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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 2076.PDF
\lIGHT, 16 July 1954 SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm News K.A.F. Appointment THE Air Ministry has announced the appointment of A.V-M. W. M. I/. Mac-onald, C.B.E., D.F.C., as Assistant Chief the Air Staff (Intelligence) as from keptember next. In order id take up his lew post A.V-M. MacE^jfiald will return torn the Far East where", since June 1952, fe has been A.O.C., Singapore. During the war* he served mainly with nits of Bomber Command, going in the rst place to Trance with No. 150 Squad- on, which formed part of the Advanced ^ir Striking Force. For two years after he war he was Commandant of the antral Flying School at Little Rissington. >olar Navigation Flights "WO Hastings of the Royal Flying College, Manby, left last week-end for series of high-latitude navigation flights rom Bodo in Norway. Both aircraft flew ^>ver the geographical North Pole. The am, consisting of ten aircrew and eight round crew, led by the College's com-ndant, A. Cdre. G. A. Walker, C.B.E., ).S.O., D.F.C., A.D.C., left Manby at 1100 hr on Friday and returned at 1830 hr bn Monday. On the outward journey both aircraft reached Bodo in five hours. Two graduates and two staff members bf the R.A.F. Flying College acted as Captains and co-pilots in the two Hastings ' -W/C. S. B. Grant, D.F.C. (syndicate Reader) with the commandant as second pilot, and W/C. A. H. Humphrey, O.B.E., O.F.C., A.F.C. (senior instructor) with f/C. M. D. Iyne, A.F.C., as second pilot. Their navigators were, respectively, P/L. F. R. Wood and S. L. D. Bower, '".B.E., the senior navigation instructor at the College. Earlier this year W/C. lumphrey and S/L. Bower flew the 'lying College's B.2 Canberra Aries IV on lie record out-and-home flights from |South Africa. A passenger in one of the aircraft was Mr. Frank Beswick, M.P., and the Senior Norwegian forecaster at Bodo, Mr. Sverre Hoppestad, flew on one of the two flights planned for each aircraft. The student specialist navigators, members of No. 5 course, were S/L. D. Clare, D.F.C.; S/L. M. C. Bunting, M.B.E.; S/L. G. Sproates (1st aircraft); and Lt. Col. C. A. North, U.S.A.F.; S/L. J. E. Tipton, D.F.C.; and S/L. H. E. White, D.F.C., A.F.C. (2nd aircraft). Guest Night Extraordinary AT a recent guest night No. 18 Squadron * were able to entertain no fewer than ten previous commanding officers, includ ing G/C. G. I. CarnueKael, D.S.O., A.F.C., who had the sqysrftron when it was first torned at NorjKolt in 1915. It was then equ pped wjtri Vickers "Gun Bus" fighters and nowjlas Canberra B.2s. Following a brief speech of welcome by »/L. R. A. Cooper, M.B.E., the present V-C., G/C. Carmichael, described condi- "or.s in the squadron as they were in the "AIRCENT" VISITOR: The Duke of Edinburgh being introduced by Air Chief Marshal Sir Basil Embry to officers of Allied Air Forces Central Europe at Fontainebleau during his recent tour of NATO Commands. early days, when each unit trained its own mechanics and pilots from the ab initio stage: they were sent to France for front line service with less than six months' training. He told his audience, also, of the origin of the flying horse that figures in the squadron badge: it was chosen because they were detailed to perform con tact patrols with the cavalry in the battle of the Somme in 1916. G/C. Carmichael modestly omitted to mention that his own military flying ex perience went back as far as 1913, when he and another lieutenant flew to Col chester on an R.F.C. recruiting tour, giving passenger flights to officers of the garrison there. He also failed to add that he flew to France with N/6. 5 Squadron in August 1914 as part of the original British Expedi tionary Force. (We may whisper that he wrecked one aircraft on the way but ob tained another and arrived in France the same day.). Both G/C. Carmichael and A.V-M. Sir Ronald M. Reid, K.C.B., D.S.O., M.C., who commanded No. 18 in 1917, were taken/for a flight in the squadron's Can berra*. (A photograph of the earlier mem bers of the squadron attending the func tion appears overleaf.) Para-rescue Badge A NEW badge to be worn by qualified **• R.C.A.F. para-rescue personnel has been approved. The badge, featuring an open parachute between upswept wings, will be worn by the nursing sisters, medical officers, airmen and N.C.O.s who have completed the rigid para-rescue course held at Edmonton and Jasper, Alberta. Although wings have not previously been awarded, a small badge featuring an open parachute was worn on the working-dress sleeve of para-rescue personnel. It will mark the first time female officers of any Canadian service have worn a Canadian badge emblematic of aerial operations. _ To date, five doctors, seven nursing sisters and 44 airmen have passed the gruelling 18-week course. All are volun teers chosen on a basis of general fitness and mental alertness. Each graduate makes ten jumps before qualifying. Two Command Appointments A FTER having been A.O.C. R.A.F. L Element, Maritime H.Q. Chatham, A. Cdre. W. H. Hutton, C.B.E., is tq be come A.O.A. at Coastal Command- H.Q. A. Cdre. D. M. T. MacDonald,^C.'B., who has been Chief Instructor of ji& Transport Support Wing at the Schaol of Land/Air Warfare, now becomev^.A.S.0. at Trans port Command Hjjf* Almost the whole of A. Cdre. Hutton's Service career*fias been devoted to Coastal CommanoVfor he has served twicer—once as C.CyAvith No. 210 Squadron. A. Cdre. MacJBfonald is an armament specialist and wa* at one time in command of No. 7 Gunnery School. High Speed to Cyprus C ANBERRAS have become a quite familiar sight in the Mediterranean area: a number of routine service flights, for example, and trials have taken various marks to Malta. Last Monday G/C. S. W. R. Hughes flew a Canberra from England to Cyprus in 3 hr 32 min, an average speed of 650 m.p.h. The flight was described as a routine trial, and the air craft is normally based at R.A.F. Farnborough. Canadian Carrier Appointment N AVAL headquarters in Canada have announced the appointment of Lt-Cdr. V. J. Walgress, R.C.N., as. Commander (Air) in H.M.C.S. Magnificent. He will assume the acting rank of commander. He succeeds Cdr. A. H. Abrams, D.S.C., R.N., who.has been on loan to the R.C.N. for the past two-and-a-half years. R.C.A.F. Trans-Pacific Airlift THE trans-Pacific airlift operation that -*• the R.C.A.F. carried out for almost four years in support of the United Nations effort in Korea has finished. The final round trip to Japan was made by a North Star which left its home base at Dorval, outside Montreal, on May 29th. Requirement for air transport support of the U.N. operations in Korea has de creased and there has been a lessening of the overall airlift operations over the northern route. In consequence, the
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