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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0275.PDF
FLIGHT, 26 February 1960 275 They flew troops and jeeps to Oman during the trouble therewhen an attempt was made to overthrow the Sultan. They took part in the airlift into Jordan when Faisal of Iraq was murdered.They perform Paramed (Parachute Medical Team) duties and sea, mountain and desert rescue; casualty evacuation; paratrooping ifrequired; and calibrate airfield aids. The Hastings are flown by a crew of six—two pilots, navigator, signaller, engineer andquartermaster. This transport role is carried out by the justly famous No 70Sqn, which was commanded in France from January to June 1917 bv Maj A. W. (now Marshal of the RAF Lord) Tedder, duringpart of the period when it flew Sopwith H-Strutters. It was the first l^-Strutter RFC squadron to take the field, being dispatchedto France by individual flights between May and July 1916 because aircraft were not available to equip the whole squadron andreinforcement in France was urgently needed by this progenitor of the two-seat fighter class of aircraft. I discovered when I visited it in the Middle East that 70 Sqnis described in its crest as "LXX" Squadron and asked why this should be so. I was told that all pre-1918 RFC squadrons arepermitted to use Roman numerals (presumably for other than everyday writing usage). I wonder that more do not do so. I travelled in one of the squadron's Hastings from El Ademto Nicosia. It bore the name Hector, that son of Priam, king of Troy, and a valiant fighter whom Achilles slew. As we descendedover the Nicosian plain the darkening blue hills of Troodos and Kyrenia embattled the already star-twinkling sky, and I thoughtof Shakespeare's lines: — "Look, Hector, how the sun begins to set;How ugly night comes breathing at his heels; Even with the vail and dark'ning of the sun,To close the day up. ..." The flight plan had been for "about 2\ hours." My own timingfrom take-off to touch-down was exactly that to the minute. I noted in my diary that "we crossed the North African coast wheregreat wadies carved the tawny cliffs into land islands and twist- ing serpents of gorge and steep slope. These wadies cut the landdown to the very sea and on either side of them the reddish-yellow ground fell away in steep cliffs into blue water whose movementwas that day so slight that no foam broke upon the silent shore. Thereafter it was an over-sea flight at 9,000ft in sunshine and bluesky, but below us strato-cumulus clouds threw dark shadows on the sun-mirroring mercury that seemed the surface of theburnished inland sea that afternoon." It was a peaceful passage. Nearer Cyprus the water's surface became rippled with the linesof wind-borne waves, and when we got out of the aircraft a stiff, cold wind blew, effective as a refrigerator in evaporating one'sbody heat with cruel speed: it was the evening wind that blows over the Mesaoria, or central plain of Cyprus, at sundown. Why Hector for this RAF transport, you may ask? The answerlies again in squadron tradition, for, since its earliest days, LXX Sqn has used for its aircraft the names of ancient Greek, Romanand other classical heroes—Hannibal, Hercules, Hector. I am not certain when it first used these names. Possibly when equippedwith Vimy and Vernon aircraft in the Middle East and on the air- mail run between Cairo and Bagdad which opened in 1921; forat that time 45 Sqn, another air-mailer operator, named its similar aircraft Venus, Valkyrie, Vagabond, Argo, Ancaeus, Aurora. . . .Nor do I know whether these names were official or unofficial, but they were a useful means of referring to a particular aircraft andtheir dithyrambic sound gave aircrews more pleasure than did prosaic identification by letter(s) and number. The Americans aremore prone to this practice than the British, but their names are chosen for their wit, or, like pin-ups, for their association withsome living lady. Either way, the practice gives personality to an aeroplane. In LXX Sqn the tour is for 2\ years. Maximum flying allowedis l,000hr a year, 300 in three months, 120 in one month. As a whole, the squadron probably flies between 600 and 800hr everymonth. It valiantly upholds its long and gallant tradition, and as a former member of its rival 45 Sqn I was proud to be able toenter in my logbook a journey with the old squadron which, although regarded by us with rivalry in the First World War, Ihave so long admired. Nothing in Cyprus has been so fascinating as the work of thesycamore helicopter squadron which started in May 1955 as a communication flight with a search and rescue responsibility. Ithad only one Sycamore when the EOKA trouble began. By August 1956 the unit had 13 aircraft and 15 pilots, but was stilltermed a flight until October 1956 when it became No 284 Sqn, with corresponding promotion from flight lieutenant to squadronleader for the CO, Peter Fahy, who had nursed it from the begin- ning. In mid-1959 it became No 103 Sqn in accordance with AirMinistry policy of keeping alive the numbers of squadrons with the longest histories, by re-numbering some of the units retainedmiuC smaller modern Air Force. Most of the squadron's work during its build-up was on security reconnaissances and communication flights with the Army and the civil authorities. At about the same time trials of dropping troopsin the hills against terrorists were begun. The first operational drop was made in September 1956. Troops were lifted at Prod-homos from a football field surrounded by trees and transported about 10-15 miles to a well-wooded area around Milikouri,together with kit, water, food and radio equipment and other items sufficient for two weeks. In November 1956 the Suez operation interfered with the localwork of the squadron. Search and rescue took top priority at Nicosia and Akrotiri, but no calls were received for the Sycamoreson immediate standby. The first three to four months after Suez provided the busiest time for the squadron, and in March 1957 itflew over 360hr on internal security work, including troop drops, supply sorties, communication flights, reconnaissances, casevacduty and VIP transport. Before joining the squadron, pilots were required to have hadsome 18 months' helicopter experience. They were put through a course of about 14 days of island flying, which is quite differentfrom flight in the UK. At the end of this course they went straight into operations, with a probable total helicopter experience ofabout 300hr. (I cannot help comparing this with the total of about 30 hours' passenger, duel and solo experience which was all thatwas deemed necessary to make a pilot operational in early 1917.) At the peak of flying operations in Cyprus helicopter pilots flewabout 40hr a month, which later fell to about one half of that figure, a reduction largely due to the increase in the squadron'spilot establishment. Probably 300hr a year would be average time for a helicopter pilot. The squadron reckons to obtain about 80 per cent serviceabilitywith helicopters, with about 15 per cent of its aircraft on inspec- tion leaving about 5 per cent for non-routine interruption of flying.When operating from the hills, ground crews were flown up to service the aicraft and to act as dispatchers on supply drops.In operations of the kind carried out in Cyprus during the emergency, casevac became an important responsibility and heli-copters stood by for this from dawn to dusk daily on a 20-minute basis. The average time in responding to calls was four minutes. A Sycamore of No 103 formerly 284/ iqn on one of its "landing grounds" in the Troodos Mountains in Cyprus Four or five cases were flown in at night. Civilian personnel (e.g.the forestry commission) were also casevacuated if requested by the civil authority. The highest mountain in Cyprus is Mt Troodos (6,403ft). Thehighest small helicopter landing ground was sited at 5,500ft to communicate with the RAF signals station at about 6,000ft up, thehighest RAF station in the world today. For operations with the Army the secretariat of the Director ofOperations' chief of staff put the squadron into direct contact with the Infantry Brigade concerned and thereafter operational plan-ning was done on the spot or with the particular regiment. As elsewhere, helicopters were employed to do work which other andcheaper forms of transport were unable to provide. The troop-lift might (as we have seen) be over quite a small distance and thetroops would reach the lift area by surface transport, or on foot. But even over quite small distances surprise could be effected bythe mobility of helicopters and their power to land troops in places difficult of access by surface movements and at a speed unsur-passed by any other type of transport. When used against forces not so equipped, the helicopter can be a priceless asset. M/Plt W. Szmaciarz, of the MEAF Communication Squadron,flew me from Nicosia in a Meteor 7 over the Troodos massif to Akrotiri. Flashing over that wild range of mountains on whoseupstanding chines the pine trees stand out like the black stubble on a castaway's face, ridge after ridge sped below; isolated villages,
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