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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1952.PDF
456 FLIGHT, 16 September i960 Uff* ;. ftu, Q w) SBAC I960 /, tying Obphjr MdbkUllM Farnborough Week ... and Brambley pressed their switches to stream smoke. It was anexhilarating sight, from Langstaff's aircraft, to watch the other two Jet Provosts slide forward beneath us.Immediately we pulled up into a horizontal eight with the other pair in parallel, the blue-and-white enclosures and blacksheds appearing and disappearing beneath us. Then we turned away to port, following the turn with a wingover to starboard,playing follow-my-leader with Brambley and McDonald; then slowly over into a barrel roll, with Nos 3 and 4 starting to smoke(the canisters last just over two minutes); then a wingover to port, again changing the lead. Next, up into a loop, followed by a wingover to port with thelead changing again; then a steep turn, with Brambley and McDonald coming up on our inside; another wingover to port,with McDonald tucking in on our left and Brambley on the right; a run-in at 45° to the line of the runway and up-up-up into a finalloop, over the vertical, then—"Bomb-burst, go!"—and we were diving down across the airfield to the south, down low and fastacross the trees of the Surrey countryside. Langstaff checked his watch: we had six minutes in whichto re-form to the east of the airfield and come in for a landing. As if drawn together by invisible strings, from the three pointsof the compass to which they had dispersed, the othei three JPs slid up into box formation. As we came back towards the airfield,we could see the Prospector flown by Ken Ruttei landing after his crop-spraying demonstration. Over the runway we brokein the order 2, 1, 3 and 4 and landed. When we shut down it was just twenty to three; we had been in the aircraft forty minutes.There was time to change and watch the rest of the display in comfort: the Javelin doing Derry turns; two Buccaneers in closeformation, one of them later showing the Dayglo interior of its bomb-bay, then both landing from opposite directions; foui Light-nings of No 74 Sqn; Treble-one Sqn, eighteen strong, then two impeccable patterns of nine; finally a Shackleton departing for its22-hour NATO exercise. Earliei, Tom Brooke-Smith had earned a round ot applausefor his performance in the SCI, the Herald had flown 30 men of the 1st Parachute Regt Support Co, the Westland circus hadgiven its impressive co-ordinated helicopter demonstration, the Victor and Vulcan had displayed their massive power output, andfour Victors of No XV Sqn had scrambled in lmin 54sec. The afternoon had all begun very quietly, with a display of glidei aero-batics mounted by the Royal Aircraft Establishment gliding club, and a parade down the runway of emergency vehicles—27 of themMoA-owned, three from the Hampshire Fire Service. Ovei all, the sun had shone, warm and unabatedly. Display routine described—on the internal telephone directory in "Flight's" private enclosure during Farnborough week: text a--y diagrams by Fit Lt Roy Langstatf, leader of the CFS aerobatk tea'?! whose brilliant sequence is herewith recounted at first-hand "" Saturday, September 10 There is much to be said forwatching the flying display from the opposite side of the airfield Not only do the aircraft look different, but there is a sor» of addeidimension in the smells of smoke and exhaust gases. This wa"; particularly so on this glorious sunny afternoon, for a steady breezewas blowing across the runway towards the control towei. When the 18 black Hunters of Treble-one Sqn taxied out it was impos-sible to stand near the perimeter track for the heat from their jet pipes being blown over the grass area to the north; and when theycame down to the bottom of their first loop, before dividing into two teams of nine, the acrid smell of the smoke they trailed driftedacross the airfield. Another acrid smell, of burning rubbei, came from the Lightning T.4 when Wg Cdr Dell landed at the endof his demonstration and suffered failure of a Maxaret unit. He very skilfully managed to keep the aircraft straight and taxiedoff the runway, the port wheel being changed before the T.4 resumed its journey to dispersal.Dell had earlier had to overshoot and was held off during the Treble-one aerobatic show, which ended appropriately just afterthe four Lightnings of No 74 Sqn (led by Sqn Ldr John Howe) made their final run. They appeared in a vie three with an oddman out, who justified his position by doing a series of upward rolls above his companions as they disappeared over Laffan'sPlain. Immediately, Treble-one came over in their final loop; and the conjunction seemed to underline how much the displayowes to the RAF for its spectacles. This year markedly so, for the V-bombers with their scramble (which was faster than evertoday, with four Vulcans of No 617 Sqn getting off in lmin 24sec) and the Shackletons of No 201 Sqn returning from and departingfor their all-night sorties have added an operational flavour; and the CFS Jet Provosts have shown that not all the skill in formationaerobatics belongs to Fighter Command. Flight could not resist another ride with these pilots of Flying Training Command, thistime with Fit Lt Jerry Nicklin in the No 4 position. (In fact, each of the Jet Provosts carried a passenger, one being Bill Bedfordon a busman's holiday.) Flying as the second in a pair gave an incomparably real impression of formation aerobatics, with thelead aircraft providing a mirror-like impression of one's own manoeuvres. There was never more than a few feet between us,with a clear view of No l's smoke canisters as they ignited in the first loop, and of his nosewheel doors fluttering open. There was less cloud today than on Friday (at low level, afterthe Jet Provosts' bomb-burst, visibility was hazier) and a wide area of blue sky formed the perfect backclotb foi Bill Bedford'sphenomenal climb and spin in the Hunter 66A, charted by smoke. Yet there was enough moisture in the atmosphere to cause wingtipvortices by a Buccaneer on its similarly steep ascent. Good weather, moreover, remains the order of the day; at the close ofhis commentary Oliver Stewart forecast a "fine, sunny afternoon" for Sunday. As the Saturday crowd of 100,000 started on itshomeward way, the Valiants from Marham began to arrive for Sunday's V-bomber scramble. No doubt this was not to the tasteof the nuclear disarmament campaigners who had lined the road from Farnborough station with billboards carrying slogans; butBomber Command has ably shown its operational alertness. After the ball: fascinating, and often fantastic, are the tyre-marks left on the RAE runway after the week's flying. Their interpretation- dimpled and treaded tyres, four-wheel bogies and a nosewheel with shimmy—is a story in itself. Sketch by "Flight" artist Frank Munger
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