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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0788.PDF
782 FLIGHT REVIEW 0 The Historic Proceedings at Spitk FLIG MONDAY, June 15th, was tbe Naw's day to salute our newly crowned Queen. From the water and in the air they accorded Her Majesty a warm and respectful welcome. Massed in SpitheadJay great ships of war and commerce, together with small—often strange—craft of diverse callings. Among them, at three-thirty in the afternoon, moved the Royal Yacht, H.M.S. Surprise, bearing the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to receive the full honours of Naval tradition; and dominating the scene were nine aircraft carriers. Her Majesty having reviewed her Fleet, H.M.S. Surprise was brought to anchor at the head of one of the lines, whereupon it was the turn of some 300 Naval aircraft to fly past. These were drawn from the carriers taking part in the review, from Naval Air Sta tions of Home Air Command, from the Royal Australian and Royal Canadian Navies, and from the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. Eye-witness accounts of these memorable scenes follow, by a member of the staff of Flight who watched from H.M.S. Theseus, and by another who, in a Meteor T.7, participated in the fly-past. The Scene from H.M.S. "Theseus".—The atmosphere at Portsmouth, always nautical, possessed on the morning of Review Day something special. That sense of expectancy barely subdued, and general air of informality—almost gaiety—that London had known before Coronation Day was again evident, as the mixed crowd of visitors waited at the Middle Slip jetty for their transport to H.M.S. Theseus. They included friends and relatives of the ship's officers, and representatives of other Services. Soon we were moving out from the landing stage in a converted L.C.T. whose name, as far as one could gather from the lifebelts, was "R.N. Air 2F." An S-55 of the Canadian Navy droned over head as we passed the Royal Yacht and continued, past tne i-> ar bour Station towards the blockhouse fort at the entrance to the harbour. Behind us came other craft of various sizes, busy taking people to and from the ships of the fleet; fast launches sprayed exhilarating white furrows through the green water, while a land ing-ship tanker ahead of us proceeded in a much slower and more sedate manner. The beaches of Southsea, already crowded, passed on our left as we obtained our first view of the warships ahead. Heavy grey silhouettes—the carriers alone could be clearly picked out—in the distance contrasted with the small, beflagged yachts tossing at their moorings before the Elbow Spit buoy in the foreground. (Left) The assembly of airscrew-driven machines at Lee-on-Soient. Gannets, Avengers, Firebrands, Sea Hornets, Fireflies and Skyraiders may be (or may not be) identified. (Below) The Royal Yacht "Surprise," seen from H.M.S. "Theseus," passing the Dutch "Tromp" and the picturesque Italian "Amerigo Vespucci" with her yards manned.
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