FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0297.PDF
146 FLIGHT, 23 January 195«, SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Forces *and Naval Flying News Air Officer PostH AVING been at Fighter Commandheadquarters since October 1956 as Senior Technical Staff Officer, A.V.-M. J.D. Baker-Carr is taking up a Maintenance Command appointment on May 1, whenhe becomes A.O.C. No. 41 Group. After flying duties with Nos. 32 and 203Squadrons he took the Specialist Arma- ment course in 1934, then throughout thewar was engaged on armament develop- ment, first at Woolwich and later withthe M.A.P. In 1944 he was awarded the A.F.C. for his part in air-firing trials withrockets from Hurricanes and Typhoons. He is also a C.B. and C.B.E. C.R.E. CommandantI N command of R.A.F. Wyton sinceJanuary last year, G/C. E. G. Jones has now become Commandant of theCentral Reconnaissance Establishment at Brampton, with the acting rank of aircommodore. He is a C.B.E. and also holds the D.S.O. and D.F.C., both of which hewas awarded within six months in 1941, while commanding No. 80 Sqn. in Greece.He won the D.F.C. for leading a mixed force of Hurricanes from his own squadronand Gladiators from No. 112 against a force of bombers and fighters near Valona,Albania, when the R.A.F. pilots destroyed 27 enemy aircraft without loss. (This en-gagement was mentioned in the article on No. 112 Sqn. published in Flight lastweek). His D.S.O. was awarded for the "great sHU, courage and determination"he displayed on his patrols over the Greek Front. Successful Firestreak Firings FIRST firings of the D.H. PropellersFirestreak by an operational squadron were carried out by three speciallyequipped Sea Venoms of No. 893 Sqn. during the recent working-up of H.M.S.Victorious in the Mediterranean. When the carrier returned to Portsmouth lastweek, the Admiralty reported that in the trials "80 per cent of the missiles firedagainst drone aircraft flown from Malta were completely successful and the re-mainder were very near misses." The statement added that the firings hadproved the ship's Firestreak system from packaged weapons, through the variousstages of supply, testing and handling; and had thus prepared the way for theSea Vixens which will use Firestreak as standard armament on their introductionto squadron service later this year. The captain of Victorious, Capt. C. P.Coke, R.N., said after arriving at Ports- mouth, "The performance of Firestreak isastounding. It has proved itself and is the weapon of future Naval fighters." A.I.S. DirectorH AVING been made the first civiliandirector of the Air Ministry's Aero- nautical Inspection Service since its re-organization in 1947, Mr. C. F. Burden succeeds A. Cdre. C. E. Hartley, C.B.E.,on the latter's retirement from the R.A.F. Mr. Burden, who has been deputy directorof the A.I.S. since 1948, served on aero- nautical inspection duties in many parts ofthe Middle East between 1928 and 1947. He was mentioned in dispatches in 1943and in 1953 was made an O.B.E. Malayan Millions RECENTLY No. 41 (Transport) Sqn.of the R.N.Z.A.F., equipped with Bristol Freighters, logged its second mil-lionth mile of flying in the Far East; and just before the end of last year the squadronpassed another milestone in its Malayan history, the carriage of five million poundsof freight. After only three-and-a-half years' service in the country, and since itis the smallest squadron in F.E.A.F., No. 41 feels justly proud of these achievements.Based at Changi (Singapore) and com- manded by S/L. G. H. S. Tosland, thesquadron forms with No. 75 (Bomber) Sqn. the present New Zealand air contri-bution to the Commonwealth Strategic Reserve in South-east Asia. One of itsmost important duties is that of supply- dropping to ground security forces in theMalayan jungle, and to date the Freighters have dropped over 1,750,000 lb of suppliesand ammunition. They are also engaged on regular route-flying and transportduties, and their varied loads have in- cluded tractors and high explosives as wellas passengers and animals. Ports of call for No. 41 Sqn. aircraft since they arrivedin Malaya in May 1955 have included Hong Kong, Thailand, New Guinea, Pakistan, Japan and Christmas Island. Thtsquadron claims to have the highest air- craft serviceability rate of any unit inF.E.A.F., and has always met its monthly commitments. , . ~. ;- , ._ No. 87 Sqn. History A COMPREHENSIVE history of No.•**• 87 Sqn. is being compiled and any contributions from ex-members—photo-graphs, articles or documents, etc.—"wouid be greatly appreciated and will be re-turned when copies have been made." All correspondence should be addressed toS/L. W. R. Collins, No. 87 Squadron, R.A.F. Bruggen, B.F.P.O. 40, Germany. IN BRIEF The Queen is to visit H.M.S. Eagle atWeymouth on April 29. ***** Cpl. R. Prochaska (R.A.F. Innsworth) wonthe R.A.F. ski-ing championship at Zermatt on January 13. F/L. J. Horrell (Little Rissing-ton) was second and F/L. J. Hare (Thorney Island) third. ***** Commissioned at R.N.A.S. Eglimon in Maylast year, the A.S. Squadron of the German Federal Navy (equipped with Fairey Gannet4s) is returning to the station to carry out armament training.***** The Brooke-Popham Memorial Trophy hasbeen won for 1958 by S/L. J. A. Davies, D.F.C., B.A., of the R.A.F. Education Branch.The trophy is awarded annually to the officer on the R.A.F. Staff College course submittingthe best essay on a selected subject of typical Service interest. ***** The fourth R.A.F. Anniversary Concert,commemorating the foundation of the Royal Air Force, will be held at the Royal FestivalHall, London, on Tuesday, April 14. As in previous years, the Halle Orchestra (conductor,Sir John Barbirolli) and the R.A.F. Central Band (conductor, W/C. A. E. Sims) will betaking part. ***** The R.A.F. won the 1959 Inter-ServicesTobogganing Championships for the Prince Philip Trophy on the Cresta Run at St.Moritz on January 15, with the Royal Navy second and the Army third. F/L. C. Mitchellwon both the Lord Trenchard Cup for the best individual timings and the Auty Cup forthe fastest single run. A D.H. Sea Venom of No. 893 Sqn., Fleet Air Arm, is armed with Firestreak aboard H.M.S. "Victorious." Firing trials were successfully carried out during the new carrier's recent work-up of her company, squadrons and equipment in the Mediterranean (see news-item above)
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
