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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0066.PDF
66 FLIGHT COBBERS: An Australian-built Avro Lin- coln of No. 1 Bomber Squadron, R.A.A.F., returning from operations against Malayan jungle terrorists, is joined by two Venoms of No. 14 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force, which operates against the bandits from the same airfield at Tengah. Also at Tengah is No. 60 Squadron, R.A.F. FROM ALL QUARTERS Middle East Air Force^Changes PLANS for the reorganization of R.A.F. forces in the MiddleEast were announced in Nicosia, Cyprus, on Sunday last. Among the main features are the development of closer co-opera-tion between units in the Middle East and in Western Europe, and the development of the M.E.A.F. into the largest R.A.F. overseascommand (with an operational area of over 2,500,000 sq miles). Air Headquarters, Cyprus, has now been absorbed into AirHeadquarters, Levant, now fully operational in Cyprus after being moved from Habbaniya, Iraq, last year. In addition, Air Head-quarters, Levant, will control R.A.F. units in Jordan, Iraq and Libya. A. Cdre. C. D. C. Boyce has assumed command of theLevant H.Q. with the acting rank of air vice-marshal. The same headquarters will command the northern zone of the Middle EastAir Force, the southern and eastern zones being controlled from Air Headquarters, Aden, where A. V-M. I. F. Sinclair is incommand. Commander-in-chief, M.E.A.F., is Air Marshal Sir Claude Pelly, with headquarters in Cyprus. During this year R.A.F. aircraft based in Western Europe areto make increased use of Middle East flying facilities and ground organization in trials to exercise techniques of rapid reinforce-ment from one operational theatre to another, and the large new R.A.F. airfield at Akrotiri, Cyprus, will come into operation. Antarctic Postponement THE aviation element of Operation Deep Freeze—America'spreparation for the Antarctic phase of the International Geo- physical Year surveys during 1957-58—has suffered a sudden, ifnot altogether unexpected, curtailment of its activities. Last week- end it was decided that the aircraft which have been operatingfrom the ice airstrip at McMurdo Sound, in the Ross Sea area, should suspend their survey flights and return to New Zealand assoon as possible. There was danger of the ice breaking away and carrying part of the runway—and men and aircraft—with it. The decision to discontinue air operations until the secondphase of Deep Freeze, next season, was the signal for three final long-range flights. One of them took a Skymaster on a 2,700-mileround trip over the Pole, from the ice runway to a position on the far side of the Antarctic Continent, and back again.Altogether, Task Force 43, as it is called, numbers seven ships and 18 aircraft. The latter consist of two Lockheed Neptunesequipped with wheel-and-ski landing gear (a photograph of one of them appeared on p. 46 last week), two Douglas DC-4 Sky-masters, two Grumman Albatross Triphibians (equipped for sea, snow or normal ground landings), two Douglas DC-3 Dakotas,four ski-equipped D.H. Canada Otters and six Sikorsky heli- copters. The Cyprus Airlift TN last week's airlift to Cyprus, organized at short notice, 12,000-•• men of the 16th Independent Parachute Brigade Group H.Q. and of the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the Parachute Regiment wereflown out in Shackletons of Coastal Command and Hastings of Transport Command. Twenty-eight Shackletons were detailedfor the operation, together with 16 Hastings, the majority of the latter being used to carry the force's equipment. One of theShackletons was struck by lightning near the English coast; the aircraft was undamaged, but returned to Blackbushe as a pre-cautionary measure, as it was suspected that the compass had been affected. The American Industry, 1955-56 A CCORDING to a statement by Admiral DeWitt C. Ramsey,**• President of America's Aircraft Industries Association, the year 1955 was marked by a greater number of significant achieve-ments in the aviation field than any year since World War 2. In the main, this could be attributed to the acceleration andexpansion of research and development resulting from the out- break of hostilities in Korea in 1950. Progress in the military fieldwas paralleled by significant achievements in commercial aviation. Orders totalling more than $ 1,000m were placed with the Americanaircraft manufacturing industry for jet transports, and at the year's end the transport-manufacturers' backlog of orders for all typesof aircraft was at an "all-time high." Despite the decline in unit production of military types, salesvolume of aircraft, engines, airscrews, and spares was estimated at $8,400m as compared with $8,300m in 1954. This increase wasdue to the average weight and cost of military aircraft being greater than in earlier years; an increased amount of productioneffort being devoted to guided missiles; the dollar volume of commercial sales being higher than in pre-vious years; and research and development activities having progressed at a high level.Sales of the twelve largest aircraft manu- facturing companies were expected to be$4,940m for 1955, compared with 1954 sales of $4,920m. Deliveries of military products continuedto represent 85 to 90 per cent of the indus- try's effort. Military production averagedabout 700 aircraft per month, i.e. a total of some 8,400 units for the year, comparedwith 1954 production of approximately 9,600 units. More than 4,500 civil aircraft had beensold, an increase of a thousand over 1954. The major increase was in the utility air-craft field where deliveries were estimated RED BERETS AT BLACKBUSHE: Troops of the Parachute Regiment embarking in an Avro Shackleton of No. 228 Squadron, Coastal Command, R.A.F., for Cyprus (see leading article, and news item on this page).
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