FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0132.PDF
132 FLIGHT, 22 January l%0 SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Forces and Naval Flying News AOC Hong KongA FORMER Air Attache in Moscow, AirCdre P. L. Donkin, has been appointed AOC Hong Kong. He recentlycompleted the 1959 Imperial Defence Col- lege course, and before that was AssistantChief of Staff (Intelligence) at AAFCE. A New Zealander, he was commissionedfrom Cranwell in 1933. Among his war- time appointments were the command ofNos 225 and 239 Squadrons and Nos 33 and 35 Wings. He holds the DSO and is aCBE, and before going to Moscow in January 1954 commanded RAF Chivenorfor over two years. Seeing for Themselves ON Monday this week the Under-Sec-retary of State for Air, W. J. Taylor, MP, left London Airport by Comet ofNo 216 Sqn to visit RAF units of British Forces Arabian Peninsula. On the wayout, Mr Taylor was to inspect domestic conditions and operational facilities at ElAdem and at Aden to make similar in- spections, from today (January 22) to nextTuesday. The Under-Secretary was being accompanied by James Dance, Parlia-mentary Private Secretary to the Air Minister; AVM W. P. G. Pretty, Director-General of Organization; W. G. M. Anderson, Director-General of Works;and his private secretary, R. G. S. John- ston. Visiting LecturersT HREE senior RAF officers are lectur-ing in the US and Canada during next month: Air Marshal H. D. McGregor,AOC-in-C Fighter Command, at the USAF Air War College on February 4and at the RCAF Staff College on Feb- ruary 8 on The Defence of the UnitedKingdom; AVM Sir Laurence Sinclair, commandant of the Joint Services StaffCollege, also at Maxwell (February 1) and Toronto (February 4) on A British Viewof Allied Strategy for Cold War, Limited War and General War; and AVM T. A. B.Parselle, SASO at Bomber Command, on Offensive Capabilities and Employment ofRoyal Air Force Bomber Command at Maxwell AFB on February 11 and theRCAF Staff College on February 15. Ten Thousand SortiesA NEW record was recently establishedby No 81 Sqn, when it completed 10,000 reconnaissance and photographicoperations in the Far East. This distinc- tion was added to earlier ones, of havingmade the first photographic reconnaissance of the Malayan emergency (in July 1948),and having undertaken the last operational sorties in a Spitfire and a Mosquito. The squadron, which is commanded bySqn Ldr R. J. Linford, carries on its Meteors the ace of spades insignia "bor-rowed" from a German fighter unit No 81 encountered on cross-Channel sweeps andlater in North Africa. The squadron's badge incorporates a red star and a whitedagger, commemorating its service in Russia in 1941 and later with the FirstArmy. Australian FAA FutureE QUIPPED at present with Sea Venomsand Gannets, operating from the air- craft carrier Melbourne, the AustralianFleet Air Arm is to cease operation at the end of the service life of these aircraft—approximately mid-1963. This was A Whirlwind HAS.7 of No 848 Sqn embark,, g men of 42 Commando, Royal Marines, durii g a recent demonstration at Worthy Down. Th.s squadron and Commando make up the COM- plement of HMS "Bulwark," Britain's tint commando carrier, which was being comma, sioned at Portsmouth last Tuesday (see p. 11 >) "Flight" photogroh announced by the Minister of Defence,Athol Townley, when he recently gave news of a thKe-year defence plan to re-organize Australian armed services. Ke said that higher performance aircraft whichwould replace the Sea Venom and Gannet could not operate from Melbourne butwould require a more modern and faster carrier; but a replacement suitable to Aus-tralian requirements and within her budget was not available from any likely source,and the construction of a new carrier for the RAN "could not be seriously con-sidered." The Cabinet had therefore reached the decision that the Fleet AirArm would not be re-equipped when the present aircraft reached the end of theirservice life. IN BRIEF Air Marshal Sir Geoffrey Tuttk, DepuuChief of the Air Staff from 1956 to the end ol last year, has retired from the RAF. Among RN officers recently appointed-NavalADCs to the Queen is Capt C. P. Coke, for- merly captain of HMS Victorious. Fit Lt N. Galpin, an instructor at Cranwell,won the RAF ski-ing championship at Zermatt on January 14. The Coastal Command Marine CrafiEfficiency Competition has been won for 1958- 1959 by the Marine crew section of the MarineCraft Training School at RAF Mount Batten. Plymouth. Runners-up were the Marine CraftSection at RAF North Front, Gibraltar. Among recently announced RAF appoint- ments is that of Sqn i .dr W. J. Laidler to the Empire Test Pilors' School as Chief Instructor, with the acting rank of Wing Commander. He succeeds Wg Cdr E. H. Turner, who lost his life in a flying accident last November. * * * A commendation was recently sent to SACJ. R. Clears of RAF Wat'jn by the AOC-in-C Signals Command, AV .vi Sir Leslie Dalton-Morris, for his alertness in discovering a fuel leak in a Varsity which might have led to fire.All Varsities have since been inspected to remedy the defect, caused by chafing of a fuelline by a hot-air duct. " A famous Lancaster, R5868, is now on staticdisplay outside the main gates of RAF Scamp- ton. Operating first from there with No 83Sqn, and subsequently in the Pathfinder Force with the same squadron from Wyton and thenwith No 467 (RAAF) Sqn, it flew on 137 sorties and sustained only minor damage fromenemy defences. Bomber Command selected it for preservation in the belief that it had com-pleted more operations than any other sur- viving RAF bomber. AVM Sir John Cord- ingley, RAF Benevo- lent Fund Controller (left), accepting from Gp Capt John Cun- ningham a cheque for £100 from the public display last summer of the prototype D.H. Mosquito at Salisbury Hall near St Albans
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
