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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0721.PDF
I 31 May 1957 727 SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm News Comet in CanadaF LYING last week from Winnipeg toTravis A.F.B.,San Francisco, the R.A.F. Comet 2 which is carrying specialist naviga-tion officers on a visit to Canada and the U.S.A. completed the journey in 3 hr38 min at an average speed of 491 m.p.h. McKee Trophy Award "pOR his contribution to helicopter opera--*- tions during the construction of the Mid-Canada Early-Warning Line, S/L.Robert T. Heaslip, who commands No. 108 Communications Flight of the R.C.A.F.,has been awarded the McKee Trans- Canada Trophy for 1956. From February 1956 onwards six H-21s,six H-34s and up to ten H-19s were employed to airlift materials for buildingthe Line, and during last year No. 108 Communications Flight flew approximately9,000 helicopter hours, lifting over 10,000 tons of equipment and nearly 14,000 men.The McKee Trophy was donated in 1927 by the late Mr. Dalzell McKee of Pittsburg,an aviation enthusiast who in 1926 made the first trans-Canada flight by seaplane,in recognition of the assistance given him by the R.C.A.F. B.E.M. for R.A.A.F. AirmanF OR his part in trying to recover thebody of the pilot of an R.A.F. Venom which had crashed into the sea about a mileoff the Malayan coast, L. A/C. B. P. Han- cock, an R.A.A.F. equipment clerk of No. 2Airfield Construction Squadron at Butter- worth, has been awarded the B.E.M. On two successive days, L. A/C. Han-cock was lowered from a helicopter into water teeming with jellyfish and stingrays.He continued his dives, locating the jagged wreckage on the second day in an under-water visibility of about 2ft, until trained divers arrived from Singapore. "Althoughunsuccessful in his attempts to recover the pilot's body," says the citation, "his untiringefforts were responsible for the recovery of much wreckage which proved valuable indetermining the cause of the accident." R.C.A.F. Trophy WinnerT HIS year's winner of the Laurence A.Steinhardt Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the most efficient all-weatherintercepter squadron in the R.C.A.F., is No. 432 Sqn., based at Bagotville, Quebec.Known unofficially as the "Black Cougar' squadron, No. 432 is equipped with During her visit to Wadding- ton on May 21 the Duchess of Kent, accompanied by the A.O.C-in-C. Bomber Com- mand, Air Chief Marshal Sir Harry Broadhurst, met air- crews undergoing training on Vulcans at No. 230 Opera- tional Conversion Unit. She also watched flying by a Vulcan and by Canberras of No. 21 Sqn. "Flight" photograph CF-lOOs and commanded by W/C. H. R.Norris. In 1956, the first year of com- petition, the trophy went to No. 419 Sqn.It was donated by Mrs. A. A. Sherlock, wife of an R.C.A.F. officer, in memory ofher father; he was U.S. Ambassador to Canada and was killed in an aircraftaccident in 1950. R.A.A.F. Antarctic OperationsR ECENTLY members of the R.A.A.F.Antarctic Flight returned to Australia after a winter in Antarctica, during whichthey assisted in survey work with the Aus- tralian National Antarctic Research Expedi-tion and in the course of a flight along the Prince Charles Range discovered what isbelieved to be the largest glacier in the world—200 miles long and nearly 30 mileswide. On that occasion the pilot was P/O. J. Seaton, flying the Beaver. The other air-craft used by the Flight, which was com- manded by S/L. D. Lcckic, was an Auster.Replacement pilots have now gone out to the Antarctic for another season's work, ledby F/L. P. Clemence. Beverley Accident Court Martial AT a court martial at R.A.F. Station• Abingdon last Friday, Cpl. E. Simon was found Not Guilty of negligence likelyto cause damage to, or loss of, an aircraft. He was, however, found Guilty on a secondcharge of neglect prejudicial to good order and discipline, and was ordered to forfeitsix months' seniority and to be severely reprimanded. Both findings and sentenceare subject to confirmation. The court martial was the second arising from theBeverley accident on March 5, after which a fuel non-return valve was found to havebeen incorrectly replaced. At the first court martial C/Tech. W. H. N. Griffisswas found Not Guilty. IN BRIEF Of £2,758 received by the R.A.F. Benevo-lent Fund during March, £2,700 came from the R.A.F.A. branch in Hong Kong. * * * Funds of the two disbanded Nottinghamsquadrons of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force —Nos. 504 and 2504—have been used tobuy a casualty operating table for Notting- ham Children's Hospital. * * * A total of 70 R.C.A.F. aircrew andground personnel will have attended instruc- tional courses on the Comet at the deHavilland Aircraft Co., Ltd., Hatfield, by the time these are completed in mid-Julythis year. They will ferry Comets back to Canada. This painting by Frank Wootton depicting the Royal Review of Bomber Command last July, when the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Marham, was presented to H.Q. No. 3 Group at Mildenhall on May 10 by Sir George Edwards, managing director of Vickers- Armstrongs (Aircraft), Ltd., makers of the Valiant bombers depicted. mm
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