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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 2947.PDF
636 FLIGHT THE EMPEROR AT DUXFORD The R.A.F. Gives of its TO Royal Air Force Station Duxford, on October 21st, drove His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Ethiopia, his second son—His Imperial Highness the Duke of Harar—and members of the Emperor's Ministry and staff. There to receive the Royal party were Mr. George Ward, M.P., Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Air (repre senting the Secretary of State), who introduced Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir William F. Dickson, Chief of the Air Staff; Air Marshal Sir Dermot A. Boyle, Air Officer Com- manding-in-Chief Fighter Command; A.V-M. H. L. Patch, Air Officer Commanding No. 11 Group, Fighter Command; A. Cdre. S. C. Elworthy, Commander, Metropolitan Sector; and G/C. J. Rankin, Commanding Officer, R.A.F. Station Duxford. Introductions concluded, His Imperial Majesty ascended to a dais to take the salute from an R.A.F. guard of honour, com posed partly of Duxford personnel; whereupon F/L. R. J. Spiers, a member of the internationally famous aerobatic flight of No. 64 Squadron, advanced to the dais to declare: "Your Imperial Majesty, the Royal Air Force guard of honour is ready for your inspection, sir"; and the Emperor descended to follow the flight lieutenant along the ranks. The ceremony over, the Royal party crossed to the airfield. Paraded there for inspection were the beautiful blue Spitfire TE357, maintained at Duxford; Waterbeach's silver Hurricane; examples of the Meteor F.8, Meteor N.F.14, Venom N.F.2, and Vampire T.ll; a Swift and Venom of undetermined series, a Hunter F.l and Canberra B.2. Nearby were the five Meteor 8s of No. 64 Squadron which were later to perform aerobatics for His Majesty's pleasure; and first of these was that generally flown by the station commander, lettered with his initials "J.R.," red-nosed, and with a red cockpit surround. With S/L. H. Bennett, officer commanding No. 64 Squadron, as his guide, the Emperor mounted to inspect the cockpit. There followed a reception in the officers' mess and luncheon; whereupon the party crossed once more to the airfield, inspected the Aircraft Servicing Flight, and seated themselves in the sun shine to witness a flying display arranged by H.Q. Fighter Command. First airborne was S/L. D. H. Seaton, of the Central Fighter Establishment, in the Hunter F.l; and this production aircraft having nosed up towards lofty levels for a supersonic demon stration, the Meteors of Nos. 64 and 65 Squadrons (both Duxford- based) advanced on to the scene in magnificent style. They had been arrayed in two parallel lines, facing inwards, with their nose- wheels turned 45 deg respectively to starboard and port. The Derwents were started up and the trolley aces., with their crews, retired to form a rank in the centre. One by one, at 12,000 revs or so, the Meteors blasted their way out of line, turning sharply to starboard, nose to tail. Never have we witnessed such close taxying as when they drew level with the Royal party. As the Best for Haile Selassie f U I, i I 46fi- r " ...iiiiniiiiff !' His Imperial Majesty Ihe Emperor of Ethiopia inspects, at Duxford, the cockpit of the station commander's Meteor 8. His guide is S]L H. Bennett, officer commanding No. 64 Squadron. Meteor leader drew level, his helmeted head turned smartly for "eyes left." Evidently much impressed, His Majesty rose to the salute, which he held until the first complete squadron had passed by. Then the second filed past with the same precision, and with like acknowledgment. The lines of fighters having turned on to the runway they opened up for a stream take-off, and from "rolling" to "last off" all eighteen were airborne in 57 seconds. As they drew out of sight a double-barrelled report sounded a little distance off, and after a lengthy lull (by 1954 Farnborough standards, at least) Hunter F.l WN911 bore down towards the airfield to hurtle across at a declared 705 m.p.h. Then S/L. Seaton proceeded, in Service parlance, to reef it round, and as the swept wings flicked into the first segment of a hesitation roll, the Emperor shaded his eyes lest he should miss any of the finer points (eight in all) of this faultless manoeuvre. After a rush-past by four Swifts of No. 56 Squadron, Water-beach (S/L. D. J. Storey>—for which some indeterminate forma tion had been taken up—the Canberra was ranged for take off by S/L. R. L. Topp, A.F.C., of the Empire Test Pilots' School. In next to no time he had the glinting black bomber airborne and doing things—such .things as low, tight loops, with dramatic Avon-cuts on top; G-squeezing turns, seemingly within a few lengths; and upward rolls into cloud. Too often it has been our distasteful task to comment un favourably on solo Canberra presentations by R.A.F. pilots; but this was something very different from anything we had previously seen from the Service. Completely uninhibited, it was well up in the Beamont class—and it would be difficult to bestow higher praise. (One heard that in the previous day's rehearsal, with the cloud base down to 1,800ft, S/L. Topp had looped the Canberra from ground level without losing sight of the ground. Seasoned fighter pilots stood gaping, while less hardened ground crew with drew precipitously from the scene.) The zestful Canberra performance having been relished to the full, we saw two Meteor squadrons return to the scene one by one for something extraordinarily snappy in the way or formation breaks. In their succeeding stream landings and ta:;i- ins the aircraft hung tightly together like beads on two strings of a necklace, and though one of the squadrons was described to JS by a member of the other as a bunch of peasants, and by another officer of the same unit as "our auxiliary squadron," bodi ere evidendy out of the top drawer and are strictly Regular in every sense. : v It fell to 64 Squadron, however, to sign off with their fer- The Emperor, with Mr. George Ward, Parliamentary Under-Secretar of State for Air on the left, and Marshal of the R.A.F. Sir William F. Dick -p, Chief of the Air Staff, on the right, regards with admiration <>e consummate aerobatic performance by five Meteors of No. 64 Squad, *•
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