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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0682.PDF
— * J* 11 — iiiifah/l i —"" htft, I —'" *4/j*i ""•"'•tydii — ij|, _ "3?** ^ Mrf*' —,*y<ti 4-r . "!3'*ifc-.i. 676 FLIGHT ~***»<i - —3ft > Large formations of piston-engined bombers are practically a thing of the past; but there is still plenty of useful work to be done by the remaining Washington squadrons, as pictured above, and Lincoln squadrons of Bomber Command. the airfield at the appointed height, for our aircraft, of 17,000ft. "Cloud-base at Binbrook was only 300-40oft, with 2,000yd visibility, and the pilot prepared for a ground-controlled approach. As the Canberra scudded into cloud a few miles from the runway, with dive-brakes extended to reduce speed, the reassuring voice of the controller came through. . . ." There are other units and aircraft in Bomber Command : for example, photo-reconnaissance forms a small but most important part of the work. Canberras—P.R.3S—are coming into service for this duty, too, and well suited to replace the few remaining Mosquitoes they are. Still another Canberra duty is that of conversion to jet bombers —at present undertaken at Bassingbourne. Pending the delivery of dual-control trainer versions, ordinary B.2S are used, the instructor first demonstrating the procedure then remaining beside the pilot to talk him round his first few circuits. The majority of pilots joining bomber squadrons are newly trained and have no experience of squadron life. They require conversion, additional operational training and, particularly, further practice in instrument flying and procedures. Other than this they, like all other pilots, need frequent and regular flying to keep themselves at peak efficiency. For all this flying, the squadrons depend heavily upon their willing but scarce ground-crews. As the numbers of aircraft build up, so must the specialists to maintain them. There are still all-too- few skilled men in Bomber Command, and in particular there is a need for those whose work it is to keep the special navigation and blind-bombing equipment serviceable. The need for practice and independent checking of instrument flying—regularly and economically—has resulted in the use of dual-control Meteor 7s for this work. Several are allocated to each bomber station, and they are well-enough suited to this job. Little trouble is experienced by pilots converting from the old piston-engined bombers to Canberras. To stimulate the natural desire to improve personal standards and knowledge, incentives are offered to highly qualified captains and crews in Bomber Command. To start with, a squadron crew is classified as non-operational, as experience is gained and profi ciency increases the crew becomes operational and later still may be classed as "select." Select crews are permitted to make long distance training flights at regular intervals to overseas airfields of their own choosing—from an approved list which includes such places as Khartoum, Nairobi, Aden, Gibraltar. Year by year squadrons compete in a visual night-bombing competition for the Laurence Minot Trophy. In 1952 each squadron was required to nominate a different crew for each of the four nights of the contest, and these crews carried out a flight of about five hours' duration, during which attacks were made with 25 lb practice bombs on four different targets. Only one run-up was permitted. The winners were No. 90 Squadron, commanded by S/L. W. R. Sloane (and followed closely by No. 393 Squadron of the United States Third Air Force). No. 7 Squadron has won the Trophy eight times since 1927. Bomber Command has started upon a long period of intense development and training—and thus one of intense interest, and activity. By the time Canberras are plentiful, Valiants in service and the latest V-bombers ready, the squadrons must know how to operate them all to the best advantage, to bomb accurately from them, whether in groups with conventional weapons or individually with an atomic bomb, and to land back at base without fuss or delay. They must also have reached a state of proficiency which will ensure first-time success in operations and minimize accidents with the expensive and complicated jet bombers which are soon to form the cream of equipment in the R.A.F.'s most powerful Command. Though the numbers of large jet bombers may be relatively few in the future they will, in the words of the late C.A.S., be "superlative weapons." Battleships and tanks have their place, but it is the jet bombers which will constitute the country's most powerful war-winning force. Within the structure of Bomber Command are in cluded photo reconnais sance squadrons soon to be re-equipped with the P.R.3 version of the Can berra here illustrated.
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