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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1382.PDF
FLIGHT, 15 May 1959 667 SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Forces and Naval Flying News Honouring the ShahH ONORARY R.A.F. rank of Air ChiefMarshal was conferred by the Queen on the Shah of Persia during his recentstate visit to this country. Nigerian Celebrations THREE Avro Vulcans of Bomber Com-mand and a D.H. Comet 2 of Transport Command are due to arrive in Nigeriatoday (Friday, May 15) to represent the Royal Air Force at the regional self-government celebrations in Northern Nigeria. The detachment will be under thecommand of A.V-M. G. A. Walker, A.O.C. No. 1 Group, and be based at Kano.During their five-day visit the Vulcans (from No. 101 Sqn.) are to give displaysover Kano, Kaduna and Lagos and fly over the twelve provincial towns of theNorthern Region. Need for Encouragement O-OPERATION between the RoyalAir Force and the aircraft industry, and the shortage of recruits for certainR.A.F. officer branches were two of the themes urged by speakers at the Path-finder Association dinner held in London on May 7 (the eve of the anniversary ofV.E. day). Mr. R. E. Hardingham, secretary and chief executive of the A.R.B.,stressed the former topic in proposing a toast to the Royal Air Force. He recalledhow the name of the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough had been changedto Royal Aircraft Establishment so that its initials would not be confused with thoseof a then newly formed organization. He said he didn't know how we'd managewithout the R.A.F., though the future— with its use of "misguided" weapons—looked less rosy. He still built his hopes on Transport Command and paid a greattribute to it, for without its experience with the Comet 2 the Comet 4 might nothave been the success it is. Orders for the Britannic and Argosy were encourag-ing, but he would like to see ones for the Rotodyne and VC.10 and interest in asupersonic transport. The outstanding feature of the R.A.F. was its production ofmen, such as Trenchard, Bader and Bennett. (A telegram from A.V-M.Bennett expressing regret for absence had been read out at the start of the dinner bythe president, A. Cdre. J. M. Birkin.) "When you in the R.A.F. stop giving uspeople," said Mr. Hardingham, "I don't know what we are going to do." Air Marshal Sir Geoffrey Tuttle, theDeputy Chief of the Air Staff, said on the R.A.F.'s own manpower situation (whenhe responded to the toast) that it was getting the airmen it needed but not theofficers. "We have got to sell missiles and space much more," he said, adding: "onthe technical side we are not giving them enough jobs." On the whole, however, SirGeoffrey reported that the R.A.F. was "in terribly good shape": it had got three newaircraft, a ballistic missile which would work and "one of our own which is goingto work." He revealed that the first bomber aircraft ever scrambled fromWhitehall had left the ground in three minutes; and the power and bomb-load ofthese aircraft were such that very few crews were needed, all of whom were path-finders. Height, speed and range were much greater than those of the original pathfinders; and "you can do even better,"concluded Sir Geoffrey, "if you leave the man out." In welcoming the guests, Peter Swanmentioned with pride that the Pathfinder Club was self-supporting, and he con-cluded a comprehensive and friendly round of greetings with a special welcome toAir Chief Marshal Sir John Baker who was to reply to the toast. Sir Tohn linkeda tribute to the P.F.F. with the R.A.F.'s manpower needs. For the former, hequoted from Noel Coward's poem Lie in the dark and listen (date-lined May 14,1943, 2 a.m.) the lines "There is a world you will never know,There is one debt you will ever owe." The best encouragement to those comingon, said Sir John, was for the pathfinders to let them know what they believed in."If we can give them the encouragement we can find the men." Aerobatic Maestros CJIX R.A.F. flying instructors, selected to^ represent their units, vied with each other acrobatically at Little Rissington onMay 7 for the Wright Jubilee Trophy. The winner was F/L. D. F. Moffatt, a flightcommander at Cranwell; and F/L.s A. C. Doggett (from the All-Weather Jet Re-fresher Squadron, Strubby) and D. H. Mills (No. 8 F.T.S., Swinderby) wereplaced joint second. Judging was done by four members of the Central Flying Schoolsupervisory staff (G/C. E. James, W/C. P. W. Gilpin, S/L. H. A. Harvey andF/L. C. J. Holman) with the A.O.C. and Commandant, A. Cdre. J. N. H. Whit-worth, having a deciding vote. The order in which the competitors flew was notknown to the panel of judges, so each pilot was marked impartially on his performanceof six set manoeuvres and two minutes' free aerobatics. As the main runway is being serviced atLittle Rissington, the competing aircraft (all Vampires except for the Meteor flownby F/L. Doggett) took off from Aston Down. The set pieces were a loop, roll-off-the-top, slow roll to left and to right, eight- point roll and vertical roll; and F/L.MoSatt impressed by his neat execution of these aerobatics and those he volun-teered, as well as by the good positioning of his display. F/L. Doggett completedhis manoeuvres with four splendid upward rolls and an interesting part of F/L. Mills'demonstration was his inverted climb. After the contest, and before the com-petitors arrived by Anson from Aston Down for the trophy presentation, F/L.sJ. Rhind and P. J. Hirst of the C.F.S. did some excellent synchronized aerobatics intwo Jet Provosts (a show they are working- up for the Whit-Monday displays atHucknall and Yeadon), and M. Pit. L. Gapper showed some Ranald Porteous-like ingenuity in his manceuvrings with a piston-engined Provost. When the A.O.C-in-C. Flying TrainingCommand, Air Marshal Sir Hugh Con- stantine, presented the trophy to F/L.Moffatt he congratulated all the competi- tors (deservedly) on "a first-class morning'sflying"; and in particular he mentioned the winner's very good positioning and polisheddisplay. The trophy, presented to the R.A.F. by the R.A.F .A. in 1953 to com-memorate the 50th anniversary of powered flight, is held for one year. Three members of the R.A.F. mountain rescue team from Cyprus which did such a splendid job on Suphan Dag in Turkey where the miss- ing Super Trader was found. Left to right, F/L. R. Robertson, the leader; F/Sgt. H. Appleby; and Sgt. J. Emmerson, a founder of the R.A.F. Mountaineering Association Warning of Encirclement IT is to the lasting credit of the R.A.F.-•• that the university air squadrons have not, despite die severe cuts in other fields,been disbanded. So far, these most valu- able units continue their excellent workalthough they are threatened with another review in about a year's time. But theyhave not altogether escaped the economy drive and have been reduced both in air-craft and member strength. The parent Home Command has disappeared andmaintenance under contract by civilian organizations is apparendy avoided where-ever die R.A.F. can manage on its own. The effect of these developments wasclearly illustrated during the annual dinner of the Oxford University Air Squadron inOxford last Friday. W/C. A. J. Douch, the CO., recorded in his account of thepast year's work that the Squadron now depended from C.F.S. instead of No. 61Group, that its Chipmunk strength was greatly reduced and that flying had beenmoved from Kidlington to Bicester, chez No. 71 M.U. This year's summer campwas to be on the Isle of Man; and Air Chief Marshal Sir Theodore McEvoy, theAir Secretary, replying for the guests, reminded members that if they wanderedfrom the Island and missed Ireland, America was the next dry land. Hereminded them also that an R.A.F. coach for a victorious boat-race crew and anOxford captain for a victorious R.A.F. inter-services rugby team were evidenceof University-Service partnership. The final reminder was that the day of the pilotand navigator in what Air Marshal Sir Richard Atcherley, also present, had oncejokingly called the future "uninhabited air force," was still assured and worth-while. Furthermore, during recent heated discussions between the Ministry ofDefence and the Admiralty it had been decided that a 60,000ft-high wall to separ-ate land from sea was now impracticable— and Coastal Command would thereforestay with the R.A.F. In a speech of quite rare and delight-fully sustained humour, the Vice-Chancel- lor, Mr. T. S. R. Boase, proposed thehealth of die squadron and warned mem- bers of the forthcoming encirclement ofthe headquarters buildings by new centres of learning in the form of a law library,statistics and Anglo-Saxon faculties and the new St. Catherine's college. Finally, Sir Theodore presented theflying proficiency trophy to P/O. C. M. Labouchere, the Hack trophy for the bestall-round member joindy to N. D. P. Hughes and K. M. Waddell. A retiringyoung undergraduate later rode a small motorcycle quietly round the ante-room.C. M. L. 0
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