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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0034.PDF
34 FLIGHT FROM ALL QUARTERS include routes connecting the site with sidings on the trans-continental railway. The Bristol Aircraft Company's housing division is to supply prefabricated homes for the personnel, whichare expected to increase in number to about 1,000 by the time tests begin in November. Two sets of tests are scheduled forAustralia for this year. The first will take place in the Monte Bello islands, Western Australia, and the second at Maralinga.IN CONTROL: As reported last week, Air Chief Marshal Sir Dermot Boyle, the new Chief of the Air Staff, is now en- gaged on a tour of the Middle and Far East Air Forces. He is seen at the con- trols of a Canberra before departure. As we go to press it is learned that Sir Der- mot has reached Singapore, where he is the guest of Air Marshal Sir Francis Fressanges, the A.O.C-in-C. To Salute the Queen SIX English Electric Canberras of No. 9 Squadron, R.A.F., willmake ceremonial fly-pasts shortly after the arrival of Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at Lagos onJanuary 28th, and subsequently at Kaduna (February 1st), Enugu (February 6th), and Ibadan (February 11th). The force will becommanded by A. V-M. J. R. Whitley, A.O.C. No. 1 Bomber Group, who will himself pilot one of the machines, and will leaveR.A.F. Station Binbrook on January 25th for an African tour which will include Nigeria, the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone andGambia. Accompanying the force on the outward trip will be Air MarshalSir Harry Broadhurst, A.O.C-in-C. Bomber Command, though he will return after four days. Ground crews and spares will becarried in Hastings aircraft of No. 24 (Commonwealth) Squadron, Transport Command. Reluctant Recruits? A SHORTAGE of officer volunteers for air observer training**• in the Fleet Air Arm has led to the compulsory posting of a number of junior Naval officers to the observer training schoolat R.N.A.S. Culdrose, Cornwall, it was disclosed in London last week. The officers affected are junior lieutenants of the execu-tive branch who have been awarded watchkeeping certificates and are physically fit for flying; during their flying careers theywill be given further tours of sea duty. Admiralty comment concerning the compulsory appointments was that the numbersinvolved were very small indeed. The work of the school at Culdrose was described in Flight of January 6th. Australian Atomics £5m is being spent at Maralinga, South Australia, on theconstruction of a permanent centre for atomic tests. One of the major tasks will be the construction of an 8,000ft runway,suitable for the heaviest aircraft. Seventy-five miles of roads will Byrd Over the South Pole Again ON Sunday last Admiral Byrd, director of the United StatesAntarctic Expedition, made his third flight over the South Pole since 1929 (his second was in 1947). He was in a Skyrnasterwhich crossed and re-crossed the Pole for 15 minutes while the crew dropped a number of United States flags on the 10,000-ftplateau below. Six major flights, made as part of Operation Deep Freeze, haveincluded two crossings of the Pole and the discovery of a new mountain range. All the flights were made from the ice runway atMcMurdo Sound. S/L. Bennett Baggs AS we go to press we learn with regret of the death, at 57, of• S/L. J. L. N. Bennett Baggs, a former director of Blackburn and General Aircraft, Ltd. He served with the R.F.C. and R.A.F.from 1916 to 1923, and during part of this time he was a Farn- borough test pilot. He later acted as test pilot for ArmstrongWhitworth and A. V. Roe and Co., Ltd., before joining Blackburn. He was appointed a director in 1935 and retired through ill-healthin December 1950. First at Simla A PHOTOGRAPH opposite shows the occasion of the first**• landing by an aircraft at Simla, India. The date was January 1st and the machine a Scottish Prestwick Pioneer, flownby Mr. Roy Smith and carrying Mr. D. F. Mclntyre (Scottish Aviation's managing director) and Mr. H. MacLaren (flightengineer). Mr. Mclntyre informs us that the only possible landingground in the neighbourhood of Simla is the Annandale race- course, egg-shaped and surrounded by hills. The town ofSimla, he remarks, is at 7,000ft and the racecourse itself is 6,300ft. On three sides the course is surrounded by steeplyrising hillsides and on the fourth drops 2,000ft into a narrow valley. It is 370 yd long and at present the only approach andtake-off direction is obstructed by high-tension cables on the boundary. "After the high-tension cables," writes Mr. Mclntyre, "comesa low wall, and then racecourse fencing. If the high-tension cables and wall and fencing were removed and a few moreyards dug out of the hillside, the landing ground could be brought up to 400 yd, being rather like an aircraft carrier at the usableend and a 700-ft hill at the other. As such, Annandale Race- course would be suitable for use by Twin Pioneers. Take-off andlanding runs were measured with the Prestwick Pioneer, which averaged 190 yd run on take-off and rather less on landing.The journey from Simla to Delhi by air took one-and-a-quarter hours as compared with eight hours by car and nine-and-a-halfhours by train." Malayan Pioneer Strip A NEW landing strip for the Prestwick Pioneer aircraft of**• No. 267 Squadron, Far East Air Force, has been opened at Fort Chabai, North Kelantan State, Malaya. Chabai, thelatest jungle fort established to thwart terrorist attempts to exploit the aborigines, is manned by garrisons flown in by the Pioneers.It lies on the side of a deep valley with mountain peaks on one side and a sheer drop of 50ft into a river valley on the other. AT VOLKEL last month four Republic F-84Fs were handed over to the Nether- lands Government by the U.S. Ambassador. They are seen here in company with a Hawker Hunter (left) and a North American F-86K. The F-84Fs are the first of 200 destined for Holland.
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