FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0025.PDF
FLIGHT 1 January 1954 War memory : An open-air debriefing at Tangmere in January 1941. No. 65 (East India) Squadron IT was on the recent occasion of the visit of the Saab J-29s to Waterbeach that Flight expressed appreciation of the faultless manner in which the aerobatic team of No. 65 Squadron had carried out its demonstration before the Swedish visitors. So impressed were we that we subse quently sought Air Ministry permission to obtain air-to-air photographs of the squadron and its team in action; the results, together with a short history of the unit, appear in these pages. Even if in November the clouds do not assume the delicate shapes of those that decorate April skies, there is still a wonderful sense of elation in escaping from the winter murk down below. This ecstatic feeling is heightened when one flies in company with an aerobatic team such as that of 65 Squadron; gravity seems not to exist, inches serve the purpose of yards and split seconds have to take the place of ordinary folks' minutes. Even in the crew room—that home of understatements—65's team is known as the fabulous four. No. 65 Squadron was born when die Batde of the Somme in July 1916 was in progress. A nucleus was formed in Norwich and the unit completed at Wyton the following month. The first commanding officers, Capt. E. R. L. Corballis and Capt. Lord G. Wellesley, who took over the squadron later in 1916, were both of the select band of Royal Flying Corps officers who went to France with the British Expeditionary Force in 1914: Capt. Corballis was a flying officer with No. 2 Squadron and Capt. Lord G. Wellesley was with No. 5 Squadron. A variety of aircraft were available for training from ab initio to operational standards. These included Maurice Farman Shorthorns, Grahame-White Biplanes, Bristol Scouts, Avro 504s, two-seater Nieuports, back-staggered D.H.5s and Sopwith Pups. (A'cynic once remarked that the back stagger on the D.H.5 was not there for any aerodynamic or military reason but simply to fool the enemy as to which way it was going.) By JOHN YOXALL When the unit moved to France in October 1917 it was equipped with Clerget-engined Sopwith Camels. A comparison with the performance of the squadron's present Meteor 8s is interesting. Maximum speed at 10,000ft was 113 m.p.h.; climb to 10,000ft 10.6 min; ceiling 19,000ft; all-up weight 1,453 lb. The cost of each aircraft was less than £2,000! No. 65 remained on the Continent for the rest of the war as a fighter squadron and it was on November 4th, 1918, just a week before the armistice, that the unit's most successful air combat was fought. On this occasion a formation of more than 40 enemy aircraft was seen over Ghent, Belgium, by a flight of six Camels of No. 65 Squadron. Despite the long odds the Camels imme diately attacked and in the resulting dog-fight claimed 15 e/a destroyed. This action is commemorated in the squadron badge by the fifteen swords behind the lion. The lion, by die way, is from the arms of Dunkirk, with which city the squadron was then closely associated. Two years after leaving Britain the squadron returned home and was disbanded at Yatesbury on October 25th, 1919. When, as the result of political tendencies in Germany, the expansion of the R.A.F. was decided upon, No. 65 Squadron was re-formed at Hornchurch and equipped with Hawker Demon two-seater fighters. Late in 1936 these were replaced by Gloster Gauntlets, and a year later Gloster Gladiators—the last of the biplane fighters—became the squadron equipment. Supermarine Spitfires began to arrive in March 1939 and intensive training with these went on until war broke out on September 3rd. In common with the rest of Fighter Command, No. 65 Squadron had little or no fighting to do until the evacuation of Dunkirk in May 1940 when, in the unit's first brush with the Luftwaffe, a Ju 88 was shot down over Flushing. Following this introduction a series of patrols were flown over the Channel ports and in the first month's fighting the squadron claimed 19 e/a destroyed and a further 14 probables for the loss of one pilot and three Spitfires. On July 7th, 1940, eight Spitfires were presented to the unit Pilots and ground crews of No. 65 Squadron against a background of their smart Meteor 8s. The pilots, left to right, are: P/0. Nash, F/O. Porter, FIL Pattullo, F/0. Pottage, S/L Evans (Commanding Officer), F/L. Gill*, F/L Fryer*. F/L. Lethem*, F/O. Bainbridge*, F/L Lister, D.S.O., D.F.C. Sgt. Howarth, F/O. Goldsmith, PjO. Dunn, Sgt. Coupland. Those marked with an asterisk are members of the aerobatic team. ^P''fJI I UL 0 t V lit I 1 mi
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
