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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0946.PDF
FLIGHT, 3 April 1959 473 SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Forces and Naval Flying News Upwood CeremonyP RINCESS ALEXANDRA is to visitR.A.F. Upwood, Huntingdon, on June 16 to present a standard to No. 35Squadron. This was originally formed in 1916 and re-formed in 1929. During theSecond World War it operated Battles and Blenheim 4s at first but subsequentlyHalifaxes, Liberators and Lancasters. It is now equipped with Canberra B.2s. Seeing for Himself " ON the 41st birthday of the R.A.F.(April 1, last Wednesday) two visits were due to be paid to it by the PrimeMinister. Mr. Macmillan was going first to the R.A.F. College at Cranwell andthen to Cottesmore, to watch a Victor "scramble" and flying displays by theLightning and the newly ordered AW.660. Further reference to these visits will bemade next week. Change at the TopF ROM January 1 next year Air ChiefMarshal Sir Thomas Pike is to be Chief of the Air Staff in succession to Marshal ofthe R.A.F. Sir Dermot Boyle; and his present post as A.O.C-in-C. Fighter Com-mand will be taken over on August 1 this year by A.V-M. H. D. McGregor, with theacting rank of air marshal. These appoint- ments, announced on March 23, werebriefly referred to in a news-item we pub- lished last week. Marshal of the R.A.F. Sir Dermot Boyle,who is 54, was A.O.C-in-C. Fighter Com- mand before he became C.A.S. at the be-ginning of 1956. He was the first Cranwell graduate to assume the R.A.F.'s highestpost and his successor (also A.O.C-in-C, Fighter Command) will be the second. SirDertnot had previously been A.O.C. No. 1 Group, Bomber Command, and he distin-guished himself then and during his tour as C.A.S. as a Canberra pilot. When hetook up his appointment he piloted a B.6 on a 20,000-mile tour of units in the Middleand Far East, and he made a similar flight in January this year (also in a B.6), covering22,000 miles. He served in Bomber Com- mand during part of the war, and then wasS.A.S.O. at No. 83 Group and afterwards commanded No. 85 Group in 2nd T.A.F. Marshal of the R.A.F. Sir Dermot Boyle, G.C.B., K.C.V.O., K.B.B., A.F.C. (left), who h being succeeded as C.A.S. on January 1 next year by Air Chief Marshal Sir Thomas Pike, K.C.B., C.B.E., D.F.C. (centre). At right is A.V-M. H. D. McGregor, C.B., C.B.E., D.S.O., who on August 1 this year succeeds the C.A.S.-elect as A.O.C-in-C. Fighter Command. These changes are referred to on this page His successor-designate as C.A.S., AirChief Marshal Sir Thomas Pike, is 52 and has been A.O.C-in-C. Fighter Commandsince August 1956. Before that he was D.C.A.S. and he had previously beenA.C.A.S. (Policy) at Air Ministry and Deputy Chief of Staff (Operations) atAAFCE. During 1941 he commanded a night-fighter squadron, No. 219 [see p.467], and he later served with No. 11 Group and the Desert Air Force. Sir Thomas's successor as head ofFighter Command is A.V-M. H. D. McGregor, a 49-year-old New Zealanderwho has been Director of Air Defence at SHAPE since March 1957. Prior to thathe had been for three years responsible for G.W. development with the Ministry ofSupply, and his previous appointment was that of A.O.C. No. 2 Group, 2nd T.A.F.During the Battle of Britain he com- manded No. 213 Sqn., and he later becameS.A.S.O. at No. 82 Group and commanded R.A.F. Tangmere. He was five times men-tioned in despatches and is an Officer of the Legion of Merit, U.S.A. [See also leading article, Tour of Duty.] NATO Fly-pastT OMORROW (April 4) the NATO tenthanniversary fly-past is to be carried out over Mainz, Germany, by AAFCE aircraft.It will be headed by a single V-formation of seven different types of machine flownby pilots from seven different countries (Belgium, Canada, France, the UnitedStates, Britain, West Germany and the Netherlands). This is the first time thatpilots of different NATO nationalities have flown together as a single team. The Britishrepresentative is F/L. C. Wilmot, flying -a Hunter. In the wake of the V-formationwill be 112 other aircraft, in seven different national groups of 16 machines each. Types Air Marshal Sir Douglas Macfadyen, A.O.C-in-C. Home Command (centre), at a recent farewell party at White Wal- tham to mark the closure of the Com- mand on March 31. A. Cdre. A. L. Derry (A.O.C. Records Office) and A. Cdre. A.E.CIouston (A.O.C. Boscombe Down) are on his right and left respectively represented will include F-84F Thunder-jets, CF-lOOs and Sabre 6s, F-100 Super Sabres, F-101 Voodoos, F-102 DeltaDaggers, Canberras and Mystere IVAs. Old Sarum CommandT AKING up the post of Commandantat the School of Land/Air Warfare at Old Sarum on May 1 is A.V-M. D. R.Evans, who was S.A.S.O. at Fighter Com- mand from the beginning of January 1957until last October. He had previously completed the I.D.C. course (1956), beenDirector of Operational Requirements (B) at Air Ministry for three years, and beforethat a member of the J.S.S.C. directing staff. He won the D.F.C. in 1941 as anight-fighter pilot and is also a C.B. and C.B.E. No. 2 Sqn. Reunion A REUNION dinner for past, present•**• and honorary members of No. 2 (A.C.) Squadron is being held at WilliamsonsTavern, Groveland Court, Bow Lane, London, E.C.4, on Friday, April 10, at 6.30for 7.30 p.m. (dress, lounge suits). As No. 2 is one of the most famous Army co-opera-tion squadrons, it is appropriate that the C.I.G.S. (Gen. Sir Francis Festing) shouldhave been invited to attend as principal guest. The cost of the dinner, including winesand service charge, is 25s per head; and those who have not already done so shouldsend applications and remittances—by next Monday, April 6—to S/L. C. S.MacDonald, R.A.F. Selection Board, Cranwell, Sleaford, Lines. Doubly Distinguished ANEW distinction was conferredrecently on No. 205 Sqn., which is the only R.A.F. unit still operating Sunder-lands; for on March 20 it received its Standard, bearing battle honours of twoworld wars. The ceremony took place at R.A.F. Changi, Singapore; and the presen-tation was made by Air Marshal Sir Alick Stevens, formerly A.O.C-in-C. CoastalCommand and a former CO. of the squad- ron (in 1936). No. 205 Sqn., commanded by W/C.R. A. N. McCready, has two Sunderlands remaining but its main operational equip-ment is now Shackletons. It first went to Singapore in 1930 and remained until theevacuation of Malaya in 1942. Personnel and aircraft were dispersed, but one of theCatalinas made its way to Ceylon, where the squadron re-formed. It returned toSingapore after the war, and has since undertaken a variety of roles—patrols inthe Korean war, sorties against terrorists in Malaya, and operations against smug-glers and pirates. I
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