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Post by flyboy on Feb 20, 2015 18:48:24 GMT
December 1945
The Gooseneck Flare
As the mail and paper flights continued apace the operation of the flights was streamlined. Papers were picked up from Camberley railway station just before midnight and sorted into destination loads before being packed, in the early days, into metal drums onto which had been welded bomb lugs to fit the aircraft bomb racks. The first drop of the day would be at about 0430hrs from a height of 100 feet onto a target marked by gooseneck flares. ( a gooseneck flare was a piece of apparatus that was similar to a metal watering can with a wick protruding from the spout. The cans would be placed at regular distances down either side of the runway and would be filled with paraffin and the wick lit. The resulting flame was usually used to indicate the edges of the runways at airfields that didn't have electric runway edge lights.- Ed) There were some failures of the metal drums and an updated system was devised where the papers were packed into standard airmen's kit bags which were more flexible. These were carried in the aircraft bomb bays on a bomb lug which was fixed to a piece of wood which in turn was lashed to the bag. These bags stood up to the impact of hitting the ground much better than the metal drums which could split open and deposit the newspapers all over the dropping zone and further afield if there was a wind blowing! Naively the bags were marked ' return to Blackbushe by the quickest possible route'- but strangely most of them did in fact find their way back. There were incidentally , so many Mosquito XXVs available in the country at this time that any type of damage even Cat'A' (repairable within 24 hours) was automatically downgraded to Cat 'E' (not repairable) and the aircraft was written off. There was a large pit on the airfield where such aircraft were towed and set on fire. They would have been worth a fortune now! Tom Grieveson was a Navigator with 162 Squadron and a great Mosquito fan: " Looking back I think a very interesting point was the Mosquitos performance all those years ago. For instance, we used to fly direct to Athens from Blackbushe, albeit with overload tanks, in 5hrs 50 minutes and that just shows what a fantastic plane it was" On the 23rd a stand-down of four days was granted to all staff not required for essential duties. This was much appreciated by all ranks and about two thirds of the Station personnel were quick to take advantage of the break to travel home for Christmas. On Christmas Day at the Station only one kitchen and Mess were in use to cater for the 600 remaining personnel, including officers, NCOs and airmen , who all dined together in the concert hall which adjoined the airmen's Mess. A magnificent meal was served, which was followed in the afternoon by a concert and later an all ranks dance which lasted late into the night. This was to be followed by yet another dance on New Year's Eve. Sport was still a major activity at the airfield with soccer, hockey and rugby being played every Wednesday and Saturday. Team spirit was good and in rugby football the team had reached the district finals against Stoney Cross XV, but unfortunately lost by 3 points to 16. Badminton and squash were also popular sports. The station cinema was showing four different films weekly. On the 13th of the month a conference had been called at SHQ. S/Ldr Irving, the Senior Medical Officer attended with senior officers of 46 Group, as did the Deputy Air Officer Administration, Transport Command. The future of the airfield was discussed and plans put forward for improvements to the required standard of the accommodation at reasonable cost. It was suggested that the installation of baths and/or showers on the various dispersal sites would go a long way to improve conditions. Although there was a considerable exchange of views no definite conclusion was reached. Finally to end the year FIDO had to be used on New Year's Eve to land the all-weather Prestwick-Blackbushe service. Visability had deteriorated to 40 yards in fog but the pilot was able to make a successful touch-down. So ended 1945.
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Post by flyboy on Feb 21, 2015 9:37:54 GMT
>>>>>>>> 1946 <<<<<<<<
January 1946
An accident in Cove.
On the 4th, F/Lt Greenland the Group Fire Officer, paid a staff visit to the airfield fire station. F/O Brewer, the Station Fire Officer, was instructed to take over the duties as Fire Officer at RAF Northolt in addition to his duties at Blackbushe. This would cause his absence from his present duties for two or three days a week. A signal was received , also on the 4th, from Headquarters, Transport Command, instructing that the A30 through Blackbushe should be opened to the public for 24 hours daily forthwith. The Senior Control Officer carried out a controlled descent procedure known as a QGH to help the pilot of a Dakota to make a safe landing. The weather was given as low clouds at 1500 feet with winds up to 70mph. The aircraft captain made clear that he was most grateful for the assistance he had received. The airfield was visited on the 14th by S/Ldr Austin, 46 Group, and S/Ldr Burton, ADLS Northolt, who arrived to inspect accommodation due to be handed over shortly to a detachment from ADLS Northolt. The flare path was used the same day to assist the pilot of a Firefly to land when he became lost. The visibility at Blackbushe at the time was only 900 meters. On the 16th the ADLS detachment from RAF Northolt arrived in the shape of four Ansons and the crews quickly moved into their allocated accommodation. On the 18th the Fire Station received a call to attend a school in Cove where an aircraft had crashed into the school building. Two tenders were immediately despatched to the scene where, upon arrival, they found the aircraft involved to be a two seat variant of a German Dornier 335 A/2 fighter which had been on a test flight from Farnborough. A number of ex-German aircraft types had been brought to Farnborough following the end of hostilities. This particular aircraft was a twin-engine type of strange design as it had one engine mounted in the front of the fuselage in standard fashion , with the other engine mounted in the rear , which pushed the aircraft forwards. It was subsequently found that the aircraft had crashed due to a fire in the rear engine that had burnt through the aircraft control cables. As the aircraft, which was on a familiarisation flight, carried no radio it was not possible for those on the ground who had seen the engine on fire to warn G/Capt Hards DSO, Commander of the RAE, of the danger he was facing. He died as the aircraft plummeted to the ground and hit the school, setting part of it on fire. There was atrocious weather on the 25th and two Dakotas on the Prestwick all-weather service were forced to make instrument approaches and landings. There had been reports of dissatisfaction and great concern being strongly voiced at military stations abroad regarding the handling of the large numbers of personnel being discharged from military service now that hostilities had ended. On the 26th the Station Commander called a conference of all Squadron, Flight and Section commanders to discuss the recent disaffection caused by the demobilisation (demob) arrangements at RAF Units overseas. It was intended to discuss the causes thereof and measures to ensure the prevention of such occurrences spreading to the Station. It was agreed that the trouble was mainly due to the fact that many personnel failed to study the full and frank information that was published by the Air Ministry from time to time in the demob forms. In order that all ranks at Blackbushe were made fully aware of the availability of information, it was decided to stencil each demob form and send them to all Sections, Messes etc for display. Further copies could be posted in each sleeping billet as required. Attention would continue to be called to the demob forms by promulgations in Station routine orders and all ranks would be invited to bring any queries to the personal attention of their Section Commanders.The promised visits of Staff Officers from HQ 46 Group would doubtless be of considerable value in allaying any misapprehensions on demobilisation that might exist. On the 31st of the month S/Ldr Cleowyn of the District Inspectorate visited the Station to discuss the establishment and strength of service police at the Station. It was pointed out to the officer that the opening of the A30 through the camp allowed the public easy access onto the airfield and had resulted in an increased number of thefts. It was therefore explained that it would help to be able to increase the number of police patrols. The Squadron Leader answered this by announcing that there was no prospect of increasing the number of police. On the contrary, police strength would probably be reduced in the near future; however he would delay this for as long as possible. The month had been marked by very poor weather, with high winds, rain and fog being common throughout but in spite of this aircraft schedules had been maintained. The north/south runway which crossed the A30 was now being used only in emergencies. Traffic which was permitted to use the road at all times had to be stopped under the direction of flying control each time the runway was used and this caused considerable disruption. Only two flights of the Blackbushe/Prestwick schedule had been cancelled since the start on September 16th and there had been no diversions. Some 726 flights had been made.
Motor transport was being reorganised with vehicles being reallocated to individual Commanders for duty use, being accompanied by a strong reminder of their responsibility for the vehicle. At the same time vehicles that had been issued to squadrons for aircrew conveyance were withdrawn and provision for scheduled runs were introduced instead. There was also an agreement for casual requests for use of service vehicles to be considered. It was hoped that more economical use of transport would be achieved and in addition that the high number of accidents could be cut down with the introduction of a determined effort to improve driving standards. A curt letter from the Station Commander to all drivers, a strongly-worded routine order and a parade of all DMTs were the main features of the effort. A close watch was instigated on all drivers of service and personal vehicles in the camp. Shortage of NCOs was a real problem in the MT Section and despite the Station Commander's appeal to higher level there appeared to be little chance of any improvement in staffing. Sickness and the large numbers of personnel being released for demobilisation were the main reasons. Meanwhile No. 1467 Servicing Wing had been kept very busy. Since August 1945 they had been called upon to service 14 Dakotas in addition to the based Warwicks. The Warwick aircraft flying hours had been substantially cut but there had been a lot of additional servicing carried out on them with engines being replaced and a new maintenance programme being introduced. The bad weather had not helped the Wing and the constant release of personnel had placed a heavy burden on those left to cope. The result was that a number of aircraft had been left in an unserviceable state purely awaiting the manpower to rectify the situation. As the wind-down continued following the end of the war , it was decided that the fleet of Dakotas and Ansons, some 17 aircraft in total , should return to Croydon and they had been prepared for departure by the 4th of the month. 416 Echelon would be left with 21 Warwicks and an Oxford which they would continue to work on . It was hoped that the serviceability rate would be greatly improved by the end of February. The Mosquitos of 162 Squadron were suffering similar problems and the operational efficiency of the squadron was being affected. However with replacement aircraft at last being made available the situation was now easing. In addition all aircraft had to be modified for the prevention of water soakage and for operational requirements to fit newspaper dropping equipment etc. In addition, if one of the aircraft went unserviceable at a staging point along the route it was unlikely that the correct spares would be available, thus a lot of time was spent sending out the required spares for these downed aircraft. Of the squadron's 18 aircraft only 4 were fully serviceable, with two of them on acceptance checks. The other 12 aircraft were either unserviceable abroad or undergoing some form of maintenance. When they had time to relax from this high pressure of wiork the servicing team could have seen a variety show staged at the airfield by a Basingstoke company , which attracted a large audience despite the very cold weather. In addition Whist drives were proving very popular and were an entertaining way to spend an evening among other RAF and WAAF personnel. Sickness overall had not been very high but there were a large number of respiratory infections and influenza. There had also been two cases which developed into pneumonia which were admitted directly to Aldershot Military Hospital. The majority of other serious cases were of necessity also going to the hospital as there was a lack of nursing staff available at the airfield as they too were being taken ill. In addition sickness was a problem affecting the administrative staff as they were similarly being hit by the epidemic which was sweeping through the Station. As 30% of their staff were new entries and lacked experience anyway , things were proving particularly difficult. There were so many reporting sick that the medical centre had to introduce an appointment system to try to cut down the time that those due to be seen had to wait. As described, the medical centre itself was having staffing problems as its own staff fell sick, leaving recently qualified staff to cope as best they could. It was reported that many members of the centre staff had shown a very low order of intelligence, being incapable of following the simplest of instructions. There was an all-round failing of the staff in this section, with neglect to pass on information when handing over duties not only causing disorganisation but also a lot of wasting of very valuable time. A much higher standard of intelligence and initiative was required and called for.
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Post by flyboy on Feb 22, 2015 13:15:14 GMT
February 1946
Good Discipline Required
W/Cdr McDermott recalled " Almost the entire accommodation, domestic and technical, on the station was Nissen hut based. The 162 Squadron sleeping accommodation, all ranks, was in a group of huts on the green in front of the Cricketers Inn, Cricket Hill Lane, Yateley close to the airfield. Various public and military roads connected with the main domestic site to the north/east of the airfield where the officers', sergeants' and airmens' Messes were situated. There was a permanent manned guardroom on the back road between the Cricketers and the domestic site where we reported in. The WAAF site was close to the north side of the airfield, distant from any of the other domestic and sleeping sites. Distance may well have lent enchantment - it certainly did not prove an insurmountable barrier! "The Cricketers then was a very tiny but pleasant pub with a small clientele of local folk who invited my navigator and me to join their darts team for some of the fixtures. " Other hostelries used by officers were the Ely ( a large place but nothing like it is now) and occasionally the Cambridge in Camberley, where we enjoyed a cheerful antagonism with the Army from the Staff College. Of course uniform was worn at all times. No.1 dress after work, but we thought the Military a bit overboard when they wore fancy epaulettes and other accompaniments while drinking there." On the 4th most of the Dakota flights destined for Croydon were forced to divert into Blackbushe due to the waterlogged grass surface again being experienced there. A number of officers and NCOs, aircrew of 147 Squadron at Croydon, were posted to the Station. This influx, plus the personnel from 167 Squadron which was in the process of disbanding, resulted in significant extra work load for the already hard-pressed administration staff at Station HQ. The Station Commander was becoming most concerned with the labour situation and called together all Squadron, Flight and Sector Commanders to enlist their help in finding suitable staff to undertake the fatigue duties. In addition he held two meetings in the Station cinema , where he spoke to all personnel to emphasise the need for good discipline and the value of team work to overcome the present difficulties. Extra fatigue duties would be required until the arrival of the promised German prisoner-of-war labour. On the 14th FIDO was lit to assist the arrival of an Anson and Mosquito, but only the lead-in burners were required. The following day a further meeting of senior officers was called by the Station Commander to outline future policy regarding HQ 46 Group at the airfield. The Officer Commanding read out a letter received from the Air Ministry on the need for correct dress and deportment as there were many irregularities being noted at the Station. It was stressed that disciplinary action must be taken against individuals to ensure a high standard. Details of the introduction of a Colour Hoisting Parade to be held daily from the 5th of March were discussed. Communications with the Press on service matters were in future to be directed to the Duty Press Officer at the Air Ministry, Whitehall, and all Station and Flying Control staff received instructions to concentrate on acquiring better standards of airmanship. On the 27th snow had to be cleared from the runways and perimeter tracks. The airfield was by now fully Customs-controlled. Their own apron and offices were situated to the west of the control tower at the eastern end of the airfield. 162 Squadron because of the alleged urgency of its mail was a 'bonded' squadron and did not have to report to Customs, which was a unique position. This debarred them from carrying any dutiable goods. Customs were, however, very good to the squadron and allowed the crews to report by telephone anything that they did import and settle any duty required at a later date. Regrettably it soon became obvious that not all the crews were playing the game and the concession was stopped. In fact when the crews cleared customs in the normal way they got away with more than their fair share anyway. W/Cdr McDermott himself had an experience of their helpful attitude when he returned late one night from Prague. He had purchased some good Bohemian cut glass which he declared. " Oh , you mean this cheap domestic glassware" said the Customs man. "No its jolly good cut glass" replied the W/Cdr somewhat curtly. " No it isn't, it's cheap old domestic glassware and the duty is three ha'pence a pound by weight, so it's not worth making out a receipt" was the reply. Realisation dawned and that 'cheap' glass is still around. The weather in the first half of February had been strong winds , rain and fog - all similar to the previous month. Later in the month, however, conditions changed and a fall of snow had been efficiently cleared, with the airfield remaining operational. In fact on the 27th when some snow had fallen, over 30 aircraft movements had taken place. During the month the crews of the ADLS Flight had quickly settled in and were operational in the Ansons. The A30 had remained open for 24hrs daily with no reason to restrict the flow of traffic. 4176 Echelon had been told to be ready to close down their operation by the end of the following month. In truth they had only been hanging on to see the departure of various aircraft awaiting collection. The twelve Dakotas had moved out to Croydon and four of the Ansons had already been despatched with just one waiting collection by 87 Group. Four of the Warwicks had gone to 45 MU at Kinloss and two to 304(P) Squadron, while the Oxford still awaited collection. With the exception of two aircraft with minor faults, all remaining Warwicks were serviceable and were also awaiting collection. The Equipment Section was having a problem with an acute shortage of solid fuel due to the failure of contractors to fulfil their obligations. Following urgent representations to the Air Ministry, the position was relieved but the overall situation remained serious. The acute shortage of personnel was affecting all areas but in particular the Transport Section was in difficulty meeting requirements. 162 Squadron had 21 Mosquitos on strength during the month and the serviceability of the aircraft had improved, with an average of 12 having been available for use each day. The squadron had accomplished much during the month and the esprit-de-corps of the men was running high.
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Post by flyboy on Feb 22, 2015 19:00:09 GMT
March 1946.
The Airfield begins to wind down.
There was heavy snow on the 3rd and the Prestwick service Dakota had to make its approach using BABA (Blind Approached Beacon Approach) on to runway 32. The first approach was abortive with the aircraft off the runway by several yards to the west. Having overshot from this attempt the pilot was more successful the second time with the aircraft landing perfectly in blinding snow. A large number of VIP visitors were by now using the airport and were quickly able to pass through facilities, either arriving from or departing to, airports throughout the world.( I intend to cover them in another separate section later -Ed). There was trouble on the 10th when the inner marker of the SBA (Standard Beam Approach) went unserviceable. The Senior Flying Control Officer was complimented and thanked for coming in and controlling an Oxford which was being flown by Air Vice Marshal Fiddement in very poor conditions. The AVM telephoned through to express his appreciation for the assistance received. It was a bad start on the day of the 14th when one of the Mosquitos operated by 162 Squadron taxied into a Nissen hut on departure in the early morning. A full inquiry was ordered to investigate the circumstances leading up to this accident. On the same day the first of twenty Dakotas destined for Bavaria arrived at 15.19hrs. The aircraft remained at the Station for a few days prior to departing on the 18th. The duty Flying Control Officer was thanked by the crews of an Anson and a Mosquito following the provision of a QGH ( Radar Controlled Descent ) which enabled both aircraft to land safely. Also on the 18th W/Cdr Hartwright , Commanding Officer, RAF Croydon arrived in connection with an inquiry being held into the disappearance of a diplomatic mail bag. At a meeting called by the Station Commander various points were discussed with the Section Commanders. They included that the closer co-operation between the sections was resulting from recently-introduced measures and that individual grievances were being addressed and solved. There was a major incident on the 29th(?) when a Dakota developed undercarriage problems in the circuit. The Station Commander, Wing Commander Flying and the Chief Technical Officer were all in the control tower. The pilot of one of the Croydon - based Dakotas that was in the air at the time passed on helpful information. The aircraft eventually made a safe landing some thirty minutes later after sorting out the problem. On the 30th 4167 Echelon was finally disbanded having, during the month organised the successful despatch of the 45 and 46 MU Warwicks. All the sites were cleared and cleaned and equipment returned to the stores. A farewell party attended by the Station Commander had been held in the concert hall a couple of days earlier prior to the departure of the Echelon personnel. During the month 162 Squadron had been having problems with the engines of their aircraft, two of which had suffered broken conrods.
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Post by flyboy on Feb 22, 2015 21:10:33 GMT
April 1946.
A new sodium flare path.
The airfield was reduced in status from an RAF Station to become No. 160 Staging Post and its future commitments were discussed at length by those in charge. By this time a new sodium flare-path had been installed on runway 26 and was proving very useful as it was a lot easier to put into operation more quickly than the time it took to light up the FIDO. The Bavarian Dakotas were continuing to depart at regular intervals and there were a considerable number of practice QGHs carried out. The airfield was now a shadow of its former self and a great deal less active than it had been only three months earlier. For the personnel still remaining there were now periods when lack of aircraft movements left time on their hands, with opportunities to reflect on the busier and more glorious days of the past. They may have recalled that since March 1944 some 11,444 aircraft had used the airfield facilities and 63,934 passengers had passed through en route to and from many destinations in countries throughout the world. It had indeed been a very busy airfield in its heyday.
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Post by flyboy on Feb 23, 2015 8:02:28 GMT
May 1946
The Danish B17 Is Repaired. During the month much planning and preparation was being undertaken regarding the organisation of a Victory Parade due to take place in early June. On the 15th of the month large numbers of Rhodesian and South African troops started to arrive to take part in the forthcoming celebrations. They received a meal in the airfield buffet before being transported up to London. Representatives of the Directorate of Accident Prevention Board visited the airfield to see Flying Control in action on the 15th of the month. It is recorded that between 1300hrs and 1704hrs, 29 aircraft either took off or landed and these were witnessed by those attending. Work was being undertaken during the month at the entrance to 26 runway and surrounding taxiways but this work was not allowed to hinder any of the aircraft movements. Repairs to the Danish B17 Fortress OY-DCE that had made the belly landing during November had been completed by the Scottish Aviation Company. The aircraft was able to make a test flight on the 22nd and then return to Denmark. The Equipment Section was badly affected by staff shortages but had managed to despatch many of the unwanted Warwick spares to 264 MU before the end of the month.
The 31st of the month saw G/Cpt Bradbury take his last Colour Hoisting Parade prior to handing over command to W/Cdr DE Bennett. He thanked all the assembled personnel for their loyalty and co-operation during the previous six months and bade them farewell. There had been 1020 movements throughout the month and despite the adverse weather conditions, scheduled and other services had not been affected. The QEH procedures for positioning aircraft into the airfield circuit pattern had proved most helpful in this respect.
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Post by flyboy on Feb 23, 2015 13:00:50 GMT
June 1946
The First Viking Arrives
W/Cdr Bennett, Commanding Officer personally took charge of parties of cadets that visited the airfield on Saturday afternoon and Sundays throughout the month. He ensured that appropriate lectures were arranged and that they were given a flight during their visit when possible. Three Dakotas of the South African Air Force took off on the 12th to fly South African personnel over Berlin and other places of interest in Germany before returning to the airfield in the evening. They took off on the following day on their long flight back home. Notification was received on the 15th that on the 17th of the month all RAF HF and DF stations were to be taken off the air and closed down permanently. Additional Dakotas departed to the Union of South Africa. On the 18th a new type of aircraft landed, the Vickers Viking. This was a type that would be seen regularly at Blackbushe in future years where it was operated in large numbers by emerging and established airlines alike. BEA, Eagle Airways, Orion, Pegasus and Airwork were just some of the operators that flew them at Blackbushe in subsequent years from the 1950s. It was announced on the 25th that 162 Squadron would disband during the following month. At the same time it was revealed by the Commanding Officer that the airfield was expected to continue to operate for another year at least. In the same address he reported that since the introduction of the Daily Colour Hoisting Parades the general deportment of both airmen and airwomen had greatly improved but emphasised that he considered that the number attending was still too low. The Sergeants' Mess dining room had to be closed down due to the lack of cooks. On the 30th two Mosquitos took off on schedule, to Rome and to Prague - both for the last time prior to the disbandment of the squadron. Total of movements recorded were 1036.
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Post by flyboy on Feb 23, 2015 21:07:43 GMT
July 1946
Transmitting Equipment Stolen.
A theft of transmitting equipment and receiver parts was reported to the Special Investigation Branch and civilian police on the 10th. The parts were from the SCS51 Blind Landing System. An initial inspection of all personnel's kit was made and a formal investigation was held by F/Lt WCT Brown. 162 Squadron disbanded on the 14th of the month, almost exactly a year after they arrived at the airfield. By the end of the month German prisoner-of-war were being drafted in to relieve the hard pressed base personnel. Three of them were granted special class 'B' driving licences to enable them to assist with driving duties on the Station. Four of the dispersal sites had by now been closed down so that the remaining two sites could be adequately staffed and time wastage kept to a minimum. The Passenger and Freight Section had during the month carried out its commitments with efficiency and a letter of congratulations on their work was received from the AOC, 46 Group. Despite flying weather improving , movements in July only reached 872.
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Post by flyboy on Feb 23, 2015 22:04:23 GMT
August 1946
An Air Display.
On the 7th a notable type, the Bristol Brigand, landed from RAE Farnborough. This was the cause of much interest as this new aircraft type hadn't been seen by the majority of the personnel. A small fire broke out on the 11th in the Signals Workshop due to petrol ignition. Damage was estimated to be in the region of £30.00 but no equipment was damaged. A major CIGS ( Chief of Imperial General Staff ) conference was being held in Camberley on the 13th and this attracted many visitors to the Station as those attending chose the nearest airfield to fly into. There was a signal received on the same day from HQ,Transport Command informing the Commanding Officer that with effect from the 18th of the month no further 205 Group, aircraft would use the airfield due to the reduction to Staging Post status and the condition of the runways. On the 20th an accident occurred when Mosquito HR359 of 21 Squadron, 140 Wing, burst a tyre on landing. Lancaster PD328 'Aries' departed at 13.39hrs on the 21st en route to New Zealand on a goodwill mission. The crew who had flown the aircraft in on the previous day were accommodated overnight at The Manor House in Hartley Wintney. The aircraft used 1700 yards of runway, which was a very long take-off run to get airborne with 13 persons on board. There was a large gathering to witness the aircraft take off, which included a number of photographers from the School of Photography at Farnborough, 20 Press representatives, 4 BBC officials and Air Ministry personnel. The 24th saw the arrival of 50 Aeronautical Society members. They were entertained by an air display given by G/Capt Bandidt in a Miles Messenger, S/Ldr Voss DFC in a Vampire from 247 Squadron at RAF Odiham and F/Lt Mitchell from 54 Squadron, also based at RAF Odiham flying a Tempest. A Lancastrian had been placed on display on the ground for them to look around. A Canadian Airlines Lancastrian made 51 SCS practice approaches on the 25th. On the 29th Lancastrian, VM727, departed at 23.00hrs on a training flight to Canada. The total number of movements for the month was 795. The occasional aircraft would be flown in. Between August and October two ex-German JU52/3Ms (VN718 and VN727) were a regular sight. Both aircraft were being used by the RAE Farnborough Transport Flight until they were withdrawn at the end of October.
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Post by flyboy on Feb 24, 2015 9:37:04 GMT
September 1946
Battle of Britain Day
Early in the month a committee was formed to make arrangements for a 'Battle of Britain' Airshow that was to be held on the 14th of the month. In connection with the forthcoming airshow the Commanding Officer paid a visit to Farnborough on the 4th to arrange for photographic equipment to be made available on the day. On the following day His Royal Highness, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, arrived to be met by Major General Mathews, Commandant , Royal Military Acadamy Sandhurst, and other high-ranking officers. They departed to the RMAS where a 'Passing Out' parade was due to take place. W/Cdr Bennett and the Adjutant were invited to attend the parade officially and they later lunched at Sandhurst with the Prince and his party. There was also a minor accident on the same date when Mosquito 'K' of 107 Squadron left the runway and ended up in soft ground. The following day W/Cdr Bennett took up Oxford W6626 on an air test. There was, however, a problem when the tail post cowling became loose after take-off, but the aircraft returned to land safely. Lincoln RF484 'Excalibur' arrived on the 8th at 15.50hrs and it departed the following morning at 05.00hrs to New Zealand. It was 'Battle of Britain Day on the 14th and the airfield was open to the public from 14.00hrs to 18.00hrs with in excess of twenty aircraft in the air display despite poor weather which caused some problems. There were many displays mounted on the ground to interest visitors. A crowd of about 5000 spectators attended and despite the weather it was possible to send a donation of £150 to the RAF Benevolent Fund. Pleasure Flights were available in a Miles Aerovan and Air Contractors, the company that organised the pleasure flying, added a sum of £25.
The Air Display Programme ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1430 Oxford W6626 takes off for R/T transmissions broadcast which can be heard in the black and white caravan positioned next to Air Traffic Control. 1500 Halifax of 297 Squadron, drops thirteen panniers by parachute on dropping zone in centre of the airfield. 1510 Halifax lands and is parked for public viewing. 1545 Vampire and Meteor land and are parked for public viewing. 1620 Proctor 2568 takes off to rendezvous with Oxford W6626 over the airfield - fighter affiliation tactics. 1625 Oxford and Proctor dog fight. 1635 The Proctor lands. 1640 Halifax tows off Horsa Glider. 1645 Halifax flypast towing glider. 1655 Lincoln demonstration flypast. 1700 Lancastrian flypast. 1705 Lancaster flypast. 1710 Dakota flypast. 1715 Tempest II demonstration flypast. 1720 Hudson flypast. 1725 Firefly demonstration flypast. 1730 SeaFury, Seafire and Spitfire aerobatics. 1735 Mosquito and Hornet. 1740 Meteor high speed aerobatics. 1745 Vampire high speed aerobatics. 1750 Anson XIX demonstration flypast. 1755 Messenger demonstrates slow flying.
Schedule services will continue and the programme is subject to alteration to fit in with this. Pleasure flights available in Miles Aerovan and Airspeed Consul aircraft.
We hope you will enjoy the flying but if you are browned off there are plenty of other things to see and do! The following will be on view: Control Tower, Link Trainer, Radar, Signals, MT Section, Briefing Room, Photography (don't worry the cameras are insured!).
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On the 15th a church service was held at Yateley Parish Church where the lesson was read by the Airfield Commander. The All-Weather Service between Blackbushe and Prestwick was terminated on the same day, having operated for a year. The service had proved most reliable with only two flights being cancelled throughout the entire period. There was a severe gale on the evening of the 20th which caused minor damage to three aircraft, a Proctor, Dakota and an Oxford. The winds were so strong that they lifted one of the Bessoneaux hangars, moving it two feet from its foundations.
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