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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 0923.PDF
fcx578FLIGHT11 May 1951 ATTACKER INNOVA- TION: The production version of the Vickers- Supermarine Attacker carrier-borne fighter (Rolls-Royce Nene) now has a dorsal fin, as here seen. It will be noted that the sea camou- flage has been so ap- plied that the new fin knot nstantlyapparent. SERVICE AVIATION... Central Band had played, and the Band ofthe Plymouth Group, Royal Marines, ended the day by beating Retreat, duringwhich the C.-in-C. Plymouth, Admiral Sir Rhoderick McGrigor, G.C.B., D.S.O.,took the salute. A word must be added about the excel-lent static show, to which all three Ser- vices contributed. Its highspot, un-doubtedly, was a Derwent I instructional rig from the R.N. Engineering College,which was run under power—mercifully after the Display was over, otherwise thecommentary (on which F/L. R. O. Blackall Of 19 Group H.Q. deserves felicitations)would have been effectively drowned. Defence of Great BritainT HE Government announced last week that, in the event of war, responsibility for the defence of the United Kingdom would be held by three commanders-in- chief responsible to the Chiefs of Staff. Chairman of the trio would be the C.-in-C., U.K. Land Forces, and he would work with the C.-in-C., Home Station, and the A.O.C.-in-C, Fighter Command. The officers holding these posts at present are, respectively, General Sir Miles Dempsey, Admiral Sir Arthur Power and Air Marshal Sir Basil Embry. Manchester Vampires USING information supplied by the AirMinistry, we stated in a recent article (Auxiliaries Calkd-up) that No. 613 (City of Manchester) Squadron had not yet been re-equipped with jet aircraft. In actual fact, the Squadron changed Spitfire 22s for Vampire 5s some two months ago. Two Meteor 7s have also been allocated for training. The initial conversion was carried out at Woodford, but "613's" Vampires are now operating from the normal Squad- ron base at Ringway. Air O.P. GatheringT HE Army and R.A.F. were stronglyrepresented in the Officers' Mess of the Inns of Court Regiment, located in thetranquil precincts of Lincoln's Inn, when No. 661 Auxiliary Air Observation PostSquadron entertained their friends on the evening of May 1st. The CO. of theSquadron is Maj. R. J. Hutt, Royal Artillery. Lt.-Gen. Sir Otto Lund, K.C.B.,D.S.O., Representative Colonel Com- mandant of the Royal Artillery for 1951,thanked the squadron on behalf of the guests, and referred to the short but dis-tinguished history of the unit. It was formed at Old Sarum in August, 1943, andtrained with the 1st Canadian Army. On June 21st, 1944, "C" Flight landed inNormandy and was engaging German tanks on July 26th. The remainder ofthe squadron crossed to Normandy on Tuly 31st, 1944, and advanced intoGermany. It was in action at the Falaise Gap, Boulogne, Calais, Dunkirk, Wal-cheren, in the Scheldt Pocket, at Arnhem, Nijmegen, and the Rhine crossing. "C"Flight was the first Air O.P. unit in Holland and Germany. After the surrenderof Germany the squadron was engaged on communication flying and was disbandedon October 31st, 1945. On May 1st, 1949, the squadron wasre-formed as an Auxiliary unit to support the Royal Artillery Field and MediumRegiments of Eastern Command. It now has five flights and a mobile servicingsection, located as follows : H.Q. 661 Squadron, 3661 Mobile Servicing Section, 1957 Flight and i960 Flight at Kenley;1958 Aux. Air O.P. Flight at Hendon; 1959 and 1961 Aux. Air O.P. Flights atHenlow. The squadron is well staffed with Territorial Army pilots, but volunteers areurgently required to fill vacancies in the ground staff Badge for U.L.A.S. AT a short ceremony held at Booker air-- field on Saturday last, the University of London Air Squadron was presentedwith its approved badge by A.V-M. F. H. M. Maynard, C.B., A.F.C., R.A.F.(Retd.), who had flown up from Devon, where he is now living. A.V-M. Maynardwas the squadron's first commanding officer, in 1935. In a brief speech beforethe presentation he gave a condensed history of the U.L.A.S., mentioning inpassing that one in six of the pre-war members received awards and honourswhich included four D.S.O.s, 18 D.F.C.s and two M.B.E.s W/C. A. V. Rogers, A.F.C., the presentcommanding officer, accepted the badge on behalf of the unit. A.V-M. W. J. Seward,C.B.E., A.O.C. No 61 Group, Home Command, attended the ceremony. National Servicemen for CanadaT HE third party of National Service air-crew—31 pilots and 23 navigators—to be posted to Canada for flying training leftrecently by air for Montreal. Since the scheme for training R.A.F. pilots and navi-gators in Canada was inaugurated in January last, 89 pilots and 48 navigators—all National Servicemen—left England to receive training at R.C.A.F. schools.Pilots are trained at Gimli, near Winnipeg, and navigators at Summerside, PrinceEdward Island. All R.A.F. pilots and navigators are nowcommissioned after successfully completing initial training and the party leaving thisweek rank as acting pilot officers, having gone through initial training school. R.N.V.R. Summer Training SUMMER training—ashore and afloat—is now being organized for the five air squadrons of the R.N.V.R. The only Scotsunit—No. 1830 Squadron, equipped with Fireflies for anti-submarine work, andbased at Donibristle—will sail from the Clyde for a fortnight in the light fleet car-rier Vengeance. During its training afloat, 1830 Squadron will operate in the Irish Seaand Channel, visiting the Scilly Isles. The three Seafire squadrons will visitSt. Merryn during June and July to co- operate in tactical exercises with R.N.carrier air groups. These units are Nos. 1831, 1832 and 1833 Squadrons, based,respectively, at Stretton, Culham and Bramcote. Last year they carried out theirannual training at sea. No. 1840, the new Firefly A.S. squadronformed at Culham, will move to its per- manent base at Ford and begin continuoustraining after a short "working-up" period. ''"Flight" photography PRESENTATION: W/C. Rogers receiving the new U.LA.S. badge from A.\j/VI Maynard^ recounted in the paragraph above. In the centre is A.y?M. Seward, A.O.C. ' " "
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