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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1923.PDF
(Above) One of the two nylon crash- barriers installed at either end of the Gutersloh runway. They can be raised or lowered in a matter of seconds. (Left) A Swift pilot of No. 79 Sqn. prepares for a sortie ROYAL AIR FORCE GERMANY . . . fighter and fighter-reconnaissance squadrons are further east, atJever and Gutersloh. The original Tactical Air Force which went into Germany insupport of Allied forces during the liberation of Europe was a mobile unit; and the present one could be "put on wheels."The A.O.C. said there was no lack of transport—almost without exception, German; and with its own support units, the Royal AirForce in Germany was logistically self-contained. He summed-up its prime function as that of "responsibility for the frontier area";and he added bluntly that it had a reputation to maintain for commonsense, horse-sense and effectiveness. A.V-M. Crisham commented that in the opinion of R.A.F.authorities in Germany the standards of aircrew were higher than ever before. The only trouble was that they were not available insufficient numbers. Those straight from training schools went to the Hunter day-fighter squadrons then graduated to Canberras orall-weather fighters, or even to the V-force, after their tour in Germany. The Canberra squadron crews were often constitutedon a 50:50 basis of experience and inexperience; but the Swift fighter-reconnaissance pilots (with the accent on reconnaissance)had to be exceptionally experienced. Such was the general picture of reasoned confidence presentedby the Commander-in-Chief and the A.O.C. in assessing the present resources of R.A.F. Germany, with its Hunter, Canberra,Meteor and Javelin squadrons; its supporting maintenance units and Air Stores Park; its four Type 80 radar stations (at Brecken-dorf, Brockzetel, Uedem and Borgentreich), giving "quite enormous cover": a total of just under 13,000 personnel, whosegeneral morale and efficiency seems to be on this report as high as in any Command at home or overseas. Facing the 2nd and 4th Allied Tactical Air Forces across the AirDefence Interception Zone, the aerial no-man's-land between West and East Germany, are some 1,200 Communist-controlledaircraft deployed in E. Germany and Poland and Czechoslovakia. Behind them are the almost unlimited resources upon which theU.S.S.R. could draw if the cold war became hot. Thus the threat facing the Allied air forces in Europe is indeed formidable; and itwas instructive in this context to go on from a briefing at R.A.F. headquarters in Germany to its most forward station, Gutersloh. Lying between Minister and Bielefeld, this is a former Luftwaffebase and its officers' mess (in German days an aircrew mess) has a distinctive clock tower topped by a low-reaching tiled roof. Justbelow this is a small room used as a bar where, it is told, Goering used to spend social hours, and where he so often said "If I'm tell-ing a lie may this building fall around my ears" that a beam across the ceiling was cut in two and a suitable lowering mechanisminstalled, so that on his next visit a part of the building did indeed fall upon the line-shooting field-marshal. Gutersloh has three day-fighter (Hunter) and one fighter recon-naissance (Swift) squadrons and its "pair" as a D.F. and F.R. base is Jever, where there are two D.F. and one F.R. squadrons. A com-plex chain of command controls these stations, the Hunters coming under the Sector Operations Centre at Brockzetel, with its Type80 radar and its even further-forward-looking radar "eye" at Breckendorf; and Swift activities being supervised by the TacticalOperations Centre at Goch. (There are two of these TOCs. No. 1 was formerly No. 83 Group and No. 2 formerly No. 2 Group. Eachcentre issues daily directives saying what tasks are to be under- taken). Neither SOC nor TOC has exclusive control at Gutersloh,for the station also comes under R.A.F. Germany. The main role of the R.AF.'s fighter force in<jennany (five dayand four all-weather squadrons) is that of investigating unauthen- ticated radar blips in die 30-mile-wide Air Defence Interception "Flight" photographs Zone which runs from the Baltic to the southern end of the 4thA.T.A.F. area. These may be caused by Russian aircraft which have strayed or Allied aircraft similarly overstepping friendlyboundaries. To fulfil this role the Hunter squadrons are in turn on "battle flight" for a week. During this time there is a dawn-to-dusk standby, with a pair of aircraft at five-minute readiness. Or if need be, they can be brought to an even higher state of readinessby positioning on the O.R.P.s Another pair of Hunters is kept at 30-minute readiness and this pair is allowed to carry on flyingnormally until an emergency should arise. Information about what is going on in the ADIZ comes from the Type 80 radar at Brock-settel and its forward "eye" which sees even farther (the range of these stations is said to be between 250 and 300 miles). Guterslohis the most easterly base of the NATO fighter forces and naturally in a sensitive position. Elaborate "fail-safe" precautions are takento see that the Hunters' guns are not inadvertently fired in anger. In the night hours, defensive interception watch is maintained bythe all-weather squadrons operating from further westwards. The Hunter squadrons in Germany also have a low-level com-mitment in the ground-attack role. They go to Sylt twice a year for air firing practice, each detachment lasting five or six weeks andthe aim being to give every pilot 15 live shoots. The squadrons compete with one another annually for the Duncan Trophy. There are 16 or 17 pilots on No. 20 Sqn., one of the three Hunterunits in No. 121 Wing at Gutersloh (the others are Nos. 14 and 26), and about hah1 the aircrew are on their first operational tour. Bycontrast, their neighbours the Swift pilots of No. 79 Sqn. (one of the two fighter-reconnaissance squadrons, the other being No. 2 atJever) are ex-instructors or on their second or third tour. Experience is very necessary for the exacting type of work theyhave to do, at high speed and low level. The Swifts share with the P.R. Canberras six low-flying areaswhere they operate at 250ft and which are joined by "link routes" flown at 500ft (or, if conditions should be unsuitable, at 2,000ft).Owing to the limited endurance of their aircraft at such low alti- tudes the Swift pilots have to be extremely accurate in navigationas a journey of, say, 130 miles may allow them only five minutes over the target. Tasks are specified by the appropriate Tactical OperationsCentre (in the case of No. 79 Sqn., the one at Goch) and a typical one given to No. 79 recently was that of photographing 30 bridgeson which the Army was practising demolition techniques. It wanted to know how effective were the methods of concealmentused, and the squadron detailed five pilots for the job of supplying the required information. Working with it is a mobile field photo-graphic centre whose speed in developing and printing the recon- naissance pictures plays an important part in successful P.R.operations. In low-altitude work, fewer negatives are needed to cover the target area. While the Canberra P.R. squadrons operateat both low and high altitudes the Swifts concentrate on the former, and it is the proud claim of pilots of Nos. 2 and 79 Squad-rons that they know the areas of Germany over which they operate like the backs of their hands. No. 79 Squadron had two pilots in the "Royal Flush" reconnais-sance competition as members of the 2nd A.T.A.F. team, and the squadron is at present the proud holder of the Sassoon Trophyawarded annually for P.R. efficiency. No. 79's aircraft used to work in pairs, but now operate singly. At Gutersloh they and theHunters have the comforting amenity of nylon crash barriers at either end of the runway, for use in the event of a landing madewithout brakes or flaps. Already this Swedish-designed device, which is raised in seconds by pressing a switch in the control toweron receipt of an emergency call, has paid for itself in saving aircraft and aircrew. Similar barriers are being installed at other NATOairfields in Germany. Gutersloh typifies the day-fighter and fighter-reconnaissanceside of the R.A.F. activities in Germany. The all-weather fighter squadrons (twp of Javelins, two of Meteor N.F.I Is, but beingre-equipped with Javelins) and the medium-range P.R. and light- bomber squadrons (Canberras) are based at the four "clutch"airfields, of which Laarbruch is a fairly typical example. (To be continued)
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