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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0024.PDF
24 FLIGHT, 1 January 1960 SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Forces and Naval Flying News Queen's Air A.D.C.N EWLY appointed Air Aide-de-Campto the Queen, Air Chief Marshal Sir Theodore N. McEvoy succeeds Air ChiefMarshal Sir Claude Pelly, on the latter's retirement from the Royal Air Force. Air Chief Marshal McEvoy, who is 55,has been Air Secretary at the Air Ministry since May last year. He was previouslyChief of Staff, Allied Air Forces Central Europe. Air Commodore Posts COUR air commodore appointments*• have recently been announced by the Air Ministry. Air Cdre T. B. de la P.Beresford, who has been Air Commodore, Operations, at Fighter Command head-quarters since April 1958, assumed the post of Senior Air Staff Officer, BritishForces Arabian Peninsula, from Decem- ber 31. He has been succeeded at FighterCommand by Gp Capt E. J. Morris (with the acting rank of air commodore), whosince May 1958 has commanded RAF Wattisham. Air Cdre Beresford, who wonthe DFC on the North-West Frontier in 1938, was in the first six months of 1942(while serving in the Western Desert) men- tioned in despatches and awarded a Bar tohis DFC and also the DSO—the two latter decorations being "for prowess in opera-tional leadership." Air Cdre Morris won the DSO in the Western Desert in 1941,and the DFC while serving in Corsica. He was made a CBE in last year's New YearHonours. The other two new appointments, bothcarrying the acting rank of air commodore, are of Gp Capt P. Burnett, who has becomeDirector of Intelligence (B) at Air Ministry, and of Gp Capt W. I. C. Inness, recentlymade AOA at Coastal Command head- quarters. Air Cdre Burnett, who was untillately on the Intelligence Staff of Air Ministry, won the DSO and DFC in 1943while serving with Bomber Command and Marshal of the RAF Sir Dermot Boyle, who has just retired as Chief of the Air Staff, receiving a ceremonial sword from the Prime Warden of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths (Mr. V. P. Gentry) on December 16. The gift, "one of the richest and finest pieces of goldsmith work to be produced in this country in recent years," symbolises the admiration and grati- tude of one of Britain's most ancient city guilds for the youngest of the fighting services Four Hunters from the OCU at Chivenor which have appeared in a film recently maae on the subject of the Hawker Hunter Trainer. The two aircraft nearest the camera are T.7s and they are accompanied by two single-seaters the following year was mentioned in des-patches. Air Cdre Inness, who since May 1957 has been Asst Deputy Chief of Staff(Plans) at Allied Air Forces Mediterranean headquarters, was twice mentioned in des-. patches during the war and made an OBE in the Birthday Honours of 1954. The Queen's Flight WITH the Duke of Edinburgh's recent" flights to Ghana and back in a Heron, the work of the Queen's Flight has onceagain come into the public eye. The unit is based at RAF Benson in Oxfordshireand its captain is Air Cdre Sir Edward Fielden, who before the war was captainof the King's Flight. Gp Capt T. Neville Stack was recently appointed deputy cap-tain; and another recent appointment to the Flight was that of Wg Cdr R. G.Wakeford as commanding officer. The present establishment of the Queen'sFlight is for about 80 personnel, and in addition to three Herons—all of which tookpart in the Royal journey to West Africa —it now has two Whirlwind HCC Mk 8s(described in Flight for November 6). These helicopters, like the Herons, are tobe painted a fluorescent red in the near future. Both aircrew and groundcrew canvolunteer for service with the Queen's Flight, and have to undertake a selectionboard interview. Groundcrew must be rated above average in their trade groups,which include aircraft, radio, and electrical and instrument engineering; M.T.; safetyand surface; general service (administra- tion); supply (stores); general engineering(equipment) and accounting and secre- tarial. The Flight does all its own servicingand minor overhauls, but for major over- hauls the Herons go back to the de Havil-land Aircraft Co. Ltd. As these Herons are the only ones in RAF service theQueen's Flight carries its own spares. Each of the three Herons carries theRoyal crest on each side of the fuselage below the cockpit. On the Duke's aircraft,XH375, the decking of the nose and cheat line between the windows, as well as thecheat line on each engine nacelle, is in what is officially known as Edinburgh Green;on the other aircraft these portions are in Royal blue. The Duke's aircraft is alsoupholstered in Edinburgh Green: it has a standard layout for six passengers. Theother aircraft can be rearranged to carry up to 14 passengers when necessary. The three Herons have been put toextensive use by die Queen's Flight since they were delivered—XH375 on May 18,1955, and the other two on April 15, 1958. Each is largely a standard model, but theirradio and navigational equipment is com- pletely new. There are two VHF setsand a Collins HF for internal communica- tion. Decca Navigator and ILS areinstalled. Safety and emergency equipment is standard. Queen's Flight aircrew average 500-600hr flying a year, most of it being done during the summer months, when theFlight is kept busy on internal journeys. There are more overseas commitmentsduring the winter. When Royalty flies, a purple airway is enforced within a ten-milevicinity of the route to be taken in this country. Queen's Flight aircraft always flyon civil airways, to simplify control and safety measures, and abide by civil regu-lations. When going overseas, diplomatic clearance is obtained for the flight andwithin their own boundaries Common- wealth and mist other countries provideequivalent regulations to those in the UK. These were provided for the flight madeto Ghana. IN BRIEF Air Marshal Sir Kenneth Cross, the AOC-in-C Bomber Command, has been made Presi- dent of the RAF Rugby Union in successionto Marshal of the RAF Sir Dermot Bovle (see picture at left), who has retired. Air MarshalCross represented the RAF in pre-war Inter- Service rugby union tournaments. * * * No. 28 MU at Harpur Hill, near Buxton inDerbyshire, is to close down. It is at present the headquarters of the RAF mountain rescueteam in the Peak District. * * * Fit Lt Desmond English, leader of the RAFdetachment accompanying the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, left Southampton on December 18 in the Danish ship Kista Dan.With him went two members of his team, F/Sgt T. Sumner and Cpl Tech M. Horton.The other two members sailed in October aboard the research ship John Biscoe (this page, November 6). , .•:••./.-• Three Naval pilots, Lt Cdr R. A. Shilcock and Lts M. J. Fournel and M. F. J. Barstow, recently carried out 31 successful night land- ings between them in a Saunders-Roe P.531 on the frigate HMS Undaunted (Cdr G. R. M de la Pasture). For some of the landings, a small searchlight was used on the helicopter, and for the others there was a circle of lights on the frigate's deck.
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