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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 0922.PDF
FLIGHT, II May 1951 577 SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Force and Naval Aviation News FIGHTER BOMBER: Two 1,000 Ib bombs com- prise the external armament load of this de Havilland Venom F.8.1, as now in quantity production for the R.A.F. The Venom has a marked superiority in performance over the Vampire and its longer endurance will be especially valuable in army-support operations. THE PLYMOUTH DISPLAY ORGANIZED by an inter-Services andcivilian committee, the air display held at Hoborough, Plymouth, last Saturdayattracted a crowd variously estimated at between 10,000 and 20,000, so Servicecharities and a local nursing fund should benefit accordingly. Arriving from London in an Anson,the Under-Secretary of State for Air, Mr. Aidan Crawley, M.B.E., M.P., opened theproceedings in weather which, while slowly improving, was still thick enough to com-pel a complete programme-reorganization in view of the probability that high-speedaircraft would be unable to appear. That the changed order was ultimately runthrough without a single hiatus is greatly to the credit of 19 Group, Coastal Com-mand, who were mainly responsible for the flying side of the organization. Among the senior R.A.F. officers presentwere the S.A.S.O. of the Command, A.V-M. A. C. Stevens, C.B. (who is actingA.O.C.-in-C. in the absence of Air Marshal Sir John Steele, C.B., D.F.C., on sick-leave) and the A.O.C. 19 Group, A.V-M. G. R. C. Spencer, C.B.E. The task of Flying Control was made themore difficult by the fact that most of the participating aircraft arrived over thescene direct from distant airfields, Ro- borough's grass field being too small foranything large or fast. F/L. Lee, an instructor from No. 10Reserve School, Exeter, led off with some crazy flying reminiscent of those classicefforts at Hendon Displays in days of yore; once or twice he literally stroked the grasswith his Tiger Moth's wing-tips. Three Sunderlands from Pembroke Dock flewover at impressively low altitude, followed by a Sea Otter from the same station.Then it was the Army's turn, Capt. T. E. Forrow, in an A.O.P. Auster from 657 Sqn,Middle Wallop, demonstrating in con- junction with an R.A. battery; at times thelittle aircraft was floating along on its flaps at less than 30 kt. Next came ten minutes of brilliant close-formation work by three instructors from C.F.S., Little Rissington, during much ofwhich their Tigers were at less than tree- top height and being pretty severelybumped by deflected breezes. The low ceiling now began to lift, and a pilot fromthe Central Gunnery School, Leconfield, was able to keep his Spitfire 16 withinsight of the ground during the major part of a clean-cut, nicely lined-up display of soloaerobatics. Five more "heavies" now flew over (Lancasters from St. Eval), then itwas the Navy's turn, a Dragonfly helicopter from Gosport (Lt. Farquharson) effec-tively rescuing the occupant of a dinghy from the storm-tossed grass—and, in-cidentally, causing joy by removing a few dozen spectatorial hats with its rotor down-wash. There followed a loud and spec- tacular beat-up by a formation of SeaFuries from No. 802 Squadron, four of which afterwards peeled off for some verypolished formation aerobatics. Next was a ceremonial item—the Under-Secretary's presentation of Colours to the local (No. 1518) squadron of the Women'sJunior Air Corps. Mr. Crawley was accompanied at the saluting base by Mrs.Spink, WJ.A.C. National Director, Mrs. Collins, the squadron's CO., and A.V-M.Spencer. A close-quarters demonstration of para-chute jumping from a baloon obviously delighted the crowd. R.A.F. instructorsmade the first descents, and were followed by men of the 16th Airborne Brigade andRoyal Marine Commandos. The final jump, in which the parachutist "spilled"his canopy all the way down, caused some very audible gasps. Another ground item—P.T. by R.A.F.personnel from Collaton Cross—took place, and then four very assorted heavy aircraftflew over; a Shackleton from Kinloss, a Hastings Met I and a Halifax fromAldergrove, and a Washington from Con- ingsby. Their long journeys were madeas training flights for the crews, the object —being a spot-on arrival. The weather had by now relented suffi-ciently for the jets to perform—ordinarily they would have appeared earlier in theprogramme—and their contribution made a spectacular finale to the flying programme.It was difficult to say which was the finer performance : the formation aerobatics bythree Sea Vampires from Culdrose (Lts. Clarke, Rawbone and Black) or the indi-vidual contribution by S/L. N. Clayton in a Meteor 8 from Tangmere. The Meteor'swig-tips trailed pennons of vapour on every turn, and when Clayton did a verticalclimbing roll to 5,000 ft he left a visible corkscrew in his wake. During the afternoon the- W.B- DOWN IN DEVON: Mr.aX Secretary of State for Air, takes f the Women's Junior Air Corps contingent at the Plymouth Display described in this pate. On the left is A.V-M. Spencer. A.O.C. 19 Group, and just behind Mr. Crawley are Mrs. Spink, W.J.A.C. National Director, and Mrs. Collins, CO. of the Plymouth squadron.
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