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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 1851.PDF
4 July 1952 SERVICE AVIATION . 23 on the following day (Sunday) for all the station officers and their ladies. Despite the severe blow thereby dealt to the squadron's welfare fund, it was reckoned to have been well worth-while, and all other V.R. squadrons which go out are recommended to follow the same procedure. Meanwhile a spare had been flown back to Hyeres and Lt. Blakey brought in his Sea Fury, thereby enabling the complete squadron to commence training at once. Full advantage was taken of the twelve days of perfect flying weather which followed. Especially remarkable was the standard of air-to-air and air-to-ground firing, which brought the personal con gratulations of the C.-in-C. Mediterranean, Admiral the Earl Mountbatten of Burma. The maintenance crews, in tropical rig (mostly stripped to the waist), toiled away in a wholly different atmosphere from the murk and industrial haze which is their usual environment. Serviceability was as near 100 per cent as it ever could be, and the result was an aggregate of between 400 and 500 hours' flying in ten days—easily the most concentrated period since the squadron formed up some five years ago. Towards the end they were fully worked up to operational standard. The flight home was a perfect one, low cloud and drizzle in Northern France and Southern England notwithstanding. There were no "lame ducks" and the formation was dead on all its E.T.A.s from Malta to Stretton. Since returning to their parent station all members of the squadron have been delighted to hear of Lt.-Cdr. Gilchrist's award of an M.B.E. in the first Birthday Honours conferred by Her Majesty the Queen. R.A.F.A. Conference T HE Royal Air Forces Association has decided to join the World Veterans' Federation. This decision was made at the recent annual conference at Douglas, Isle of Man, on a card vote of 34,551 to 15,100. A resolution that the conference "having heard a full report on the objects and activi- IN THE ISLE OF MAN: A. V-M. Sir Geoffrey Bromet, Lieutenant-Governor of the Isle of Man and president of the north-west area of the R.A.F.A., opening the annual conference of the Royal Air Forces Association at Douglas. On his left are Air Marshal Sir Richard Peck, chairman of the con ference; the Mayor of Douglas, Councillor J. A. Cain, J.P., and the Rev. J. Moorhouse, who conducted the Silent Tribute. ties of the World Veterans' Federation declares its support and decides that the Association accepts an invitation to mem bership," was sponsored by the National Council, and G/C. R. C. Vaughan, chair man of the Executive Committee, stated they had received a communication from the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs that the Federation was an organization worthy of support and free from Communist infiltration. A resolution calling for compensation from the Japanese for ex-P.o.W.s received the unanimous support of the delegates. It was moved by Mr. H. J. Parker (Liver pool Central branch), who referred to the "unbelievable brutality and inhuman treatment" suffered by 50,000 British service men, and said the 38,000 survivors DROGUE ADDICT: All that was left of the drogue when Lt. "Ken" Tickle, R.N.V.R., of No. 1831 Squadron, had finished practising with the Hispanos of his Sea Fury during the squadron's annual training in Malta (see "R.N.V.R.s in Malta," page 22). Lt. Tickle is seen with the remnants of the drogue draped around him, while Lt. H. Burman, R.N., the C.F.I., gives support. were merely asking for 3s. a day for the period of their captivity, the equivalent of the food denied them by the Japanese in defiance of the Geneva Convention. This would mean only nine million pounds. In the United States each ex-serviceman had already received £300; in Australia, each was to receive almost £70; in Britain a man would be lucky if he got £25. The conference also adopted a resolution urging the National Council to continue its efforts to obtain a further increase in pensions, bearing in mind the Minister of Pensions' statement in the House of Commons in February that about 62s. was now required to produce the purchas ing power of 45s. in 1946. In moving the resolution, Mr. H. R. Taylor said that figure was now nearer 70s., and in second ing, Mr. H. Simms said the lot of the dis abled man, who was in some light job at a low wage, was a particularly hard one at the present time. They should strive for an increase in pensions and allowances now while the memory of sacrifice was still green, and not wait until real hardship existed. He remarked that the basic pension was 40s. in 1919, and now it was only 55s., an increase of 22 per cent., while M.P.s' salaries had risen from £400 to £1,000, an increase of 150 per cent. Mr. M. A. Liddell said the Association realized their claims could not be pushed to the detriment of the country, but they were concerned about the level of the dis ability pensions. They had received an increase of 10s. although they realized that was not sufficient, and they looked forward to the Government bringing pensions into line with the present-day cost of living. The Conference also adopted a resolu tion that the pensions of other ranks should be brought more into line with those of officers, in conformity with schemes oper ating in the Dominions and other countries. A resolution that it should be possible to appeal against a decision of the Pensions Appeal Tribunal was defeated. At the opening of the conference dele gates were officially welcomed by the Lieut-Governor of the Island, A. V-M. Sir Geoffrey Bromet (president of the North-West Area), and the Mayor of Douglas, Councillor J. A. Cain.
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