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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 2258.PDF
FLIGHT, 9 November 1951 605 SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Force and Naval Aviation News No. 101 Squadron Gets Canberras THERE must be some magic in the figure101—or perhaps it is something to do with the quality of the unit. Even as long ago as 1929 No. 101 Squadron was favoured by having high-performance Boulton and Paul Sidestrands, while other bomber squadrons had to manage with trusty but obsolescent Virginias. No. 101 now has Canberras and is the first bomber unit to be so equipped. S/L. E. Cassidy, D.F.C., the command- ing officer, spent some time at the English Electric's company's works at Warton, near Preston, and flew with W/C. Beamont to get the feel of the new aircraft. The other pilots of the squadron have been converted to jet flying on Meteor 7s; in most cases they went solo after about three hours, and are now flying the Canberras after 20 hours' solo on the Meteors. When the cantilever monoplane bomber was introduced into the R.A.F. it repre- sented, up to that time, the greatest increase in performance the Service had ever experienced. The new change from four- engined piston aircraft to twin jets, is an even more radical one, for the 290 m.p.h. maximum speed of the Lincoln has been more than doubled and the operational ceiling of 22,000 ft raised to well over 40,000 ft. Regretfully, No. 101 has had to say goodbye to all its signallers, flight engineers and air gunners. A Canberra carries a crew of only three—a pilot, a navigator/ HUNDRED AND ONE IS FIRST: Ground crews of No. 101 (Bomber) Squadron servicing on> their English Electric Canberras, with which the unit is the first to be equipped. The notes and photogrcphs oh ihis page are reproduced by courtesy of the "R.A.F. Review." plotter and an observer. The functions of the two latter are to some extent inter- changeable but in the ordinary way it is the navigator/plotter who, with radar aids, vectors the Canberra on to its target, while the observer moves forward from his posi- tion—next to the navigator and behind the pilot—to the bomb sight in the nose. It has been stated that by employing radar aids the Canberra can bomb accurately through eight/eights cloud from over 40,000ft. Obviously, the cabin has to be pres- surized for operation at these great heights and some provision has had to be made to prevent sudden loss of pressure from any cause, enemy or otherwise, from seriously affecting the crew. Pressurized waistcoats are worn but normally kept deflated. If the pressurization fails, then the oxygen supply can be diverted into the waistcoat, when the wearer's own inhalations and exhalations then provide the necessary pressure to force a supply of oxygen into the lungs. The change from normaloxygen intake to pressurized intake is effected by the operation of a simpleswitch. All the crews, of course, have to undergo ground test in decompressionchambers to make sure that they can with- stand the effects of extremely high flying.It might be thought that the super- performance of the Canberra would entailexcessively high take-off speeds. This is far from being so: it is airborne at 95knots; undercarriage limitation is 150 kts and cruising speed 450 kts. Charity Ball IT is hoped that the Royal Air ForceEscaping Society's funds will benefit considerably from the proceeds of the charity ball to be given by the Aberdeen University Air Squadron on Wednesday, November 28th. Lord and Lady Tweedsmuir will be amongst a number of eminent people who JET BOMBER AIRCREWS: (Below) Master Navigator E. T. Durtnall and F/Sgt. C. L. Warren in their ejection seats, which are situated behind the pilot. (Right) S/L Cassidy (in battledress) with some of the aircrews of No. 101 Squadron.
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