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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 1946.PDF
62 FLIGHT FROM ALL QUARTERS . . . Ferrying Fighters to Korea HAVING visited Japan and Korea, Mr. Gilpatrick, U.S.A.F. Under-Secretary, and General Twining, Acting Chief of the Air Force Staff, have reported to President Truman on the flying of jet fighters to Korea with the assistance of air refuelling. Hitherto, fighters have usually been shipped, but on July 7th, the first of three groups of a wing of F-84G Thunder jets left California and arrived at Hickam Field, Hawaii, after being refuelled in the air. Other groups were to leave on succeeding days. General Twining is reported to have said that the scheme had enabled the Air Force to reduce the time before the fighters could be put into action from 60 days to two or three days. An Important Premiere 'T'HE Duchess of Gloucester will attend the first showing of the •*- film The Sound Barrier at the Plaza Theatre, London, on July 24th (not July 25th, as previously announced) at 8 p.m. The proceeds from this occasion are to be divided between the R.A.F. Benevolent Fund and the Royal Air Forces Association. President of the premiere committee is Lord De L'Isle and Dudley, V.C., and Lady Slessor is chairman. Tickets, at 10s 6d.to 10 gn, are obtainable from the organizer, Mrs. Madge Clarke, 79 Davies Street, London, W.i, telephone number Mayfair 0525-6. Transatlantic Helicopters TWO Sikorsky H-19 helicopters of the U.S.A.F. were due to A leave Westover, Massachusetts, this week on the first stage of a transatlantic flight to Europe—the first ever attempted in this type of aircraft. Extra tanks had been fitted and the machines were to make the crossing of nearly 4,000 miles by way of Labrador, Greenland, Iceland and England "in order to prove the feasibility and economy of air delivery to Europe by helicopters." The journey was expected to take about 40 hours' flying time. Each of the H-19S—which are being delivered to the 9th Air Rescue Squadron at Wiesbaden, Germany—was to carry a pilot and co-pilot. Three of the four crew members formerly flew with the 3rd Air Rescue Squadron in Korea, which has rescued and THE R.A.F. A Timely Pronouncement by WE compliment our contemporary Les Ailes on their pub lication of an article by Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Slessor, Chief of the Air Staff, to coincide with the NATO Air Display in Brussels, described hereafter. The R.A.F., remarks Sir John, has three main functions in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization : it has to make its contribu tion to the integrated Allied A>r Force under SACEUR; to play its part in the protection of the Allied sea lines of communicat ion under SACLANT; and to defend the United Kingdom, which is not only the British homeland but a vitally important Allied base in war. "It should not be overlooked," he goes on, "that the R.A.F. has other responsibilities as well—in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Far East which, while not yet within any formalized Allied treaty organization as in the North Atlantic area, are none the less equally vital fronts in the defence against the global menace of militant Communism. The primary object and interest of the Free World is to prevent a 'hot' war. As part of that, we have to ensure that we win the cold war—to stabilize the anti-communist front in the countries this side of the iron curtain in Europe and Asia, to build up confidence among the free peoples, to thwart the familiar tactics of infiltration, encroachment and subversive action and, ultimately, we hope, to extend the frontiers of the free world." The supreme deterrent to active aggression, says Sir John, and the instrument under whose cover we are building up our strength and holding the line in the cold war, is atomic air power. The R.A.F. can never hope to equal the United States strength in that sphere. But the medium force of Bomber Command is even now playing its small part and will do so to an increasing extent as the new four-engined jet bombers—"the best in the world", as Sir John describes them—come into the line. "Under the Rome and Lisbon agreements," he continues, "the R.A.F. is scheduled to provide the lion's share of the bomber sup port of SACEUR's forces, from bases under the cover of the air defence system of the United Kingdom. In addition, we are expanding and re-equipping our tactical air forces in Germany and, together with our old friends and comrades of the Belgian and Dutch Air Forces, are building up a formidable strength in evacuated more than 5,200 United Nations Servicemen since the beginning of the Korean hostilities. The H-19 helicopter is almost identical with the Westland- Sikorsky S-55 as now being quantity-produced in this country. It has a maximum flying weight of 7>3°° lb and a disposable load of over 3,000 lb. 1 he main rotor diameter is 53ft and the engine is a Pratt and Whitney Wasp of 550 h.p. Westland Technical Directors IT is announced by Westland Aircraft, Ltd., that Mr. D. L. Hollis Williams, who joined the board of that company last year as chief engineer, has been appointed technical director. Despite the demands of his new duties, however, Mr. Hollis Williams is finding time to take a further pilot's conversion course on the Westland helicopters. In the post of technical director Mr. Hollis Williams succeeds Mr. Arthur Davenport, who, after a long and distinguished career, feels that the time has come to taper off his activities. He will, however, retain a seat on the board of Westland Aircraft, Ltd. Mr. D. L Hollis Williams. Mr. Arthur Davenport. AND NATO the Chief of the Air Staff the Second Allied Tactical Air Force—the lineal descendant of the old Second T.A.F., which covered and supported the Armies from the Overlord beaches to the heart of Germany in the last year of World War II." "Under SACLANT, the R.A.F. has its part to play with the British and United States Navies in the protection of the vital Atlantic life-line. If a third world war should come upon us, the modem submarine would be an even greater menace to our shipping than the old U-boat of the last war. Coastal Command to-day is far smaller than it was when it had the proud privilege of being the major instrument of victory over the U-boat in the crucial year 1943. But it is steadily expanding and re-equipping with the Shackleton, which is proving itself as a first-class anti submarine aircraft." The United Kingdom, remarks the C.A.S., has been compared to a great aircraft carrier anchored off the coast of Europe; he continues, "It is, indeed, an air base of first importance, not only for Strategic Air Power but for the support of the Armies and Tactical Air Forces on the Continent. As such it would un doubtedly be a primary target for attack in any future war. Fighter Command has already undergone a great expansion during the last eighteen months, and is closely linked with the air defence forces on the Continent. Our new swept-wing fighters, of incom parable performance, are not yet in the line. But our existing jet fighters are bomber destroyers of the first order, and would give a great account of themselves under the top cover of the Sabres of the Royal Canadian and United States Air Forces now stationed in Britain." "During the late war the R.A.F. had the privilege of including within its framework contingents of the Air Forces of six of our present NATO partners—France, Belgium, Holland, Canada, Norway and Greece. They proved themselves second to none. Side by side with the great United States Air Force we proved ourselves invincible and irresistible." Sir John concludes : "We should do so again if ever the disaster of a third world war came upon us. But our first job is to make sure that it does not. That we can do, and I believe shall do, by the primary instrument of Air Power."
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