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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0456.PDF
456 FLIGHT, 8 April 1955 In polar regions: supplies were dropped on the Ice Cap for the British North Greenland Expedition in 1952. A Grumman Albatross—the triphibious version with retractable skis —puts down alongside the crippled Hastings on the Greenland ice-cap. It was able to take off some of the Hastings crew after they had been stranded for nine days. No.47 SQUADRON . . . taking off just as the Soviet cavalry arrived. He then returned tobase with the two unexpected passengers in the rear cockpit, and his own observer standing on the lower wing, a thumb blockinga bullet hole in one of the petrol tanks. The rescued pilot was Capt. W. Elliot, who became Air Chief Marshal Sir WilliamElliot, A.O.C-in-C. Fighter Command, before retiring in 1954. In 1920, No. 47 Sqn. was reformed at Helwan, Egypt, and wasgiven a foretaste of its present role—air transport. One of the first jobs was to assist the surveying and marking of the Cairo-to-Baghdad air route—furrows were ploughed across some stretches of the desert as a primitive aid to air navigation—and later thesquadron flew some of the early mail services over the route. In 1925 three de Havilland 9as of No. 47, commanded by thelate Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham (then a squadron leader) made the first R.A.F. flight from Egypt to Kano, Nigeria, wherethey were greeted with great enthusiasm by thousands of people who had never before seen an aeroplane. This flight pioneeredthe route which during the second war became a vital supply line; over it more than 5,000 aircraft were flown to equip andreinforce squadrons in North Africa and other war theatres during the critical period when the Mediterranean was closed toour shipping. The D.H.9as covered 6,500 miles in 85 flying hours. At this time the unit was maintained by a detachment atKhartoum, until, in 1927, the whole squadron moved there. At the end of December 1927 No. 47 was re-equipped with Fairey 3Fs.Photographic reconnaissances and patrols in conjunction with the Sudan Defence Force formed part of the normal activities;and in 1930 another pioneering flight was made across Africa, this time continuing as far as Gambia. The squadron also under-took four of the early R.A.F. training flights to the Cape. Many distinguished personages travelling in the Sudan and neighbour-ing territories were carried in the squadron's aircraft—including the Duke of Windsor (then Prince of Wales), the Duke ofGloucester and King Albert of the Belgians. The silver two- handed goblet presented in appreciation by the Prince of Walesstill decorates the officers' mess at Abingdon, where the squadron now is. In 1936 No. 47 was again re-equipped, this time with FaireyGordons and Vickers Vincents. Some of the Gordons were fitted with floats, and undertook patrols over the Red Sea.Just before the war the squadron was re-armed with Vickers Wellesley bombers; and when Italy entered the struggle on June10th, 1940, the unit was based at Erkowit, in the Red Sea hills. Its first raid, made on June 11th, was a bombing attack by eight Wellesleys on the airfield at Asmara, the Eritrean capital.In July the squadron moved to Carthago and in the months following continued its raids on Italian aerodromes, particularlythose at Asmara and Gura and military concentrations at Azoza and Gondar. In November a detachment operated fromKhartoum and at the end of the month the squadron headquarters moved there, with detachments at Kassala and Agordat carryingout photographic reconnaissances and strikes on enemy gun posi- tions and troop concentrations. The squadron moved to Asmarain the following May, after the surrender of the Italian forces in Abyssinia. While at Asmara the crews were engaged in supply-droppingmssions to our armed forces at Debarech until the fall of Gondar on November 28th, 1941, when the war in East Africa ended. At the end of December the squadron left the Sudan for Egypt,arriving on January 25th, 1942, at Burg el Arab, where it remained until April 1st without carrying out any operational patrols. Amove was later made to Kasfareet. On April 16th, 1942, No. 47 Squadron Air Echelon was formedfrom one Wellesley flight, which was first located at Burg el Arab, later moving to Shandur and St. Jean. Convoy patrols and anti-submarine patrols were flown off the Delta area and the coast of Palestine until the end of February 1943 when the echelon wasdisbanded. The squadron moved to Shandur on September 8th, 1942, andin October was flying Beauforts. A detachment was operating from Gianaclis and until November many torpedo strikes weremade against enemy shipping, with excellent results. During November a number of searches were carried out, but only onestrike was made. This was on the 1st of the month when three aircraft took off to strike against a destroyer-escorted enemyconvoy, off Tobruk, carrying supplies to Rommel's Afrika Corps. A torpedo hit was obtained on an oil tanker and the explosion ofthe torpedo was followed by a much larger one in which the entire ship disintegrated. Anti-submarine patrols from Gambut to Berke were theprincipal occupation during December and the early months of 1943. From the end of January to the middle of February thesquadron was stationed at Gianaclis but operated from Benghazi, being employed in providing air cover to convoys carryingsupplies to the Eighth Army in the drive to push the Afrika Corps out of North Africa. A further move was made to Misurata West,Tripolitania, on March 3rd. At the beginning of June the squadron began conversion to torpedo-carrying Beaufighters. From June 22nd, 1943, No. 47 was located at Protville IIairfield, near Tunis, making a goodly number of strikes against enemy shipping off the coast of Italy, Corsica and Sardinia. Thefirst of these was extremely successful, a large motor vessel towing barges being sunk. During the squadron's stay at Protville thesestrikes continued to add to the Scoreboard. A move was made to Sidi Amor on October 17th. Less than a week after arriving at Sidi Amor the squadronreceived orders to move back to Gambut, from where it was to take part in the Aegean campaign. Operations consisted chieflyof offensive sweeps of the Eastern Aegean for enemy craft preparing for the invasion of the islands of Leros and Samos.During the week beginning November 3rd the German invasion Commanding Officers Maj. F. G. Small March 1916 Maj. O. C. Wigram August 1916 Maj. F. F. Minchin ..." January 1917 Maj. G. D. Gardiner March 1918 Maj. F. A. Bates August 1918 Maj. R. Collishaw, D.S.O., O.B.E., D.S.C., D.F.C June 1919 S/L. G. R. M. Reid February 1920 S/L. K. C. Buss December 1920 S/L. M. Henderson March 1922 S/L. R. S. Maxwell October 1925 S/L. C. R. Cox, A.F.C October 1927 S/L. E. L. Howard-Williams, M.C February 1930 S/L. A. McGregor, C.B.E., D.F.C January 1933 S/L. G. E. Gibbs, M.C November 1934 S/L. A. P. Ritchie, A.F.C September 1935 S/L. G. R. C. Spencer August 1937 S/L. J. D A. Keaty January 1939 W/C. J. G. Elton, A.F.C October 1939 S/L. J. E. Pelly-Fry August 1940 S/L. G. R. MacGill January 1941 S/L. M. Cookc April 1941 S/L. D. M. Illsley, D.F.C November 1941 S/L. E. B. Grace , November 1941 S/L. L. B. Corr . September 1942 W/C. R. A. Sprague, D.F.C October 1942 W/C. D. E. Bennett December 1942 W/C. A. M. Taylor, D.F.C May 1943 W/C. J. A. Lee-Evans, D.F.C July 1943 W/C. W. D. L. Filson-Young, D.F.C November 1943 F/L. J. H. Etherington, D.F.C May 1945 W/C. V. S. H. Bucles June 1945 W/C. G. H. Melville-Jackson, D.F.C October 1945 W/C. W. H. Ingle, A.F.C September 1946 S/L. W. P. Peters, D.F.C., A.F.C June 1947 S/L. P. J. S. Finlayson, A.F.C October 1948 S/L. W. J. McLean, D.S.O., D.F.C., A.F.C November 1949 S/L. R. C. Wood March 1951 S/L. E. W. Merriman, M.B.E., D.F.M October 1952 S/L. D. P. Boulnois October 1954
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