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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0678.PDF
672 FLIGHT, 29 May 1953 The Queen's Air Forces cent of the work required to keep aircraft in the air; today a huge army of specialists is required who can only be part of a central ized station pool, called upon as required. A modern fighter squadron has about 130 men on its own normal peacetime establish ment who administer its daily needs; all the other requirements are met by permanent base personnel. t Once a pilot has become quite familiar with his mount, he is now likely to log hours far more rapidly than he would have done five years ago. Much of the time will be on straightforward fly ing such as formation practice, aerobatics or low-level cross- countries. Added to this he will carry out air-to-air firing against sleeve or glider targets, or air-to-ground cannon and rocket work. For the latter he will probably go to a coastal range, and much additional strafing practice is obtained at armament practice camps at home and abroad. In big exercises he may find himself intercepting bombers, when his prowess will be recorded by his cine-camera. Night and all-weather pilots, with their radar-observer navigators, may be engaged in strafing ships, inter cepting low-altitude minelaying aircraft, or finding jet bombers at 40,000ft. On top of these varied tasks are the inevitable, and popular, fly-pasts and public displays. Such calls on pilots' time are likely to be very heavy this year. Today, our fighter pilots are pleased with their equipment and are not short of anything that they consider necessary. The standard grey flying suit is a comfortable article of attire, bearing the wearer's squadron badge on the left breast pocket. The suit is not pressurized, nor does there appear to be any requirement for such clothing yet—although it will be there when it is needed. Hard helmets are, of course, a bone of contention just now. Many Fighter Command pilots, particularly those who have been on exchange posting with the U.S.A.F., have worn—and perhaps acquired—a nice white Lombard helmet. Unfortunately, this item will not fit neatly over our leather helmet with projecting R/T head-set, and the American earphone and microphone will not plug in to a British cockpit. The main reasons for hard hel mets are to prevent concussion as a result of hitting the head on the canopy during high-speed flight in turbulent air, and to in crease chances of survival after forced descents to the sea or to rough ground. Discussion with many interested crews has failed to establish definite views; suffice to say that British helmets are being developed (in the Royal Navy they are in use) and, although they restrict the pilot's head-movement and make life generally less comfortable, the "spaceman look" will soon be a familiar sight in Fighter Command. Other standard equipment can include dinghy, pressure mask, vizor or eyeshield, knife (worn on the left upper arm), seat or back-type parachute according to the type of ejection seat used, mae west, g-suit, "38" pistol and a host of odds and ends. The whole lot weighs around 120 lb and is a far cry from the 1940 flying suit (worn or left off according to conditions), parachute, leather helmet and—an item still very popular—a brightly coloured scarf. As for running several hundred yards to the aircraft in true "scramble" tradition, it is doubtful if anyone in the Command De Havilland Venom F.B.U of the Second Tactical Air Force pull up into a high-speed loop over Wunstorf. Large numbers of these single-seaters are already in service; they will very soon be joined by two-seat all-weather Venoms with extended dorsal fins.
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