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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0828.PDF
830 FLIGHT FROM ALL QUARTERS . . . Sweden, drove to Tullinge Air Force Station, a half-hour carjourney from the Swedish capital, and was welcomed by the station commander, Maj-Gen. Tore Rapp. The inspection of thecolour party (with the standard of the F.I8 Fighter Wing borne by F/L. Karl-Erik von Heland and the guard of honour—armedwith Husquvarna automatics—commanded by G/C. Allan Wiren) took place in a hangar, for a persistent drizzle had set in. Duringthe inspection ceremony, Air Force music was played by the bands of the Bravalla and Skaraborg Wings. The Duke wore Air Mar-shal's uniform and full decorations, the R.A.F. blue contrasting markedly with the navy blue uniforms and the peaked whitesummer caps of the Royal Swedish Air Force. After the initial ceremony the Duke and G/C. Ryan were drivento the underground hangars, which are about a kilometre from station headquarters. Subsequently a scramble of the F.8 FighterWing was staged. The Saab J29 "flying barrel" fighters, with engines already running, were towed from their undergroundberths by large jeeps; the cable was slipped by each driver and the jeep moved quickly to the left3 whereupon the fighter wasready for its take-off run. The wing was airborne in 2 min 45 sec. The Duke of Edinburgh then went to an ordinary hangar wheremodels of machines in current use by the Swedish Air Force were on view. These included the Hawker Hunter, which is a recentaddition to Sweden's considerable fighter strength, the J29, the Saab SK50 trainer and the A32 Lansen (two-seater all-weatherattack aircraft, with cannon, bomb and rocket armament). Show- ing great interest in this aircraft the Duke inspected it at lengthand put questions to the pilots. No. J35 Draken was on view. Cloud descended to 100 metres and visibility was only 1,500metres, so the extensive air display to be staged for the Duke was cancelled. After lunching at the officers' mess he returned toStockholm by car. Sweden is pursuing a course of armed neutrality and is rigidlyrefraining from allying herself with any power bloc; her Air Force is her most modern and powerful service and is capable of doingconsiderable damage to an invader from whichever side he might come. It is a tactical force, with its strength in fighter defence.Ten day-fighter groups and one night-fighter group are the bulk of this strength, and a 50 per cent increase in the number of day-fighter aircraft is under way. The day-fighter force is at the moment mainly equipped withJ29s which, though they can exceed 1,000 km/hr, are shortly to be replaced by J35s. The strength of the four groups of lighttactical ground-attack aircraft is going to be increased by 25-50 per cent in the near future; during this year and next they will beequipped with the A32 Lansen. Five reconnaissance squadrons, several training units, a tacticaland reconnaissance photographic centre and various training centres complete the strength of the Royal Swedish Air Force.Sweden is having some difficulty in getting the right sort of people for jet pilots as most university students seem to have a strongpreference for technical or business careers; it is difficult, also, to get sufficient suitable radar personnel. Hunter Information Bureau THE Dutch Government has set up a "Hunter Bureau" as acontrolling body for all work done on Hunters being built under licence in Holland. Thus only rarely do problems have tobe referred to the parent company, Hawkers, in this country. Hunters, which have already earned £124 millions (mainly indollars) for Britain, are also built in Belgian factories. Parts or semi-fabricated components, such as inspection panels, are oftenmade in another country—Great Britain or Belgium or Holland. As they are assembled into the aircraft immediately they areunpacked their manufacture calls for a high degree of dimensional accuracy. Aird Whyte Trophy Winners FOR the third time, No. 120 Squadron (W/C. P. R. Casement,D.S.O., D.F.C., A.F.C.), R.A.F. Coastal Command—top war- time U-boat "killer" unit in the Service—have won the AirdWhyte bombing and gunnery trophy. A silver bowl, this is awarded annually to the squadron with the highest aggregatescore based on operational submarine-attack techniques. Based at Aldergrove, Northern Ireland, and now equipped with AvroShackletons, No. 120 Squadron destroyed during World War 2 sixteen enemy U-boats and shared in the sinking of three others. Air Marshal Sir Bryan Reynolds, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Coastal Command, presented the trophy to W/C. Casement at his headquarters in Northwood, Middlesex, on June 25. Mrs.A. C. Whyte, who gave it in 1951 for competition within the Command in memory of her son, Sgt. N. F. Whyte, watched theceremony with her husband. No. 206 Squadron (W/C. J. Preston) of St. Eval, Cornwall,were runners-up. A NEW RESCUE/TARGET-TOWING LAUNCH AN experimental high-speed rescue/target-towing launch, 2762E,**• powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce Sea Griffon Mk 101 engines and with an all-welded aluminium hull, has been built by Vosper,Ltd., of Portsmouth, and subjected to extensive trials. The project originated when Vospers, as a design firm to the Ministry ofSupply for fast launches of the air/sea-rescue type, were entrusted in January 1952 with the design of a 68ft vessel primarily to act asa floating test-bed for the first pair of Sea Griffon 101 engines. These units were being developed by Rolls-Royce, Ltd., for marineapplications on behalf of the Ministry of Supply. Whereas most A.S.R. launches in the past have had woodenhulls, that of 2762E has framing, longitudinals, bulkheads and bottom section of Argonarc- and Argonaut-welded aluminium,while the skin above the hard chine is of Fibreglass moulded by Helematic, Ltd.The Sea Griffon 101 engine is a development of the aero Griffon 57 (which was the standard power unit of Spitfires Mk 14 toMk 22). The main body of the 57 unit, including combustion components, has been used, with the airscrew reduction gearreplaced by a reversing gearbox. Basically, the engine is a 12- cylinder 60 deg vee of 6in bore and 6.6in stroke, giving a totalswept volume of 37.7 litres. Maximum power output is 1,450 b.h.p. The units are fresh-water-cooled with sea-water-cooled heat-,exchangers. Transmission is through vee drives with a reduction ratio of1.54:1. Three tanks situated immediately forward of the engine room carry a total of 2,220 gallons of fuel. Accommodation is conventional for craft of this type, incor-porating a forecastle for eight men, with galley; sickbay with accommodation for six stretchers; and commanding officer's cabin,on the main deck. A W/T. office is located at the after end of the superstructure.In addition to items already mentioned, structure and equipment includes Simmonds Pacitor fuel gauges, Flylite flexible piping,Bloctube controls, Metalastik flexible couplings, Pren cables, Smiths space heater, Decca radar and SARAH search equipment. The new Vosper launch at speed; she has attained 40 kt during her trials. The interior view shows the two Sea Griffon 707-
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