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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0347.PDF
FLIGHT, 15 March 1957 349 SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm News Royal Farewell to No. 601 Sqn.P RINCE PHILIP, honorary air commo-dore of No. 601 (County of London) Sqn., R.Aux.A.F., took the salute at a finalparade on March 6 outside the squadron headquarters in Kensington Park Road,W.ll. Before the members, under their com-manding officer, S/L. P. R. Edelston, marched past for the last time as a squad-ron, Prince Philip said: "I just want to say good-bye and—I expect nobody else willsay it—to thank you for the service you have given to this squadron, to the Auxi-liary Air Force and to your country in peace and war." He then added: "This is a very sadmoment for all of us—for this squadron and the whole of the Auxiliary Air Force.I want to wish you the very best of luck in the future. If, by any chance, you still havethe urge to give some sort of service to your country, there are many other ways of doingit." C.A.S. in AustralasiaA FTER attending SEATO conferencesin Canberra up to March 13, Air Chief Marshal Sir Dermot Boyle, theC.A.S., was due to inspect guided missile and atomic weapon testing grounds andto have informal talks with the R.A.A.F. and R.N.Z.A.F. Chiefs of Air Staff. FromNew Zealand, Sir Dermot is returning home by Comet 2 of R.A.F. TransportCommand, with stops at Ceylon, Aden and Nicosia, for talks with local R.A.F.commanders. New Air Chief Marshals ON March 5 the Air Ministry announcedthat Air Marshal Sir Harry Broadhurst, A.O.C-in-C. Bomber Com-mand, and Air Marshal Sir Claude Pelly, Controller of Aircraft, Ministry of Supply,had been promoted to Air Chief Marshal with effect from February 14. Air Chief Marshal Broadhurst, who is51, has been A.O.C-in-C. Bomber Com- mand, since January 1956. Before thathe was C-in-C. 2nd ATAF. He joined the R.A.F. in 1926 and during the earlypart of the war fought in France and the Battle of Britain and led many fightersweeps. In 1940-41 he was awarded four decorations for gallantry—two D.S.O.sand two D.F.C.s. Air Chief Marshal Pelly, who is 54, hasbeen Controller of Aircraft at the M.o.S. since November last year, having pre-viously been C-in-C. M.E.A.F. for three years. He entered the R.A.F. College,Cranwell, in 1920 and in 1933 was awarded the M.C. while serving in Iraq. W.R.A.F. Senior Appointments 'TWO senior W.R.A.F. officers recently •*- exchanged positions, G/O. Louise Turner, O.B.E., W.R.A.F. Staff Officer at headquarters, 2nd ATAF, since April 1954, becoming Deputy Director of the W.R.A.F., and G/O. Ann Stephens, M.B.E., who has been Deputy Director Prince Philip inspects No. 601 (County of London) Sqn., R.Aux.A.F., before taking the salute at their final parade (see adjoining paragraph). On the right, the Duke of Gloucester puts on a Mae West at the R.N. Air Station, Culdrose, Cornwall, before flying out by Westland Whirlwind on March 5 to visit the aircraft carrier H.M.S. "Albion" twenty miles off the Lhard. since April 1954, becoming W.R.A.F.Staff Officer at headquarters, 2nd ATAF. G/O. Turner joined the W.A.A.F. inOctober 1939 and was commissioned in April 1940. Prior to her appointment at2nd ATAF she was W.R.A.F. Staff Officer at Headquarters, Home Command, fromOctober 1952. G/O. Stephens joined the W.A.A.F. onits formation in 1939. She was one of the first W.A.A.F. officers to go to theContinent after D-Day and her post-war appointments have included that ofW.A.A.F. Staff Officer at H.Q. Mainten- ance and Technical Training Commands,and command of R.A.F. Hawkinge. R.A.F. Chaplain to the QueenT HE QUEEN has approved the appoint-ment of the Rev. J. N. Keeling, M.A., R.A.F., as an honorary chaplain to HerMajesty, it was announced in the London Gazette on March 5. Mr. Keeling has been Assistant Chap-lain-in-Chief at Air Ministry since February 11 this year. Previously he hadheld similar appointments with Bomber Command and (until October 1955) withHome Command. He was commissioned in the R.A.F. in August 1937. Record Malayan Drop ON February 28, R.A.F. Valetta aircraftof the Far East Transport Wing, oper- ating from Kuala Lumpur, broke therecord for a day's drop of supplies to security forces in the Malayan jungle. Fly-ing from dawn until dusk, six Valettas—two each from Nos. 48, 52 and 110 Squadrons—dropped 64,765 lb of supplies on 32 dropping zones from the Thai border tosouth Johore State. The previous record, set up on April 7 last year, was 64,485 lb.F/L. K. Robinson, detachment commander of the Far East Transport Wing, said after-wards that the day's task had been com- pleted by afternoon, but "conditions wereso good we pressed on dropping supplies due the following day." The Beverley Accident ON March 6 the Air Minister, Mr.George Ward, made a statement in Parliament about the R.A.F. Beverley ofNo. 53 Squadron which crashed near Drayton, Berks, the previous day shortlyafter taking off from Abingdon. He said that the aircraft, bound forMalta and Cyprus, reported engine trouble and was returning to the airfield. The dead included three members of the crew, 12officers and airmen flying as passengers, and two civilians in the house which wasdemolished. Two members of the crew, one passenger and two civilians were in-jured. A Court of Inquiry had assembled that morning. In answer to questions, Mr. Ward saidthat there was no evidence to suggest that Beverleys should be grounded, or any re-strictions put on them, as they had already done thousands of hours' flying on Trans-port Command routes "without any major accident of any kind." Last weekend the Air Ministry deniedthat sabotage might have been responsible for the Beverley accident, or that there hadbeen any such possibility in the case of the four Beverleys which in recent weeks hadhad to turn back to Abingdon with engine trouble; the reasons for this had beeninvestigated and the technical problems solved. F.A.A. Strength TN answer to a question recently the Par- •*- liamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty, Mr. Christopher Soames, said it was not in the public interest to disclose the strength or disposition of Fleet Air Arm squadrons: but it could be stated that of the total number, 50 per cent either are or readily could be embarked in carriers now in commission. The total number of men in the F.A.A. on September 30 last was 16,763. R.A.F. Appointments 'THE following continues a list of Royal-*• Air Force appointments issued periodic- ally by the Air Ministry: — G/C. S. W. B. Menaul to R.A.F. Lindholme,to command; G/C. K. S. Batchelor to R.A.F. Swinderby, to command; G/C. J. M. Thomp-son to R.~A.F. Leeming, to command; G/C. S. G. Wise to Air Ministry, for duty in theDepartment of the Chief of Air Staff; G/C. P. A. Lombard to Joint Anti- SubmarineSchool, Londonderry, as R.A.F. c.o. and Director (he will also become Senior R.A.F.Officer, Northern Ireland); G/C. R. A. McMurtrie to H.Q. Coastal Command, for airstaff duties; G/C. D. G. Keddie to Directing Staff, Royal Naval College, Greenwich; ActingG/C. R. K. Jeffries to Air Ministry for duty in the Department of the Air Member forSupply and Organization; Acting G/C. E. Eamshaw to R.A.F. Wellesbourne Mountford,to command. W/C. A. A. McGregor to H.Q. FighterCommand, for administrative staff duties (with acting rank of G/C); W/C. J. J. Dennis to Air
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