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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 2788.PDF
856 FLIGHT, 25 November I960 A D.H.C. Caribou of the Royal Canadian Air Force, one of the type now in service with RCAF Transport Command in Egypt as part of Canada's contribution to the UN Emergency Force SERVICE AVIATION Air Force, Naval and Army Flying News Rhodesian Visitor TODAY the Chief of the Air Staff, Royal-*• Rhodesian Air Force, AVM E. W. S. Jacklin, was due to leave by Comet forRAF Germany after a week's round of visits to the Royal Air Force in the UK.This began with a luncheon at Fighter Command headquarters last Monday,when AVM Jacklin was presented by the CAS, Air Chief Marshal Sir Thomas Pike,with a silver cup, subscribed for by all eight home commands of the RAF, symbolisingthe bonds existing between the Royal Air Force and the Rhodesian Air Force. UK-Aden: 7hr lOmin AN unofficial record for a flight from•**• England to Aden has been set up by a Vickers Valiant of No 214 Sqn. Taking-off at 0300hr on November 16 from the squadron's base at Marham in Norfolk,the aircraft landed at Khormaksar at lOlOhr, having covered 4,030 miles in7hr lOmin at an average speed of 565 m.p.h. It was air-refuelled over Idris, Libya, by atanker Valiant from the same squadron. The previous fastest time for anEngland-Aden flight was set up by a Vulcan which on September 9, 1956,covered the distance from Boscombe Down to Khormaksar (3,940 miles) in 7hr 23minat an average speed of 530 m.p.h. The Valiant, whose flight was 90 mileslonger than that of the Vulcan, was cap- tained by Sqn Ldr John Garstin. He wasalso in command of a Valiant which in March this year made the longest-everflight by a Royal Air Force machine, 8,500 miles non-stop round the UK. Then inMay he captained the Valiant which flew non-stop to Singapore, setting up anotherunofficial record for a flight of 8,110 miles in 15ihr. Sqn Ldr D. B. Barfoot, CO of No 249 Sqn, receiving from Air Marshal Sir William MacDonald, AOC-in-C Middle East Air Force, the Sassoon Trophy won by the squadron in the annual competition between units of the MEAF Light Bomber Wing. Runners-up were No 32 Sqn and third place went to No 73 Sqn Robertson Trophy Winners AT the Air Public Relations Association** annual reunion at the RAF Club last night the C. P. Robertson MemorialTrophy was being presented to Sqn Ldr Peter Latham who commands Treble OneSqn. The trophy is awarded annually for "the best interpretation of the Royal AirForce to the public" during the preceding 12 months, and in this award aptly com-memorates the consistently brilliant per- formances put on by the <.quadron's blackHunters at air displays in Britain and on the Continent. Sqn Ldr Latham has ledthe team, official representatives of Fighter Command, since becoming CO last year. RAF/AAC Aircraft / asked in the House of Commons last week whether he was satisfied withthe weight limit of responsibility between the Army and the RAF for aircraft opera-tion, "in view of the development of steep- take-off aircraft," the Minister of Defence,Mr Harold Watkinson, said that as his predecessor indicated in his answer onJune 3 last year, the weight limit was not rigidly interpreted. His questioner, Mr Geoffrey de Freitas,went on to ask whether there was not a grave danger that as the limit had been setwhen conventional aircraft were being considered, however vaguely the definitionwas interpreted, the Army would be en- couraged to rely on obsolete aircraft, inspite of new developments, to keep safely on the side of the division. Mr Watkinson said that he did not thinkso, and that was why he did not want to make a rigid division. He was anxious thatthe Army should have the right modern type of aircraft for its needs; he thoughtwe should get it better if a rigid weight limit division were not made.The Minister was also asked what he was doing to improve co-ordination of theaircraft requirements of the Royal Navy and the RAF. Mr Watkinson said thatmachinery existed in the Ministry of Defence to see whether the requirementsof the two Services could be met by a single basic type. In the case of some helicoptersthis had been achieved, and they were try- ing to apply the principle generally. Fit Lt H. Simpson with the inflatable "blank," or "stopper," which won for him the L. G. Groves Air Safety Prize (See news item below) IN BRIEF AVM A. C. Kermode, Director of Educa-tional Services at Air Ministry, is retiring from the RAF. Mr Julian Amery paid his first visit to a RoyalAir Force command headquarters since his appointment as Air Minister when he went toBomber Command HQ at High Wycombe, Bucks, last Friday. He was received by theAOC-in-C, Air Marshal Sir Kenneth Cross, and given a presentation on the role of theCommand. Westland Whirlwind helicopters of "C"Flight, No 22 (Search and Rescue) Sqn, based at RAF Valley, Anglesey, have been operatinga regular mail service to the Skerries light- house, landing on a flat rock 10yd square. Theflight is one of three detachments operated by No 22 Sqn, which is based at St Mawgan andrecently received a squadron standard (this page, October 28). Two RAF men from the staging post at Ganin the Indian Ocean, WO S. W. Bushell and Cpl K. Bayliss, have supervised the construc-tion of an airstrip on a coral island, Hulele, in the Male Atoll, Maldive Islands. With the helpof 200 native labourers, the site was cleared and a 3,000ft long, 50ft wide PSP runway laidin four months. The strip is to be used to pro- vide air transport facilities for Maldive Govern-ment officials and the UK Government representative at Gan, 300 miles away. The Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral ofthe Fleet the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal SirThomas Pike, were among the guests at the RAF Reserves Club annual dinner, held inLondon on November 14. The club's presi- dent, Sir Miles Thomas, presided. Among the L. G. Groves memorial prizesand awards presented at the Air Ministry last Friday was the £50 Air Safety Prize whichwent to Fit Lt H. Simpson, an engineer officer now stationed at RAF Feltwell, for his designof an "inflatable stopper" type of air intake cover to prevent foreign matter getting intothe engines of V-bombers on the ground. The Australian Minister for Air, Mr F. M.Osborne, recently announced a scheme to raise the training standard for RAAF officers to uni-versity degree level. Under it, from 1961 onwards, RAAF cadets are to graduate withBSc degrees from Melbourne University and Point Cook Training College would be re-con-stituted as the Royal Australian Air Force Academy.
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