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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0957.PDF
13 July 1956 103 I Alighting from a Transport Command Comet 2 at Hattield on their return from Moscow are Air Marshal Sir Thomas Pike, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, Col. Konstaninov, Soviet Air Attache in London, and A.Cdre. A. R. D. MacDonell, British Air Attache in Moscow. No. 29 Squadron Standard THE Chief of the Air Staff, Air ChiefMarshal Sir Dermot Boyle, will present the Standard to No. 29 Squadron at R.A.F.Station, Tangmere, Sussex, on July 18. No. 29 was a day fighter squadron onthe Western Front in the first war, and one of the most successful home-defence nightfighter squadrons in the second. It still operates in the night fighter role, and isequipped with Meteors. The present com- manding officer is W/C. J. A. C. Aiken.The Battle Honours embroidered on the Squadron Standard are: Western Front,1916-1918; Somme, 1916; Ypres, 1917; Somme, 1918; Channel and North Sea,1939-1940; Battle of Britain, 1940; Home Defence, 1940-1945; France and Germany,1944-1945. No. 29 Squadron was formed in Novem-ber 1915 and went to France the following March as one of the first single-seat fightersquadrons, with the task of helping to com- bat the "Fokker scourge." It was equippedwith the D.H.2. Among the squadron pilots during the early months in Francewere Lt. Henry Segrave, later to receive a knighthood for his land and water speed SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm News record achievements, and F/Sgt. J. T. B.McCudden, who became one of the leading British fighter pilots. McCudden shotdown his first enemy aircraft and won the Military Medal and Military Cross withNo. 29 Squadron. On a later operational tour with No. 56 Sqn. he won the VictoriaCross. In March 1917 the squadron re- equipped with Nieuports and a year laterwith S.E.5as which it kept until the end of the war. It was engaged on low-levelfighter-bomber work as well as "dog-fight- ing," and at the close of hostilities hadclaimed the destruction of more than 220 enemy aircraft and balloons. At the start of the second war No. 29Squadron was based at Debden, Essex, equipped with Blenheims. During theearly months it was engaged on routine patrol work and claimed its first enemybomber destroyed in May 1940. At the end of the year the squadron started toreceive Beaufighters and the number of suc- cesses increased. One of the flight com-manders during this period was S/L. Guy Gibson, later to win the Victoria Cross forleading the raid against the Ruhr dams. Gibson won a bar to the D.F.C. whileserving with No. 29 Squadron at West Mailing, Kent, the citation stating that hehad destroyed three enemy aircraft and damaged a fourth. Although enemy nightbomber activity declined from the spring of 1941, No. 29 Squadron achieved out-standing results on several occasions. In October 1942 during a "Baedecker" raidon Canterbury it shot down four Dornier Do 17s. In January 1943 when a force ofabout 50 enemy bombers attacked London, No. 29 Squadron shot down seven of them.Among leading night-fighter pilots who flew with No. 29 were W/C. C. M. Wight-Boycott, who destroyed four enemy aircraft in one night, and S/L. J. R. D. Brahamwhose "score" with the squadron was 13. In the summer of 1943 Mosquitos re-placed the Beaufightersj and in 1944 night intruder operations over the Continentwere undertaken. After D-Day many sorties were flown over the Normandybeach-heads. Later the Squadron mounted patrols against the flying-bombs andattacked launching sites. After the war No. 29 Squadron went to its present baseat Tangmere and in 1951 became the first night fighter squadron to be equipped withMeteor NF.lls. Sabres Replaced ''THE last of the North American F-86E-*• Sabres, which have been in squadron service with the R.A.F. since 1953, havenow been replaced by Hunters, delivered from an off-shore procurement contractplaced by the United States Government in the United Kingdom. Between 300 and400 F-86E Sabres were supplied to the R.A.F. from Canada in 1952 and 1953,under a joint United States/Canadian mutual aid arrangement, and further Sabreswere provided by the United States early in 1953. In all twelve R.A.F. squadrons wereequipped with Sabres. They logged an aggregate of over 120,000 flying hours—representing a distance covered of 48 mil- lion miles at a cruising speed of 400 m.p.h.The first squadron—and the last—to fly Sabres—was No. 3 based at Geilenkirchen,Germany, and commanded by S/L. T. H. Hutchinson. No. 3 Squadron—which re-cently celebrated its 43rd anniversary of continuous service—received its first threeSabres on May 12, 1953. Seven of the original aircraft were with the squadronuntil this month, the oldest (XB 590) having completed more than 800 flyinghours. "Becher's Brook" was the name given tothe transatlantic ferrying operations which brought the Sabres from Canada. The air-craft flew from Quebec via Goose Bay (Labrador), Bluie West (Greenland), Kefla-vik (Iceland) to Prestwick, a distance of nearly 3,000 miles, then on to R.A.F. Main-tenance Units. The ferrying was under- taken by No. 147 Squadron, TransportCommand (originally designated No. 1 Long Range Ferry Unit). Despite the in-hospitable route and at times severe weather the operation ran to schedule and with veryfew losses. Trips varied in duration from three weeks to only two days, accordingto weather, but actual flying time for the journey averaged six-and-a-half hours. Vulcan for Australia THE Air Ministry announce that an AvroVulcan of R.A.F. Bomber Command will participate in the Air Force com-memoration week ceremonies in Australia in September. The invitation to send theVulcan was made by Air Marshal Sir John McCauley, Chief of the Air Staff, R.A.A.F., (Lett) Freddie the Fox, new mascot of No. 72 Squadron, seems content enough in the care of F/Q. Frank Booth. F/O. Booth is thanking Sir James Ritchie, chair- man of the Battersea Dogs' Home, who handed Freddie over. (Right) F/O. Ken Bassett and one of the mascots of No. 757 Squadron, needless to to say a night fighter unit (present equip- ment Venoms).
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