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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0708.PDF
706 FLIGHT, 20 May 1955 Canberras of No. 21 Squadron at Khormaksar during their recent visit to Aden. With them are the Aden Levies, the only R.A.F. unit now to have Camels—but not of the Sopwith variety. SERVICE AVIATION sorties. R.A.F. Meteors went out 110 times.The majority of the rescue work in the Middle and Far East was done by Valettas(98 sorties) and Shackletons (29 sorties). During 1954, an R.A.F. mountainrescue team was formed in Cyprus; so far, their greatest difficulty has been attack byeagles. Coastal Command aircraft have oftentaken part in rescue operations for mer- chant ships in distress. When the Danishliner Kronprincesse Ingrid caught fire in the North Sea, an R.A.F. Neptune wasthe first on the scene and homed surface craft to her. A Shackleton also escorteda civil airliner in distress to Prestwick. Sunderlands have done good work in theFar East, one of them circling over a drift- ing Japanese merchantman until the vesselwas taken in tow. On another occasion, a native launch was reported adrift off Sin-gapore. A Sunderland took off from Seletar, found the launch within 14minutes, and put down alongside. It trans- ferred a doctor by rubber dinghy and thenpassed a tow-line and spent the next eight hours towing the launch safely into harbour. R.A.F. Valettas, Hornets and a Sunder-land took part in the rescue of the pas- sengers of the Argonaut which was shotdown off the South China coast last year. The passengers were finally picked up bya U.S.A.F. SA-16 Albatross. Two Awards - «; .-- 'T'HE Queen has been graciously pleased-*• to approve the award of the M.B.E. (Mil. Div.) to F/L. E. D. Campbell andof the George Medal to Cpl. J. R. Saunders, both of No. 95 MaintenanceStorage Unit, Lords Bridge, Cambridge- shire. These awards are in connection with afire which broke out following the explo- sion of an underground container ofmustard gas. F/L. Campbell, protected only by a respirator, dashed into the toxicsmoke to search for casualties and to help in preventing the spread of flames andpoison gas. The citation for the George Medal saysthat Cpl. Saunders as N.C.O. in charge of fire-fighting led his party to the scene ofthe accident and fought his way through the smoke and debris to the tank. Despitethe fierce blaze, with smoke and poisonous fumes belching up to 200ft, he maintainedhis position for 30 minutes within a few feet of the crater, directing a steadystream of foam on to the tank until the flames subsided. The citation ends: "Cpl.Saunders displayed complete disregard for his own safety and selfless devotion toduty and his action constituted a magnifi- cent example of leadership, personalbravery and skill of the most superb order." Athens Air Attache AFTER having been Senior Personnel•Staff Officer at Flying Training Com- mand since last summer, Act. A. Cdre. J. C.Roberts, C.B.E., has been appointed air attache at Athens. This is A. Cdre. Roberts's second spellof duty as an air attache: between 1946 and 1948 he was at Rio de Janeiro. Dunning Cup 'T'HE Dunning Memorial Cup, awarded-•- to the R.A.F. unit achieving the highest marks at the Joint Anti-Submarine Schooltraining course, has been won by No. 38 Squadron (Avro Shackletons), com-manded by W/C. D. E. Hawkins, D.F.C. The unit is normally based in Malta. A.O.P.9 FiguresI T has now been established that theAuster A.O.P.9 has, in spite of its being a full three-seater, a considerable "edge"on its predecessor, the Mk 6, in the matter of take-off and landing performance. Theactual figures obtained during trials are as follow: A.O.P.9 at 2,125 lb (normal opera-tional load) in 5 m.p.h. wind, take-off run 110 yd and total distance to clear 50ft,225 yd; Mk 6 at 2,100 lb in 5 m.p.h. wind, take-off run 127 yd and total distance to50ft, 285 yd. A comparative photograph of the two Austers referred to above: A.O.P.9 nearest the camera. Bomber Command Trophies AT a ceremony held at Upwood yester-• day, Air Chief Marshal Sir Guy Garrod was due to present the followingBomber Command trophies: Efficiency Trophy, for best all-round squadron, No.115 Squadron; Laurence Minot Trophy (this will become the Senior "V" ForceTrophy), best Lincoln squadron in H2S bombing, No. 7 Squadron; GeoffreySalmond Trophy, best individual Lincoln crew in H2S bombing, No. 83 Squadron;Special Award, best all-round crew in annual bombing competition, No. 7Squadron; Armament Officers Trophy, best Canberra squadron in Gee-H andvisual bombing, No. 10 Squadron; Cam- rose Trophy, best Canberra Squadron invisual bombing, No. 9 Squadron; Gee-H Bombing Trophy, best individual crew inGee-H bombing, No. 139 Squadron; Air- craft Efficiency Trophy, station with bestaircraft servicing record for year, Bin- brook; M.T. Efficiency Trophy, stationwith best M.T. servicing record for year, and M.T. Accident Prevention Trophy,station with lowest M.T. accident rate for year, Marham. Combined Operations in Malaya (CANBERRA, Valetta, Pioneer and^ Auster aircraft and Sycamore heli- copters of the Far East Air Force Squad-rons, together with S-55 Naval helicopters, have so far successfully undertaken theirmissions as part of operation "Unity"— code name of the hunt on the Malaya-Thailand border for Chin Peng, secre- tary-general of the Malayan CommunistParty, with members of his staff and bodyguard. Canberras of No. 101 Squadron (S/L.W. D. Robertson) detachment have bombed an encampment on the borders ofKedah State and Siam and also carried out attacks against terrorists previously con-tacted. Valettas of No. 48 Squadron (S/L. B. V.Kerwin) dropped paratroops into Northern Kedah to prepare landing zones for Navalhelicopters, bringing in troops of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, and subsequently keptthese ground forces going with the accurate despatch of supply packs. Pioneer aircraft of No. 267 Squadron(S/L. T. W. G. Godfrey) have carried the commanders of the Federation securityforces and the Thai forces on reconnais- sance flights in the operational area and onvisits to their troops on the ground. Austers of No. 656 A.O.P. Squadronhave been carrying Federation and Thai police forces on reconnaissance flights ofthe area. S-55 helicopters of No. 848 Royal Naval Air Squadron have been shuttlingground forces in and out of the area and Sycamores of No. 194 Squadron (S/LC. R. Turner, A.F.C.) have been standing by for casualty evacuation flights.
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