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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0962.PDF
FLIGJH At left, above, the Duchess of Gloucester presents a Standard to No. 58 Sqn. during her recent visit to R.A.F. Wyton; centre, the CAS., Air Chief Marshal Sir Dermot Boyle, awards R.A.F. wings to the C-in-C of the Royal Thai Air Force, Marshal F. R. Riddhagni; and, on the right, the A.O.C-in-C. Bomber Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir Harry Broad hunt, presents the premier award in the Command's annual bombing •••-: competition—the Laurence Minot Trophy—to W/C. A. D. Frank, CO. of No. 83, the R.A.F.'s first Vulcan squadron. SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm News Northwood CommemorationT OMORROW at the headquarters ofCoastal Command—R.A.F. Northwood, Middlesex—a 700-piece stained-glass win-dow is to be unveiled to mark the Com- mand's 21st birthday and to commemorateits achievements during the Second World War. The layout of the window, which islift wide and 12ft 6in high, has been planned by A.V-M. C. E. Chilton (S.A.S.O.at Coastal Command H.Q. and A.O.C. Malta-designate) and A/C. (now Mr.) N. R.Attwood. The dominating feature of the window—which was designed by Mr.Attwood in his spare time while serving at Northwood—is a figure in flying clothing,representing aircrews from all the Allied countries who fought the U-boats; beneathhis feet are the weapons used in the ship- ping war, and in the lower section of thewindow are the convoys which Coastal Command (in co-operation with the Royaland Allied Navies) guarded daily. The window is to be unveiled by AirChief Marshal Sir Frederick Bowhill, a for- mer A.O.C-in-C. Coastal Command, aftera short address given by the present A.O.C-in-C, Air Marshal Sir Bryan V.Reynolds. A.V-M. Chilton will read a description of the window, which will thenbe dedicated by Canon A. S. Giles, Chaplain-in-Chief of the R.A.F. Cadet Exchanges /^ADETS from the U.S.A.F. Academy^ at Colorado Springs, Colorado, are visiting the R.A.F. College at Cranwellthis month. A first group of 78 was due there last Monday, while a second groupof 77 is scheduled to arrive on July 29 and will see the R.A.F. cadets receive then-wings from the Commandant, A. Cdre. T. A. B. Parselle, and the following daywatch a passing-out parade when the salute is to be taken by the First Sea Lord,Admiral of the Fleet Earl Mountbatten of Burma. The U.S.A.F. Air Academy has2,496 cadets when at full strength; its first class was enrolled in July 1955 and theAcademy moved into its present buildings some months later. While the American cadets are visitingEngland, sixty cadets of the A.T.C. and the R.A.F. section of the Combined Cadet Force are going overseas for three-weektours under this year's international air cadet exchange scheme. Twenty-five of thecadets are going to Canada, 25 to the U.S.A. and ten are visiting European countries ingroups of two. Next Wednesday, a party of 33 Canadianair cadets is due to arrive in London on a four-week international exchange visit.Twenty-five of them are to tour this country, and the other eight will go toScandinavia and to Holland. C.F.S. Association Dinner THE annual dinner of the C.F.S. Asso-*• ciation was held at the Central Flying School, Little Rissington, last week; and itbrought together a group of pilots surely unique—for their experience covered thewhole life-span of the R.F.C. and R.A.F. Among them were Air Marshal Sir JohnBaldwin, president of the association; Air Chief Marshal Sir James Robb; Air Mar-shal Sir Richard Atcherley, A.O.C-in-C. Flying Training Command; and Air Mar-shal Sir Geoffrey Tuttle, D.C.A.S. Sir John became an instructor at C.F.S. in October1914 and was later its 13th commandant, from 1929 to 1932. Three other ex-com-mandants were present. Guest of honour, as well as an ex-mem-ber, was Air Chief Marshal Sir Dermor Boyle, the C.A.S., who in proposing thetoast of C.F.S. made it immediately clear that, whatever the missile future might be,manned aircraft and therefore piloting skill and sound instructing would continue to berequired indefinitely. He considered that instructing was the finest training in leader-ship available. He stated most forcefully that the R.A.F. was not to be absorbed byeither the Army or the Navy, as some reports had averred. The task of the R.A.F.was to provide the United Kingdom con- tribution to the great deterrent and todefend the bases from which it might be launched. It also had to provide a tacticalair force, a coastal command and an increas- ing transport command. By 1962 or 1963it was hoped that the R.A.F. would be manned entirely by Regulars. Guidedweapons would be progressively intro- duced. The Service could comfortably dealwith the related problems since they were less severe than those originally involvedin the introduction of radar; and Britain now had a radar system second to none. A. Cdre. N. C. Hyde, the Commandant,reported that during the preceding year some considerable reorganization had takenplace. All sections at South Cerney except the helicopter instructor unit had been con-centrated at Little Rissington and the examining wing—the "Trappers"—hadbeen replaced by a directing staff. The tour in Flying Training Command had beensomewhat shortened; instructors were taught the technique in Provosts and onlythose going to advanced instructing had a full Vampire course. All were encour-aged to keep closely in touch with current operational techniques and requirements.Now that there were fewer flying postings available there was a greater number ofapplicants for instructing work and there- fore more opportunity for selecting the best. The future of flying training appeared,by the end of dinner, to be as bright as the flames from a series of highly accurate mis-siles and exploding hydrogen balloons— phenomena which demonstrated thatC.F.S. was indeed keenly following the latest developments. Scimitar Squadron Next Year TN the House of Lords debate on the•*• Navy Estimates last week, Lord Sel- kirk, First Lord of the Admiralty, said thatthe Scimitar is to be introduced into the Service next month. "It will then be sub-mitted to an intensive period of training," he said; and he added, "I hope that thefirst squadron will be formed in the new year." Earlier in the debate Lord Giffordhad said that Coastal Command has eleven squadrons of Shackletons. Coastal CommandI N the message from Air Marshal SirBryan V. Reynolds, A.O.C-in-C. Coastal Command, which headed the descriptionof that Command's work in Flight's special issue on the R.A.F. (published on June 28)it was stated that in wartime Coastal Com- mand "would operate under Allied controlin the Eastern Atlantic and the Channel Islands." This should have read "EasternAtlantic and the Channel."
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