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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0041.PDF
FLIGHT, 11 January 1957 41 The 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Group at Spangdahlem has amassed a great collection of general-interest air-to-ground pictures similar to those made by No. 31 Sqn. at Laarbruch. This one shows the Colosseum at Rome, flanked by the Arch of Constantine. ACHTUNG CANBERRA! . . . door and is capable of ground attack work as well as night photo-graphy. Because of the night commitment all the 57s are finished in glossy black, with identification signs in red. The Groupinsignia is a plain arrow on a broad band across fin and rudder, each squadron using a different pair of colours; the 1st uses blackon white. I was also delighted to see each aircraft wearing its own individual emblem on the forward fuselage in the World War 2tradition. Excellently painted (and characteristically American), they stand out well against the glossy black finish. The RB-57B is a more advanced version, still retaining thecameras and rotating bomb-doors, but having completely re- arranged crew accommodation. The two men sit in tandem undera large blister canopy which hinges up on its after end under hydraulic power. Visibility forward from both seats is very good;so much so that the RB-57C, which has dual control, but retains the same canopy, can be comfortably flown from the back seat.For the landing the rear pilot need look only slightly to one side over the front pilot's shoulder to see properly. Both men haveejection seats. This arrangement has also allowed the extreme nose to be given over to a radar scanner, though this is not fittedin 57Cs at Spangdahlem. In common with most English Can- berras the tail warning radar is not yet fitted, though the tail coneis of dielectric plastic and unpainted. Both B and C versions have provision for four 20 mm guns,mounted in widely spaced pairs just outboard of the engine nacelles. Cameras are probably carried fore and aft of the bombbay since the bay itself is apparently reserved for bombs, rockets and flares. Instead of the single under-wing weapon pylon of theB(I).8, the "57" carries four mountings for air-to-ground rockets under each wing. Some of the machines had the usual Canberratip-tanks. The RB-57A crew compartment appears to be in all respects similar to that of the B.2, having the single-piece trans-parent nose-cone, with bomb-aimer's window inset, of late English examples. The tandem crew layout would seem to provide all the answerssought by the B(I).8 arrangement, with the advantage of ejection seats for both men—and the possible disadvantage of space limita-tion for equipment-control panels in the rear cockpit. Although the 57C is used mainly for pilot training and instrument flyingpractice, it can double as an operational aircraft if the need arises. The Americans, too, were having trouble with tailplane actuatormotors and suffering some speed restrictions, but modifications were coming through. This shows just how similar the Britishand American versions are as regards the airframe and its equip- ment. It was noticeable that the Martin structural layout on suchunits as flaps, undercarriage and skin panelling followed English Electric practice remarkably closely, with the obvious exceptionof the major Martin departures in cockpit and bomb-bay layout. But the most striking point about the RB-57 is that it has beenequipped to do the job of both the P.R.3 and the B(I).8. In fact, the Americans showed us a collection of air-to-ground "tourist"photographs very similar to those taken by No. 31 Sqn. while also admitting that their task would include missions similar to those ofNo. 88 Sqn. Their machines are, of course, equipped for toss- bombing, a technique suited to accurate low-level delivery ofatomic weapons. About Canberra handling the Americans were quite enthu-siastic. They like the combination of easy handling and high performance and consider it to be a very forgiving aircraft. Onecould well understand this feeling, for there must be a considerable difference in .olerance to mishandling between the Canberra and,say, the RF-84F or the RB-66C; and the docility of the Canberra must be a very real asset in low-level night flying. The 10th has quite a history behind it, dating from its formationin September 1941, before America entered the war. It was known as the 73rd Observation Group, but its existence, either asan active formation or on paper, has been continuous, though it was not designated the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing untilDecember 1947. Five years later it was moved to France and, in 1953, it took over its present base at Spangdahlem. After the warit adopted the slogan "first on D-day, last on VE-day." Wing aircraft flew 232 missions over the invasion area during the 15 dayspreceding D-day—some of them at heights as low as 15ft—and claimed to have shot down the last enemy aircraft in Europe—at2000 hr on May 8, 1945—and to have flown the last operational sortie on the same day. Altogether 13,915 sorties were flown and94 enemy aircraft were destroyed at the loss of 57. Photographs brought back by the Wing's pilots played an important part in theplanning of the break-through at St. L6; and for their work over coastal defences before D-day the Group (as it then was) was.awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation which all personnel of the 10th are entitled to wear. Present equipment and organization leaves no doubt that the10th would put up an equally fine performance if it were ever sent into action for NATO. The night sky would certainly echo theringing note of the RB-57's Wright-built Sapphire engines, the flash of photographic flares or the sudden sound and fury ofstealthily delivered low-level attacks. A STORY —AND ITS SEQUEL we took the Victorian novel The Outlaws of the Airas the foundation of a Christmas feature in our issue of December 21 we little suspected mat our lighthearted offeringwould have a remarkable real-life sequel. A telephone call from Evening Standard air correspondentJames Stuart apprised us that George Griffith, the author of this "aeronautic masterpiece" (as H. G. Wells called it), was the fatherof none other than Dr. A. A. Griffith, chief research engineer of Rolls-Royce, Ltd., acknowledged as one of the outstanding aero-nautical engineers of our time. (Dr. Griffith's paper The Aero- dynamic Theory of Turbine Design, written when he was at theRoyal Aircraft Establishment in 1926, was a classic contribution to gas-turbine development, and his name has more recentlybeen associated with vertical-lift aircraft, the precursor of which is the Short SC.l.) Jimmy Stuart had learned of the kinshipin an interview with Dr. Griffith some months before, and his disclosure prompted us to ask Dr. Griffith himself for someaccount of his father's life. This he obligingly set down in such admirable style that we reproduce it as received, in the knowledge that it is not only of absorbing interest in itself but is also an important contribution to the records of aeronautical literature : — "The account which I can give you of my father's life [Dr. Griffithwrites] is, I fear, somewhat scrappy; he died when I was 13 and my mother was a tidy soul who believed in destroying papers which seemedto have served their turn. "My father was born in 1857, the son of George Alfred Jones, anAnglican curate whose parish was somewhere in Lancashire. It appears that the family name was Griffith Jones, but my grandfather ordinarilyused the name Jones. As far as I have been able to make out, my father used the two names indifferently until 1894, when he changed toGriffith by deed poll. Before that, he had used the name Griffith as a nom-de~plume. "At the age of 16, my father deserted the parental vicarage, made hisway to Liverpool and signed on before the mast in a ship bound for Australia. Thus started a period of wandering which lasted for someyears, involving more than one journey round the world, and during which he acquired fluency in several languages and a love of the seawhich he never lost. "On his return to England he was apparently reconciled with his (Concluded at foot of page 46)
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