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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0185.PDF
FLIGHT, 6 February 1953 X83 SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Force and Naval Aviation News The Spithead Review T^HE Admiralty has announced that •*- approximately 190 ships and 300 air craft will take part in the Coronation Naval Review, to be held at Spithead on June 15th. Accompanied by the Duke of Edin burgh, the Queen will inspect the as sembled ships from the despatch vessel H.M.S. Surprise. In command of Surprise will be Vice-Admiral E. M. C. Abel Smith, Flag Officer, Royal Yachts, who will be remembered by many of our older readers as an outstanding exponent of the Fairey Flycatcher in the Fleet Air Arm in the early thirties. In those days the fighters used to take off direct from the hangar deck and straight over the forecastle. R.A.F. Appointments T HREE recent appointments announced by the Air Ministry are those of A.V-M. R. B. Jordan, C.B., D.F.C., who is to be Director-General of Organization at the Air Ministry, A.V-M. H. H. Brookes, C.B.E., D.F.C., to be A.O.C. No. 25 Group, Flying Training Command, and A. Cdre. G. Bearne, who this month be comes A.O.C. Rhodesian Air Training Group. A. V-M. Jordan succeeds A.V-M. A. C. H. Sharp, who is retiring from the R.A.F. at his own request. A.V-M. Brookes has, since May 1951, been A.O.C. Rhodesian Air Training Group, which A. Cdre. Bearne now commands after having been S.A.S.O. at the same group since August, i95i. Aircraft-Carrier Strength THE Admiralty has recently given figures showing the present and future strength of the Commonwealth navies in aircraft carriers. Eleven carriers of all types are now in commission and, altogether, there are 27 in commission, in reserve, refitting or being built. H.M.S. Hermes, which is to be launched by Mrs. Churchill on February 16th, is of the same class as Albion, Centaur and Bulwark, all three of which are nearly completed. These are all light fleet carriers. The new Ark Royal, of 36,800 tons, is expected to be finished late in 1954. Other carriers on the stocks are the Powerful for Canada and the Majestic for Australia. Warrior and Victorious are undergoing extensive refits and Formidable is being scrapped. Work on both Hercules and Leviathan has been suspended. A.O.C. MALAYA: A.V-M. F. R. W. Scherger, R.A.A.F. (right), with his wife and daughter, is accompanied by A.V-M. G. H. Mills on arrival at Kallang Air port, Singapore, from Australia. A.V-M. Scherger is to become A.O.C. Malaya, and A.V-M. Mills, the pre sent A.O.C., is to return to Britain to take over Bomber Command from Air Marshal Sir Hugh P. Lloyd when the latter retires next March. In full operational employment are Eagle, Indomitable, Theseus, Ocean, Glory, Triumph, Illustrious, Implacable and Inde fatigable, the Magnificent of the Royal Canadian Navy arid Sydney of the Royal Australian Navy. Vengeance, which was recently taken over by the Australian Navy, will shortly be operational. Two maintenance carriers, Perseus and Unicorn, are in commission and the Pioneer in reserve. Campania, the carrier which took part in the atom bomb test at Monte Bello last year, has also gone into reserve. It is of interest to note that the new Hermes class is to have the new "angled" deck, on which aircraft will land at an angle of about 8 deg to the centre line (see page 636, Flight, November 21st, 1952). No official details have been published, but some reports give a displacement of 18,300 tons, a maximum speed of about 30 knots and the capacity to operate 45 aircraft. Overall length will be 741ft 6in and beam 90ft. Sabres for Cheetahs HAVING been withdrawn from oper ational duties in Korea, No. 2 Squad ron, South African Air Force—the "Elying Cheetahs"—is to be re-equipped with Sabres in place of the Mustangs used hitherto. It is expected that the unit will be back on operations, with its new aircraft, by the end of next month. R.Aux.A.F. Appointments TWO appointments in the Royal Aux iliary Air Force have been announced by the Air Ministry. S/L. N. H. McLean is to command No. 612 (County of Aber deen) Squadron and S/L. J. L. Sole, M.B.E., is taking over No. 3500 (County of Kent) Fighter Control Unit at Cliftonville, Kent. S/L. McLean served during the war as a naval pilot and in 1947 joined the Aberdeen University Air Squadron. In 1949 he transferred to the R.Aux.A.F. and joined the squadron which he will now command. S/L. Sole was trained for operations- room duties and served in that capacity at Ayr and Turnhouse. Later he served at various stations as a controller. He joined his present unit in September 1948. H.M.S. "Eagle" Adopted THE City of Exeter has adopted the new aircraft carrier H.M.S. Eagle. This adoption by the City Council establishes a link between the Eagle, which is a Devon- port-manned ship, and the county town of Devon. Eagle is now serving with the Home Fleet and was first commissioned in October 1951. Hal-Far's Busy Year AREPORT for 1952 from the Royal Naval Air Station at Hal-Far in Malta G.C., shows a big increase in activity over the previous year. A total of over 15,000 hours was flown from the station, of which about 1,300 hours were at night. During the year some forty different types of aircraft were accommodated; they ranged from Sea Otters to Canberras and FOR NAVAL INSTRUCTION; This air-to-air shot of the Sea Ballioi T Mk 21 emphasizes the sleek outlines of the Boulton-Paul side-by-side trainer. The Sea Ballioi differs from the stand ard version chiefly in having an arrester hook, smaller-diameter airscrew and strengthened landing gear.
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