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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1560.PDF
675 was then used as a training unit for officers who had been axedfrom the Army and Navy and had received short-service com- missions in the R.A.F. 1924 saw a further conversion, to FaireyFawns, and a move to Eastchurch. It was in the 1925 Hendon Air Display that No. 100 led the formation of four bombersquadrons which so impressed the crowds. During the General Strike of 1926 No. 100 distributed mail and newspapers both byroad and air—a public service it was to emulate in 1953, when it photographed the flooded areas of Lincolnshire to show the extentof damage after the serious floods. The next move was to Bicester airfield, then newly completed, in1928; and it was during the stay here that the squadron had the task of evaluating the Avro Antelope, unsuccessful competitor ofthe Hawker Hart. On November 3rd, 1930, the squadron moved to Donibristle andthere began the operational task which was te lead nine years later to its virtual annihilation at the hands of the Japanese. Herealso began the association with No. 36 Sqn. which was to end in that same gallant but tragic episode. It is recorded that Navalvessels leaving the Firth of Forth at that time had to run the gauntlet of the two squadrons' dummy torpedoes, launched fromtheir Hawker Horsleys, and that many "kills" were claimed by both sides. Donibristle, in a Flight report of August, 1932, isdenned as a "picturesquely situated aerodrome," but the report goes on to say that picturesqueness and happy landings did not"accord too well together." There was a "charming wooded hill" which, however, produced unpleasant air currents, and the rutsmade by Horsley tail-skids could make the use of wheel brakes tricky. Donibristle, commanded by W/C. G. S. M. Insall, V.C.,M.C., was nevertheless an ideal coast defence station; but new developments were already afoot, and that summer the first of thesquadron's new Vickers Vildebeests (Bristol Pegasus) arrived. Both No. 100 and No. 36 Sqns. were converted, but No. 100,while remaining part of Home Defence, was lent to Far East Command and went, in September 1933, to Singapore. The out-break of World War II found both No. 100 and No. 36 still at Seletar, and still equipped with Vildebeests. In September 1941an O.T.U. was established by A.H.Q. Malaya, to convert pilots of the two squadrons to fly twin-engined aircraft in preparationfor re-equipment with Australian-built Bristol Beauforts; but conversion was not completed before the two units were with-drawn to Java. Both squadrons were then operating mainly from Seletar, according to one report, with Vildebeests and Vincents ofmixed marks. Some of the Vildebeests had Pegasus engines while some, Mk 4s, had the cowled Perseus and some of these againretained wheel-spats. Most of the aircraft were painted yellow all over and operated at night. On this type of operation theylost not a single crew. On December 24th, 1941, torpedo bomber squadron strengthin Malaya is officially stated to haye been No. 100 Sqn. with 13 Vildebeests, No. 36 Sqn. with 16 Vildebeests and one Naval flightof five Albacores, all based at Seletar. It was on January 26th, when the squadron had already been operating all night, that an The Horsleys' torpedo playground was the Firth of Forth, close to Donibristle, where a "Flight" camera caught them (centre) in 1932. Now based at Wittering, Hunts., the squadron's Canberras posed in similar scenery over the shores of the Wash (left).
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