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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 2143.PDF
/ th\ pencil-slim Meteor _ N.F.Hi operating from .*? West Mailing. (Below) 7 F/L M. J. Mprley and FJO. T. Davis get set— with a hand from A/C. Lawrence—foi business in one of thesfs new night fighters. gSaHHHfe flying Fleet Air Arm Fireflies and Sea Hawks. The Fireflies toured the airfield at what seemed an incredibly low speed, taking their time over shooting-up whatever targets presented them selves. Although the Sea Hawks made a quicker job of it, they were summarily despatched by a section of patrolling Meteors from No. 615 Squadron—and the Fireflies, we heard later, were shot down in their home circuit by avenging R.A.F. fighters. For pilots on readiness at 0400 on Sunday the day dawned with a promise of fair weather. A section from No. 600 Squadron scrambled at 0520 and found the upper air teeming with enemy "bombers" (Sabres) and friendly fighters. But the section was quickly recalled on warning of a deterioration in the weather. This did not, however, materialize until about mid-day; when it did come, a general easterly movement developed as aircraft were diverted from a series of fronts moving in from the west. Eight Vampires scrambled in "zero-zero" weather from Filton were letting down to Odiham when the leader called that he was baling out. His No. 2 was for a time intending to follow suit, but the remaining three aircraft of the first section finally made Odiham. Of the second section of four, three experienced radio failure, but finally made Biggin Hill in heavy rain and very low cloud. Meanwhile, eight Biggin Hill Meteors had to be diverted to Mansion to allow the Vampires to get in. After that, although aircraft were still ready to scramble, poor weather over the south of England precluded any operations, and the exercise finished "not with a bang, but a whimper." In earlier scrambles, however, a variety of "enemy" aircraft had been inter cepted, including Sabres, Thunderjets, Sea Hawks, Lincolns, Canberras, and on one occasion a Varsity at 20,000ft. The Varsity's only defence appeared to consist of its trailing aerial, of which, however, the G.C.I, was able to warn fighters. REGULARS AND AUXILIARIES AT NORTH WEALD "T\IVIDEND was dragging to a damp conclusion when we •*-* visited North Weald, home of one Regular and two Auxiliary squadrons, on Sunday morning. The station's camouflaged Meteor 8s were lying at dispersal, mostly unoccupied, and shiny from the steady drizzle. It was difficult to associate the over cast airfield with the blue skies and curving white contrails of modern day-fighter combat. At dawn, the squadrons had pene trated the deep layers of cloud only to find the sky full of friendly fighters; the few attackers within range were already heavily engaged. But although Sunday's clamp partly relaxed its grip at intervals during the day, North Weald pilots were not called upon to make any further large-scale effort. The closing stage of an exercise should be the most eventful, with major efforts from both sides. "Dividend" was disappoint ing in this respect—particularly for the Auxiliary pilots, whose share of the fun was confined to .two week-ends. The overall result, however, was excellent from North Weald's viewpoint: hundreds of sorties flown, and kills running into three figures. The Regular squadron's CO., S/L- Pears, told us that his Meteors had flown 100-odd sorties daily more than once during the course of the exercise. Conditions had been extremely realistic, with pilots flying or available to fly from 0400 hr to 2230 hr each day. Pilots, groundcrew and aircraft had all stood up well to the abnormally fast pace, and this particular squadron had achieved an average serviceability state of 80 per cent. One of the few bandits to escape was a B-47 seen cruising well above the Meteors' ceiling. Most combats took place at high level, and the close of the exercise left many pilots still thirsting for a taste of "rats and terriers." . Bad weather notwithstanding, morale was also at high lev» when we visited North Weald. Keen rivalry between the two resident Auxiliary squadrons—601 (S/L. McCarthy-JoneO and 604 (S/L. Turnbull)—has obviously played a part in mo aiding the spirit of these fine units. We have it on good authorivy that each squadron is better than the other. North Weald's com manding officer, G/C. Eveleigh, had a special word of praise ret the new reserve flights, which were rapidly and smoothly ab sorbed into the streams of complementary activities which niaKe up an operational R.A.F. station. &•**• [Impressions of "Haul," the Naval exercise held concurrency «"'" "Dividend," will be given in these pages next week.] "Flight" Ph,rtorf A section of camouflaged Meteor 8s comes home to roost at £ ">* ' passing other squadron aircraft and visitingunachines of the sa~ tyP*'
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