed on the coral runway at Labuan* and were greeted by the station commander, F/O. G. Mey- rick. After a speedy refuelling by Shell we SCt off on the third leg of the day—Labuan to Singapore. For this we took off at 16SS hr, half-an-hour ahead of Singapore time. Cumulus clouds made conditions rather bumpy for a while and after an uneventful flight of 4 hr 50 min over the South China Sea we were letting down at 4,000ft in the midst of a violent thunderstorm and pelting rain. The Dak rattled along the Marston steel runway at Changi at 2130 hr, after the longest day's flying I have ever done. With a few days to spare before starting the return journey to England it was thought that Singapore city and !sland might be explored. But this was not to be; on the *oy next day after our arriving back from Japan, the riots broke out. Religious in basis, they concerned the annul-ra ent of the girl Bertha Hertogh's marriage to a Muslim, and, to add fuel to the fire, putting her in the charge of a Christian convent. The troubles bore no relationship to the Communist * Labuan airport was the subject of a separate article in " Flight"W January 4th. banditry but, of course, as soon as the affair started the bandits cashed in on it. A curfew was enforced and all ranks of the RAJ7, were confined to camp during the hours of darkness. In the daytime weapons were carried by all ranks when outside their camps. There would in any case have been much excitement on a journey home from the Far East—many of the passengers had been away for over two years—but having regard to an expected arrival in England a day or two before Christmas expectation ran a good deal higher than usual. The many and various presents being brought home for the festive season made the inside of Hasting TG531 look rather like Santa Claus's sleigh. No trouble of any sort was experi- enced with either the engines or airframe on the 8,000-mile run home. Five times we refuelled with some 2,000-odd gallons of petrol for five days' flying in perfect weather conditions. Everything went to schedule. The first touch of winter was seen at El Adem, in North Africa, where there was a log-fire in the transit mess; the snow-covered Jura mountains in the south of France next gave indication of weather conditions to be expected in England. The touch-down at Lyneham was made in the wintry sunshine of the year's shortest day and very soon the Customs officers were trying to cope with a variety of parcels and goods which had to be seen to be believed. Swindon station was blacked out as the result of a power cut. Nevertheless, by candle-light, toasts to a happy festive season were drunk before the party dispersed to their various destinations. England once more : Air Quartermaster Sgt. Nicholls opens the door as Hastings TC 531 toxics in at Lyneham.
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