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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0394.PDF
392 FLIGHT CANADIAN NAVAL AVIATION . . . H.M.C. Observer School; and VX 10 is an experimental squadron, which tests new aircraft and anti-submarine equipment. VF 870, the only fighter squadron to receive Banshees to date, completed familiarization flying on the type at the U.S.N. base at Cecil Field, Jacksonville, Florida. This included ground-crew and engineer training as well as flying practice. The two anti- submarine squadrons which may be the first to get the Grumman CS2Fs, VS 880 and VS 881, completed five months afloat in H.M.C.S. Magnificent just before Christmas of last year. The helicopter squadrons use only American-built aircraft, such as the newest Sikorsky HO4S as well as the Piasecki HUP-2. HU 21 is the helicopter utility squadron which does search and rescue, radar calibrations with ships, and "fish drops" for the Federal Department of Fisheries. HS 50, the newest of the heli- copter squadrons, is engaged in work of a classified nature con- cerning uses of asdic equipment or "dunking sonar." Its aircraft are the HO4S (S-55) and HSS (S-58). Anodier feature of R.C.N. air research which came into its own last year is the work of helicopters in Arctic waters. During the 1955 cruise of H.M.C.S. Labrador, the Navy's new icebreaker, first vessel ever to circumnavigate the North-west Passage, two single-rotor Bell HTL-4s and a tandem-rotor Piasecki HUP were aboard. The machines were used in open-water searches ahead of the icebreaker and in ocean-bottom soundings in connection with hydrographic surveys. The R.C.N. has recently decided not to train nor recruit further commissioned observers. At present (O) officers will complete their initial commitment and may try for pilot (P) classification or stay in the Service as executive officers. This will mean obtaining a watch-keeping certificate and, if they desire, specializing in one of the regular professional subjects of the Navy. Especially in helicopter squadrons, the replacement of one observer and one pilot by two pilots has had its repercussions. While it is recog- nized that helicopter flying can be most tedious and a serious strain on a pilot, those who wish to see (O) officers retained ask how regular (O) duties can be carried out by officers trained primarily as pilots. There have been problems of aircraft procurement. Chief of these was the five-month strike at the de Havilland Canada fac- tories which began just after tooling for manufacture of the CS2F had begun. The firm is making this aircraft under contract from Grumman in the U.S.A. Unfortunately for R.C.N. training schedules, the new sub-killer now looks like being out of the picture for at least another 12 months—maybe more. In the last two years the development of a Naval Air Reserve in Canada has been undertaken. At present, there are reserve squadrons in five Canadian cities. The oldest and largest is VC 920 of Toronto. Flying Harvards and Avengers, their reserve pilots completed deck landing qualifications this summer on board H.M.C.S. Magnificent. This was the first time in the history of the Canadian Navy that "week-end sailors" have qualified as carrier pilots. Like their permanent-force counterparts, they still have as their main aircraft the Grumman Avenger, once used by the U.S.N. for front-line air sweeps in die Pacific. Reserve pilots will not, however, fly the Sea Fury—which, like the Avenger, will be a thing of the past when the new aircraft arrive. The strong preponderance of U.S. aircraft and equipment in the R.C.N. is not difficult to understand. In this age of sudden supersonic attack which can be initiated and carried out in a few hours, sources of equipment-supply cannot be 3,000 miles away in the United Kingdom. Logistical and regional reasoning win out over sentimental ones when the cold war can change over- night to a hot one. With U.S. sources a few hundred miles away and liaison a matter of a short flight, the R.C.N. is certain to con- tinue to rely on the U.S. aircraft industry for its aircraft. It has been a brief but progressive decade for naval air power in Canada. Operating as the new medium of warfare that it is, in a Service devoted since the dawn of history to fighting on the surface of the sea, air power in the Royal Canadian Navy today has assurance, a record to point to, acceptance by the nation and a sound future in the jet air age. THE DE HAVILLAND D.H.9 (Continued from page 388) "On June 8th ... of the five machines which returned with theirbombs, Capt. Taylor's broke the magneto drive; Lt. Richards' engine would not give satisfactory results at a height; and Lts. Freeland's andBlack's developed some sort of ignition tiouble." Fortunately, matters improved a little and much good work was performed by No. 99 Sqn. as the mechanics grew to under- stand the shortcomings of the Puma. The experience was not cheaply bought: their average daily working hours were never fewer than fourteen. One or two "home-made" modifications were contrived by the squadron in attempts to minimize die inadequacy of the D.H.9's engine. A pair of carburettors fitted wim squadron-modified alti- tude controls were fitted to C.6210 and produced a worthwhile improvement in performance. The aircraft was flown by Lt. W. G. Stevenson and was regarded as the best machine in the squadron. In at least one case (that of C.6202) the replacement of the original small-diameter air-intake pipes to the carburettor by the 2|-in internal-diameter pipes which were later standardized effectively improved the aircraft's performance. No. 99 Squadron was not alone in its misfortunes, and there can be no doubt that the same troubles were also experienced by the other units which were equipped with D.H.9s. Statistics for the Independent Force show that of all the D.H.9s which set out for enemy targets, one in every seven was obliged to return without reaching its objective. One of the D.H.9's greater successes was the attack on Thion- ville railway station made by 12 machines from No. 99 Sqn. and six D.H.4s of No. 55 Sqn. on July 12th, 1918. Seven 230-lb, twenty 112-lb, eight 25-lb and two 40-lb phosphorus bombs were dropped; an ammunition train was twice hit; shell-laden trucks caught fire and exploded; shells stacked in sheds by the tracks also exploded; and two buildings housing small-arms ammunition and hand grenades caught fire and blew up. An enormous amount of damage was done, and the goods station was completely destroyed. Enemy fighter opposition began to increase during the summer of 1918, and it became more and more imperative for the D.H.9s to hold their formations when attacked, in order to provide adequate defensive cross-fire from the observers' guns. That, in its turn, demanded unflagging performance from the engines. A grim example of what could happen was provided by the events of July 31st, 1918. They are best described in the dis- passionate words of the historian of No. 99 Sqn.: — "On Wednesday the 31st, twelve machines, led by Capt. Taylor andLt. Doidge, left for Mainz at 5.30 a.m. Three of these returned before crossing the Lines, Lt. Broadbent with a cracked cylinder head, andLts. West and Richards with minor engine trouble. The remaining nine machines were attacked by forty hostile scouts in several strongformations in the neighbourhood of Saarburg. The co-operation and power of manoeuvre of the enemy were much above the average. Theirtactics were to engage in a general combat, six or more machines at a time manoeuvring freely above the formation, whilst two or threemachines concentrated on a single D.H.9 from below at very close range. Owing to the fact that the Albatros and Fokker scouts were approximatelytwenty miles per hour faster than the D.H.9s, these tactics were prac- ticable, and proved very successful. "Seeing that it would be impossible to reach Mainz in the face ofsuch odds, Capt. Taylor decided to bomb Saarbriicken. Four D.H.9s had been shot down before this objective was reached, but the remaining fivepilots dropped their bombs on the station and sidings. On the return journey, three more of the formation were put out of action, and it wasprobably due to the appearance of two formations of No. 104 Sqn., which had just crossed the Lines, that the remaining machines pilotedby Capt. Taylor and Lt. Hewson, with Lts. Nodey and Alsford as observers, were able to regain their aerodrome." Of the fourteen officers who were lost in this action five were killed and the remainder made prisoners. It was not until August 15th that No. 99 Sqn. was restored to sufficient strength to make another attack. The unit joined with No. 104 Sqn. to attack Boulay aerodrome. A week later the D.H.9s of No. 104 Sqn. were attacked by 40 enemy fighters while on die way to bomb Mannheim. Two of the D.H.9s were shot down before the target was reached, and five more fell on the return journey. Maj-Gen. Trenchard's prophecy that the D.H.9 would be obsolete by June 1918 had proved to be correct. By the end of August he decided that it could no longer be regarded as a front- line operational type, and that the losses its continued use must incur did not justify sending the D.H.9 squadrons over the lines. In his report on die work of the R.A.F. on the Western Front during October 1918, Maj-Gen. J. M. Salmond summed up the D.H.9's shortcomings in the following terms. Pointing out diat die success of air operations depended upon the degree of air superiority attained, he said: — "This is demonstrably true, at the present time, of D.H.9 Squadronswith 200 B.H.P. engines, for although this type of aeroplane has sufficient petrol and oil, to enable it to reach objectives 100 miles from the lines, ?tslow ceiling, and inferior performance, oblige it to accept battle when, and where, the defending forces choose, with the practical result thatraids tend to become restricted to those areas within which protection can be afforded by the daily offensive patrols of scout squadrons. . . ." But there were no replacements for the D.H.9s until the war was nearly over, and they had to soldier on until the Armistice, not only with the units of the Independent Force but with many othtf squadrons. (To be continued)
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