FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0040.PDF
40 FLIGHT, 11 January 1957 Bearing the distinctive arrow marking of the U.S.A.F.'s 10th Tac Recon Group, an RB57A and an RB-57C of the Group's lit Sqn. fly in close formation. Col. F. W. Dyer, the Group commander, who flies all four types of aircraft in his command, led this formation. ACHTUNG CANBERRA!... A.T.A.F. area, to see the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. Ithas three groups (a U.S.A.F. group is smaller than a wing), the Base Group, the Maintenance and Service Group and the 10thTactical Reconnaissance Group, the wing's flying unit, in which our main interest lay. We were most hospitably welcomed byCol. F. W. Dyer, the 10th Group Commander, who has under his direction four units, officially named the 1st Tac Recon Squadron,Night Photo; the 32nd and 38th Tac Recon Squadrons, Day Photo; and the 42nd Tac Recon Squadron, a composite unitconcerned with electronics and weather activities. The 32nd and 38th Squadrons have RF-84F Thunderflashesfor use in the standard range of day photographic missions; the composite 42nd Squadron has T-33s for weather recce and RB-26sfor special reconnaissance. A number of the latter, bearing 42nd Squadron markings and fitted with many radomes and aerials,have from time to time been seen at Blackbushe, Surrey, and at various airfields in Germany. In Flight on December 21, thearrival of two RB-66Cs for the 42nd Squadron was noted. This variant of the B-66 is reported in America to have special recon-naissance equipment. The 1st Squadron also had RB-26s until about a year ago, when it converted to the RB-57s which were ourmain interest at Spangdahlem. U.S.A.F. personnel are acutely aware of security restrictions andnormally will say very much less about their aircraft than the manufacturers divulge even before the first flight of the prototypes.Thus I was able to learn very little about the operational work of the RB-57 Canberras. Every possible assistance was given to usin obtaining air-to-air pictures, but the photographs taken "on the flight line" were made only after the passes specially issuedto both our American escorts and ourselves had been examined by the ground-crews working on the aircraft. Armed sentries stoodguard over the aircraft—as they do at every operational U.S.A.F. base in Germany. The 10th Wing's operational tasks are varied. By day they areto provide visual and photographic reconnaissance; destroy hostile forces; spot and control artillery fire; fly tactical and defence sorties;provide aerial photographic coverage for map-making; and carry out other tasks on request. By night they provide visual, photo-graphic and radar reconnaissance; observe and photograph bomb damage; provide synoptic and weather control; and fly othermissions on request. First- and second-phase photographic pro- cessing and interpretation is done at squadron level, but a recon-naissance technical squadron, including a mobile field photo- graphic processing unit, takes care of additional production andrequirements. The RB-57s flown by the 1st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron(Lt-Col. J. K. Graham) are of three types, the A, B and C variants. The RB-57A is in many respects equivalent to the British P.R.3except that it carries fewer cameras, has the Martin rotating bomb- Below, an RB-57A's Wright J65 Sapphire gets a dramatically smoky cartridge start at Spangdahlem. The two pictures at right show the main differences between the RB-57 A (upper) and C. Both hove the rotating bomb-door, shown half turned on the A, but only the C has four 20 mm cannon in the wings. Individual aircraft markings, such as the splendid "Nite Mare," are widely used.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
