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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1398.PDF
488 FLIGHT, 20 September 1957 SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Atm News WELL over a million visitors—AirMinistry gave the total as 1,079,880—went to the 37 R.A.F. stations open to the public last Saturday; and these"at homes," together with special services on Sunday, marked the climax of this year'sBattle of Britain Week celebrations. At Biggin Hill, of all wartime fighterstations perhaps the one most closely asso- ciated in the public mind with the Battleof Britain, the now-traditional flying dis- play must rank as one of the finest inEurope; and this time a crowd officially estimated as 220,000 saw a show which waswell up to standard. It was opened by Ray Milland, star of the new film High Flight,who arrived by Sycamore helicopter; and for three hours the airfield was as busy asLondon Airport, with aircraft of all types landing and taking off (in both directions)and the sky full of aircraft either aerobat- ting or flying past. There was also anelaborate and comprehensive static display of aircraft and equipment. Throughout the afternoon aircraft whichwere "touring" other shows flew over Biggin—a Vulcan going past right in themiddle of No. Ill Squadron's formation aerobatic display. A Valiant, a Victor,Meteor 8s, Meteor night fighters, Shackle- tons, Canberra T.4s, Sea Hawks, Javelins,a Viscount, B-45s, F-lOODs and F-86Ds all came and went. The Sycamore bowedand curtsied its way past the enclosures. A Chipmunk towed a Prefect glider toa vantage point and watched it pirouette its way silently down on to the airfield. The old-timers were well represented.Though the wind was too strong for the Sopwith Pup, the Bristol Fighter, a silverSwordfish, Hawker's Tomtit (flown by Hugh Merewether), the last Hurricane(now stored at Biggin) and Jeffrey Quill's Spitfire all performed in a circus and indi-vidually, at one time accompanied by a Tiger Moth. Two Chipmunks teamed up with twoCooper racing cars (one driven by A.V-M. D. C. T. Bennett) for a relay race roundthe field, but one car broke down, leaving the other an easy victory. Three Chipmunks of the University ofLondon Air Squadron gave a fine forma- tion aerobatic display, despite rough con-ditions; and four Canberras, apparently B(I).6s, from No. 9 Sqn., went through aformation drill sequence while a fifth alter- nately aerobatted and showed his gapingbomb-bay. S/L. Fifield ejected a dummy at highspeed from a Meteor 7/8 at about 100ft. -I* attle of Britain Commemoration Above, the new font for St. George's Chapel of Remembrance at Biggin Hill; and above left, Jeffrey Quill's Spitfire in action during last Saturday's flying display. All worked perfectly and the dummy andseat appeared to be unscathed. Individual aerobatics were presented byVampire, by both piston and Jet Provost (the latter from Hullavington), Balliol,Meteor 7 and Hunter 5 of No. 41 Sqn. Particularly expert were the four-point rollof the Jet Provost, the prop-hanging climb- ing rolls of the Balliol, the smoothness ofthe Vampire evolutions and the rapid and precise manoeuvring of the Meteor. During the programme the C.A.S., AirChief Marshal Sir Dermot Boyle, arrived in his own four-star Devon which thendemonstrated a very low single-engined pass. A sergeant paratrooper from Abing-don made two delayed-opening jumps with a blank-gore parachute from a Tiger Moth.The first was perfectly judged, but during the second free fall he developed a spinand had to open early, being carried away from the airfield by the strong wind. An Anson simulated a forced landing and itscrew were "captured" by "hostile natives." A Beverley then landed troops who liber-ated the men and captured the "natives," whose fort was then attacked and totallydestroyed by seven Hunters and four Meteor night fighters. The attacks wererather cautiously delivered and some people missed the more precipitate ones made inpast years by the Auxiliary squadrons' Meteors. But the battle of the giants was thatbetween the aerobatic teams of No. Ill Sqn. with their black Hunter 6s and theF-lOOCs of the U.S.A.F. Skyblazers. This time there was no doubt that No. Ill Sqn.have achieved the lead. Even after giving two other shows (at Duxford and HorshamSt. Faith) that afternoon, their loop and roll with nine aircraft, their constant for-mation changing and their smoke carried the day. The Skyblazers, too, now havevery fine smoke and still do their individual- rolling Fleur-de-Lys manoeuvre; but theirextreme precision and afterburning spec- tacle do not match the Hunters' virtuosity.The leader came back for an individual show afterwards and frightened many chil-dren with a very low pass in a steep turn, blasting the enclosures with his afterburner. Tangmere's programme opened with abang so closely resembling the supersonic variety that many of the thousands of spec-tators present thought it really was one. In fact it marked the arrival of the U.S.A.F.Skyblazers and was produced by a synchro- nized application of re-heat. Their meticu-lous display of superb formation aerobatics was only equalled by a wide variety ofindividual performances by aircraft ranging from a Spitfire and Hurricane and a gliderto a veritable swarm of Hunters, Javelins and Sea Hawks. Nearly all modern typesof aircraft in use with the R.A.F. and Navy today were represented in a programmewhich was carried out with perfect pre- At the end of Battle of Britain Week the new font, which incorporates the three swords of the station crest, was dedicated at a drumhead service at Biggin Hill (head of page) on Sunday; and the air display there on Saturday included a troop-laden short take-off by a Beverley (below).
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