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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0867.PDF
FLIGHT,28 June 1957 873 An Avro Shackleton M.R.2 of No. 228 Sqn. makes a landfall over the Longships lighthouse at Land's End. (Centre) A Westland Whirlwind rescue heli- copter of No. 22 Short Range Search and Rescue Sqn., at St. Mawgan, Cornwall, undergoing daily inspection. (Bottom) ThornycroH43ft range - safety launch, powered by two 190 h.p. Rolls - Royce C6.SFLM marine diesels. Contin- uous speed is 20 kt, and range about 200 miles. 'Flight" photograph COASTAL COMMAND ... peculiar air currents are created. Immediately on the other sideof the runway is the rifle range, which has deflection walls built to protect the offices of No. 224 Squadron situated alongside. Thewhole area, which before the days of flying was the racecourse, is a remarkable illustration of how to get a quart into a pint pot. Derived, as stated above, from the title Coastal Area (used whenthe range and endurance of aircraft was insignificant in comparison with today's figures), the name Coastal Command is now a distinctmisnomer. The Avro Shackleton M.R.2 aircraft with which the Command performs its main role has an endurance which is amplefor reconnaissance half-way across the Atlantic. Special assign- ments require crews to fly their aircraft to almost any pan of theworld, and only recently No. 224 Squadron, operating from Gibraltar, circumnavigated most of South America on a double-purpose goodwill and training mission. Another special mission performed by the Command was con-nected with the latest nuclear tests. Coastal Shackletons were given the task of making the weather reconnaissances and collecting airsamples for assessing fall-out. More "Coastal" in its nature is the extensive work done underthe heading of search and rescue, and for this the high-speed motor launches of the Marine Branch work in conjunction with aircraft.During all daylight hours helicopters are kept at 15 minutes' readiness at St. Mawgan, Felixstowe, Tangmere and Valley, andlaunches are stationed at other strategic points. Co-ordination of search and rescue work is planned at groupheadquarters, and the civilian organizations within its scope in- clude the police, coastguards, lifeboats, ships and civil radiostations. On occasions it has been found possible to land heli- copter-rescued survivors direct into the grounds of a hospital.Last year 204 calls were made on air/sea rescue aircraft and launches and the lives of 253 persons saved. A secondary task forthe launches of the Marine Branch is to provide safety facilities at bombing ranges. Another duty which Coastal performs is to fly long-rangemeteorological reconnaissance flights. These are made by Handley Page Hastings aircraft and extend about 1,000 miles out into theAtlantic from Northern Ireland. In emergency Coastal is also expected to give aid to Transport Command. During the recentSuez crisis, for instance, the Shackletons transported 900 troops from Britain to Cyprus in two days. Until recently the Command had Lockheed Neptunes on loanfrom America, and Short Sunderland flying-boats, in addition to Avro Shackleton 2s. The Neptunes have been returned to theirowners, and the Sunderlands, designed before some of their crews were born, have been pensioned off. Britain, an essentially mari-time nation, is now in the doubtful position of being entirely without a Service flying-boat. It is thought by some Coastalauthorities that there is place for an atomic-powered flying-boat which, not requiring refuelling in the ordinary sense, could rangethe oceans of the world, resting on the surface in suitable con- ditions and using its own asdic submarine-detecting apparatus. The Shackleton M.R.2 is powered by four Rolls-Royce Griffonengines (it is claimed that height can be maintained on two). A crew of ten includes two pilots, two navigators, five radio/radaroperators and one flight engineer. With its high-power radar equipment a Shackleton can search an area of some 200,000 squaremiles of sea in the course of a single sortie. r^™.._..^ ^.i^, "Flight" photograph [Continued overleaj
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