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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1406.PDF
558 FLIGHT, 28 September 1956 Air Chief Marshal Sir Alec Coryton presents a Standard to No. 31 Sqn. at Laarbruch, Germany. The Standard Bearer is f 10. E. Davies. Commanding Officer of the squadron is S/L. J. C. Stead. Exercise "Stronghold" THIS year's major air defence exercise,which is now drawing to a close, was principally designed to test the air defenceof the United Kingdom and afford an opportunity for practice. Although simi-lar in conception to last year's exercise "Beware," "Stronghold" saw the introduc-tion of no major new techniques. There was no background story to set the sceneand Fighter Command's task was simply to intercept as great a proportion as pos-sible of the raids put up by various com- mands and air forces. There were twophases instead of the usual three, the first one lasting from 0100 hr last Friday untilSunday afternoon, and the second from 0100 hr on Wednesday until tonight. At a preliminary Press conference lastweek at H.Q. Fighter Command, the A.O.C-in-C, Air Marshal Sir ThomasPike, explained that the first phase was a purely domestic exercise with the object ofgiving the regular defences practice against a variety of raiding aircraft provided byBomber and Flying Training Commands, the Fleet Air Arm, and by some units ofthe Continental air forces and of the U.S.A.F. in the United Kingdom. Sincethe emphasis was on countering a surprise air attack, no special steps were taken towarn or call up reservists and the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. Because of the keen-ness of the latter, a good Auxiliary turn-out was nevertheless expected. During the second phase "Stronghold"would be co-ordinated with "Whipsaw," a large NATO air exercise under the direc-tion of SACEUR. By virtue of this fact the variety and origin of raiders would behard to foretell and would give the battle- order intelligence organizations an interest-ing task. Raiders flying between England and the Continent would be interceptedby both NATO and R.A.F. fighters. The C-in-C. made it clear that this co-operationwith SACEUR in no way affected Fighter Command's commitment to the defenceof the British Isles, either during "Strong- SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm News hold" or in any conflict. A further exer-cise during the first phase of "Stronghold" would be "Outward Bound," a RoyalObserver Corps exercise providing first experience of the new task of radio-activefall-out plotting and reporting. Unfortunately, continued the Air Mar-shal, neither Javelins nor V-bombers were expected to take part in "Stronghold" inany numbers. [Some Valiants were in fact intercepted and two Javelins claimed thesurprising total of five kills in ten minutes at night during phase one.] OtherwiseNo. 46 Sqn., the only Javelin unit, was still engaged on intensive flying trials whichwould last for about six weeks more. These, said Sir Thomas, had to be given priority.The V-bombers could not be committed to a period of intensive activity when theirservices might be needed elsewhere. As it turned out, the major proportionof raiders in Phase 1 appear to have been fighters simulating bombers; and some ofthese came from Fighter Command itself. New equipment in "Stronghold" con-sisted mainly of a type of radar which has just been introduced and which apparentlygives remarkably good results. In addi- tion, a part of the control and reportingground network -had been set aside for trials of the new automatic high-speed plot-ting system. The new radar gave better "visibility" over considerably increasedranges. After explaining the layout of the exer-cise, at the conference referred to above, Air Marshal Sir Thomas Pike was ques-tioned in some detail as to why Javelins were not taking part in the exercise andwhether raiders would be operating at realistic heights and speeds. The Javelin, he replied, had gained abad reputation which was rather unjusti- fied. The type was in fact doing far betterin service than the Hunter had done at an equivalent stage in its introduction,. Hayingreturned the previous day from a visit to No. 46 Sqn. at Odiham, he could reportthat the aircrews were extremely pleased with the Javelin. There were one or twosnags, such as starter cartridges exploding and blowing a hole in the bottom of thefuselage, and air-brakes freezing up in the extended position. Remedies for thesedefects were already in hand. But the crews reported that they were very happywith the A.I. gear, both with its range performance and lock-on. On the score of engines, said Sir Thomas,there was no difficulty. The Sapphire, which was almost the same as that of theHunter 5, had given no trouble. In any case, the Javelin's single-engined handlingwas absolutely straightforward. Pilots felt that the aircraft was as good as, if notbetter than the Hunter on the score of performance; it had the same rate of climb,the same top speed and could turn inside a Hunter in most conditions. Gun-firinghad given no trouble. Guided weapons were not yet being carried. In view ofthis state of affairs, Sir Thomas wondered what all the fuss was about. But it wastrue that both Hunter and Javelin were late—by a matter of years, not months. Hecould state categorically, however, that the R.A.F.'s V-bornbers were better than anyother bomber in the world and that both Hunter and Javelin could shoot them down. In reply to a question about missiles, theC-in-C. stated that no air-to-air guided mis- siles were in service in any country. Askedimmediately about the Hughes Falcon and Sperry Sparrow in U.S.A.F. and U.S. Navysquadrons, he pointed out that the Hughes Falcon relied for success on a direct hit.Without some kind of proximity fusing it was not acceptable by R.A.F. standards.Fireflash, he added, would not go into R.A.F. squadron service and would not befitted to R.A.F. Hunters. It had a limited capability and, since finances were far fromunlimited, the Service had decided to go straight for the more advanced weaponwhich would shortly be available. No details of this were yet released. Swiftshad been converted for Fireflash opera- tional trials mainly because a number ofthem had in any case to be bought and the airframe was conveniently available. The Hunter was now established insquadron service in large numbers and, though there was still a backlog of modi-fications to be carried out on some aircraft, the type was satisfactory and now free fromgun-firing and other difficulties. Results after over a year in squadron service weremost encouraging and the accident rate had been less than half that which had beenexpected. It took about a year to work die snags out of a new type in service despiteall preliminary testing. Sir Thomas gave some indication of thelines along which air defence might develop in the future. He referred to radar employ-ing the forward-scatter principle, which might lead to radar sets having ranges ofbetween 250 and 300 miles and between 900 and 1,000 miles. Asked when themanned fighter could be expected to be replaced by ground-to-air guided weapons,he said that there was a definite and con- tinuing need for manned fighters. The P.Iwould be able to reach Mach 2 during its life, but a manned fighter with Mach 2-3capability was a definite requirement—in order to cope with stand-off bombing, andbecause we could not afford not to have a defence against manned bombers. Thepilot would continue to provide a flexibi- lity of operation which was invaluable.Ground-to-air missiles would be intro- duced for target defence, but they were inthe nature of a second string. Manned fighters would also be required as a highlymobile stand-by for the missiles. The First Phase.—The first phase of"Stronghold" took much the same form as similar phases of previous exercises. Onthe fighter airfields it was a case of stand- ing by for long periods until the local situa-tion justified the longed-for scramble. Then the cry was for height and speed and, underthe guidance of the ever-watchful G.C.I., a rush in to "clobber" the designated target.The pulse-like alternation of frenzied acti- vity and seemingly endless inertia wasmaintained as the air battle flowed and ebbed around the coasts. By Saturdaymorning die Auxiliary squadrons had brought their ageing Meteors into effectivecontact with a variety of aircraft, and the summery stratosphere became criss-crossedwith scores of vapour trails. It transpired in Phase 1 that some Hun-ters had tangled with F-100 Super Sabres from Holland. According to an AirMinistry spokesman the Hunters in all cases claimed to have shot down the F-lOOs.Odier Air Ministry sources admitted that the F-lOOs were flying at reduced speed,presumably at their long-range ferrying speed of Mach 0.86. By using its level-speed capabilities alone the F-100 could show a Hunter a very clean set of after-burner eyelids.
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