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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 2048.PDF
FLIGHT SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Force and Naval Aviation News Birthday Party at C.F.S. A C.F.S. reunion is an occasion on which **• to enjoy reminiscence to its full—and the 40th anniversary reunion held at Little Rissington on Friday last was no exception. The guest of honour was Marshal of the Royal Air Force, Lord Trenchard— "Boom" to his contemporaries. In the chair was A.Cdre A. D. Selway, the present Commandant of the School. On his left was the C.A.S., Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Slessor, who had as a companion Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur M. Longmore. It was, in fact, a brilliant top table; no fewer than four previous commandants were present and A. Cdre. E. L. Gerrard—who, as a major with Lt. A. M. Longmore, was one of the original four instructors in 1912—was also there. Air Marshal Sir Hugh Walmsley, who has but another seven days to serve before leaving the Royal Air Force, to take over Air Service Training Ltd., was one of the very few non-C.F.S. people present, but he is, of course, A.O.C.-in-C. Flying Train ing Command. Two generations of the Pendred family were represented; A.V-M. L. F. Pendred, who was at C.F.S. from 1925 to 1929, was at the top table, and his son, S/L. G. L. Pendred—born at C.F.S. while it was at Wittering—was in the body of the hall. S/L. Pendred was instructing at C.F.S. from 1949 to 1951 and is now P.A. to the Secretary of State for Air. He is discretion itself in the matter, but it is rumoured that he is occasionally to be seen giving dual instruction to Lord De LTsle and Dudley at Hendon—mainly on an Oxford. After welcoming Lord Trenchard, A.Cdre Selway told the assembly how he had tried to hold the reunion at Upavon —the original C.F.S. station—but this was found to be impossible, mainly because of lack of space. In his review of the year's work he stated that 795 pilots had started the course; of these 16 came from the Royal Navy, 12 from Pakistan and two from India; three were sent from Israel and four from Burma. The Royal Navy and Israel, he observed, had the habit of winning trophies. He referred also to F/L. Severne's unsuccessful effort to emu late A.V-M. R. L. R. Atcherley by win ning the King's Cup Race. In lighter vein he referred to a note he had received from the C.A.S.—prompted by the Air Council —urging economy in stationery. As proof of the School's interest in economy he produced a legal document, started in 1914, showing "soldier" absentees of C.F.S. Since only 44 names have appeared to date, A.Cdre Selway assessed the book's life at roughly another 120 years. The president of the C.F.S. Association, Air Chief Marshal Sir James Robb, then Spoke. He read messages from Christopher Clarkson—who presented, in 1929, the trophy which is still awarded at each course to the best aerobatic pilot—and from G/C. Randall, the school's first engineer officer. Looking round the mess he referred to Frank Long and D'Arcy Grieg—both of Schnieder Trophy fame, and to Sir Vernon Brown, who was a test pilot at the School in 1915. There was a word, also, for G/C. Morice, now of Dunlops, and for Major R. E. Nicoll of Handley Pages, who attended the school in 1914. Major Nicoll was able proudly to show a certifi cate of his ability to fly, and of his sobriety, signed by Godfrey Paine, the first comman dant. Before sitting down Sir James unveiled a portrait of Lord Trenchard which had been painted by John Leigh Pemberton from the original by Sir Oswald Birley. Terrific cheering greeted Lord Trench ard when he rose. Speaking with the strong voice which has earned him the name of "Boom", he apologized for being an untidy talker. He was lucky, he said, in being old, because that was the only reason why he was chosen as assistant commandant in 1912. For the early examinations he "set the papers, then passed them himself and had kept the same high standard ever since." Becoming grave, he spoke of the period after the first world war when, as he said, many tried to break up the Royal Air Force. In this connection he was even offered the post of Assistant Chief of General Staff, but he was, he said, proud of the roundels on a sky background—a flag for which many had given their lives and which he thought should continue in commemora tion thereof. With a touch of humour he recounted how the word marshal came to be used in the R.A.F. and concluded by reminding his audience that, while events and aircraft had completely outrun the imagination of the pioneers of 1912, they were pioneers still. As he sat down the whole assembly rose to acclaim him; he was visibly moved. Sir John Slessor was in both a humble and grave mood. He had, he said, no right to be on his feet with others present who had more right to talk. (Since he has served in the R.A.F. for 37 years of the 40 of C.F.S., this was a masterly piece of under statement.) Referring to our present-day problems he pointed out that the country had got to adapt itself to a new idea. "We must move out of the old idea of armies TROPHY WINNER: Air Marshal Sir Hugh PugheLloyd, A.O.C-in-C. Bomber Command, with S/L W. R. Sloane, who commands No. 90 Squadron, which won the Laurence Minot Trophy. On the right is A. V-M. Harvey who is S.A.S.O. at Bomber Command and was the pilot when the trophy was won by No. 7 Squadron in 1928. The bomb-aimer on that occasion was S/L, now Marshal of the R.A.F., Lord Portal. and navies," he said, " we have passed into a completely new era." A few stories of the old days of aircraft with warping wings from Sir Arthur Longmore ended a memorable dinner—which had then lasted over four hours. The company adjourned to the ante-room, there to recount yet again what happened in 19?? Laurence Minot Trophy HIS squadron, No. 90. having won the Laurence Minot Trophy, S/L. W. R. Sloane was summoned on Thursday of last week to attend Bomber Command head quarters to receive the personal congratu lations of the A.O.C-in-C, Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Pughe Lloyd. Sir Hugh, who coined the phrase "The bomber is a rapier, not a bludgeon," arrived carrying a silver-gilt rapier which, he said, had been made to present to the Americans had they 'come first. (The conditions of the Laurence Minot Trophy preclude its presentation to foreign air forces). As it turned out, the Americans came second, 332 points behind No. 90 Squadron. Even so, it is expected that the rapier will be presented to them for their excellent performance.. Tieing for third place, with 2,095 points each, were No. 97 Squadron (S/L. T. Heifer, D.F.C.) and No. 115 Squadron (S/L. G. E. R. Alford, A.F.C.). No. 90 Squadron was the third Lincoln squadron to convert to Washingtons and is using the Norden bomb-sight. No. 115 also has Washingtons but No. 97 is still flying Lincolns equipped with the standard Mk 14 bomb-sight. The Americans used B-50S. For the first time Canberras (No. 617 Squadron) entered the competition. Originally drawn up for day bombing, the rules have now been altered to make the Laurence Minot Trophy a visual night- bombing contest. The competing units have to provide a different crew each night for four successive nights. After a cross country flight of some four hours each aircraft is required to be over the target within six minutes of zero time, and only one run over each target is allowed. Judges carried in the bombers ensure no infringement of these rules, and failure to arrive within the six minutes brings dis qualification. Actually only eight aircraft were put out of the competition for this reason. The Washingtons bombed from 25,000ft and the Lincolns from 20,000ft. All the R.A.F. aircraft used the standard 25 lb practice bomb but the Americans used their own 100 lb. bomb. Fontainebleau H.Q. Opened ON Saturday last General Lauris Norstad performed the ceremonial opening of new headquarters of Allied Air Forces, Central Europe at Fontainebleau. Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Slessor was invited to represent the R.A.F., and Air Marshal W. A. Curtis on behalf of the R.C.A.F. Representing 2nd T.A.F. was Air Marshal Sir Robert M. Foster. Started in the few rooms of Des Princes wing of the Fontainebleau Palace originally occupied on April 2nd, 1951, the headquar ters now contain 494,960 sq ft of floor space. Of the 3,733,000,000 French francs appropriated for the new building, 3,474,000,000 have been spent.
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