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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1991.PDF
Cf-s. FLIGHT 9 July 1954 A Vampire from Fassberg releases its napalm tanks, or fire bombs as the Air Ministry prefers to call them, on one of the lowest runs WEAPONS on WEST DOWN Spectacular Demonstration by Four Services FOR the benefit of the R.A.F. Staff Colleges at Bracknell and Andover, and the Joint Services Staff College at Latimer, an air-weapons demonstration was put on at West Down range, Salisbury Plain, on July 2nd. The lengthy programme was planned by the School of Land/Air Warfare (Commandant, A.V-M. G. Harcourt-Srnit>, C.B., C.B.E., M.V.O.), and must have provided useful.<Iata for the Opera tions branches of the Air Ministry. Mr. Duncan Sandys, the Minister of Supply, was a spectasSf. Item No. 1 was a dive-bombing demonstration by eight Sea Fury F.B.lls of No. 801 Sqn., Fleet Air Arm, each with two 500- pounders. Their leader called for red smoke to mark the general area of the target, and distant Army gunners promptly complied. After some difficulty with cloud—which persisted sullenly—the 'Furies were able to position themselves for their peel-off and bombing dive. Then, two by two, the "500s" plum meted into the designated artillery area, flashed red, and spurted up their grey-brown fountains of earth and smoke, jolting the writer's memory back to a busy morning over the battle-front of Korea, and reminding him that "801" are but lately home from the war there. As the 'Furies pulled out, their blunt wing-tips stirred up livid wakes in the moisture-laden air. The commentator (who, of course, was bent on driving home advanced lessons in the art of war, and not on diverting his distinguished and gallant audience) saw fit to remark that artillery was no easy target for fighter /bombers, for there was no guarantee that they could destroy the actual guns. Long-delay fuses, therefore, were useful in keeping things stirred up, though for the purposes of the demonstration the bombs were fused only for -025 and -015 seconds delay. The low cloud-base further detracted from the realism, if not the spectacle, of the occasion, for in face of the intenseJight flak (which they could expect) the aircraft would dive "FLIGHT" photographs from about 5,000ft, aim at an angle of 45 degrees or so, and pull out at 1,000ft. Having been assessed "not bad," the Naval fighter/bombers re-formed for a series of strafing runs on a dump of 200 old Jerricans, only the two bottom layers of which contained petrol. The 20 mm Hispano gun (of which each machine was using its complement of four) was described as the most accurate weapon available to the tactical air force, and the 801 pilots got results1 in the form of a palpable, if gradual, brew-up. They left at low level for Lee-on-Solent and lunch. Eight Venom F.B.ls of No. 266 Sqn (temporarily based at Odiham), next brutally assaulted with salvoes of R.P.s a brace of time-expired tanks, which, so far as one could see, were lying peacefully derelict in their old age, and doing no harm to any body. The 60 lb high-explosive R.P. is generally effective from a range of 500-1,000 yd, and the delivering aircraft dives from 3,000- 4,000ft, takes up an angle of 20-35 deg, and releases 800-l,000ft above ground level. A steady dive is, of course, absolutely vital to success, so the aircraft itself presents a vulnerable target. A direct hit on a tank is the only guarantee of a kill, though a miss by one or two feet might damage a track. The infantry them selves have more accurate anti-tank weapons, and the fighter/ bomber must always find an isolated tank extremely difficult to pick off. A really worthwhile objective would be a whole squadron of tanks in a refuelling area, but M.T., pontoon bridges, ships, radar installations and locomotives are not despised as R.P. recipients. Against armour, shaped (or hollow-charge) heads are appropriate. With semi-armour-piercing incendiary and high-explosive shells from their 20 mm Hispano guns the Venoms next addressed themselves to an array of M.T. and aircraft, including a selection of Spitfires and a silver Meteor. One vehicle was seen to be aflame, and, had the tanks of the aircraft been full, its fiery end would doubtless have been shared. A stick of six 1,000 lb bombs from a Bomber Command Canberra.
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