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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0815.PDF
r F; IGHT, 15 Jwne 1961 825 ggg while a Sever/ey takes off from the airhead strip: a scene from the airborne assault demonstration on Salisbury Plain on June 7 territory at odds with the Foreign Office) which by the end of anhour-and-a-half was thickly populated with soldiers, supplies and aircraft. As the commentator put it, they were "having to squeezethe events of many hours into 90 minutes." Operations began with nine Hastings (from Colerne) and four Beverleys (from Abing-don) of 38 Group dropping elements of 16 Parachute Brigade Group to secure an airhead: the Hastings carried 30 parachutists, theBeverleys 20 plus two platforms; they were given fighter cover by RN Scimitars, six of which subsequently attacked an enemytarget under fire control directions from the ground. Conditions were not easy for the parachutists, with a wind freshening to 18kt. The operation's second stage was the flying-in by Beverleysto a strip on the airhead of elements of 51 Brigade Group. (This airstrip had actually been constructed a few weeks ago, similar tothe one laid down in Norfolk by parachutists who were dropped with their equipment.) Four Beverleys were actually employed,the first of them taking off again after only 12min; the commentator stressed that it should be imagined they were "coming in con-tinuously." Next came the Pioneers of 230 Sqn, in green-and-blue camouflage, flying in and out at treetop level; then Sycamore,Whirlwind and Belvedere helicopters. (One additional Whirlwind was used on an actual casualty evacuation, three parachutistshaving been injured in the descent.) The four Sycamores carried four soldiers apiece, the three Whirlwinds eight apiece (deplaningby rope), and the two Belvederes had a mixed load: one carried 25 troops, the other a jeep and trailer slung beneath it. The Whirl-winds also used external loading when they took off on sorties out of the airhead. A DHC-4 Caribou which landed with about 30soldiers (it was CF-LAN, the demonstrator seen at the recent Paris Salon) was supposed to fly casualties out of the airhead.As there were none, it simply took off from where it stood on the strip, with a run of about 100yd. ON Salisbury Plain on Wednesday and Thursday of last weekthere was held the first large-scale land-air warfare demon-stration by all three fighting Services. The Royal Navy contributed Scimitars, Sea Vixens and Sea Venoms in a ground-attack role. The Royal Air Force deployed Hunters and Canberras for ground attack, Beverleys and Hastings for troop transport andsupply-dropping, and Pioneers and Whirlwinds, Belvedere and Sycamore helicopters for short-range tactical transport. TheArmy demonstrated its fire-power and supplied elements of 16 Parachute Brigade for an airborne assault, followed by an airlanding by units of 51 Infantry Brigade Group supported by the RAF Regiment. There were four phases in the demonstration. "Noisy Nora,"on the Wednesday morning, concentrated on fire-power and was held at the School of Artillery ranges, Larkhill. "Saucy Sue," atLarkhill that afternoon, simulated an airborne assault; "Plain Jane," on Thursday, showed the advance and engagement of abrigade group, with Honest John deployed; and "Pretty Lily," at RAF Boscombe Down during the day, was a static show ofRAF and Naval aircraft and their operational loads, plus a display of the organization employed by 38 Group, Transport Command,in the control of an air transport force in land-air operations. The fire-power demonstration ranged from hand-held infantryweapons to rocketry and dive-bombing by Canberras. It brought in Wombat and Malkara and also the new mark of Canberra, theMk 15/16 (B.6 variant), participating by permission of the MoA. Two of these aircraft each fired 128 2in rockets. Wombat, designedto be carried on a vehicle (at present a long-range Land-Rover) was described as having a maximum range of 1,200yd, but witha greater chance, at shorter range, of getting a first-round hit. Malkara was not fired, owing to an electrical fault in the system;it had worked perfectly at rehearsal the day before. Air-to-ground firing was provided by two of the latest generationof Naval aircraft, the Scimitar and Sea Vixen, and one of the obsolescent generation, the Sea Venom; by Hunter FGA.9s andthe Canberras already mentioned, while six Canberra B(I).8s of 16 Sqn, RAF Germany, carried out shallow dive-bombing withtwo 1,0001b practice bombs and cannon-strafing with their four -Omm Hispanos before leaving for their home bases. The SeaVixens likewise flew home after demonstrating—back to Yeovilton. Two of them carried out attacks with 2in and 3inrockets. The Scimitars did 20° rocket and strafing attacks; they were unable to bomb because cloudbase in the target area wasinsufficient. The Sea Venoms, which also returned to Yeovilton after demonstrating, operated in two four-aircraft groups; each had12 3m rockets and did a second attack with their four 20mm cannon. There were eight Hunter FGA.9s, all from No 54 Sqn at Stradishall :°n he first run, two of them carried out bombing attacks, six rocketry; on the second they did strafing with their 30mm cannon. 'iaucy Sue," on the Wednesday afternoon of June 7, was atact cal and logistic display. It began with a typically open part of Salisbury Plain (for the purpose of the exercise, a piece of foreign Assault and Fire-power COMBINED SERVICES' POTENTIAL DEMONSTRATED On Thursday, in "Pretty Lily" at RAF Boscombe Down and"Plain Jane" at Larkhill, the Royal Air Force and the Army respec- tively showed a line-up of their weapons and aircraft. There werealso, at Boscombe Down, four Royal Navy types of aircraft, including the Buccaneer and Wessex, which were on show by arrange-ment with the MoA. Also there by arrangement with the MoA was an Armstrong Whitworth Argosy C.I, one of 56 ordered forRAF Transport Command. The Army armament on show included Honest John, the free flight missile, which was twice fired success-fully, the Army having more luck with this than they did with Malkara the previous day. Thunderbird was also on parade. These demonstrations on Salisbury Plain were attended by alarge number of officers from the British and NATO services, headed by the Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral of the Fleet EarlMountbatten of Burma. When "Saucy Sue" ended the military band broke into "RuleBritannia," perhaps in compliment to Lord Mountbatten's naval antecedents. It might also have been interpreted as emphasizinghis consistent support, from the war years onwards, of combined operations such as had been demonstrated before the large crowdof officers, Ministry officials, cadets and other spectators. Types of aircraft involved in "Saucy Sue": Beverleys, a Whirlwind with externally slung load, and a Prestwick Pioneer
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