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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0203.PDF
FLIGHT, 17 February 1956 Daring his recent visit to Malaya, Air Chief Marshal Sir Dermot Boyle, Chief of the Air Staff, flew in a Prestwick Pioneer of No. 267 Sqn. to visit the airstrip at Fort Shean in the state of Pahang. He is here seen walking with senior F.E.A.F. officers to the head- quarters building by the airstrip. SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm News R.Aux.A.F. Anniversary A BALL will be held at the Savoy Hotel,-<*• London, on February 24th to com- memorate the 30th anniversary of the for-mation of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. The first squadron was formed in 1925,but the anniversary celebrations had to be postponed from last year to the late winterseason because of R.Aux.A.F. commitments for summer camps and air exercises. C.A.S. Returns A FTER his 20,000-mile tour of R.A.F.•**• establishments in the Mediterranean and the Middle and Far East, Air ChiefMarshal Sir Dermot Boyle, Chief of the Air Staff, landed his Canberra B.6 at Lon-don Airport, five minutes ahead of schedule, on February 8th. He had taken off fromMalta 2 hr 55 min earlier. During most of his tour Sir Dermotpiloted the aircraft. By using this means of travel he had saved several working daysand had had to spend less than 48 hours in the air. The new C.A.S. has considerableexperience of jet flying; even before this tour he had made several notable long-distance flights in Canberras. U.L.A.S. Coming-of-age 'THE University of London Air Squad-••• ron celebrated its 21st anniversary at a dinner held at Imperial College, Kensing-ton, London, on February 3rd. The squad- ron now flies its Chipmunks and Harvardsfrom Kenley and boasts a flourishing Fighter Control Unit whose personnel in-cludes several women undergraduates. W/C. I. J. Spencer, the CommandingOfficer, proposing the health of the guests, paid tribute to what he termed last year'smost successful pupil pilot, Lord de L'Isle and Dudley, who, at 46 years of age, went 231 solo in ten hours. The CO. went on togreet A.V-M. F. H. M. Maynard, the squadron's first CO., and presented a largecrested wooden key symbolizing the squad- ron's newly acquired maturity. Theresponse was made by Mr. J. F. Lock- wood, the Vice-Chancellor. The toast of the squadron was proposedby Mr. Christopher Soames, making his first appearance at this type of functionsince his appointment as Under-Secretary of State for Air. He referred to the squad-ron's steady growth and its achievement both in war and peace. Stressing the grow-ing need for high intelligence, skill and ability in the Service, he said that whereasmany years ago an officer needed no vivid imagination in order to attain highrank, he now needed both knowledge and imagination. Mr. Soames noted with approval that thesquadron had been the first of the univer- sity units to allow women to join its F.C.U.Without giving any details, he also re- marked that coming increases in Servicepay would make the R.A.F. more attractive as a career than politics.In a reply on behalf of the squadron, Mr. L. Borley, of Birkbeck, expressed the hopethat the squadron would not still be equipped with Chipmunks at the time ofits jubilee. In many ways, he said, the members regretted the move from Booker,but no longer would they be tempted to lap Stirling Moss at Siiverstone with a Chip-munk. In face of the varied flying restric- tions consequent upon Kenley's position in the London Control Zone, he looked toMerrydown, "that great leveller", to have a desirable effect. Finally, he remarked alittle sadly that, while flying members dealt with piston-engined Chipmunks, the mostlychairborne members of the F.C.U. were dealing with jets. Finally, W/C. Spencer presented threenew trophies for the first time. The recipi- ents are portrayed in an illustration on dienext page. Antarctic Austers TN a message from the Antarctic, Dr.••- Vivian Fuchs, leader of the Trans- Antarctic Expedition, has paid tribute tothe work of the R.A.F. element in helping the expedition ship Theron in its task ofestablishing a base camp. The R.A.F. team is led by S/L. J. H. Lewis, who reportedthat, in the pack-ice, bad luck confined fly- ing to the two occasions when pools of ice-free water were available. The aircraft had, however, behaved exceptionally well andservicing had not so far presented any diffi- culty. Three holes made in the wings ofone Auster—by lumps of ice thrown up after dynamite was used to free the shipfrom the ice-floes—were patched by F/Sgt. P. B. Weston, the aircraft fitter. All radioequipment had worked efficiently, especi- ally the radio compass. The two aircraftare now mounted on skis. Hunter Mishap ON February 8th, eight Hunters fromthe Central Fighter Establishment at West Raynham were caught short of fuelby a sudden deterioration in the weather. Visibility is reported to have been 660 yd,with seven-eighths cloud cover at 100ft. The aircraft were diverted to Marham, butout of the eight only two made successful landings. Four pilots baled out and landedsafely in the Swaffham area and another crash-landed just short of the runway atMarham and was unhurt; but S/L. R. A. Tumilty was killed making a crash-landingsome distance further out from the runway. An unexpected cold front arrived, and—it is reported—the weather clamped 20 minutes after the formation took off; arecall signal had been sent. One of the McDonnel F2H-4 Banshees now being delivered to the Royal Canadian Navy.
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