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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0772.PDF
770 FLIGHT, 3 June 1955 FAREWELL TO "HABB" . . . began a long association with North Africa, participating in operationsagainst the German and Italian forces which included violent attacks by the squadron on Axis positions at El Alamein in 1942. The squadronsubsequently participated in the invasion of Sicily, supported the Salerno bridgehead operations, and flew in many parts of the Middle East.No. 70 Squadron this year celebrates its 39th anniversary as a member of the R.F.C. and the R.A.F. and its 35th year of unbroken service inthe Middle East. Formed in 1916, it has been successively a fighter- reconnaissance, fighter, bomber and bomber-transport squadron. Mai.Tedder, now Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Tedder, was its second commanding officer during the First World War. In 1920 thesquadron began its long association with the Middle East. It serveo at Hinaidi, Iraq, near Baghdad, from 1922 to 1927; and in 1929, flyingVictorias, it carried out the first civilian evacuation by air ever made, flying civilians out of Kabul, Afghanistan, during the troubles therewith King Ammanullah. In the Second World War its Liberators, Lancasters and Wellingtons served from the Western Desert to Italy on transport and many bombing operations. In 1949, in Exercise GrainFare, No. 70 dropped food to starving tribesmen and women in the forbidding mountains of the Hadhramaut ("The Death") near Aden.During the 1951-52 troubles in Egypt, it played a large part in flying in troops, stores and equipment to the Canal Zone from other parts ofthe Middle East. No. 73 Squadron—among whose members was F/O. "Cobber" Kain,D.F.C, one of the most famous pilots of World War II—was formed in 1917 and served in Europe until the end of the 1914-18 war, often inclose support of the Tank Corps. Its Second World War service began on the Western Front, but later, in covering General Wavell's retreatat Tobruk, it fought until its last aircraft was destroyed in action, and itself destroyed 50 enemy aircraft in a fortnight's fighting. In 1942,as a night-fighter squadron, it took part in the Battle of El Alamein. In April 1945, after spending 16 months in the Italian campaign, itjoined the Balkan Air Force in Yugoslavia in a fighter-bomber role. On May 2nd, 1955, during the ceremony at Habbaniya of handing over theR.A.F. brae to the Iraqi Government, No. 73 Squadron Venoms flew past on their departure from the station, as part of the first phase ofthe R.A.F.'s withdrawal MORE ABOUT INSIGNIA WHITE BLACK 888881 YELLOW SAFFRON RED GOLD BLUE GREEN ORANGE CINCE we published, in our Military Aviation Special Number" (May 13th) a five-page feature illustrating insignia of the world's air forces, it has been revealed that Bulgaria, Hungary andRumania are using variations of the U.S.S.R. red star. Bulgaria's star has a white fimbriation, or edging, with a green disc sur-rounded by a white ring in the centre. There is a small red spot in the middle of the green disc. A white ring appears in Hungary's red star, which is nmbriatedyellow; Rumania's star is also fimbriated yellow, but the centre is blue. All these countries have their star repeated in the fin andthe fuselage tail. Viet-Nam has notified her national marking as an orange discwith three concentric circles, very narrow, in red, and the fin flash as an orange band with three red lines running across it. South Korea has a device, based on a Mongolian charm againstevil, in red and blue flanked by "compartments" like those found in U.S.A. insignia, while a large black letter K adorns the fin.Perhaps the newest of all the insignia is that of Rhodesia, who have superimposed over the British roundels the three assegaisfrom their threepenny piece. Up to the present, it is believed, there has been no completebook of national and civil airline insignia, but next July Harraps will be publishing such a work in colour. It has been compiled and illustrated by Harold B. Pereira, with a foreword by LordDouglas of Kirtleside. We may appropriately add here certain miscellaneous informa-tion as addenda to matter published in the above-mentioned special number. A Danish correspondent informs us that the F-84E is no longerin use in the Royal Danish Air Force; only four were delivered and those are now used for technical training. The Mustang, it seems,has never been actively employed; those acquired were scrapped "because of the spares problem." Miscellaneous types in serviceare Catalinas, Dakotas, Bell 47Ds, Firefly T.T.ls, KZ-VIIs and a few remaining Spitfire 9s and lls. The sole Boeing B-17, for-merly used for survey work, has now been sold to France. Most of the main airfields have now been completed up to NATOstandard. The same correspondent points out that the Colombian AirForce has at least one DC-4, formerly the S.A.S. machine OY-DFY, taken over in March last year. It is used as a V.I.P.transport for the President. The Finnish Valmet Viima and Vihuri are, of course, of Finnishand not of Swedish origin. Another item of information is that die Saudi Arabian Air Forcehas ten Temco Buckaroo trainers. Bulgaria rivngory nnwvmiw wi« Viet-Nom South Korao
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