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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0178.PDF
SERVICE AVIATION Royal Air Forces and Naval Flying News Birthday Salute "DAYING tribute for the first time in its-*- history to the birth of a child to a reigning sovereign, the RAF was to fly aRoyal salute over London to mark the arrival of the Queen's third child. Takingpart were 36 Hunters from six squadrons of Fighter Command: Nos 56, 65 and 111from 11 Group; 1 and 54 from 12 Group; and 92 from 13 Group. Led by Wg CdrG. J. Storey, Wg Cdr Flying at Duxford, the Hunters were to follow the Battle ofBritain route, crossing at not less than 2,000ft and approximately 400 m.p.h. fromnorth to south and with Trafalgar Square their nearest point to Buckingham Palace. Senior RAAF Post AN appointment to the Australian Air1 Board was recently announced, Acting AVM E. Hay having become Air Memberfor Technical Services in succession to AVM E. C. Wackett, who retired from theRAAF in December. AVM Hay returned to Australia last year after spending i8months with the air forces of Britain, Canada and America carrying out investi-gations on behalf of the RAAF, with emphasis on technical advancements andadministration. He attended the 1957 IDC course and, apart from his technical qualifi-cations, is in current flying practice, having completed a refresher course at East Salelate last year on Vampires. New Sea Vixen SquadronF * is appropriate to record on this page,facing the start of a full technical des- cription of the D.H. Sea Vixen, that asecond RN squadron of these aircraft— No 890—was being formed at Yeoviltonlast Monday under the command of Lt Cdr W. R. Hart. The new unit, which now takes its placebeside No 892 Sqn (formed at Yeovilton last July), revives the number of one of the Javelin FAW.6s George and Sierra of No 85 Sqn, which is based at West Mailing and shortly to be re-equipped with FAW.8s, in flight over Margate 178 Members of the RAF mountain rescue team in the Middle East, whose successful location of the wrecked USN Mercator is recorded on this page, at a briefing in Nicosia before their departure for Turkey Royal Navy's wartime fighter squadrons,equipped with Grumman Wildcats. This unit formed at Halifax, NS, in June1942 under Lt Cdr J. W. Sleigh; then in December that year embarked in HMSBattler. During 1943 it went to RNAS Machrihanish, and subsequently served inArgus and Illustrious, supporting the Salerno landings in September. The follow-ing month it returned to the UK and until the end of 1943 was at Eglinton, where itsstrength was increased to ten aircraft. The squadron went out during 1944 to Ceylon,where in August that year it was disbanded. Thanks to the RAF QEFORE flying back to the United States,•" members of the crew of the 7,000-ton American freighter Valley Forge called onNo 205 Sqn at Changi, Singapore, to meet the Shackleton crews who went to their aidafter-they had been driven aground in the South China Sea. Rescue gear was safelydropped in shallow water without damage by the aircraft captain, Fit Lt R. Bennett,making his approach at 90ft and only just above stalling speed. The stranded sailorswere eventually taken off by a lifeboat from the RN minesweeper Fiskerton, which wasdirected to the wreck by a second Shackle- ton, captained by Fit Lt J. Tucker. At FLIGHT, 5 February 1960 Changi the American crew were themselves ••congratulated by the RAF on their intelli- '< gent use of the rescue equipment, promptfiring of a distress signal and their employ- ment of lifebelts to make the internationa]ground code signal "all's well" (two Ls). American thanks have also been ex-pressed to the RAF in the Middle East, for the location by the mountain rescue teamfrom Cyprus of the wrecked USN Mercator 8,000ft up in the Turkishmountains. The aircraft disappeared on January 19 on a flight from Naples toAdana, with 16 people on board, and the US authorities appealed for help. AHastings of No 70 Sqn spotted the wreck- age in a snowdrift, and the mountain rescueteam subsequently recovered 13 of the bodies, leaving three members of their teambehind to recover the remaining three from the 20ft drift in which the aircraft wasburied. Turkish helicopters co-operated in the recovery work. Assignment in Athens XXAVING been group captain in charge•'--•-of training at Flying Training Com- mand headquarters since 1957, Gp CaptR. Sorel-Cameron has been appointed air attache in Athens with the acting rank ofair commodore. Before going to Flying Training Command he was on the directingstaff of the Royal Naval College at Green- wich, and previously had commanded RAFCottesmore from 1952 and RAF Feltwell from 1954. He was awarded the AFC in1944 and made CBE in 1947. IN BRIEF A history of No 12 Sqn is being compiledand Fg Off T. Mason, No 12 Sqn, RAF Coningsby, Lines, would be glad to hear fromformer members or anyone able to provide material in the form of stories or pictures. * * * Two New Zealand airmen, Sqn Ldr L. C.Jeffs and Fit Lt P. Rule, were rescued recendy by an Auster of the RNZAF Antarctic Flightafter having been stranded beside their wrecked Beaver for more than a week. They were statedto be "little the worse for their ordeal." * * * Sgt Tony Watters of the RCAF hung outof a hole in an Argus aircraft in mid-air over Greenwood, Nova Scotia, on January 22 torelease a jammed landing wheel. The hole had been cut to enable the crew to release thewheel and Watters, who volunteered for the task, was held by his feet by fellow crew mem-bers. The aircraft had 20 people aboard and the trouble developed shortly after take-off when the pilot was advised of a leak in the hydraulic system. Fit Lt S. Ward, a navigation instructor onVulcans at No 230 OCU at Waddington, is to be the RAF member of the British - Indian -Nepalese Services Himalayan expedition which this summer will attempt to scale the thirdhighest undimbed peak in the world—26,041ft Annapurna II, second-highest peak in theAnnapurna range. No 3604 FCU, RAuxAF, was last Tuesdaybeing presented with the Efficiency Trophy for units of No 11 Group, Fighter Command, bythe AOC, AVM A. Foord-Kelcey. The trophy is an annual award to the FCU in No 11 Groupwith the highest all-round standard. This is the first time it has gone to No 3604, which iscommanded by Wg Cdre A. R. Smallwood and is one of the biggest such units in the country.
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