Aeroplane Monthly 2018-01

HISTORY IN THE AIR SINCE 1911 January 2018 IssueNo537, Vol46, No1 WIN! VALIANT MODEL WORTH £350 JANUARY 2018 £4.60 Closingdate Friday2February2018 COL...

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WIN! VALIANT MODEL WORTH £350

Closing date Friday 2 February 2018

January 2018 Issue No 537, Vol 46, No 1

HISTORY IN THE AIR SINCE 1911

HURRICANE Flying Heritage warbird

DATABASE

Sea Hurricane

COLD WAR TRIALS: LIGHTNING v SPITFIRE NEIL WILLIAMS AND THE SPANISH HEINKEL JANUARY 2018 £4.60

TWO-SEAT BUCHÓN FLIES First air-to-air

C-97 AIRBORNE

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Contents January 2018

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SPANISH RAPIDE The Fundación Infante de Orleans collection’s DH89A is airborne again — and in beautiful Iberia colours GRIGOROVICH I-ZET No ordinary 1930s ﬁghter from the Soviet Union FLYING HERITAGE HURRICANE Remembering the Hawker ﬁghter’s part in the wartime defence of Canada

AEROPLANE

Fleet fighters and

CHRIS SANDHAM-BAILEY

BELOW: A MkIb getting airborne from HMS Victorious during exercises in June 1942. AEROPLANE

● The successful stopgap

● How the Hurricane was

fter years of delay in accepting that a naval Hurricane was possible desirable, it took and only months for the aircraft to Hurricanes were enter service. delivered to the Fleet Air Arm

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‘Hurricats’

many were still on loan to the RAF. When 880 Victorious with embarked on Fairey the carrier HMS Albacores bombing located the task Furious for shore force, and two operations in installations and fighters from July, torpedoing 880A duly shot possible to send it was only ships in the harbour, it down. The CO, Lt Cdr Judd, four aircraft, whicha flight of by Fairey Fulmars. escorted was credited was with the kill. The Sea dubbed 880A Hurricanes of The squadron Squadron. 880A recombined With the German were responsible Squadron and embarked invasion of on the Soviet Union defence of the for air Indomitable later HMS fleet. in 1941. It the war cabinet in June 1941, The raids themselves took part in Operation wished to were make a gesture largely unsuccessful, ‘Ironclad’, the of capture of with little and a simultaneoussupport, achieved in the Diego Suarez way of on northern Norwegianraid on the damage to deny its use Madagascar to the targets ports of to and Petsamo and heavy losses Japanese, during the Kirkenes was in the attacking May 1942. planned for 31 squadrons. The Although Sea July 1941. The Sea Hurricanes Hurricanes missions would chalked up their were now available be first to the from HMS Furious conducted after the operation, victory FAA, the service and HMS when a found Dornier Do 18 significant problems flying boat with the availability of the equipment and spares, knowledge to operate the fighters, and the tired state of the aircraft received from the RAF. In July, three Sea Hurricanes to the Mediterranean brought by HMS Furious were flown by Ark Royal’s pilots and took part in trial landings and from the carrier. take-offs Ark’s commanding officer was unimpressed, reporting to Admiral Somerville, in command of Force H, that two of the aircraft had gone ABOVE: A Sea unserviceable. Hurricane from He noted that attack on a pair HMS no technical publications, of Fairey Albacores. Indomitable making a mock VIA MATTHEW WILLIS spares or tools had been provided, that the

from January 1941, naval though initially ﬁghter these navalised

Insights

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SKYWRITERS Q&A Your questions asked and answered BRIEFING FILE Under the skin of aviation technology and tactics. This month, the radial versus in-line engine debate

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See page 101

This somewhat 759 Squadron, tatty Hurricane I, P3090, flew with which operated Fighter School as part of the from Squadron’s Fighter 1940-43, and later with Fleet 760 Pool.

WORDS: MATTHEW WILLIS

ABOVE: Sea Hurricane Ib P2886 of 768 Naval Air Squadron, a deck landing training unit.

In Service

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Technical Details

REGULARS

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C-97 FLIES Success for the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation’s remarkable Boeing transport restoration LIGHTNING v SPITFIRE A clash of ﬁghter eras in a Cold War trial

DATABASE: HAWKER SEA HURRICANEA HAWKER SEA HURRICANE Matthew Willis tells the story of how a ﬁghter legend was navalised IN-DEPTH PAGES — and its combat exploits

Development

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FEATURES 26

IN SERVICE HAWKER SEA HURRICANE

IN-DEPTH PAGES

were strictly land-based aircraft with modifications equipment such restricted to ● Fleet ﬁghters and ‘Hurricats’ as the radio war andat instruments.

● ‘Winkle’ Brown’s impressions The prototype

carriercapable Sea Hurricane was available for testing in March 1941. This was Canadian-built MkI P5187, which supposedly been had November 1940. written off in this was the same Assuming aircraft, it was probably converted to Sea Hurricane standard while under repair. In May that conversions began year, further front-line squadron,and the first 880 Naval Air Squadron, received its first non-carrier-capable Hurricanes for training. By October 1941, some 120 aircraft had been converted.

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DATABASE

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FROM THE EDITOR NEWS • Two-seat Buchón airborne at Sywell • C-97 Angel of Deliverance ﬂies • Brooklands redevelopment opens …and the month’s other top aircraft preservation news NEWS SPECIAL REPORT A look ahead to the RAF100 celebrations HANGAR TALK Steve Slater’s comment on the historic aircraft world FLIGHT LINE Reﬂections on aviation history with Denis J. Calvert

REVIEWS Another bumper crop of books and products for Christmas 106 NEXT MONTH

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Development

NEWS AND COMMENT

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It should have been possible to form the first Sea Hurricane

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SHORT SCION The varied life of Short Brothers’ Thirties feederliner — and the latest on the Medway Aircraft Preservation Society’s restoration 82 AEROPLANE MEETS… TONY HAIG-THOMAS Serving in the RAF brought this aviation-obsessed gentleman a huge range of experience — and so has civilian life 90 NEIL WILLIAMS AND THE SPANISH HEINKEL Lynn Williams recalls his late brother’s exploits in the CASA 2.111 — and his fateful last ﬂight 103 AEROPLANE ARCHIVE: NOS 46 AND 73 SQUADRONS Silver-winged Gladiators and Gauntlets in the ﬁnal carefree pre-war days COVER IMAGE: The Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum’s Hurricane XIIa BW881. JOHN DIBBS

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Editor From the

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n 2018 it will be 50 years since before one considers the Buchón’s the film Battle of Britain was importance as an operational type made. Commercially less than to the post-war Spanish Air Force. successful, and critically received The two-seater’s return to flight, with little enthusiasm, it might looking and sounding superb, will seem a surprising candidate for see the 2018 airshow season being legendary status. But, for almost all graced by what must be classed of us interested in historic aviation, as one of the most sought-after that is not in doubt. It need hardly warbirds in existence. The prospect be said that it helped kick-start a of seeing it in formation with its great deal that, today, we hold dear. fellow Battle of Britain ‘veteran’, the Despite the infamous destruction single-seat Buchón operated by the of one of the historic hangars in the Aircraft Restoration Company, is a name of pre-CGI movie-making, mouthwatering one. Battle of Britain drew attention to Yes, after half a century, Battle of Duxford airfield that, as we recalled Britain continues to exert a firm a few months fascination that back, led in part shows no signs of It need hardly be said to the Imperial diminishing. Not that the Battle of Britain a bad cinematic War Museum’s interest. There legacy. film helped kick-start a are Spitfires that great deal that, today, we As 2017 comes probably wouldn’t be flying without hold dear to an end, thank Battle of Britain, you all for your and Hispano Buchóns, too. continued support of Aeroplane. To that end, the recent maiden Your feedback and suggestions are post-restoration flight of the only always most welcome, and indeed two-seat Buchón used in the film, are a key element of our continuing put back to airworthiness by Air to improve the magazine. We’ve Leasing at Sywell — and reported many exciting plans for 2018, in this month’s news pages — was not least — but not exclusively a very significant event. It is all — centred around the RAF too easy to decry the HA-1112 centenary, and we hope you’ll enjoy family as being little more than the results. So, from the whole ‘movie Messerschmitt Bf 109s’, Aeroplane team, enjoy the festive but this big-screen background in season, and here’s wishing you all itself confers on these aeroplanes the very best for the new year. a heritage worthy of its own recognition and celebration. It adds Ben Dunnell much to their lustre. And this is

ESTABLISHED 1911

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Aeroplane traces its lineage back to the weekly The Aeroplane, founded by C. G. Grey in 1911 and published until 1968. It was relaunched as a monthly in 1973 by Richard T. Riding, editor for 25 years until 1998.

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CONTRIBUTORS THIS MONTH MIKE HOOKS

When it comes to features about between-the-wars airliners, Mike is our ﬁrst port of call. This month he details the history of the Short Scion and its fourengined brother, the Scion Senior. A lifelong aviation enthusiast, Mike was editor of Airports International from 1967-75. He then joined the Society of British Aircraft Constructors (SBAC), where his duties included managing the press centre at the Farnborough Air Shows.

JAY SELMAN

Jay describes his photoshoot with the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation’s newly ﬂown Boeing C-97 as, “one of the greatest thrills of my career. This was our second attempt to photograph Angel of Deliverance in ﬂight. The ﬁrst try was on 1 June, when the number three engine was not delivering full power. We had to wait for more than ﬁve months try try it again. Thanks to Eric Zipkin, president of Tradewind Aviation (www.ﬂytradewind.com), for ﬂying the Beech 18 chase-plane.”

BEN ULLINGS

Ben took his ﬁrst photos of aircraft at AmsterdamSchiphol in 1967. A ﬁrst opportunity over Hong Kong in 1981 got him hooked on air-to-air photography, and hundreds of sessions have followed since. From 1982 onwards he has been closely associated with the Royal Netherlands Air Force Historic Flight and he has also captured many other aviation activities all over the world, both modern and historic.

LYNN WILLIAMS

Aviation artist/illustrator Lynn has provided presentation paintings, artwork for aeronautical magazines, book illustrations, and technical, graphic and engineering design work for industry. A passion for open-cockpit vintage ﬂying and aerobatics resulted in his designing the popular range of ‘1920s-genre’, extremely agile Flitzer biplanes, with increasingly powerful, fully aerobatic versions and a tandem two-seater development proliferating. Examples have been built worldwide while others, including replicas, are still evolving on his drawing board.

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INTRODUCING A NEW SERIES FROM OSPREY PUBLISHING

AIR CAMPAIGN REVEALING MAPS ILLUSTRATE THE CONTEXT AND CONSTRAINTS OF EACH CAMPAIGN 32

DEFENDER’S CAPABILITIES Fighter Command Operations Room (Bentley Priory)

Fighter Command Filter Room (Bentley Priory)

artillery interface system was history’s first IADS. Fighter Command’s radar, command and control, and interceptor/AA their locations and tracks being determined by Incoming raids were detected by long range Chain Home EW radars, to FC HQ Filter Room. FC HQ was responsible intersecting range arcs from neighbouring CH radar stations and passed BBC transmitters to eliminate them as possible for notifying Group HQs, sounding air raid alarms, and shutting down raid to a Sector Controller for interception and navigational aids for the attackers. Group HQ assigned each incoming interceptors and, using radio, vectored them to engage alerted the appropriate AA batteries. Sector Controllers scrambled

Bromley

E SECTOR

Debden

OPPOSITE RAF IADS: HOW IT WORKED

North Weald

Bentley Priory

No 11 Group Operations Room (Uxbridge)

Canewden Northolt

Rochforfd Hornchurch

Uxbridge

the incoming raid.

Sector Operations Room

Gravesend

Croydon

Manston

Kenley

A SECTOR

Detling

HF/DF Stations

Biggin Hill

D SECTOR

West Malling Hawkinge Observer Corps Reporting Centres

C SECTOR

Swingate

Dover Lympne

B SECTOR

Rye

Westhampnett

Brighton Poling

Tangmere

Attempting to create a long-range ‘fighter’ from the obsolescent Bristol Blenheim light bomber, the Mark IF quickly proved completely inadequate and was soon relegated to becoming a radarequipped night fighter. (Private Collection)

very first day equipped with the type and learned the hard way that it was no fighter. On the Westfeldzug, 600 Squadron attempted to interfere with the Luftwaffe’s airborne of Hitler’s Westfeldzug IFs were shot assault on Rotterdam’s Waalhaven airfield. Tragically, five out of six Blenheim two captured. out of the sky by Bf 110s (I./ZG 1) with the loss of six crewmen killed and fully realized By this time the need for a radar-equipped ‘night fighter’ had become ground-based and in developmental programmes that rivalled the advance of the RAF’s Air radar system, by 26 July some 70 Blenheim IFs were modified with the rudimentary a maximum Interception (AI) Mk III radar. Considered ‘partially reliable’, the AI Mk III had the reach beyond was which range, minimum 800–1,500ft a to down miles 3–4 of range that of of the aircraft’s four .303 Brownings. The Blenheim’s speed, which barely matched that the first German bombers, was also patently inadequate. So it was with great hopes testing by the Bristol Beaufighter Mk IF, with the improved AI Mk VI, was received for Fighter Interception Unit (FIU) at Tangmere on 12 August. air attacks Finally, the third component needed to effectively engage and defeat Luftwaffe While the over England was these fighters’ ability to locate and close with enemy bombers. track them coastal EW radar network could detect the incoming raids and the observers could raid with their overland (on clear days), getting the interceptors into a position to disrupt the quickly eight-gun batteries would be the actual key to success. ADGB exercises in 1935–36 – individually proved the futility of allowing fighter formation leaders to ‘dead reckon’ inaccurately) estimate an intercept heading and duration time to fly to it – a (usually was developed predicted intercept point. Once an effective means of locating the fighters – then the – using a comprehensive high frequency direction finding (HF/DF) network

Pevensey

Intersecting range arcs are used to determine inbound targets’ locations

Incoming raid from Luftflotte 2

RAF HQs RAF Sector Stations Satellite airfields Incoming raid from Luftflotte 3

“Chain Home” Early Warning (EW) Radar Stations “Chain Home Low” Radar Stations Land-lines

N

Radio Transmissions Airborne Fighters

10 miles

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10km

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NEWLY DESIGNED AERIAL BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS SHOWING KEY MISSIONS IN 3D Adlerangriff (Eagle Attack) phase I

RAF FIGHTER COMMAND UNITS

The main attack, 15 August 1940

THE AIR CAMPAIGNS THAT CHANGED HISTORY Analyzing the goals of the attacking air commanders, the aircraft they had to work with, the opposing air defences, how they planned the attack and how the pilots actually fought it, this new series sheds light on why air campaigns have been won and lost.

4. 1730–1750hrs: Luftflotte 3 launches two major raids, simultaneously striking Portland naval base and airfields in No. 10 Group’s Y-Sector. While 47 Stukas (I./ StG 1 and II./StG 2) dive-bomb docks, barracks and oil storage facilities at Portland (not shown), 27 Ju 88s (I. and II./LG 1), escorted by 40 Bf 110s (II./ZG 2 and II./ZG 76) and 60 Bf 109s (JG 2), penetrate inland near Portsmouth, forcing their way through defending Hurricanes (43, 249, and 601 Sqns) and Spitfires (609 Sqn). The Bf 109 escorts return to base early due to fuel limitations and the bomber formation splits, half bombing Middle Wallop while the others hit Worthy Down and Odiham. Bombing destroys three Blenheim IFs (604 Sqn) at Middle Wallop, but losses are heavy with five Ju 88s falling to Hurricanes (601 Sqn) and two more failing to return. 5. 1830–1850hrs: attempting to exploit Park’s disrupted fighter defence, behind a large ‘Freie Jagd’ sweep (JG 26) Luftflotte 2 sends Staffel-strength formations of He 111s (KG 1) and Do 17s (KG 2) that hit West Malling (by mistake) and Hawkinge and the radar stations at Dover, Rye, and Foreness. Little damage is done but no losses are incurred. The sweep engages Hurricanes (151 Sqn), shooting down three for no loss. 6. 1850–1900hrs: under the cover of the late afternoon raids, ErprGr 210 crosses the coast at Dungeness, heading north-west towards London to attack the Kenley sector station. Approaching the city’s suburbs, they turn left and commence a diving attack, mistakenly, on Croydon Airport, a satellite field for No. 111 Squadron. No. 111 Squadron has just scrambled and quickly intercepts the raiders, shooting down seven ‘Jabos’ for no loss.

No. 10 Group: A. No. 249 Squadron B. No. 609 Squadron

No. 11 Group: C. Nos. 43 and 601 squadrons D. No. 64 Squadron E. No. 111 Squadron (orbiting Croydon) F. No. 1 Squadron G. No. 32 Squadron H. No. 17 Squadron

Middle Wallop

A 2 1

No. 12 Group: K. No. 19 Squadron

Fowlmere/Duxford

Worthy down I

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North Weald

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2. 1545–1550hrs: losing only two Do 17s (6./KG 3) to RAF interceptors, KG 3 strike Eastchurch (III. Gruppe) and Rochester (I. and II. Gruppen) airfields and the Short Brothers Stirling bomber factory at the latter. The airfields are devastated and Stirling production is disrupted, reducing deliveries for the next three months. 3. 1510hrs: under cover of KG 3’s large raid, ErprGr 210 flies north from Calais, at low level over open seas, to attack Martlesham Heath, a satellite field for No. 17 Squadron. Alerted late by a nearby Chain Home Low radar, that squadron scrambles one section and No. 12 Group sends 12 Spitfires (19 Sqn), but the only unit to make contact are nine Hurricanes (1 Sqn), which lose three to the Bf 109 ‘Jabos’, and fail to score.

B

Boscombe down

EVENTS 1. 1530–1545hrs: following morning Stuka and Zerstörer raids that devastate Hawkinge, Lympne and Manston with little loss, Luftflotte 2 launches a large strike with 88 Do 17Zs (KG 3), escorted by 130 Bf 109s (JG 51, JG 52, JG 54) with 60 more (II. and III./JG 26) sweeping ahead of the large, wide formation. No. 11 Group responds with seven squadrons, three of which (17, 32 and 64 Sqns) are engaged by the Bf 109s and lose two Hurricanes and two Spitfires to two Bf 109s (JG 51) shot down.

Croydon

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H

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Tangmere

Martlesham Heath

Biggin Hill

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West Malling

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Rochester

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LUFTWAFFE UNITS

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Luftflotte 3: 1. I. and II./LG 1 (from Orléans-Bricy) 2. JG 2 (from Bernay, Octeville, and Beaumont-le-Roger) 3. II./ZG 2 and II./ZG 76 (from Paris and Amiens) Luftflotte 2: 4. KG 1 5. KG 2 (from Arras and Cambrai) 6. KG 3 (from Antwerp and Brussels) 7. II. and III./JG 26 (fighter sweep accompanying bombers) 8. JG 51 9. JG 52 10. JG 54 11. ErprGr 210 – early raid 12. ErprGr 210 – late raid 13. I./ZG 76 (from St Omer)

Lympne

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Calais-Marck

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Coquelles

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RAF AMES Type 1 (long-range) ‘Chain Home’ Early Warning (EW) radar station RAF Sector station

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Guines

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Wissant Audembert St Omer

Airfield

STUNNING DOUBLE-PAGE BATTLESCENES OF KEY MOMENTS THROUGH THE CAMPAIGN 49 48

THE CAMPAIGN

NEW 3D COLOUR DIAGRAMS SHOWING THE TECHNIQUES THAT WERE USED 52

THE CAMPAIGN

53 OPPOSITE LUFTWAFFE MISSION COMPOSITION Initially Luftwaffe doctrine called for each bomber wing (three Kampfgruppen, typically launching 18 bombers each) to be escorted by a Jagdgeschwader. In this case, one of the fighter wing’s Jagdgruppe would range ahead of the combined bomber-fighter formation on a freie Jagd (‘free hunt’ or ‘fighter sweep’), with the wing’s other two Jagdgruppen positioned on the bomber formation’s flanks, providing Jagdschutz (‘fighter protection’ or ‘close escort’). The ‘sweeping’ Jagdgruppe would fly above 20,000ft altitude at the Bf 109E’s normal engagement speed of 300mph and have complete freedom to engage any enemy interceptors that they spotted. The ‘close escort’ Jagdgruppen were ‘tied’ to the bombers, flying slightly above them and on their flanks, but having to ‘keep pace’ with the bombers, which flew at 190mph, and typically were not permitted to engage enemy interceptors unless they, or their charges, were threatened with attack.

Bf 110D with Dackelbauch (‘Dachshund belly’) non-jettisonable external fuel tank. These ungainly 1,050-litre (231 Imp gallon) tanks extended the type’s operating radius beyond 800 miles, but at the expense of leaving the rear gunners behind and making the already poor manoeuvring Zerstörer more of a target than a fighter. (Private Collection)

The Destination for Military History

phalanx of raiders and four more squadrons were scrambled. The escorts proved almost impenetrable and the Dorniers successfully attacked Rochester and Eastchurch, raining some 300 bombs upon the Short Brothers aircraft factory at the former. Meanwhile, ErprGr 210’s 16 Bf 110 and eight Bf 109 Jabos skirted the Kent coastline at low level and headed across the Thames Estuary towards Harwich, unseen by the east coast CH radars. The CHL radar at Walton-on-the-Naze detected them 18 miles off the coast – four minutes prior to landfall – and the Jabos swept in and attacked Martlesham Heath unopposed, wrecking two hangars, the station workshops, and No. 25 Squadron’s equipment store. The devastated base was out of action for 48 hours. Nine Hurricanes (1 Sqn) from Northolt intercepted the egressing Bf 110s, but the Bf 109E-4s, having dropped their bombs, engaged and shot down three for no loss. Luftflotte 3’s attacks were concentrated against airfields within No. 10 Group’s AOR. Launching at 1515–1530hrs were 27 Ju 88s (I. and II./LG 1), followed at 1600hrs by 47 Stukas (I./StG 1 and II./StG 2), to attack Andover, Worthy Down, and Warmwell. Heavily escorted by 120 Bf 109s (JGs 2, 27 and 53) and 60 Bf 110s (V.(Z)/LG 1, II./ZG 2, II. and III./ZG 76), the two formations were detected at 1700hrs by the degraded CH EW radars along the south-west coast. Brand scrambled two Hurricane squadrons (87 and 213 Sqns) from Exeter and 14 Spitfires (234 Sqn) from St Eval. The Spitfires engaged the escorting Bf 109s, but – outnumbered 4:1 – they were quickly overwhelmed. Facing spirited Hurricane attacks, the Stukas turned back, bombing Portland at 1730hrs. The faster Ju 88s forced their way through defending Hurricanes (43, 249, and 601 Sqns) and Spitfires (609 Sqn) to split, half bombing Middle Wallop, the others hitting Worthy Down and Odiham. Bombing from level flight at medium altitude, accuracy was generally lacking and losses were heavy,

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NEWS EDITOR: TONY HARMSWORTH

E-MAIL TO: [email protected] TELEPHONE: +44 (0)7791 808044 WRITE TO: Aeroplane, Key Publishing Ltd, PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 1XQ, UK

Two-seat Buchón ﬂies

he only surviving Hispano HA-1112-M4L Buchón two-seater, G-AWHC ‘Red 11’, made its ﬁrst ﬂight since October 1968 at Sywell, Northamptonshire on 24 November with Richard Grace at the controls, following an 18-month rebuild with Air Leasing. The ﬁghter-trainer famously saw use as a cameraship during the making of the Battle of Britain ﬁlm during 1968 at Tablada, southern Spain, and several locations in the UK. After aerial unit ﬁlming had been completed, ’WHC was freighted to Big Spring, Texas for ‘Connie’ Edwards, one of the principal ﬁlm pilots, who received several examples of the Rolls-Royce

Merlin-powered, Spanish-built version of the Messerschmitt Bf 109G as part-payment for his work on the production. At Duxford during the summer of ’68, ’WHC became the last ‘109’ ﬂown by Adolf Galland, who on one occasion had RAF ace Bob Stanford Tuck accompanying him in the back, surely the only time that Luftwaffe and RAF pilots ﬂew together in one of history’s most revered ﬁghters. The machine was stored at Big Spring from 1969 until 2015, when it was acquired by Air

Leasing and brought back to the UK. Built by Hispano Aviación at Seville during 1954, the M4L was operated by the Spanish Air Force as serial C.4K-112 until the ﬁnal retirement of the type in late 1965. During restoration, the large, blown canopy used on the M4L trainer has been substituted with a custom-built, fully framed World War Two-style Messerschmitt Bf 109G-12 canopy. Richard Grace explains, “We have very carefully and sympathetically

The ﬁghter-trainer famously saw use as a cameraship during the making of the Battle of Britain ﬁlm during 1968 at Tablada, Spain

installed this new 109-style canopy, which was constructed for various reasons, the primary one being occupant safety. The original blown canopy has no ability to jettison and also signiﬁcantly reduces the roll-over protection for pilot and passenger. This original installation, therefore, would not be acceptable for passenger carrying in the UK, due to the increased risk involved in its use.” Since the theatrical release of Battle of Britain in September 1969, the aircraft used for the ﬁlm have acquired a certain mystique, none more so than ’WHC, which looks certain to become one of the stars of the 2018 airshow season.

Richard Grace ﬂying Hispano HA-1112-M4L Buchón G-AWHC near Sywell on 24 November. The ﬁghter-trainer has a four-bladed Rotol propeller, as originally ﬁtted to the Buchóns, and a taller tail than the single-seat HA-1112-M1L. DAISY GRACE

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January 2018 News

The majestic sight of Boeing C-97 52-2718/N117GA airborne near Floyd Bennett Field on 7 November. It wears the markings of YC-97A 45-59595, the only Stratofreighter to ﬂy on the Berlin Airlift. JAY SELMAN

C-97 AIRBORNE

The Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation’s Boeing C-97G N117GA Angel of Deliverance made its maiden ﬂight from New York’s Floyd Bennett Field on 7 November, landing 25 minutes later at pilot and BAHF founder Timothy Chopp’s home ﬁeld of Ocean County Airport at Toms River, New Jersey. The four-engined heavy transport was then ferried to

Reading, Pennsylvania, where it will remain at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum for the winter. Restoration of the Cold War leviathan took 15 years. It is currently the only multi-engined, Pratt & Whitney R-4360 ‘Corncob’-powered aeroplane in airworthy condition in the USA. See also our feature on pages 26-33.

Ro 41 progressing at Vigna di Valle At the Italian Air Force Museum at Vigna di Valle near Rome, restoration of the sole surviving IMAM Ro 41 advanced trainer is ﬁnally making visible progress, thanks to the dedicated volunteers from the Gruppo Amici Velivoli Storici (GAVS) Rome chapter. Having test-rigged the extensively rebuilt wings and ﬁtted the new-build ailerons, the team has now almost completed application of the fabric covering. With more than 900 singleand two-seaters built by IMAM and its licensee Agusta (forerunner to the present-day Leonardo Helicopters), the nimble Ro 41 was the most successful aircraft of the company founded by Nicola Romeo in 1917 — one year before he acquired the Milan-based Alfa car business, for which he is best known. Italian pilots of the Second World War era earned their military wings on the Ro 41, which cemented its place in popular history as the ﬂying

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The sporty little Ro 41 after the recent covering of the lower wings at Vigna di Valle. VIA GREGORY ALEGI

star of the 1942 ﬁlm I tre aquilotti, in which actor/director Alberto Sordi made his debut. The museum’s Ro 41 is a complex recreation based on wings and cowlings from post-war Agusta production (a total of 25 examples were built after the war by Agusta) and a Piaggio P.VII engine from the museum reserve collection. Twenty years ago the museum agreed to a GAVS proposal to build a reproduction fuselage as the catalyst for the accumulation of original parts and other components to be

reproduced or acquired by the volunteers. Since the project’s inception, original wheels, a propeller, fuel tank and instruments have all been

incorporated. The Ro 41 has beneﬁted from ﬂoors, a control column and other original ﬁttings gathered from the wrecks of several Ro 37bis army co-operation biplanes recovered from Afghanistan during 2006. The long-forgotten IMAM marque has enjoyed a strong renaissance in recent years. During 2011-12 the Italian Air Force Museum put on display the sole surviving Ro 43 seaplane, restored in-house, and the only complete Ro 37bis army co-operation biplane, restored by AREA after its epic recovery from Afghanistan.

A FREIGHTER FOR CHRISTMAS

Bristol 170 Freighter NZ5911 is scheduled to arrive at the Royal Portbury Dock in Bristol on Boxing Day, and will be moved to its new home at Aerospace Bristol at Filton three days later. It arrived at Singapore on a ‘ro-ro’ ferry from Auckland, New Zealand on 7 November for transfer to another ship, which in turn was scheduled to depart Singapore on 1 December.

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News January 2018 Spitfire Vc EE602 arrives at Duxford in the hands of Richard Grace on 20 November, for new owners Anglia Aircraft Restorations. COL POPE

Spitfire EE602 sold

S

pitfire Vc EE602/G-IBSY was acquired by Anglia Aircraft Restorations from its previous owner Fairfax Spitfires LLP during October, and was flown to Duxford from Biggin Hill by Richard Grace on 20 November. Built by Westland at Yeovil in September 1942, EE602 first served with

No 66 Squadron at RAF Zeals, Wiltshire, joining No 129 Squadron at Ibsley, Hampshire, during May 1943. It flew more than 100 operations, and escorted USAAF Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Memphis Belle back over the English coast after its 25th and final bombing mission on 17 May 1943.

The fighter was restored over a three-year period at the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar, taking to the air again on 15 May 2015. On 26 November Richard Grace flew EE602 back to Biggin, but it is expected to return to its new home at Duxford during early 2018.

Gotha 60C replica goes on show A full-size model of the late-war Gotha Go P60C night fighter project recently went on show in a new exhibition hall at the Luftfahrttechnischen Museum Rechlin, north of Berlin, on the site of the Luftwaffe’s main experimental testing base from where the 60C would have flown had it ever progressed beyond the drawing board. In a last-ditch effort to stem the nocturnal onslaught by RAF Bomber Command, on 27 February 1945 the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (German Air Ministry) issued a new requirement for a jetpowered, all-weather night fighter, with a top speed of at least 900km/h (559.2mph), a radar installation and heavy

cannon armament. Led by Gotha chief engineer Dr Rudolf Gothert the design team at Gotha in Thuringia, central Germany came up with an interceptor which was estimated to be capable of 974km/h (606mph) with a rate of climb approaching 3,500ft per minute. This came courtesy of two Heinkel-Hirth HeS 011-series gas turbines, each developing 2,866lb of thrust, with additional power for take-off and climb coming from a Walter HWK solid-fuelled booster rocket with 4,400lb of thrust. Proposed armament for the P60C was four forwardfiring MK 108 auto-cannon, with three more mounted in the wing to fire upwards. The

A first flight wasn’t scheduled until summer 1945, and it had not even reached the full-size mock-up stage before the German surrender

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What might have been: the Gotha Go P60C full-size model at Rechlin, with a DFS 230 glider replica in the background. ANDREAS METZMACHER

wingspan was slightly more than 44ft, while weight estimates were 18,500lb when empty and 25,100lb when loaded with fuel and ammunition. Although the 60C was a regarded as a likely winner of the competition, and

models had been tested in a wind tunnel, a first flight of the aircraft wasn’t scheduled until the summer of 1945, and it had not even reached the full-size mock-up stage before the German surrender in May 1945.

AEROPLANE JANUARY 2018

04/12/2017 14:53

January 2018 News

NEWS IN BRIEF

A Meyers OTW-145, G-MOTW, arrived at the Aircraft Restoration Company hangar at Duxford in mid-November. A total of 104 OTWs were built at the Meyers plant at Tecumseh, Michigan during the late 1930s. The aluminium monocoque-fuselage, tandem-seat biplane is powered by a 145hp Warner Super Scarab.

The fuselage of Anson C19 TX226, seen recently in storage in Warwickshire. VIA NEIL WERNINCK

T

Anson for Montrose

he Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre, 38 miles north of Dundee on the east coast of Scotland, has acquired the former Air Atlantique Classic Flight Avro Anson C19 TX226, which has been in storage near Compton Verney, Warwickshire for many years. Built at the Avro plant at Yeadon, Leeds during the spring of 1946, the former Flying Training Command Communications Squadron

transport will arrive at Montrose early in the new year and go straight into the newly completed restoration workshop. There the centre’s team of volunteer engineers will begin work to bring it up to display standard. Anson Is were based at Montrose with No 269 Squadron, Coastal Command from March 1939, ﬂying reconnaissance patrols up the east coast of Scotland, and making several attacks on

U-boats during February 1940. The following month reequipment with Lockheed Hudsons began, although the last Anson wasn’t retired until 1 June that year. MASHC chairman Ron Morris said, “The arrival of the Anson will make a signiﬁcant contribution to our endeavours to show the aircraft that once ﬂew from Montrose, Scotland’s contribution to the RAF, and our efforts to preserve the past for future generations.”

TX226 while serving with the Flying Training Command Communications Squadron at RAF White Waltham in 1962. ROBIN A. WALKER

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During May 2018, combat veteran B-17G Flying Fortress 42-32076 Shoo Shoo Baby will be removed from display at the National Museum of the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio, and go into storage before being shipped to the National Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport, Virginia. B-17F 41-24485 Memphis Belle will take Shoo Shoo Baby’s place at Dayton. Duxford-based pleasure flying operator Classic Wings will begin using Noorduyn AT-16 Harvard IIb FE992/G-BDAM during the 2018 season. For many years part of the Harvard Formation Team’s displays, owned and flown by the late Norman Lees, G-BDAM was acquired from Silver Victory BVBA by Canadian collector Ed Russell in 2003. It has now returned to the UK and been repainted in a yellow Royal Canadian Air Force scheme with codes ER-992. BEN DUNNELL Well-known UK display pilot Jonathon Whaley confirmed during November that his colourful ex-Swiss Air Force Hawker Hunter F58A G-PSST Miss Demeanour has been sold to Lortie Aviation in Canada. Based in Sainte-Catherine-de-laJacques-Cartier, Québec, the company already operates a fleet of Hunters on combat training duties, supporting military training operations. BEN DUNNELL A six-episode Paramount TV adaptation of the Joseph Heller book Catch-22, about a bombardier on a USAAF B-25 unit in Italy, is due to go into production during early 2018. It will feature George Clooney as Colonel Cathcart, a part played by Martin Balsam in the memorable 1970 big-screen adaptation, which included plenty of breathtaking B-25 footage.

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04/12/2017 14:54

Pictured during its last display appearance under Dakota Heritage ownership at Duxford in September, C-47 N473DC Drag-em-oot is now owned by Aero Legends. BEN DUNNELL

News January 2018

D-Day ‘Dak’ for Aero Legends

H

eadcorn, Kent-based Aero Legends has acquired the D-Day veteran Douglas C-47A Skytrain 42-100882/ N473DC Drag-em-oot from Dakota Heritage, with the ultimate aim of getting it on the British register and gaining an air operator certificate to enable the carriage of up to 18 passengers. For the 2018 season, the C-47 will continue to be based at East Kirkby, the home of the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, although it will make trips down to Headcorn for various Aero Legends events including the company’s popular ‘fly alongside’ photo missions. Drag-em-oot will continue to be used for static line parachute jumps, and is scheduled to visit

Normandy for the D-Day 75th anniversary events scheduled in June 2019. In addition, Hugh Taylor’s Hurricane I P3717/G-HITT, operated by Bygone Aviation from Old Warden, will be visiting Headcorn for selected ‘fly alongside’ events during 2018. Aero Legends owns Spitfire IX TD314 for airshow/fly alongside work, two-seat Spitfire IXT NH341 for the ride programme, former Battle of Britain Memorial Flight DH Devon VP981/G‑DHDV, a pair of DH82A Tiger Moths, Prentice T1 VR259/G-APJB and T-6G Texan G-DDMV. Aero Legends will host a Battle of Britain airshow at Headcorn on 30 June-1 July 2018, and will be out in force for the airfield’s Combined Ops show on 18-19 August.

RAAF Orion presented to HARS On 3 November at Illawarra Regional Airport, 50 miles south of Sydney, the commander of the Royal Australian Air Force, Air Marshal Leo Davies, officially handed former RAAF Lockheed P-3C Orion A9-753 over to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS). The aircraft will be maintained in flying condition, joining two airworthy examples of the Orion’s predecessor in RAAF service, Lockheed P2V-7 Neptunes A89-273/VH-IOY and 147566/VH-LRR. HARS also operates Consolidated PBY-6A Catalina BuNo 46679/ VH-PBZ, making HARS the only organisation in the world to fly three generations of maritime patrol aircraft. It is, meanwhile, hoped that the HARS fleet of post-war airliners will soon gain a pair of Fokker F27s. Currently stored in New Zealand, the Friendships, ZK-PAX and ZK-POH, will initially be positioned to the HARS facility

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LEFT: Here landing at Illawarra during early 2017, wearing its gorgeous Trans-Australian Airlines livery, Convair 440 ZS-ARV has recently had an engine change and will be flying again soon. VIA BRIAN VAN DE WATER

ABOVE: P-3C Orion A9-753, captured after arriving at Illawarra, will soon be operated by the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society. TONY CRAMPTON

at Parkes airport about 250 miles north-west of Sydney. The HARS Convair CV-440, ZS-ARV, which suffered problems with its starboard engine on the way to the Avalon Airshow in Melbourne

in late February 2017 and had to turn back for home, has now had a replacement Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp installed. Crew training for the new season is now due to start soon. The aircraft,

which arrived at Illawarra in August 2016 following a 13-day ferry flight from its former home at Wonderboom, South Africa, now wears the markings of Trans-Australia Airlines.

AEROPLANE JANUARY 2018

04/12/2017 14:54

2018 TOUR PROGRAMME 2 – 17 Mar

Aviation Tours

VIETNAM: Aviation museums & collections large & small; battleﬁelds; Cu Chi Tunnels; My Lai Ho Chi Minh Trail; Ha Long Bay; DMZ. By air, rail, coach & boat. 14 - 20 Apr ISRAEL: Air force bases, aviation museums & collections; Ben Gurion ramp. SOLD OUT 21 - 29 Apr GERMANY: Baltic & Berlin; 14 aviation museums & collections inc Peenemunde, Rechlin, Finow, Luftwaffe (Gatow); Cold War museums in Berlin; preserved airliners; ILA Airshow. 25 - 29 Apr GERMANY: ILA Berlin; Cold War museums and Luftwaffe (Gatow); ILA Airshow long weekend. 13 - 21 May POLAND: Polish Air Force Bases & NATO Tiger Meet (NTM); Spotters Day & Airshow. 2 MiG-29 & 1 Su-22 airbases (tbc). Second day at NTM at end of runway. 17 - 21 May POLAND: NATO Tiger Meet (NTM); Spotters Day & Airshow. Jun TBC TURKEY: Anatolian Eagle; event conﬁrmed, date and venue tbc. 10 - 18 Jun FINLAND: 100th Anniversary of the Finnish Air Force; 2-day international airshow & arrivals day. 10 aviation museums and collections. 30 Jun - 17 Jul ENGLAND: 100th Anniversary of the RAF; 3 airshows, 18 aviation museums & collections; BBMF; 617 Dambusters Sqn Mess/Hotel; RAF Club; Stow Maries WWI airﬁeld & lots more! 14 - 23 July CANADA & USA: North-western States; Flying Heritage Museums Airshow’ in Everett, aviation museums including the ‘Spruce Goose’. 22 - 30 July USA: OSHKOSH: EAA Oshkosh 2018; 6 full days at the world’s largest aviation event. 24 - 30 July USA: OSHKOSH: EAA Oshkosh 2018; 4 full days at the world’s largest aviation event. 29 Jul - 5 Aug USA: 7-day extension; to either Oshkosh tour: to Indiana, Ohio and Washington DC, to Grissom, US Air Force, National Air & Space, and Steven Udvar-Hazy Museums. 21 - 27 Aug RUSSIA: ARMY 2018; repeat of 2017s fabulous tour. Increased to FIVE full days at the 3 event sites: Kubinka AB, Patriots Park & Alabino live ﬁring demos. YOU decide each day where you go. Hotel few miles from Kubinka AB. Plus inside & outside Kubinka Repair Factory. 24 - 28 Aug POLAND: 100th Anniversary of the Polish Air Force Airshow; Deblin (static) & Radom (ﬂying); museums in Deblin and Krakow. 3 - 7 Sept ALBANIA: Air Force Bases CONFIRMED; all major airbases & storage sites. 11 - 24 Sept SOUTH AFRICA: Air Force Bases CONFIRMED; ramp tours at several JNB airports; aviation museums & collections; sightseeing options; free time. 15 - 25 Sept USA: North-eastern States; 100th Anniversary of End of World War One; WWI Dogﬁght Spectacular Airshow, Old Rhinebeck NY & Dawn Patrol Airshow, US Air Force Museum Dayton, OH; aviation museum & collections. 2 - 12 Nov USA: NAS Pensacola (Blue Angels) & Nellis AFB (Thunderbirds) Airshows; airbases, museums and boneyards in Tucson & Phoenix, AZ. 3 - 13 Nov CHINA: Chinese Airshow, Zhuhai; Hong Kong Airport; Beijing Airport & aviation museums.

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CATALOGUE NUMBER 10 – AUTUMN/WINTER 2017 AIR RACING Reference 1

Title RACING PLANES AND AIR RACES

2

RACING PLANES AND AIR RACES

Subtitle VOLUME XIII / 1977-78 BIENNIAL A COMPLETE HISTORY - VOLUME I / REFERENCE SERIES NO. 1

Author D CARTER R KINERT

Format SOFTBACK SOFTBACK

Subject AIR RACING AIR RACING

Publisher AERO PUBLISHERS, INC. AERO PUBLISHERS, INC.

3

RACING PLANES AND AIR RACES

1975 ANNUAL / VOLUME XI / REFERENCE SERIES NO. 1

R KINERT

SOFTBACK

AIR RACING

AERO PUBLISHERS, INC.

4

RACING PLANES AND AIR RACES

1971 ANNUAL / VOLUME VII / REFERENCE SERIES NO. 1

R KINERT

SOFTBACK

AIR RACING

AERO PUBLISHERS, INC.

5

RACING PLANES AND AIR RACES

6

RACING PLANES AND AIR RACES

7

RACING PLANES AND AIR RACES

1972 ANNUAL / VOLUME VIII / REFERENCE SERIES NO. 1 1973 ANNUAL / VOLUME IX / REFERENCE SERIES NO. 1 1974 ANNUAL / VOLUME X / REFERENCE SERIES NO. 1

R KINERT R KINERT R KINERT

SOFTBACK SOFTBACK SOFTBACK

AIR RACING AIR RACING AIR RACING

AERO PUBLISHERS, INC. AERO PUBLISHERS, INC. AERO PUBLISHERS, INC.

8

RACING PLANES AND AIR RACES

1970 ANNUAL / VOLUME VI / REFERENCE SERIES NO. 1

R KINERT

SOFTBACK

AIR RACING

AERO PUBLISHERS, INC.

9

RACING PLANES AND AIR RACES

1969 ANNUAL / VOLUME V / REFERENCE SERIES NO. 1

R KINERT

SOFTBACK

AIR RACING

AERO PUBLISHERS, INC.

10

RACING PLANES AND AIR RACES

11

RACING PLANES AND AIR RACES

12

RACING PLANES AND AIR RACES

A COMPLETE HISTORY - VOLUME IV / REFERENCE SERIES NO. 1 A COMPLETE HISTORY - VOLUME II / REFERENCE SERIES NO. 1

R KINERT R KINERT

SOFTBACK SOFTBACK

AIR RACING AIR RACING

AERO PUBLISHERS, INC. AERO PUBLISHERS, INC.

Published 1978 1967 1975 1971 1972 1973 1974 1970 1969 1969 1967

Pages 159 96 96 96 112 95 104 105 96 112 96

Condition GOOD GOOD GOOD MINT VERY GOOD VERY GOOD VERY GOOD VERY GOOD MINT MINT VERY GOOD

£ Price 25.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00

A COMPLETE HISTORY - VOLUME III / REFERENCE SERIES NO. 1

R KINERT

SOFTBACK

AIR RACING

AERO PUBLISHERS, INC.

1967

96

VERY GOOD

20.00

Subtitle

Author

Format

Subject

Publisher

Published

Pages

Condition

£ Price

VARIOUS

SOFTBACK

AERO-MODELLING

HARBOROUGH

1941

39

GOOD

15.00

AER0-MODELLING Reference

Title

13

SCALE PLANS OF MILITARY AIRCRAFT

14

SOLID MODEL SCALE AIRCRAFT

15

SPITFIRE REVISITED

16

THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF FLYING MODEL AIRCRAFT

ELWELL AN ENTHUSIAST’S GUIDE TO MODELLING THE SPITFIRE AND SEAFIRE

GOOD

15.00

T SNOWDEN

SOFTBACK

AERO-MODELLING

DALRYMPLE & VERDUN

2012

140

MINT

20.00

RUSSELL

HARDBACK

SOFTBACK

AERO-MODELLING

AERO-MODELLING

AIRCRAFT (TECHNICAL) PUBLICATIONS LTD

HARBOROUGH

N/K

1941

248

96

FAIR

20.00

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01/12/2017 16:23

News January 2018

Royal opening for Brooklands Factory

T

he £8.25-million, Heritage Lottery Fund-supported Re-Engineering Brooklands project came to fruition on 13 November when HRH Prince Michael of Kent ofﬁcially opened the newly completed Aircraft Factory and Flight Shed at the Brooklands Museum in Weybridge, Surrey in front of more than 300 guests. The Grade II-listed Bellman Hangar — which has been restored and reassembled a short distance from where it sat between 1940 and 2016 on the former Brooklands racing circuit — now houses an immersive exhibition space quite unlike anything seen at any other aviation museum in the UK. The building has been designed to evoke an authentic factory ﬂoor atmosphere, and the various elements in the two new exhibition spaces ably tell the story of aircraft design, testing and manufacturing at Brooklands over an 80-year period. As previously, Vickers Wellington Ia N2980 ‘R-Robert’ dominates the hangar, but its exposed, geodetic structure now doubles as a highly effective fulcrum for a wealth of interactive work-stations that fan out around the bomber, enabling visitors to try out various aircraft-building skills for themselves, from fabric stitching to sheet metal forming.

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The project has been developed over the past 10 years, headed by Brooklands Museum director and CEO Allan Winn and project lead Valerie Mills, the commercial director at Brooklands. Allan Winn says, “There is, of course, tremendous satisfaction at having completed the project and seeing it delivering even more than we ﬁrst envisaged when we embarked on it. The aim was to deliver something truly transformative, not just of the hangar and its displays, but of the whole museum, and we’ve done that. The standard

of the new displays and interpretation is the benchmark we’re aiming for over the whole of the site, both motoring and aviation, in the coming years. What we’ve done here is unique, and thoroughly in keeping with the signiﬁcance of Brooklands and other nearby sites in Surrey, where all the achievements we’re celebrating actually happened. “The biggest challenges we faced were decontaminating a site which had been used for many years as an industrial dump; persuading quite a few of our stakeholders, especially

in the early days, that what we were proposing to do was both right and achievable, and getting the funding for our biggest and most ambitious project ever. And hoisting our Hawker P1127 20ft into the air was a challenge too. The easy bits were getting the whole project team — staff, volunteers, contractors and consultants — united behind the task of delivering the vision, and digging out from our stores and existing displays more than enough objects to ﬁll the new exhibitions.”

ABOVE: The view from the Aircraft Factory mezzanine, with the fuselage of the world speed record Supermarine Swift F4 WK198 in the background, a BAC TSR2 nose in the middle, former Royal Danish Air Force Hunter E-412, and the nose of a Vickers Viscount. BROOKLANDS MUSEUM

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04/12/2017 14:54

January 2018 News LEFT: Wellington Ia N2980 in the Brooklands Aircraft Factory, with Hawker P1127 XP984 ‘hovering’ in the background. BROOKLANDS MUSEUM

Unlike most Ministry of Defence sites, where most redundant ‘kit’ is either scrapped or otherwise disposed of, those who worked in the various sections of the Brooklands factory complex — which was developed and closed down in a wonderfully British, piecemeal fashion — seem to have squirreled away much of the interesting ‘stuff’, either on site or in the general locality. Sir Sydney Camm’s desk and Hawker chief test pilot ‘George’ Bulman’s kneepad — which he wore while taking the prototype Hurricane, K5083, up for its maiden flight on 6 November 1935 — share the space with a 1970s union banner, exquisite company sales aircraft models and wind tunnel models, and a wide variety of factory signage, providing a potted history of 20th century typefaces.

ABOVE: Brooklands Museum director Allan Winn (right) showing HRH Prince Michael of Kent around the Flight Shed building, which contains a variety of aircraft including the Le Rhône-powered Sopwith Camel reproduction, Hurricane IIa Z2389, and Harrier T52 G-VTOL, the company civil demonstrator. BROOKLANDS MUSEUM

Brooklands Museum estates and heritage manager Julian Temple says, “Having worked here since 1986, I am delighted to see that our curators and exhibition designers managed to include so many original historic

artefacts, photos and background information in the new displays about the local aircraft industry. I well remember helping the museum to acquire much of this now historic material over the past 30 years, particularly

during the closures of Surrey’s three remaining aircraft factories at Brooklands, Dunsfold and Kingston.” Over the past 30 or so years, there is no other aviation museum that has been as proactive as Brooklands in acquiring a collection of such site-specific aircraft from far and wide. Allan Winn comments, “Amongst a horde of projects now waiting to be tackled, the museum’s most urgent priority is to get its unique collection of post-war Vickers and BAC airliners and trainers — Viking, Varsity, Viscount, Vanguard, VC10, BAC One-Eleven and Concorde — under cover, both to protect them for future generations and to properly interpret the amazing progression in technology; from the piston-powered, unpressurised, taildragger Viking of 1946 to the supersonic Concorde of 1969, all the products of the same design office and factory at Brooklands.”

That’s All Brother to fly soon

I

n the Basler Turbo Conversions workshops at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the restoration of the Commemorative Air Force’s Douglas C-47 42-92847 That’s All Brother is making great strides, and the Normandy veteran Skytrain is expected to fly early in the New Year. The rewiring is now almost completed, most of the instruments have been overhauled and installed, and a modern avionics suite has been hidden behind a vintage autopilot. The engines are now installed and plumbed in, and the hydraulics system has been completed. The team had hoped that ’92847 would be able to make its first flight in the autumn of 2017, but the commitment to authenticity has resulted in the schedule being been pushed back. The exterior will also be

AEROPLANE JANUARY 2018

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ABOVE: The historic C-47, 42-92847, in one of the Basler hangars at Oshkosh, with the That’s All Brother artwork repainted on the nose. CAF

completed during the first half of 2018, with paint and coatings being provided by Stits Polyfiber. Following test-flying, the C-47 will be allocated to the CAF’s Central

Texas Wing, based in San Marcos. The historic C-47 was just weeks away from conversion to BT-67 turboprop power at Basler during 2014 when its

history was pinned down: flying from RAF Greenham Common, the machine was the lead aircraft on Operation ‘Albany’, a formation of 432 aircraft that, just after midnight on 6 June 1944, dropped more than 6,600 paratroopers behind enemy lines on the Cotentin peninsula of Normandy. It flew a second mission on D-Day, towing a glider carrying men from the 82nd Airborne Division on the evening of 6 June as part of Mission ‘Elmira’, and went on to participate in Operation ‘Market Garden’ at Arnhem, the relief of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, and Operation ‘Varsity’, the airborne assault over the Rhine. That’s All Brother is one of several US-based C-47s that are due to fly across the Atlantic for the 75th anniversary D-Day commemoration in June 2019.

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04/12/2017 14:55

News January 2018

Tempest on the deck at Hendon

T

he world’s only complete Hawker Tempest V/TT5, NV778, took up residence on the floor of the main hall at the RAF Museum London in Hendon during mid-November, having spent the past 14 years suspended from the ceiling in the Milestones of Flight building. The welcome relocation of this November 1944-built fighter means it is available for close inspection for the first time since it was converted from a fighter back to its early-1950s Tempest TT5 target tug configuration at Cardington during the 1990s.

ABOVE: The impressive bulk of Tempest TT5 NV778, happily now on display at ground level in the main hall at Hendon. IAN THIRSK RIGHT: Gnat T1 XR977 at Cosford in November. It flew with the Red Arrows from April 1976-September 1979. RAFM

Due to arrive at Hendon from the RAF Museum’s Michael Beetham Conservation Centre at Cosford on 3 December was former Red Arrows Hawker

Siddeley Gnat T1 XR977. It will go on display in the new ‘RAF First 100 Years’ exhibition in the former Battle of Britain Hall at Hendon, alongside de Havilland DH9A F1010,

Supermarine Spitfire Vb BL614, a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II full-scale model, and newly acquired Westland Sea King HAR3 XV585.

PARNALL PLUGGING THE SKILLS GAP WITH NEW EDUCATION PROGRAMME

The engineering skills gap that supplied parts on loan along hangs over the future of historic with jigs, their time and aircraft restoration is being support. Others within the addressed by the newly industry have also offered launched Parnall Foundation, a their support and are only not-for-profit organisation based too aware of the shortage of at Truro, Cornwall. Two Spitfire suitably experienced restorations are under way, one engineers for the future. of which, MkVb BL688/ “The aim of the G-CJWO, is being rebuilt to fly. foundation is to provide There are currently two young people with the apprentices working on the necessary skills to be able to project, Murphy Ransley-Miles ensure these valued and Lawrence Bysouth. They are industries continue to thrive. also enrolled at Cornwall Both of our current aviation College studying on a BTEC apprentices contribute (Business and Technology greatly and are already Education Council) level 3 proving a great addition to aeronautical engineering the team.” course. Parnall Advanced Tim Fane, chief engineer, Engineering, which is part of One of the workshops at Parnall Advanced Engineering, with the historic aviation at the Parnall the foundation, is being fuselage frame of Spitfire Vb BL688/G-CJWO Spirit of Truro in the Aircraft Company says, “the background. EMILY BURLEY developed by Mark Parnall, project is a once-in-a-lifetime the great-grandson of opportunity for young engineers in Cornwall to get involved in a Cornishman John Parnall, who owned Parnall Aircraft of Bristol. professional organisation within this specialist industry, to restore The Parnall name is associated with a succession of very one of the most well-recognised historic aircraft types. Historic individualistic civil and military biplane designs, the only survivor Flying Ltd/the Aircraft Restoration Company based at Duxford being airworthy Parnall Elf G-AAIN with the Shuttleworth have committed to support the projects and have already Collection at Old Warden.

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AEROPLANE JANUARY 2018

04/12/2017 14:55

SPECIAL REPORT

RAF centenary shapes up

I

t need hardly be said that 1 April 2018 sees the centenary of the Royal Air Force. It was on All Fools’ Day 1918, in the last year of the Great War, that the ﬂedgling RAF was formed by the merging of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Convention is to celebrate only landmark anniversaries. The RAF was at war in 1943, so had little opportunity to mark its ﬁrst quartercentury. It celebrated its golden jubilee with a royal event — not ofﬁcially a review, but generally classed as such — at RAF Abingdon in 1968 and its 75th with a more sombre, rain-affected Royal Review at RAF Marham in 1993. 2018 will thus be the big one, and will be marked by a six-month programme of public events, national and local, across the country. Its themes are to ‘commemorate’ 100 years of success, to ‘celebrate’ the professionalism and dedication of the RAF, and to ‘inspire’ future generations by telling the RAF’s splendid story. The ‘RAF100’ campaign has been launched to support this

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milestone in the air force’s history. An opening event will be a reception at the House of Commons on 29 November 2017. It was a report by Gen Jan Smuts on ‘Air Organisation and the Direction of Aerial Operations’ from August 1917 that recommended and led to the amalgamation of the RFC and the RNAS into a single, independent force. This reception will mark the 100th anniversary of the Royal Assent to the Air Force (Constitution) Act that led directly to the creation of the RAF. A concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 31 March will be the launch of the 2018 programme. A National Aircraft Tour of static aircraft, real and replica, is planned for six city centres (see boxed item). The aircraft appearing at each location will vary, but ‘core’ types will include the Sopwith Snipe and a Harrier GR3 from the RAF Museum London at Hendon and a replica Spitﬁre from IWM Duxford. The modern front line will be represented by full-size replicas of a Typhoon and/or the F-35 Lightning II. At least one helicopter will also probably feature.

As the centrepiece of RAF100, a parade of 1,500 servicemen and women and a ﬂypast along The Mall in central London will take place on 10 July, on which date the RAF will be awarded a new Queen’s Colour. Why 10 July? It was deemed inappropriate to hold this event on 1 April as this is Easter Sunday, while an early date risked disruption by unpredictable weather conditions. 10 July, exactly 100 days later, was thus chosen, this conveniently being the Tuesday before the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford from 13-15 July. Exact details of the aircraft taking part in the ﬂypast are still being ﬁnalised, but it will include examples of most types in current service. The staging of a large formation in the shape of ‘100’, in the style of the 20-Tucano ‘60’ ﬂown over Windsor for the Queen’s diamond jubilee in May 2012,

ABOVE: A taste of things to come in 2018: the RAF Museum’s Sopwith Snipe reproduction displayed on Horse Guards Parade a couple of years ago as a preview. ALAMY LIVE NEWS

would seem a strong possibility. The Royal Review will be staged at Fairford on Friday 13 July — this year a full public day at RIAT — and will include a massed ﬂypast of RAF aircraft. The RAF Cosford Air Show on Sunday 10 June will also have a strong RAF100 theme, part of it being a static showcase of 100 aircraft in chronological order, among them the RAFM’s Boulton Paul Deﬁant making a very rare outdoor appearance. Denis J. Calvert For more details, visit www.raf.mod.uk/raf100 or individual event websites.

NATIONAL AIRCRAFT TOUR 2018 16-20 May

Cardiff City Hall Gardens

6-9 July

Horse Guards Parade, London

4-5 August

Newcastle, Northern Ireland

25-27 August

Victoria Square, Birmingham

1-2 September

Glasgow Science Centre

15-16 September

Cathedral Gardens, Manchester

www.aeroplanemonthly.com 15

01/12/2017 09:01

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13/11/2017 11:15

Comment

Hangar Talk STEVE SLATER

Comment on historic aviation by the chief executive of the UK’s Light Aircraft Association

H

ow many airﬁelds do you have near you, compared with even just a decade ago? It’s a sad fact that while very few new airﬁelds have been opened in the UK since the Second World War, many have closed in the past few years, principally due to the attractiveness — and value — of the land they occupy for industrial and housing developments. However, a recent Royal Aeronautical Society conference on the future of UK airﬁelds brought the welcome news that three sites, each of which looked as if their illustrious ﬂying histories had come to an end, may be given reprieves. The ﬁrst of these, Panshanger in Hertfordshire, was summarily closed in 2014 by the landowner’s management company despite it being a thriving and highly successful grass airﬁeld, with a vibrant ﬂying club hosting events such as the much-loved Panshanger Revival vintage car and aircraft gathering. Ironically, the family trust which owns the land is that of the late air race pilot Nat Somers, who kept Panshanger going after its wartime use as a satellite airﬁeld for Hatﬁeld. I suspect poor Nat must be reaching take-off revolutions in his grave at the thought of it becoming a location for several hundred houses. There’s a wider implication too, as pointed out by the local MP for Welwyn and Hatﬁeld, Grant Shapps, at the RAeS conference. He may have courted recent controversy in the Conservative Party, but he remains a passionate and powerful advocate for the aviation industry in Parliament. He said he is saddened that having been responsible for some of the most remarkable aviation achievements, from the Mosquito to the world’s ﬁrst jet airliner, and contributed

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No 74 Squadron Lightning F1 XM143 being towed past one of RAF Coltishall’s historic — and, today, listed — hangars in May 1961. The famous Norfolk ﬁghter station might be due for an aviation renaissance in civilian hands. AEROPLANE

towards aviation in a manner that few other places can boast, the only thing carrying the name Comet in the area today is a local bus service. There is not one operational airﬁeld in the immediate vicinity. Shapps did, though, offer good news in his work to develop greater interest in aviation within the House of Commons. He pointed out that the All-Party Parliamentary

plans to Welwyn and Hatﬁeld Council for the prospective reopening of Panshanger, using part of the old site, while allowing housing on the southern perimeter. Perhaps appropriately, one of the consortia is called Project Phoenix. They clearly have high hopes that the airﬁeld can still rise from the proverbial ashes. Another historic airﬁeld prematurely closed by property developers is Plymouth City

A recent Royal Aeronautical Society conference on the future of UK airﬁelds brought the welcome news that three sites may be given reprieves Aviation Group, launched earlier this year, now has 70 members from across all areas of politics. Many aviation organisations including the LAA have been invited to contribute advice, offering an exciting new opportunity for direct advocacy to decisionmakers. He also highlighted the fact that two different business groups are currently presenting

Airport, which began operations in 1925 and subsequently became RAF, then RNAS, Roborough. It was mothballed by its landowners in 2011. Now a team known as FlyPlymouth, led by Raoul Witherall, has developed a business case for the reopening and redevelopment of the airport. Most notably, Witherall is not an aviation enthusiast, but a

successful local businessman. His approach is to develop a clear, long-term business strategy for the airport’s future, based on developing the city’s currently restricted transportation links. He points out that, since the airport’s closure, three major international businesses have moved away from Plymouth, with the lack of connectivity being a major factor in their decisions. Seemingly destined for oblivion too was the former RAF Coltishall in Norfolk — but, perhaps, not any more. A section of the aerodrome, which was once home to the Hawker Hurricanes of No 242 Squadron under the command of Douglas Bader and was more recently associated with English Electric Lightnings and SEPECAT Jaguars, has been taken over by Swift Aircraft, which plans to take advantage of the 3km-long runway to ﬂight-test and develop a new all-British light aircraft. Here’s to another airﬁeld’s renaissance, and perhaps even that of Britain’s general aviation ■ aircraft industry.

www.aeroplanemonthly.com 17

04/12/2017 09:06

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Comment

DENIS J. CALVERT

Flight Line

Recollections and reﬂections — a seasoned reporter’s view of aviation history

T

here’s something about aircraft ﬂying from water that exerts a strange fascination. A strange fascination on me, that is, although I know from several friends that I’m not alone in this. My ﬁrst ﬂight in a ﬂying boat was in summer 1977, when Charles Blair brought his Sandringham, VP-LVE Southern Cross, to the UK, basing it on the south coast to undertake a short season of pleasure ﬂying from the Solent. A classiﬁed advertisement appeared in Flight’s issue of 3 September 1977: “Short Sandringham Flying Boat Pleasure Flight — 20 and 45 minutes at £13 and £19.50, ex Calshot from September 1 to 7”, giving a Blandford, Dorset ’phone number. Charles Blair, who ran Antilles Air Boats in the Virgin Islands, had a distinguished wartime piloting career. Post-war — and at the same time as being a Pan Am captain with some 17,000 hours in his logbook — he purchased Paul Mantz’s P-51C Mustang N1202, christening it Excalibur III. On 31 January 1951, he ﬂew this aircraft non-stop from New York’s Idlewild Airport to London’s Heathrow at an average speed of 446mph. Later that year, he piloted it from Bardufoss, Norway to Fairbanks, Alaska, a solo ﬂight over the North Pole. Alongside many other aviation claims to fame, he married actress Maureen O’Hara in 1968. A press facility ﬂight was arranged to ﬂy in VP-LVE, and I was told to report to a New Forest hotel early in the morning. My fellow passengers were a couple of specialist aviation journos (one of whom you’ll ﬁnd today on the Aeroplane masthead; who could be senior enough?) and a few less specialist representatives from Fleet

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The majestic sight of Antilles Air Boats’ Short Sandringham VP-LVE Southern Cross ﬂying from the Solent in September 1977. DENIS J. CALVERT

Street. The latter professed little interest in ﬂying boats, wanting only an answer to the question, “Is Maureen O’Hara here today?” We headed to Calshot, the ﬂying boat base on a spit to the west of Southampton Water. Our Sandringham pilots were the legendary Capt

’70s, this was packed with everything from small pleasure craft to large cargo vessels, and it took some time for the pilots to ﬁnd a suitably long, clear, into-wind stretch of sea from which to take off. Then it was off at low level, ﬂying along the south coast and around the Isle of Wight.

However memorable the Sandringham ﬂight was, I didn’t appreciate its signiﬁcance. Charles Blair was to die little more than a year later Charles Blair and Ron Gillies, a veteran with 36 years’ experience of Sunderlands and Sandringhams. After we’d been ferried out to the aircraft by tender, Blair started engines and taxied out into the Solent. Even in the late

However memorable that ﬂight was, it’s fair to say that I didn’t appreciate its true signiﬁcance at the time. Charles Blair was to die in the crash of an Antilles Air Boats Grumman Goose little more than a year later. His wife

would take over as president of the company, but both VP-LVE and Sunderland N158J — then the last airworthy examples of four-engine Short boats — would soon be sold and ended up in museums. I had several subsequent trips in ﬂying boats, particularly Chalk’s Grumman Turbo Mallards from Miami Seaplane Base. Sadly, this ‘last of its kind’ operation came to a sudden end with the crash of Turbo Mallard N2969 off Miami Beach on 19 December 2005. Today, you can ﬂy as a passenger in various ﬂoatplanes from many locations around the world, with Vancouver Harbour being a particularly busy hub. But if there is anywhere you can get airborne in a true ﬂying boat — with a hull — I’d surely like to hear of it. ■

www.aeroplanemonthly.com 19

30/11/2017 09:40

Skywriters

In association with… WRITE TO: Aeroplane, Key Publishing Ltd, PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 1XQ, UK E-MAIL TO: [email protected], putting ‘Skywriters’ in the header

In every issue, the writer of our Letter of the Month wins a £25 book voucher to spend with leading military and transport publisher Crécy.

R LETTE e of th H MONT

Hong Kong helos

I much enjoyed your article on No 28 Squadron’s farewell to Hong Kong in the July issue of Aeroplane. It brought back many memories of my tour there some 45 years ago. In December 1971 I was posted to No 28 Squadron as its qualiﬁed helicopter instructor (QHI)/ﬂight commander and to start the conversion of the unit from the Whirlwind to the Wessex. Immediately before this I had been the QHI on No 72 Squadron at Odiham, but prior to that I had ﬂown Valiants, then Whirlwinds in Borneo, followed by instructing at the Central Flying School (H) at Ternhill. The tour was an incredibly enjoyable one, the Wessex being very popular with our army ‘customers’ as we were able to carry a lot more troops — usually 12 but occasionally up to 16. We rapidly achieved our full strength of eight aircraft, so on major exercises we could deliver up to 100 soldiers in one lift if all the Wessex were available. Being based at Kai Tak was also an advantage as we were close to the army barracks in Kowloon and only a few minutes’ ﬂying time across the harbour to Hong Kong Island. We had a superb crowd of pilots and crewmen with our own engineering hangar and technicians. It all

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Members of No 28 Squadron with one of the unit’s new Wessex HC2s at Kai Tak in 1972.

worked extremely well and I believe every one of our 12 pilots (about half of whom were ﬁrst tourists) enjoyed some exciting and challenging ﬂying. As well as the day-to-day army support work, numerous unusual tasks arose. Some were in response to emergency situations, which seemed to arise quite frequently. We shared an out-of-hours stand-by commitment with the Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force, which operated Alouette helicopters as well as some light ﬁxed-wing types. Call-outs were common, often to evacuate a casualty to hospital from some remote spot or island, and usually at night! Of course, being in an area hit most years by typhoons there were lots of incidents where a helicopter was incredibly useful for rescue purposes. We maintained a full sea rescue capability and regularly trained in sea winching and deck winching to and from Royal Navy ships. Major emergencies at sea sometimes arose — at dawn on one occasion I ﬂew some 40 miles out into the South China Sea with the chief Hong Kong ﬁre ofﬁcer on board, following the collision of two merchant ships which were still on ﬁre at the scene. Regrettably, we were unable to rescue any survivors as only bodies were found in the sea. Another

large emergency occurred on a Sunday afternoon, when a civilian bus with some 20 Chinese people on board drove off a cliff on Lantau island some 25 miles west of Kai Tak. As most of our crews lived fairly close to the base, we were able to generate several aircraft within an hour to mount a rescue operation. We managed to bring 16 casualties (although 12 were dead) back to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon. In May 1972 we were tasked with delivering a 20ft-long box containing a camera tracking bed to the Hong Kong Government Survey and Mapping Department. It was too big to go in the lift or up the stairs, and the department was on the 23rd ﬂoor of a tall building in the central district. This was an interesting job but not over-difﬁcult with the capability of our aircraft. We often had unusual loads to convey from place to place. I carried two light aircraft during my tour: a 656 Squadron, Army Air Corps Sioux (they were based at Sek Kong, the inland airﬁeld to which No 28 Squadron later moved when Kai Tak closed) and an HKAAF Beechcraft Musketeer, both of which which had crashed in the New Territories. We took them underslung, of course, on an 80ft strop — the Sioux back to its base and the Musketeer to Kai Tak. There were numerous visitors, and at various times I had the Chief of the Defence Staff, the C-in-C Strike Command, the Commander British Forces and even the Archbishop of Canterbury on board! One very satisfying occurrence during my tour was that I discovered an old No 28 Squadron Venom FB4 on a scrap-heap in an obscure area of the airport at Kai Tak. I was able to acquire it and bring it back to the squadron HQ, where we restored it to its original colour scheme with the help of a local aircraft engineering company. I later found out that it was probably the last RAF Venom to ﬂy, so it is good that it is preserved. It is now at the de Havilland Aircraft Museum at London Colney. Overall, my tour in Hong Kong gave me a fascinating variety of great ﬂying in an area perfectly suited to helicopter operations. I and my fellow No 28 Squadron members all enjoyed our time there in 1972-73, as much as Dick Barton and his team did 25 years later. Wg Cdr Bob Turner (ret’d)

AEROPLANE JANUARY 2018

04/12/2017 09:07

Skywriters

Jasper Daams in the cockpit of Siebel Si 204 PH-NEL.

One careful owner

Regarding Prince Bernhard’s aircraft (Aeroplane August 2017), the Fieseler Storch that he sold to the Anker factories was subsequently acquired by a garage, which put it on display on its roof. My uncle Johan Daams, owner of the Skylight aerial advertising company, bought it from the garage and returned it to airworthiness. He only had it for a short time as he received a very good offer from a German company. If I remember correctly, he got 10 times the price he paid for it. When I was still working for my uncle in 1963, before leaving for Australia in

The Prince of Darkness

I was very pleased to read the Database article on the Varsity (Aeroplane August 2017) and the responses that followed in Skywriters in the November issue. Like your correspondent Andrew Brookes, I did my multi-engine training on the Varsity with No 5 FTS at Oakington. I was on course 88 in 1972, only a few years before the end of the aircraft’s long service as an advanced pilot trainer, when it was replaced by the Jetstream T1. I enjoyed the course immensely, especially handling those wonderful Bristol Hercules sleeve-valve radials with their complex starting procedure, with the right hand on the throttle, and the left hand operating the ‘three-finger exercise’ — one on the starter motor switch, turning the prop through nine blades to check for ‘hydraulicing’ (oil in the cylinders) before turning on the magnetos and operating the fuel booster pump with the other two, if my memory serves me right, but definitely without the need for the

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1966, he bought Siebel Si 204 PH-NEL from the NLR, the Dutch national aviation laboratory. This aircraft was one of the two Siebels that Prince Bernhard owned at one stage. Unfortunately it was delivered to my uncle with parts missing, which made it impossible to return it to airworthiness. The aircraft was subsequently put on display near Skylight’s pleasure flying premises and destroyed by visitors. It was then sold for scrap. In the accompanying photo am sitting in the aircraft — I was a licenced aircraft maintenance engineer who helped to dismantle it for transport to our home airfield at Hilversum. Jasper Daams supposed ignition key mentioned in Mr Brookes’ letter! I didn’t hear about the stolen Varsity incident while at Oakington, but did learn of it when I was posted on completion of the course to my first squadron, No 115 Squadron at RAF Cottesmore in the flight

checking role on the Argosy E1, calibrating ILSs, PARs and navigation aids for all RAF airfields. 115 was the last squadron flying the Argosy (apart from the three C1s with No 70 Squadron, operated until 1975 alongside their six Hercules at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus), and the type conversion was carried out ‘in-house’ by two squadron QFIs as the Argosy OCU at Thorney Island had closed down with the retirement of the C1 from transport duties. The senior QFI was specialist aircrew Sqn Ldr Nick ‘Taff’ John, a man of long experience and a superb pilot, and something of a character, with a dry and laconic sense of humour. He had been stationed at Thorney Island in 1955, and was station duty officer during the evening of the incident. On being informed of the unauthorised take-off and the probable identity of the pilot, he rang the station commander and told him, “I think you ought to know, sir, there’s going to be an accident”. This pronouncement, in view of the flight’s sad outcome, earned him the nickname, ‘The Prince of Darkness’. On a lighter note, several examples of Nick’s dry wit entered air force folklore, probably the best-known in Argosy and Varsity circles being the occasion on which a trainee pilot who was making poor progress flew a ‘TDCR’ (thinly disguised chop ride) with Taff, who, in his usual style, had made little or no comment on the young man’s performance during the flight. As they walked back to the squadron hangar, the student, keen to know if he’d passed, asked, “Well, sir, how did I do?” Taff didn’t reply, but leaned in through the open crewroom window and asked those inside, “How many Ts in atrocious?” I flew with Taff numerous times during conversion and on monthly continuation training sorties on 115, and in my 26 years in the RAF rarely came across such a character or such a skilled pilot. Rick Harland, Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire

Name to the face

The pilot in the Hawker Typhoon on the cover of your October issue is Fg Off John R. ‘Hank’ Nixon. He was Canadian but later was in the RAF. This photo seems to be used a lot. Our family has black and white copies, but had never seen the colour version. Kerri Sant (Nixon) Further to this, the fact of the aircraft still having rockets attached suggests that the image was taken when the Typhoon was embarking on a mission, not returning from one — Ed.

www.aeroplanemonthly.com 21

04/12/2017 09:07

Q&A

COMPILER: BARRY WHEELER

WRITE TO: Aeroplane, Key Publishing Ltd, PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 1XQ, UK E-MAIL TO: [email protected], putting ‘Q&A’ in the header

Are you seeking the answer to a thorny aviation question, or trying to trace an old aviation friend? Our ‘questions and answers’ page might help

THIS MONTH’S QUESTIONS N7566F, which also did not meet the conditions. Can anyone explain these anomalies?

Wartime balsa supplies

Q

ABOVE: Was this German fighter designer Kurt Tank’s personal Fw 58 Weihe pictured at pre-war Heston and, if so, what was his mission?

Tank’s Weihe at Heston?

Q

The above photograph, taken by the late Ray Punnett, shows a civilianregistered Focke-Wulf Fw 58 Weihe (Kite) on a visit to the popular pre-war airfield at Heston, west of London. Normally scrupulously efficient at recording the date and registration of each type, Ray’s log for this shot is missing. From the colour scheme

Charles Ellin

Q

Searching for details of his late father’s RAF wartime service career, Peter Ellin has e-mailed to seek the assistance of readers in tracing information about Charles Ellin. Clues among surviving signals, letters and notes (but no logbook) indicate he was learning to fly, despite his mature age of 36, with No 3 FTS equipped with Harts and Oxfords at Stormy Down in May 1940. A year later a telegram from HMS Hood addressed to Acting Sqn Ldr Ellin temporarily based aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Furious was received regarding convoy protection just before the battleship was sunk by the Bismarck on 24 May 1941.

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and the company badge on the nose, the registration appears to indicate that the aircraft is designer Kurt Tank’s personal ‘runabout’, D-ALEX. Putting the date at around 1937, does anyone have access to Heston’s official movements log, which should confirm this? If so, was Tank the pilot, and what business did he have in Britain?

Ellin was posted to North Africa in mid-1941. He joined Hurricane-equipped No 127 Squadron, transferring in 1942 to No 46 Squadron with Beaufighters. During March 1943 he appeared to undertake a twin-engine flying course on the type and he was rated “far above average”, as well as receiving a recommendation that he should “command a longrange fighter squadron”. India was his next posting — Beaufighters again, this time with No 89 Squadron — before returning to the UK and No 604 Squadron on Mosquito XXs in December 1944. In summary, it appears likely that Fg Off Ellin worked as an intelligence officer through most of the war, and

Peter would welcome any additional details from readers.

King’s Cup rules

Q

Mike Hooks is curious about the rules governing the 1967 King’s Cup Air Race won by Charles Masefield in Mustang N6356T, as related in the feature ‘One Man and his Mustang’ in the August issue. Press information at the time stated, “entry for the King’s Cup is restricted to aircraft registered in or built in the UK or British Commonwealth and to pilot and entrants of British nationality”. As the Mustang was American-registered and flown by the RCAF, but not built in Canada, how was it eligible for entry in the race? The winner of the 1970 King’s Cup was Champion Citabria

An article in Aircraft Production on the de Havilland Mosquito, originally published in June 1943, prompted Jeff Farrington to wonder where Britain obtained sufficient balsa wood used in the sandwich construction of the aircraft. A tree of rapid growth native to Central and South America, with 95 per cent of it originating in Ecuador, was balsa shipped across the U-boat-infested Atlantic?

Japanese identity plate

Q

Joe Vella has forwarded details and the adjacent photograph of an identity plate from a Japanese aircraft shot down by an unidentified Australian anti-aircraft unit at Port Moresby, New Guinea, in World War Two. It shows the Sanskrit well-being swastika symbol used mainly by Hindus, Buddhists, and so on, two lines of mainly indecipherable Japanese text and the number 8453.

Joe would like to know if there is a meaning to the text and symbols, and is there any way of identifying the aircraft type from the plate number?

AEROPLANE JANUARY 2018

30/11/2017 09:42

THIS MONTH’S ANSWERS about the identity of former Aer Lingus Douglas DC-3s. Memories were stirred for Freddie O’Dwyer, who recalls one caravan conversion at Portmarnock, County Dublin in 1964, with a second possibly at Brittas Bay, County Wicklow. A third caravan created from a rear fuselage and photographed at Cloghran, near Dublin in September 1954 by the Irish Independent was the back half of one of the aforementioned aircraft. Freddie believes that of the seven C-47s acquired by Aer Lingus in 1945, two were retained as freighters. Of the three actual DC-3s operated by the airline, EI-ACA (delivered May 1940), EI-ACE and ’ACF (both laid down as C-117s, but completed as DC-3Ds and delivered in February 1946), ’ACA crashed at Shannon in June 1946, replaced in October by EI-ACT (the former RAF KG436, which survives at Le Bourget). Freddie says none of the Aer Lingus histories he has seen refer to two spare airframes being acquired for parting-out, “but Bernard Share’s 1986 book says that this fate was initially contemplated for the original EI-ACD; however, on inspection it was found to be a superior California-built aircraft and converted in Dublin”. Unable to shed any light on the fate of the caravans, Freddie recalls a set of Dakota outer wings in the technical college car park in Dublin during the 1970s. He believes Aer Lingus ﬂew 19 DC-3s/C-47s, including eight other C-47s, three of which were leased from BOAC in 1948 and ﬁve acquired subsequently.

A

ABOVE LEFT TO RIGHT: Appearing rather sinister in Hendon’s poorly lit hangar, John Sawyer’s 1967 photograph of the recovered Southampton shows the only known complete fuselage survivor of the Felixstowe houseboat conversions. The beautifully refurbished hull now to be seen in the RAF Museum London is worth a visit if only to marvel at the superb ﬁnish produced by the skilled staff there. Meanwhile, far removed from its suggested past as a houseboat and a garden shed, this unique nose gun mounting from a Felixstowe F5 ﬂying boat can be seen at Flixton’s Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum.

‘Secret’ ﬂying boats

Q

Bill Starkey is researching houseboat conversions of large post-World War One ﬂying boats, his appeal for information appearing in the October issue. Further to the Fairey Atalanta photograph in the December edition, John Sawyer says he was on No 71 MU in 1967 and saw the Supermarine Southampton in store at RAF Hendon, following recovery from Felixstowe. He heard that it was used as a weekend retreat by a retired RAF group captain. Ian Hancock of the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum also responds regarding

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The ‘Chicken Run’

Q

In the December issue, John Colbert sought the type of First World War aircraft nicknamed the ‘Chicken Run’. Roy Dyer recalls a book, Pigs Might Fly by Peter Roe, in which Maurice Farman biplanes were nicknamed ‘cages à poules’ or chicken coops due to the extensive bracing cross wires. Roy continues, “It was suggested, tongue-in-cheek, that the best way to test whether the machine was properly rigged was to put a chicken inside the wiring. If it could get out, a wire was loose or missing.”

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Arthur Ord-Hume’s comment in the December issue that three ﬂying boat hulls were present at Felixstowe for some years. Ian wonders whether the third of these is the section now displayed at the Flixtonbased museum. He continues, “Around 1945-46, the father of a museum member sketched the scene at Felixstowe and one of the hulls was very small in comparison with the other two. The shape suggests that of the extreme nose of a Felixstowe F5 ﬂying boat and matches what we have on display. Our artefact was found in 1989 and had been a garden potting shed for many years.”

Sywell, Northampton, on a contract to refurbish Vickers Valetta and Varsity aircraft. In one hangar were at least eight Varsities awaiting re-sparred mainplanes and none of them had nosecones. With no sign of any equipment on the nose bulkhead, I asked the radio chaps why and they said it was originally intended to carry radar, but this was never ﬁtted as the aircraft were ﬂown as navigation and visual bombing trainers.” Mike says that one example which did carry electronics in the nose was the sole Swedish Air Force Varsity (ex-WJ900,

designated Tp 82 with the serial 82001, and the subject of an upcoming Aeroplane article). He remembers that, “this had a glass-ﬁbre nose cone, and when it arrived at Sywell a team of engineers from RRE Pershore worked on it within an enclosure which was cordoned off with strictly no admittance. With the entry hatch padlocked, I could only see that the usual ﬂat glazing was replaced by bulged covers painted in dark sea grey with all instrumentation in Swedish.”

Derelict ‘Daks’

Q

In the November issue, Graham Skillen asked

Varsity nose

Q

In the November issue, Philip Pain queried the lack of radar in the nose of most Vickers Varsity trainers. An e-mail from Mike Starmer throws some light on the subject. He writes, “From 1956 until 1958 I worked for Brooklands Aviation at

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

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ABOVE: Dragon X9396 — and a Hurricane — wrecked at Reims by the German advance.

• Dave Underwood writes to say that contrary to the information in September’s Database stating that DH Dragon X9396 was lost at Mourmelon, France, it was in fact abandoned at Reims, as shown in the image at left.

• The correct credit for the Stallion 51 Mustang image on page 16 of the December issue should read Alastair Robertson. • On page 86 of the September issue, the reference to a ‘Kygas pump’ should read Kigas.

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30/11/2017 09:42

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C-97 FLIES

ANGEL GET S

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AEROPLANE JANUARY 2018

04/12/2017 09:08

T S ITS WINGS The maiden post-restoration ﬂight of the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation’s Boeing C-97G Angel of Deliverance has brought to a close one of the most remarkable projects in the recent history of aircraft preservation. With the ﬁrst air-to-air photos of this magniﬁcent Cold War transport, we tell its story WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY: JAY SELMAN

Boeing C-97G 52-2718/N117GA airborne between New Jersey and Pennsylvania on 7 November, the day of its maiden ﬂight.

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C-97 FLIES

ABOVE: A very satisfied Tim Chopp, founder and president of the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation, after the big Boeing’s maiden postrestoration sortie.

W

hen Boeing C-97G N117GA lifted off the runway at New York’s Floyd Bennett Field on 7 November 2017, it represented the culmination of an immense labour of love for Timothy Chopp, president and founder of the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation. And what a labour it has been. This story actually began when Tim Chopp was six years old. He recalls, “One day, I was sitting in our neighbour’s living room and started looking in a magazine whose pages were filled with pictures and articles on the Douglas C-54. This was 1950 and probably an article about the Berlin Airlift. I was immediately captivated by this beautiful airplane. With each page I looked at, I fell a little bit more in love with the C-54. It is a love that has only grown with each passing year.” As he grew older, Chopp devoured every bit of information he could find about the Berlin Airlift, the

operation that inscribed the C-54 in the history books. “Surprisingly”, Chopp continues, “I was amazed at the general lack of knowledge the average American citizen had regarding the airlift. This was incomprehensible to me, since the success of the Berlin Airlift proved beyond any doubt that the airplane as an aerial supply platform had come of age. I began dreaming about buying a C-54 and using it as a flying classroom, travelling from airport to airport to tell the story of the greatest humanitarian event in the history of aviation.” When Chopp was 44, his mother passed away suddenly at the relatively young age of 64. “That was a major wake-up call for me… it hit me right in the gut that tomorrow is not guaranteed and if I was going to make my dream come true, I needed to get started now”. So, in 1988, Tim formed the Berlin Airlift Historical

Foundation (BAHF), “to preserve the memory and legacy of the greatest humanitarian aviation event in history: the Berlin Airlift. We intended to do this by using aircraft from the airlift as flying memorials and classrooms to educate the public about this pivotal event.” He acquired a C-54, which he named Spirit of Freedom, and began fulfilling his dream by using it exactly as he had envisioned. But Chopp had his eye on a more ambitious project — to acquire a C-97 in honour of the one example of its type that served in the Berlin Airlift. Chopp explains, “When it became apparent that C-97s were a seriously endangered species, I set out to save one to duplicate what we were doing with the C-54.” In April 1949, a single YC-97A, 45-59595, joined the 1st Strategic Support Squadron, and began flying in support of the Berlin Airlift (see Database, Aeroplane May 2017). Chopp explains, “As a new design, it went into service in Berlin with many bugs yet to be worked out. On an early flight, it damaged its landing gear while landing at Gatow in the British sector after experiencing a double engine failure on arrival. By the time the airplane was repaired, the blockade was lifted. Yet the C-97 did record a presence in the Berlin Airlift. If the airlift had continued into the 1950s, the US Air Force planned to replace all 330 C-54s with 100 C-97s, as the C-97 could carry a 40,000lb payload compared to the 20,000lb payload of the C-54.” The BAHF’s C-97 began life as a KC-97G, serial 52-2718 (c/n 16749). Delivered to the US Air Force on 27 April 1954, its initial home was with the 98th Air Refueling Squadron (Medium), part of Strategic Air Command and stationed at Lincoln AFB, Nebraska. It was transferred between several other Air Refueling Squadrons at Malmstrom AFB in Montana, Plattsburgh AFB in New York, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before being converted into a KC‑97L with the addition of a pair of General Electric J47 jet engines in August 1965. It returned to duty with the Utah Air National Guard in Salt Lake City during September 1972. Four years later, 52-2718 was sent to the Military Aircraft Storage

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AEROPLANE JANUARY 2018

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and Disposition Center at DavisMonthan AFB, Arizona, and was dropped from the air force inventory a year later. For most military aircraft, the story would have ended here. But in 1986 the tanker was auctioned to an unknown group, which converted it to C-97G configuration by removing the refuelling equipment and installing a cargo door. Not much is known about the first two years of its civilian life, but some conclusions can be drawn from the fact that in 1988 the US Marshal Service seized the machine. It was later purchased by Grace Aire of Corpus Christi, Texas and registered N117GA. Dr Terry Elder, president of Grace Aire, used the aircraft in a dual role. During the summer, the C-97 was kept busy hauling fish in Alaska. But in winter it migrated south, where Elder used the transport on humanitarian missions to South America. He converted the generous cabin into a surgical theatre, performing much-needed surgical procedures on citizens of countries in Central and South America. Fate brought Chopp and Elder together in the mid-1990s. Chopp relates, “A few of our members who went to Oshkosh told me a C-97 was there — I was already restoring the C-54. I was given Terry Elder’s business card, and I wrote him a letter that very day and stated, if he ever wanted to sell the C-97, to call me first.” In early 1996, that call came. Chopp dropped pretty much everything and headed out to Moses Lake, Washington, to inspect the aircraft. This was the first time he saw N117GA. The Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation purchased N117GA on 22 April 1996, and the long journey began. It happens to be the same aircraft that Jeff Akridge, president of Columbia Pacific Aviation — which restored the B-23 covered in the November 2016 Aeroplane — flew for a summer and helped maintain. Akridge was extremely helpful in storing and protecting the C-97 during its temporary retirement at Moses Lake. At the time, Chopp was preparing to take C-54 Spirit of Freedom over to Europe to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift, so Angel of Deliverance sat at Moses Lake under Akridge’s watchful eye for a year-and-a-half. About the only activity Chopp had time for was getting type-rated in the C-97

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: The project’s early days at Greybull, Wyoming, home of Hawkins & Powers — the aircraft was painted there during 2000. BAHF Up on jacks during undercarriage retraction tests at Floyd Bennett Field. BAHF Juan Martinez working on the tailplane, one of the areas requiring the use of very tall ladders. BAHF Steve Grubisich (left) and Kevin Kearney seeing to one of the mighty R-4360 engines. BAHF Tim Chopp getting to grips with a fraction of the C-97’s wiring. BAHF

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04/12/2017 09:09

C-97 FLIES

ABOVE: A typically steep final approach into Ocean County Airport in Toms River, New Jersey, at the end of Angel of Deliverance’s maiden postrestoration flight.

with Gene Powers, co-owner of Hawkins & Powers Aviation, which owned one of the very few flyable examples in the world. Once back from Europe, Chopp again turned his attention to the C-97. On 8 October 1998, Angel of Deliverance — as it had become known — was ferried to Greybull, Wyoming, home of Hawkins & Powers. Along with maintaining a fleet of veteran transport aircraft converted for aerial firefighting duties, the company specialised in restorations. Angel of Deliverance stayed at Greybull for two-and-a-half years, while Hawkins & Powers performed maintenance and modifications on the aircraft. Tim Chopp recalls, “Nosewheel tyres had long since disappeared from the face of the

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earth, but H&P owned an STC [supplemental type certificate] that replaced the original axles and wheels with the nosewheel axles and wheels from a DC-8. One aileron

It often took longer to find or build support equipment than it did to complete the maintenance project was replaced, and the rudder was reskinned. Several other maintenance items were addressed, and finally the airplane was repainted in the colours of 45-59595, the YC-97A that

saw brief service during the Berlin Airlift.” In July 2001, Angel of Deliverance was ready to fly east to its new temporary home at Floyd Bennett Field with a stop in Bismarck, North Dakota to pick up fuel donated by Exxon — only it didn’t happen quite that way. “An hour or so out of Bismarck”, says Chopp, “engine number three developed problems, and we had to divert to Aberdeen, South Dakota. Hawkins & Powers loaned us an engine, but changing an R-4360 is a challenge at a facility that has all the necessary equipment. At an outstation, it is a daunting task. Upon completion of the engine replacement, the flight was further delayed due to New York airspace restrictions as a result of the 11 September attack on the World Trade Center. Finally, in

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November 2001, our Angel was back in the air and headed to Millville, New Jersey. There she sat until 10 May 2002, when the C-97 was ferried to Floyd Bennett Field, not realising that this would be her home for the next 15 years.” Kevin Kearney is a busy man. He says, “I’m the vice-president, and on the maintenance crew and a flight engineer on the C-54. And the webmaster. And the social media guy and the newsletter editor/graphic artist. Yeah, I wear a lot of hats. Oh, and another fellow and I built all the displays in the C-54. Lots and lots of hats. Tim is pretty much the chief mechanic, but I’m right up there, though. I earned my A&P [aircraft and powerplant maintenance

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licence] through experience with the foundation in 2001.” Kearney gave Aeroplane an insight into the challenges that the foundation faced when it began in earnest to bring the C-97 into its FAA-approved inspection programme. “By the time the C-97 arrived at Floyd Bennett Field”, he says, “BAHF had owned the C-54 for some eight years. In retrospect, maintaining the C-54 was like building a Mercury Redstone rocket. There were, and still are, several C-54s flying, and therefore there is still some good support available. When we bought the C-97, it was sort of like skipping Project Gemini and going right to a Saturn V rocket and Project Apollo. Both the Redstone and the Saturn rockets fly using the same principles, but there

the similarities end. There were only two viable C-97s left in the world that were airworthy enough to fly and support equipment was virtually non-existent. In many cases, it took longer to find or build support equipment than it did to complete the maintenance project.” Chopp adds, “Many of our challenges were unforeseen until we actually were up against them. Here’s one example. The vertical stabiliser of the C-97 stands 38ft high, as opposed to 28ft for the C-54. Recognising the potential problem of getting the C-97 into a standard-size hangar, Boeing built its large transport with a vertical stabiliser that folded over. In fact, it folds down to a height of 26ft. We needed this feature to hangar the airplane at Floyd Bennett. However, this procedure required a special

TOP: The cockpit has been rendered immaculate during the restoration. ABOVE: The flight crew for the C-97’s first trip into the air since May 2002: from left to right, loadmaster Steve Grubisich, flight engineer Ray Stinchcomb, captain Tim Chopp, first officer Paul Stojkov, loadmaster Mark Howard and consulting flight engineer George Weekley.

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C-97 FLIES

ABOVE: The colour scheme on the C-97 is that of YC-97A 45‑59595, flown briefly on the Berlin Airlift by the USAF’s 1st Strategic Support Squadron.

jack, and there were none to be found. Not only that, but we could not find anyone who was familiar with this procedure. In fact, most of the people we spoke with who were familiar with the C-97 didn’t even know that the stabiliser folded over! Making a long story short, it took two-anda-half years, but we finally found a jack to allow us to fold the stabiliser over”. This was but one of the unique challenges that Chopp and company had to overcome. It was like that just about every step of the way, especially when it came to support equipment. “You don’t lift an R-4360 engine with the same equipment as you do an R-2000, like the ones mounted on our C-54. We had to buy a new dolly to handle the weight of the C-97 main landing gear wheels, which probably weigh

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three times those on the C-54. We had plenty of handling and support equipment for the C-54, but the C-97 was a beast in comparison. Consider this: [each propeller] on the C-97 weighs as much as [each] engine on the C-54. We needed king-size jacks to support her, and in some cases it would take pieces of three parts of jacks to produce one complete jack.” One of the more ambitious projects in preparing Angel of Deliverance was to remove as much weight from the aircraft as possible. This allows the use of lower power settings, which equates to less fuel consumption. “We rewrote the weight and balance charts of our C-97 by stripping her of all unnecessary equipment”, describes Chopp. “The auxiliary power unit and pressurisation system

I said a quick prayer and said to myself, ‘this had better work’. I gently pulled the yoke back and felt my 22-year dream lift off the runway... It made every second of frustration and grief worth it

were obvious targets, and relatively straightforward. We also wanted to simplify some systems, but for that we needed engineering data. We discovered that the air force tended to compartmentalise its maintenance specialists. Almost everyone was a specialist, and it seemed that nobody knew the entire aircraft and its systems. So, guess who had to become an expert on the entire airplane? It took some doing to compile a complete library of systems manuals.” In some cases, Chopp was rewriting the manuals. “In an effort to simplify the electrical system, we replaced the entire electrical AC system containing seven inverters with a less complicated AC system utilising two inverters. There’s no telling how many miles of wiring we replaced in the process of engineering a more reliable electrical system.” As if that wasn’t enough, just about every counter-sunk attachment screw on every inspection panel had to be drilled out and replaced. “We would give the screw about a three-quarter turn and end up with a handful of rust. It seemed that every panel we

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opened revealed a new surprise, and not the good kind of surprise.” Chopp notes that every structural component on Angel of Deliverance is a real C-97 part. “Sure, a lot of the ‘guts’ are new, like the wiring, hoses, and avionics. But except for the nosewheel axles and tyres, those are actual C-97 parts”. In 2003, the BAHF was able to purchase a C-97 — XA-PII, a former KC-97G/L with USAF serial 53-3816 — that was sitting in Tucson, Arizona. It had last flown with a Mexican cargo airline called Transportes de Carga Aeropacifico. The machine was not in terribly good shape, but it did have four QEC (quick engine change) build-ups that were in pretty good shape, and it was able to serve as a good source of parts. The foundation bought the aircraft and salvaged what it could. Chopp said, “It was, by the way, the last C-97 off the production line. Thanks to it we have a decent stock of spare C-97 parts.” After 15 years of toil, sweat and tears, the big day finally arrived. On 1 June 2017, Angel of Deliverance was towed to the runway at Floyd Bennett Field. This in itself was no easy process. In the 15 years since the C-97 had arrived, several trees had sprouted up along — and even on — the taxiway and runway. Since the airfield is now in a national park, you can’t just chop down the trees. It requires approval, co-operation and lots of help. Then the BAHF needed the services of the park police to make sure nobody was camping near — or, again, on — the taxiway or runway. There was a lot of preparation, including FAA approval and countless engine runs, to do. One by one, Chopp had the flight engineer crank up the four R-4360s, and the crew prepared for the moment they had been working towards for a total of 22 years. Chopp recounts, “There we were, sitting on the runway and ready to go, when the number three engine just would not generate full power. We spent half an hour, engines running, while we troubleshot number three. Nothing we did would bring it up to the desired manifold pressure, so we reluctantly scrubbed the flight and headed back to the parking area. It was tremendously disappointing for all of us but, with so much at stake, it was better to be safe than sorry.” The problem was traced back to a faulty carburettor, which was corrected within a week, but now there was another difficulty. It was now high season at the national park,

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ABOVE: The existing BAHF ﬂagship: C-54E Skymaster N500EJ Spirit of Freedom, pictured at Lakeland, Florida, during the 2017 Sun ’n Fun event — one of the stops on its busy tour schedule.

REMEMBERING BERLIN: THE BAHF MISSION “Several times over the 22 years”, Tim Chopp says of the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation, “we were close to dead in the water for lack of funding. The BAHF is sustained by donations from private contributors and donations from spectators at the airshows that the C-54 attends. Now, with the C-97 ﬂying, we are in even greater need of supporting members to help keep these great transports ﬂying. We even have what we call our Tiger Team, consisting of especially active and involved contributors. I would also like to express my sincere with many tourists and campers, and due to heavy demands on the park rangers the authority requested that Chopp delay another take-off attempt until after the period had passed. He and his colleagues finally decided on a new target date of 6 November 2017. The flight was pushed back one further day due to inclement weather, but 7 November brought better conditions, at least in the morning, with the forecast heading south later in the day. Finally, at about 10.45hrs, Chopp and his flight engineer pushed all four throttles forward, checked to be sure that they were all delivering full power, and released the brakes. “I said a quick prayer and said to myself, ‘this had better work’. At 105kt, I gently pulled the yoke back and felt my 22-year dream lift off the runway.” It was a brief 26-minute flight from Floyd Bennett over to Chopp’s home field of Ocean County Airport at Toms River, New Jersey, where he landed to a hero’s welcome. They remained on the ground for about two hours while the aircraft was refuelled and Chopp and crew met with the

thanks to our supporting members, our supporting sponsors, our product companies, and our countless volunteers for all of your help. Thanks to you, the foundation is able to stay on its mission of history, education and remembrance about the great Berlin Airlift of 1948 and 1949.” For more information on the BAHF’s activities, as well as details regarding how you can contribute to and support the organisation, visit www.spiritoffreedom.org

press. At about 13.20, they again cranked up Angel’s engines, and the C-97 lifted off, heading to Reading, Pennsylvania, where it will remain until the spring. “Up to that point”, Chopp reflects, “if anyone had asked me if I would have ever attempted such a massive undertaking again to get a C-97 flying, I would have replied, ‘it would be less painful to take a sharp stick in your eye’, but the joy and experience of feeling the wheels leave the ground made every second of frustration and grief worth it.” Tim Chopp is looking forward to a relatively quiet few months as Angel of Deliverance spends the winter being well looked-after at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum. But there are still new dreams to ponder, such as how he can add a C-47 and a C-118 — to create a replica of President Harry Truman’s Independence — to the BAHF fleet. This last statement will not come as a surprise to people who know Tim. His favourite phrase from history, which he has adopted as his motto, is, ‘Damn the torpedoes — full speed ahead’. Without that attitude, the world would definitely not have a flying C-97.

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04/12/2017 09:11

LIGHTNING v SPITFIRE

CLASH GENERATIONS O F

T H E

When the possibility of RAF ﬁghters coming up against Indonesian P-51 Mustangs during the 1960s confrontation reared its head, one pilot had an idea: pit Lightning against Spitﬁre WORDS: BEN DUNNELL ABOVE: A very low pass by Lightning F3 XP696 and Spitﬁre PRXIX PS853 along the Binbrook ﬂightline at the conclusion of a trial sortie, with a Javelin looking on. PETER ARNOLD COLLECTION

T

he retirement of the last three Spitfire PRXIXs by the Temperature and Humidity Monitoring (THUM) Flight at Woodvale on 11 July 1957 is generally considered to have been the Supermarine fighter’s last hurrah as far as active RAF service was concerned. Incorporation of those Griffon-engined photoreconnaissance versions into what was then the Historic Aircraft Flight, now the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, heralded the type’s transition to the historic world. But, just a few years later, one of that trio found itself thrust temporarily back into a role with much modern-day relevance. The background was provided by developing tensions in a part

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of South-east Asia where British interests still loomed large. The creation of the Federation of Malaysia, a move supported by Britain, angered Indonesian President Sukarno. He took the view that Malaysia represented a British attempt to retain colonial influence in the region, possibly thwarting his own ambitions, and began efforts aimed at destabilisation. From early 1963 these became known as the ‘Confrontation’ (Konfrontasi), and that April armed infiltrations into Borneo began. British forces would soon be engaged in tackling them. As far as RAF fighter assets went, that meant the Gloster Javelin FAW9s of No 60 Squadron, a unit long stationed in South-east

Asia. Normally based at Tengah, Singapore, a detachment of the delta-winged all-weather fighters was set up at Royal Australian Air Force Base Butterworth, Malaysia, during October 1963 — the month after the federation was officially established. Quick reaction alert was held there as well as at Tengah. Further Javelins sent out from the UK bolstered the Butterworth deployment, which was co-located with RAAF CAC Sabres (see Database, Aeroplane December 2017), to the point at which it reached eight aircraft in early 1964. Increasing Indonesian guerrilla activity in eastern Malaysia then led the RAF to locate extra No 60 Squadron Javelin detachments at two further Malaysian airfields, Kuching

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and Labuan. With QRA being maintained at all four locations, it became a considerable commitment. Wg Cdr John Nicholls knew this part of the world well. By 1963, he was the commanding officer of the RAF’s Air Fighting Development Squadron (AFDS), part of the Central Fighter Establishment (CFE). But for his first tour, beginning in 1946, he had been posted to No 28 Squadron on the Spitfire XIV and XVIII, based variously at Kuala Lumpur, Tengah, Sembawang and Kai Tak. He flew the MkXVIII in combat during the Malayan emergency, and was thus considerably versed in the performance of powerful pistonengined fighters. Moving on to jets, Nicholls instructed on the Meteor, completed a Korean War exchange posting with the US Air Force — in the course of which, flying an F-86 Sabre, he shot down a MiG-15 — and was Fighter Command’s liaison officer with English Electric regarding the Lightning programme, among other

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things. In short, he was an ideally experienced boss for the AFDS. Nicholls has been quoted as saying that he visited the Far East, presumably around the time the confrontation started, and thus developed the idea of conducting a trial which would pit a Lightning against a Spitfire. The reason was the Indonesian Air Force’s continued use of the P-51D Mustang among its front-line fighters, and what he felt was the need to develop combat tactics whereby RAF jets could counter them. One of the remaining airworthy PRXIXs was deemed the most comparable mount for such an exercise. A UK Air Ministry report on the strength of the Indonesian air arm, the Tentara Nasional IndonesiaAngkatan Udara (TNI-AU), stated that it had 16 Mustangs on strength, of which eight were believed to be serviceable. They were part of Wing Operasional 002 Taktis (Tactical

Operational Wing 002) stationed at Malang, East Java. Rather more potent elements of the TNI-AU fighter force were its Soviet-supplied MiG-17s, MiG-19s and MiG-21s. The Spitfire, meanwhile, should not have still been flying at all. PRXIX PS853 had been one of the last THUM Flight examples passed on to the Historic Aircraft Flight in 1957. However, it had been deemed surplus to that outfit’s requirements the following year with the addition of three Spitfire LFXVIes, and flown on 14 April 1958 to West Raynham, Norfolk, where it was due to become a gate guardian for the CFE. Indeed, the airframe was struck off charge on 1 May. But PS853 somehow carried on flying with the establishment, and was overhauled at St Athan in preparation for future use, being returned to the CFE — now stationed at Binbrook, Lincolnshire — and officially brought back on charge in November 1962. Even so, one looks in vain for mention of the Spitfire in the

TOP: Spitﬁre PS853, complete with Central Fighter Establishment titles below the canopy, parked at West Raynham — the CFE’s base before it moved to Binbrook. PETER ARNOLD COLLECTION

ABOVE: The possible adversary: P-51D Mustangs of the Indonesian Air Force, in this case examples forming an aerobatic team. TNI-AU

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04/12/2017 15:47

LIGHTNING v SPITFIRE

BELOW: XP695 was the ﬁrst Lightning F3 delivered to the AFDS, and it joined XP696 in the Spitﬁre combat trials.

PETER ARNOLD COLLECTION VIA MIKE MASKREY

operations record books for either the CFE or the AFDS. The same goes for Nicholls’ Spitfire-versus-Lightning trial. It was strictly an unofficial affair, conducted largely at the end of other AFDS Lightning sorties, and apparently not the subject of any formal write-up. In Dr Alfred Price’s book Spitfire at War (Ian Allan, 1974), Nicholls described the results. “Of course”, he said, “from the start we knew that the Lightning could overtake the Spitfire by nearly 1,000mph — there was no need to run a trial to prove that. But we did find that the piston-engined fighter presented a very poor target to infra-red homing missiles, especially from the rear aspect. And, since the Lightning would therefore very likely have to follow up its missile pass with a gun attack, a high overtaking speed would have made accurate firing very difficult. On the other hand, if the Lightning pilot slowed down too much he could end up playing the slower and more manoeuvrable fighter’s dogfighting game and lose. None of this was new — we had learned the same thing during trials between the Lightning and the Hunter. Another problem was that if the Spitfire pilot had sufficient warning of the attack he could spin around to meet it head-on — and thus present the most difficult target of all. “In the end we evolved a type of attack that was the antithesis of all I had learned from my own operational experience of fighters-versus-fighters combat over Korea. Instead of trying to get above the enemy and diving on him to attack, we found it best to use the Lightning’s very high powerto-weight ratio to make a climbing

attack from behind and below. From that angle the field of view from the Spitfire was poor, there was a good chance of achieving surprise and the infra-red source gave the best chance for missile acquisition. If the Lightning pilot did not acquire the target or bring his guns to bear on his first pass he could continue his steep climb — which the Spitfire could not possibly follow — and when out of range he could dive and repeat the process. Using such tactics, we felt that in the end a competent Lightning pilot could almost always get the better of an equally competent Spitfire (or Mustang) pilot.” The Lightnings involved in the flights against the Spitfire were F3s XP695 and XP696, the first examples of the new variant allocated to the CFE for tactical trials. Since those aircraft were only delivered to Binbrook on 1 and 15 January 1964 respectively, according to the Lightning Association’s individual airframe histories, this puts the date of the trial in that year, rather than 1962 or ’63 as cited in most other sources. It must have occurred before April, when PS853 was transferred back to what was now the Battle of Britain Flight. It is hard to ascertain the extent to which a Lightning deployment to the Far East was being seriously considered at this stage. As late as May 1965, Britain’s then-secret plan for expanding military operations against Indonesia, codenamed ‘Althorpe’, referred only to the 44 Javelins then in-theatre. As the confrontation heightened from September 1964 onwards — with Indonesian forces mounting operations in the west of

Malaysia — so more aircraft had been sent. A subsequent amendment mentioned the possibility of adding 12 further Javelins drawn from those stationed in the Near East, specifically with No 29 Squadron in Cyprus. Lightnings, officially at least, do not seem to have entered the equation. Into 1965, the grounding due to fatigue issues of the RAF’s Vickers Valiant tankers meant that Javelins had to be dispatched by ship, instead of being air-ferried. Lightnings would have faced the same problem. In any case, the F3 model then entering service lacked guns, which would — as Nicholls’ account states — have rendered the type less than effective against targets such as P-51s. Only later was the gun reinstated. Not until June 1967, when No 74 Squadron moved from Leuchars to Tengah with the RAF’s first operational Lightning F6s, did the type deploy to the Far East. The F6 had much greater ferry range thanks to its overwing fuel tanks, and Handley Page Victor tankers were available in support. By then, the Indonesian confrontation was over. Indonesia and Malaysia signed a peace agreement on 11 August 1966, without the threat posed to Commonwealth aircraft by their Indonesian counterparts ever escalating into aerial combat. The pitting of Spitfire against Lightning would remain an interesting footnote in the history of both fighters. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The author thanks Peter Arnold, George and Ian Black, Ken and Rich Goodwin, John Mitchell, Gordon Riley and Clive Rowley for their assistance.

Instead of trying to get above the enemy and diving on him to attack, we found it best to use the Lightning’s very high power-toweight ratio to make a climbing attack from behind and below

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Wg Cdr John Nicholls, commanding ofﬁcer of the AFDS and the man behind the trials, is on the right in this shot. In the centre is a Cpl Huggins, while the pilot at left has been quoted as Sqn Ldr Ronnie Lees, who did most of the Lightning ﬂying, although there is some uncertainty about this. PETER ARNOLD COLLECTION

TACTICS FROM THE LIGHTNING COCKPIT

M

y affair with Britain’s most loved jet ﬁghter began some 20 years after the trial took place at AFDS, though I was based in the same Binbrook hangar with No 11(F) Squadron and one of the aircraft involved, XP695, sat forlornly on the base acting as an airﬁeld decoy. The Spitﬁre trial exposed some of the shortcomings of a Mach 2 ﬁghter designed to meet a speciﬁc threat — a high-altitude Russian bomber. Perhaps the Cold War left tacticians with a blinkered approach to threats from other than the Warsaw Pact. The concept of ﬁghting an enemy several thousand miles away was never envisaged for the Lightning force but did lead to some of the later developments and improvements. The two aircraft that performed the trial, XP695 and XP696, were some of the earliest development F3s, distinguished externally by the larger, square-topped ﬁn. Internally the cockpit was a complete redesign. The new strip-format air speed indicator and artiﬁcial horizon meant more instrumentation being shoehorned

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into already compact surroundings, and something had to give. The removal of the upper guns, which were in effect shoulder-mounted around the pilot, as well as the deletion of the lower gun pack (the gun barrels ran along the base of the fuselage and exited by the radome), meant the RAF now had its ﬁrst gun-less ‘missile with a man in it’ ﬁghter. Perhaps as a direct result of this trial the RAF decided to ﬁt guns back into the F3A, which later became known as the F6. A personal letter from Lightning test pilot Roland ‘Bee’ Beamont conﬁrms that he was dismayed at how the operational requirements branch had decided against ﬁtting guns into the Mk3, and then the difﬁculty in reﬁtting a gun pack in the only available space in front of the ventral tank — only the British would do that! There was also the thorny issue of Lightning range, which forced English Electric to develop overwing ferry tanks simply to get Lightnings to the Far East. From a handling aspect the trial took place before introduction of the Red Top missile, which had a limited

head-on capability, albeit against a high-speed target generating enough heat friction on the leading edges of its wings. Faced with the F3 entering service the AFDS was given no choice in the Spitﬁre trial but to see what the chances were of trying to ﬁre a Firestreak missile at a manoeuvrable piston-engined ﬁghter that produced a very small radar return and, crucially, a very small infra-red heat signature. The Firestreak had certain limitations that would have made operational ﬁrings extremely difﬁcult: a minimum ﬁring speed of 300kt, a maximum of 3g, and importantly the missile would de-arm if the ﬂaps were selected down, something you might have tried in a very slow-speed ﬁght. The notion that the best attack was from below and unseen was sound, but the weapon of choice would have presumably been the 30mm cannon, which at that stage only the F1A and F2 were ﬁtted with. In short, the Lightning would have probably been better-suited to making a minimumseparation pass at supersonic speed to try and frighten the Mustang pilot! Ian Black

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04/12/2017 09:14

SPANISH RAPIDE

Beautifully ﬁnished in period Iberia colours, the Fundación Infante de Orleans’ Dragon Rapide is ﬂying again in tribute to the de Havilland biplane airliner’s signiﬁcant Spanish service WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY: BEN ULLINGS

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iven what an important role the de Havilland DH89A Dragon Rapide played in Spanish civil and military aviation history, the addition of an airworthy example to the country’s main ‘flying museum’ fleet was extremely appropriate. It happened on 17 May 2008, when the Fundación Infante de Orleans (FIO) received Rapide G-AEML. For a while the aircraft continued to be displayed by the FIO in the colours in which it was first flown on 16 April 1993 after a 22-year restoration. Given construction number 6337, the machine’s maiden flight took place on 29 September 1936. Having been operated by Croydon-based Wrightways, it was impressed into RAF service in April 1940 as X9450. After the war G-AEML became a company communications aircraft for Armstrong Whitworth, later Whitworth Gloster. Several private owners followed until the certificate of airworthiness (C of A) expired

in 1971. A rebuild began in 1980 but was interrupted several times, also changing location. Bowker Air Services eventually completed the process for the Rapide’s then owner Victor Gauntlett, boss of Proteus Petroleum. During 1995 it was sold to British Airways pilot Ken Whitehead. Having joined the FIO collection, in 2010 G-AEML flew from Cuatro Vientos to Madrid’s Barajas International Airport to receive new colours in the paint shop of national airline Iberia. The chosen livery was that of Rapide EC-AAY when in service with the carrier from 1945-46, having been transferred from Tráfico Aéreo Español (TAE). Originally registered G-ADCL, it was given Spanish Air Force serial 40-2 during its time on the strength of Grupo de Transporte No 40. It was aircraft number 24 in the Iberia fleet, hence the figure now reproduced on the tail. The original EC-AAY was lost en route from Santa Isabel on the island

of Fernando Pó to Bata in Equatorial Guinea on 22 June 1946 when both engines suffered magneto failures after a heavy downpour, forcing an emergency landing on a beach. The pilot and the four passengers were unhurt, but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair. When G-AEML’s UK C of A needed renewing in 2011, the FIO lacked the means to meet all the requirements necessary to put it on the Spanish civil register. Iberia’s 90th anniversary on 28 June 2017 was the trigger for the airline to make extra funds available to that end. On 25 June the new ‘EC-AAY’ was able to participate in the celebrations over Cuatro Vientos, flying in formation with two CASA Jungmanns and a Jungmeister. In small letters under the horizontal stabilizer its new official Spanish identity EC-MQS was just visible. It marked the wonderful end of a long voyage. Flying the Rapide during our photo sortie was FIO founder and president Carlos Valle. He has been with the

LEFT: Fundación Infante de Orleans president Carlos Valle flying the recently repainted Dragon Rapide, now registered EC-MQS, on 28 September 2017. ABOVE: The FIO operated the Rapide for a time in its previous colour scheme, one well known to British airshow audiences from G-AEML’s time in the ownership of first Victor Gauntlett and then Ken Whitehead. ISMAEL ABEYTUA/FIO

When the Rapide’s UK certificate of airworthiness needed renewing, the FIO lacked the means to put it on the Spanish civil register. Iberia’s 90th anniversary was the trigger for the airline to make extra funds available to that end AEROPLANE JANUARY 2018

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SPANISH RAPIDE

ABOVE: The Basílica de la Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos (Benedictine Abbey of the Holy Cross of the Valley of the Fallen), created in the Sierra de Guadarrama hills near Madrid as a memorial to those lost in the Spanish Civil War, provides a spectacular backdrop for the de Havilland classic.

organisation from day one, 28 years ago. Valle started flying sailplanes at the age of 18, and after four years in the Spanish Air Force he joined Iberia. In more than 40 years with the airline he amassed 26,000 flying hours, retiring three years ago as an Airbus A340 captain. Like most volunteer FIO pilots, he combined his professional flying career with sport aviation, notably participating in aerobatic competitions. As a member of the Spanish national aerobatic team he took part in European and world

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contests in the 1980s. Today he flies every different type in the collection. The pilot’s position in the Dragon Rapide is a rather solitary one and lacks dual controls, which adds some degree of challenge to flying it for the first time. Carlos Valle recalls, “I went to England to bring G-AEML to Spain and was accompanied by our engineer, our workshop manager and our great friend and collaborator Robin Norton. My first contact with our Rapide was to sit down in the cockpit, grab the controls and try to

manage its ‘devilish’ braking system, a common feature of British aeroplanes of that era. At the outset it was very challenging and discouraging. One must not forget that the Rapide’s tailwheel is not locked. “The well-known pilot of historic aeroplanes Henry Labouchere placed a chilling degree of confidence in me. After some brief and frustrating taxiing — there is a limit of five minutes due to the poor cooling of

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RAPIDES IN SPANISH SKIES

T

he ﬁrst Dragon Rapide to operate in Spain, EC-AZZ, began ﬂying at the end of 1934 for the then state airline LAPE (Líneas Aéreas Postales Españolas, Spanish Postal Airlines). From July 1935 it was employed on the BarcelonaValencia-Palma de Mallorca route, accommodating six passengers. Three further DH89As were acquired the following year by the Republican government for use in policing the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco. However, they never got there. When the civil war broke out in 1936 they were on Republican territory at Getafe. After ﬂying to Zaragoza, one of them was captured by the opposition. All three were destroyed during 1936.

The last Rapide in Iberia service was EC-AAS (c/n 6424), one of the ﬁnal examples retired during 1955. It carried on ﬂying with Cie Transgabon as F-OBAQ. IBERIA

the engines when on the ground — he remained seated at the rear and shouted, ‘Go!’ “For a pilot like myself, used to the flat and immense open spaces of Castilla, the runway was very British: astonishingly beautiful, but very narrow and with trees bordering both sides. The wind was very strong but, luckily, perfectly on the runway heading. ‘Now or never’, I told myself. “We went into the air and I immediately realised how wonderful this aeroplane is. It behaves nobly and

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is very stable and sweet to fly. It is amazing to fly in sole control of a relatively large aircraft such as the Rapide. Visibility is excellent and the cockpit feels like a tailored suit. It gives a feeling of leaning out of the pulpit in a church or riding the bow of a big sailing ship. Everything is down there. It is fantastic. Takeoffs and landings are simple. On landing the flaps, well-adjusted speed and a low tail position result in a short landing run. Taxiing is another story. It is necessary to let

During the civil war the Republicans acquired 12 Rapides and the Nationalists another ﬁve. Some had a machine gun ﬁtted on top of the fuselage. The type was used as a bomber, trainer and transport. At least a third of the 17 examples ended up damaged or destroyed. Five of the survivors were transferred to civil tasks, two serving with the para-military airline Tráﬁco Aéreo Español (TAE). They connected Bata in Equatorial Guinea with Santa Isabel on Fernando Pó. Later they and another three Rapides became part of the Iberia ﬂeet, operating between the Spanish mainland and Africa. When aviation fuel became unavailable in Spain during World War Two, for eight months the DH89As were the only Iberia aircraft that could ﬂy, as their engines were able to take motor fuel. The Iberia Rapides continued to ply their trade in Africa until 1955. Two of them were then sold and the remainder scrapped. A pair of privately owned examples, EC-AGP and EC-AKO, were operated in Spain during the 1950s. Also very famous in Spanish aviation history is Rapide G-ACYR. Operated by Olley Air Services, it was hired for a private ﬂight from the UK via France and Portugal to the Canary Islands, so as not to raise suspicion regarding its next task: on 18 July 1936, it ﬂew General Franco to Tétouan in Morocco, from where he initiated his important role in the Civil War and the era that followed. G-ACYR is on display in the Spanish Air Force museum at Cuatro Vientos, just outside the airﬁeld. Also there is the former EC-AKO, painted in the colours of serial 40-1 operated by Grupo de Transporte No 40 of the Aviación Nacional, the Nationalist air arm. The original 40-1 was destroyed in September 1936.

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SPANISH RAPIDE

ABOVE: Carlos Valle enjoying the splendid upward visibility from the Rapide’s cockpit as he positions below the Do 27 camera aircraft.

the aircraft stop to change to ‘ground mode’, and also the position of your hands to control the throttle, located on the left.” For the 2018 season the FIO will be able to draw from a group of no fewer than 44 certified pilots. “I now share the flying of the Rapide with another pilot”, says Valle, “who is also

RIGHT: The DH89A now depicted by the FIO example is EC-AAY, operated by Iberia in 1945-46. IBERIA

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well trained on the Beech 18 twin. His first flight experience was the same as mine, but it could all be done more calmly, and I could share my own experience.” On the first Sunday of each month, except January and August, the FIO

puts its impressive fleet on display at Cuatro Vientos, Spain’s oldest aerodrome dating back to 1911. Space at the premises is limited, meaning a maximum of 2,500 visitors can be accommodated. It’s reason enough for anyone with an interest in aviation history to visit Madrid. “It is always a privilege to demonstrate the Rapide and other aircraft”, continues Carlos Valle. “For an audience familiar with our activities one has to perform especially well, demonstrating the high operational standards necessary for such an important collection. We don’t flaunt our personal flying skills in order to inspire trust among our visitors and financial supporters in the way we manage historic aviation. Our approach is very conservative, responsibly flying antique aircraft that in many cases are irreplaceable.” ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thanks to Carlos Valle and Javier Permanyer, to Augusto Nuñez for flying the Do 27 cameraship, and everyone else at the FIO who facilitated this feature.

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29/11/2017 15:39

GRIGOROVICH I-ZET

BRINGING

With its recoilless armament, the Soviet Union’s Grigorovich I-Zet was no ord

D

uring the 1920s, the Red Army command displayed a keen interest in special recoilless artillery systems — the so-called Dinamo-Reaktivnaya Pushka (DRP), Russian for ‘dynamic reaction cannon’. This was brought about by the demand to increase considerably the firepower of fighter aircraft, whose ordinary rifle-calibre machine guns were losing their efficiency against heavy, all-metal bombers. Leonid Kurchevsky was reckoned among the most successful inventors of recoilless guns in the USSR. He suggested a gun which, to reduce recoil, had a special Laval nozzle in its rear section. Kurchevsky managed to convince the leadership of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army Artillery Department in early 1929 that only he would be able to build operable and efficient DRPs. For aircraft use, he began to develop 3in and 4in recoilless guns. Top priority was given to the APK-1 — Aviatsionnaya Pushka Kurchevskogo, or Kurchevsky’s

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ABOVE: A series production I-Zet, numbered ‘2 yellow’. ANDREY YURGENSON

Aircraft Cannon No 1 — single-shot 76.2mm aircraft gun. Testing on an R-1 (DH9) aircraft began on 26 July 1931, with the weapon secured on the middle struts of the biplane box. The first shot resulted in the rupture of the fabric skin on the horizontal stabiliser. After the second, the skin burst near the flight observer’s station. The third shot led to cracks in the R-1’s wooden structure. The fourth discharge, according to witnesses, damaged the

aircraft “beyond repair”. Later the gun was installed and tested in the R-3 reconnaissance aircraft of all-metal construction. The trials resulted in noticeable damage to structural components of the airframe. A decision was made to build a special airframe with enhanced strength or a specific layout to be equipped with the DRP. Performance specifications for such aircraft were mostly formulated in the mid-1930s. Their roles were expected to include escorting bombers and conducting offensive missions against all types of enemy aircraft, both on the front line and to the enemy’s rear. The assignment to come up with an aircraft of such a type, designated as the I-Zet, was given to the team led by designer Dmitry Grigorovich. To expedite the work, he decided to use the forward fuselage of the Polikarpov I-5 fighter together with the M-22 engine. An especially rigid tail, which had the form of a

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G BIG GUNS out the

no ordinary ﬁghter aircraft

metal semi-monocoque beam, was attached to the fuselage. To reduce the influence of the gun’s rearwardsdirected gases, the horizontal tail was raised; the elevator and the rudder were covered with corrugated duralumin sheets. The low-set wing had lower aerofoil thickness in the wing-to-fuselage joint area to

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WORDS: MIKHAIL MASLOV

reduce aerodynamic interference. Double steel struts linked to the under-fuselage load-bearing frame ensured the required wing rigidity. To minimise aerodynamic drag, the wingtips were elliptical. In spite of the desire to refine the aircraft’s appearance to the maximum possible extent, it looked rather

cumbersome, especially with the guns fitted. The I-Zet belonged to the early generation of monoplane fighters from the early 1930s, when the configuration of high-speed machines had not yet been fully perfected. The first I-Zet was taken to an airfield for flight-testing during the early summer of 1931. Its maiden flight was made by the famous test pilot Benedict Bukhgolts; the exact date is not known to the author. Having been built at a quickened pace, that initial prototype underwent modifications for a year. At the same time, certain changes were being made to Kurchevsky’s guns. It turned out that creating the single-shot APK-1 prototype was a much simpler task than making the automatic multi-shot APK-4 on its base. Each APK-4 had a six-round drum-type magazine (with the seventh round in the barrel) and an automatic reloading mechanism. In 1931, it was finally determined that the I-Zet would act as a

LEFT: An inspection of the ﬁrst prototype I-Zet in the hangar at Aircraft Factory No 39 on 6 July 1931. I. V. Stalin is sitting in the cockpit and standing (left to right) are G. E. Chupilko, V. M. Molotov, K. E. Voroshilov, A. N. Rafayelyants and I. E. Pauﬂer. This example of the type was characterised by the individual cowlings covering the cylinder heads on the M-22 engine.

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04/12/2017 09:15

GRIGOROVICH I-ZET

There remained doubts as to the strength of the airframe, which had to withstand considerable vibration whenever a shot was fired

TOP: A front view of a production example, armed with two APK-4s, during the period between 14 September and 14 October 1933 in which it was undergoing state testing at the Air Force Scientific Research Institute. ABOVE: One of the first production I-Zets (c/n 39009) mounted on a special platform at the air force ranges at Monino for test firings of the APK-4 gun during February-March 1933.

fighter-interceptor, “armed with the APK guns, with a charge of 560g of MSK powder; with muzzle velocity of 347m per second, and a shot weight of 3kg”. It was intended to destroy large groups of heavy bombers in head-on attacks. On 12 March 1932 the decision was taken to prepare and provide the I-Zet for acceptance tests. It is not known whether any additional testing of the prototype was conducted; however, as early as 27 April 1932, the director of Factory No 39, Margolin, signed an agreement with the air force administration for the delivery of 20 I-Zet fighters with special armament, at the cost of 77,594 roubles each. The date of delivery of this batch was set for 1 September 1933. One of the first series I-Zets (c/n 39009) was tested at the air force range at Monino from February-March 1933. Test pilot Piontkovsky was at the controls. It carried a working APK gun under the port wing, and a full-scale mock-up to starboard. To conduct ground shooting practice, a special 5-6m-high platform with a ramp to roll the aircraft up was erected at the NII VVS (Scientific-Testing

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Institute of the Air Force) airfield. It proved successful, but there remained certain doubts as to the strength of the airframe, which had to withstand considerable vibration whenever a shot was fired. Between 14 September and 1 October 1933, I-Zet c/n 39010 with production APK-4 guns underwent state tests at Shchelkovo. The aircraft was flown by M. Stselnikov, and flight time totalled 16 hours 20 minutes. The report stated that 39010 had been manufactured according to the prototype design, and did not differ in terms of basic dimensions. The cockpit was comfortable and spacious. On take-off, the I-Zet became airborne quickly. In level flight, it could fly ‘hands-off ’. The aircraft was stable in all aspects, and control was smooth and easy. Spinning was not undertaken, but the aircraft demonstrated no tendency to spin. The rate of climb (16,404ft/5,000m in 14 minutes) and service ceiling (22,966ft/7,000m) were felt satisfactory, whereas the maximum speed of 161mph (259km/h) and the range of 193 miles (310km) were found insufficient. Poor undercarriage design and the high drag of the APK guns were mentioned among

the main causes of the shortcomings noted. The artillery armament of the I-Zet passed the tests, though the ammunition capacity was evaluated as “inadmissibly low”. Kurchevsky planned to install a box magazine for 10 to 14 rounds in the wing. As far as is known, however, this was never done with the APK-4. The final opinion confirmed that the I-Zet fighters would enter service with the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army Air Force provided certain conditions could be met: the maximum airspeed was to be increased to 186mph (300km/h); fuel capacity was to be made higher; the number of rounds was to be raised to 20; and electrical and radio equipment was to be installed. As a separate item, the need to increase the aircraft’s strength was pointed out, since its structure needed repairing after 300 to 500 shots. The air force demanded that the strength of the airframe be made able to withstand 1,000 APK discharges. The modified aircraft was required to be provided for testing before 1 March 1934.

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Some 240 rounds were loaded and prepared for use. Of those, 136 were expended. Five hit the target, nine were lost in the air and 95 were brought back. The report read, “The armament leaves much to be desired; in the present condition, the weapons cannot be deemed combat-suitable… The APK-4 system requires separate individual adjustments; gun parts are not interchangeable.” Too many gun malfunctions were recorded: 20 jamming cases per 10 firings. It proved impossible to rectify the problem in flight, forcing pilots to land with unexploded rounds. Several causes were noted. Furthermore, the rate of fire was extremely low, and would need to be increased to 200 shots per minute. Pilots failed to maintain the desired intervals, and pulled the trigger before reloading could be achieved. The existing aiming sights were inadequate, further reducing the number of APK‑4 shots on target.

Meanwhile, I-Zet testing was transferred to the area of Lake Pleshcheevo near PereslavlZalessky, 62 miles north-west of Moscow. Test pilot Tomas Suzi conducted the first aerial firing practice over the lake. Throughout the autumn of 1933, 52 flights were made. Just 60.7 per cent of the rounds were fired, numbering 363 shots. The exercises were performed at altitudes of 2,297 to 2,625ft (700 to 800m) at groups of floating balloons, each of which had a diameter of 19.7 to 23.6ft (50 to 60cm). The results showed that enhancing the efficiency of the APK gun would need a distance gauge and a better aiming device than the existing optical OP-1 sight, which was designed for a firing range of 1,312ft (400m) and a speed of 155mph (250km/h). The air brigade under Suzi’s command, stationed at Lyubertsy near Moscow, received seven more I-Zets in December 1933 (c/ns 39011, 39013-39016, 39020 and 39023). They were tested by a squadron headed by Novak, joined by pilots Klimov, Gubanov, Burylin, Katichev and Rodin. They flew from Lyubertsy to the so-called ‘chemical range’ at Kuzminki. Shrapnel shells

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were tested, and their efficiency found to be low. Later, a blast grenade was tried. A load of seven shells was expended, on average, in 20 seconds. It was found that sufficiently reliable firing could be achieved in level flight, at a nose-down angle of up to 30°, and at nose-up and bank angles of 25-30°. The conclusion was that the APK-4 had passed its initial trials in the I-Zet, and could go on to operational service tests. To determine the combat capabilities of the APK-4-armed fighters, it was decided to conduct special tactical exercises from 2-5 September 1934. Mock-ups of permanent fortifications, bridges and artillery batteries were constructed at the Special-Purpose Operation Department test range on the shore of Lake Pleshcheyevo and in the surrounding area. The I-Zets of the Lyubertsy-based brigade took part. On 2 September, a flight of I-Zets approached a target, and fired 14 rounds from an altitude of 230ft (70m) and a range of 3,281ft (1,000m). Two direct hits were reported. The next day’s attack was delivered from an altitude of 984ft (300m) and shorter ranges, with similar — not very good — results.

LEFT: The moment an I-Zet coupled itself to the underside of a TB-3 on 23 March 1935.

Series production of the I-Zet continued. By 1934, Factory No 39 had built 22 examples, including the prototype. It was decided to continue manufacturing at Aviation Factory No 135 in Kharkov. The plan for 1934 included 80 I-Zets, but — as so often — instructions from the authorities failed to match reality. Engineering drawings for the aircraft, together with one I-Zet to be used as a pattern, arrived in Kharkov from Factory No 39 as late as March. It took until autumn for the Kharkov plant to master the new product. Only in the second half of the third quarter did it begin to supply new airframes. Thirty I-Zets rather than the planned 80 rolled off the line in 1934. Their service readiness was confirmed as late as April 1935, in which month a decision was made to equip an operational fighter squadron with them. The People’s Commissar of Defence issued an order creating a special air group consisting of a flight of I-Zet fighters, a flight of R-5 reconnaissance aircraft for target-towing, and a TB-1 bomber for testing of the 37mm turrettype DRP. The unit was sent to Yevpatoria, where it began flying on 15 May 1935. That June, its fleet was expanded: to the original three fighters (c/ns 13533, 13534 and 13535), six more were added (c/ns 13532, 13536, 13539, 13540, 13541 and 13544). But still there was a need to determine the strength of the

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GRIGOROVICH I-ZET

BELOW: The so-called ‘Aviamatka PVO’ (Airborne Mothership, or A-M, for Air Defence): a TB-3 4M-17, two I-5s two I-16s and an I-Zet. ANDREY YURGENSON

I-Zet’s airframe and find possible means of extending its life. Further test firings were performed from nose-down and nose-up attitudes, and in level flight. Some involved single shots, others a series. After 100 or 150 shots, a thorough structural inspection was carried out. Individual parts were replaced where possible. On average, 240 shots were made from each gun. Considerable damage was found including split rivet joints, cracks in the tail brackets, and ruptures in the fabric skin. Just a few individual aircraft (for example, c/n 13534) withstood 340 to 360 shots. It was admitted that, even with appropriate structural reinforcements, the lifetime of an I-Zet on which the recoilless guns were fired was 400 shots at best. Tests and firing exercises saw to it that the majority of series production I-Zets were eventually rendered unairworthy. By early 1936, just a few remained in service. Work on the DRP had been virtually wound up, and operation of these fighters came to an end. However, the I-Zet’s participation in experiments by engineer V. Vakhmistrov on so-called composite aircraft became a separate page in its history. The most successful was the ‘Zveno-5’ (Z-5) system involving the attachment of an I-Zet under a TB-3 bomber. To enable the fighter to dock, a special frame was mounted under the fuselage of the four-engined carrier aircraft, attached

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to the rear locks of the DER-15 outer bomb racks. Lowering and lifting was controlled from the flight engineer’s cabin using a hand-operated, selfsustaining worm-gear winch. The I-Zets were subjected to additional upgrades. An attachment truss with a hook was fitted atop the fighter’s fuselage and used to engage with the frame on the TB-3. The hook had a retaining lock and a limiting bar to protect the I-Zet’s

propeller from damage. The wing structure was reinforced near ribs 1214, because in the said area the wing, with the fighter in the raised position, made contact with the TB-3’s wheels. The top part of the I-Zet’s fuselage behind the pilot’s headrest served as an additional attachment point after docking with the bomber, so this portion was reinforced too. Testing of the Zveno-5 system began on 15 March 1935. Pilot Stepanchonok was at the controls of the I-Zet, while the mother-ship

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was in the hands of Stefanovsky. Stepanchonok approached the TB-3 — which was flying at 87mph (140km/h) — from behind and matched its speed. Then, opening the throttle little by little, he caught and tore a transverse percale band to simulate docking. Twenty-five training sessions of this kind were completed by 21 March 1935. The world’s first mid-air docking between the two aircraft took place two days later. After being successfully attached beneath the TB‑3’s fuselage, the I-Zet was pulled up and secured by the latches, whereupon the Zveno-5 combine descended to 1,640ft (500m) and overflew the airfield, where an air force commission was present. The aircraft then climbed, and the I-Zet separated at an altitude of 3,937ft (1,200m). Five further successful aerial dockings were performed over the subsequent days until 29 March.

Vakhmistrov prepared another ‘composite’ system for tests by the autumn of 1935. It was designated rather lengthily as ‘Zveno TB-3 4M-17 + 2 I-5s + 2 I-16s + I-Zet’. Vakhmistrov himself referred to this combination as ‘Aviamatka PVO’ (A‑M). On the ground, two Polikarpov I-16s were attached under the wing, and two I-5s mounted atop it. The remaining participant, the I-Zet, joined the airborne ‘stack’ after take-off. Three complete-configuration training flights and one demonstration/acceptance sortie were performed before the Air Force commission from 15-22 November. The tests confirmed the possibility of operating a ‘Zveno aircraft’ comprising a TB-3 bomber and five fighters. Nothing like this had ever been performed anywhere in the

world. The tests were to be conducted as a joint effort with Factory No 22 in Moscow, which had modified the fighters and the carrier aircraft. Gross weight of the ‘A-M’ with four fighters totalled 44,533lb (20,200kg), or 47,840lb (21,700kg) with the I-Zet attached as well. According to Vakhmistrov’s estimate, which was confirmed by TsAGI experts, with certain reinforcements to the TB-3’s wing and landing gear the figure could have been brought up to 61,729lb (28,000kg). Such a ‘composite’ was intended for use as a cruiser-carrier, which would allow the fighters to be refuelled up to the moment of their separation. A summary of the test results stated that the combine could be operated efficiently by units of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. The final opinion turned out to be somewhat different. It was admitted that the process of lifting the I-5s on to the upper wing surfaces of the TB-3 was laborious and that the attachment of the I-Zet near the bomb doors reduced the TB-3’s capabilities, whereas having the I-16s under the wings was simple and convenient. It was, therefore, the configuration involving the TB-3 and two I-16s that was subject to further improvement. Under the designation ‘Zveno-SPB’ it was operated during the Great Patriotic War, while the I-Zet faded into obscurity.

LEFT: An image capturing the autumn 1935 test in which an I-Zet joined the ‘Aviamatka PVO’ combine, making up the TB-3 ‘mothership’s’ maximum load of five aircraft: on top are two I-5s, while underneath are a pair of I-16s and the I-Zet.

I-ZET TECHNICAL DATA DIMENSIONS: Length: Span: Wing area:

25.1ft (7.645m) 37.7ft (11.5m) 64.3 square feet (19.6 square metres)

WEIGHTS: Empty: Gross:

2,910lb (1,320kg) 3,633lb (1,648kg)

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PERFORMANCE: Maximum speed near ground: Maximum speed at 9,842ft (3,000m): Maximum speed at 16,404ft (5,000m): Service ceiling:

160mph (258km/h) 154mph (248km/h) 148mph (239km/h) 22,966ft (7,000m)

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FHCAM HURRICANE

WORDS: GORDON RILEY PHOTOGRAPHY: JOHN DIBBS

Of the myriad aspects of the Hurricane’s wartime service, its use to defend Canada against potential Japanese attack is among the lesser-known — but it is remembered by the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum’s example

BELOW LEFT TO RIGHT: The original bulldog insignia of No 135(F) Squadron, RCAF, complete with the unit’s mascot Queen, acquired to replace the ill-fated King... VIA JOHN DIBBS ...and the faithfully reproduced version on the FHCAM Hurricane.

B

uilt by Canadian Car and Foundry at Fort William, Ontario, in 1941, BW881 (c/n CCF R32007) was one of a batch of 50 aircraft with serials between BW835 and BW884. Originally intended for use by the Fleet Air Arm, they were fitted with catapult spools and arrester hooks and were essentially produced to Sea Hurricane Ib standard with eight-gun wings, Merlin III engines and de Havilland propellers but, due to production changes already incorporated at the factory, they all featured the longer nose of the Hurricane II airframe.

The first three of the batch were ferried by air from the factory to Royal Canadian Air Force Station Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, where the Royal Navy and the RAF’s Merchant Ship Fighter Unit (MSFU) both had aircraft servicing facilities. The second three, flown by the same pilots but in worse weather conditions some 10 days later, all crashed due to shortage of fuel on or near the Nova Scotia coast, so all subsequent deliveries were made by rail. Fate intervened following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. All of these CCF-built Sea Hurricanes were

immediately transferred to RCAF charge and issued to east coast units to provide air defence for the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and to help plug gaps in the Canadian fighter defence caused by Curtiss Kittyhawks being transferred to the west coast to face what was believed to be an impending Japanese attack. The RAF Form 78 shows BW881 being taken on charge by the RCAF in Nova Scotia on 17 January 1942, but the corresponding RCAF record card states that it went to RCAF Station Dartmouth before being issued to the British Admiralty at the Royal Navy base at Halifax, proving that as a ‘hooked Hurricane’ it was destined for the Fleet Air Arm, not the MSFU. RCAF archives further indicate that Eastern Air Command received BW881 on 22 January 1942, when it was assigned to the Hurricane Flight of No 118(F) Squadron at Dartmouth. It was almost certainly one of the 15 aircraft transferred to No 126 Squadron, RCAF, also based at Dartmouth, which was formed on 27 April 1942 for east coast air defence with CCF-built Sea Hurricane Is, but may have later served with one or more of the other Sea Hurricane units in Eastern Air Command. Nos 126, 127 and 129 Squadrons all flew Sea Hurricanes until March 1943, based respectively at Dartmouth

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Hurricane XII BW881 of the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum, being flown for John Dibbs’ camera by Bud Granley.

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FHCAM HURRICANE

ABOVE: Spinner-less Hurricanes of No 135(F) Squadron at the unit’s initial home of RCAF Station Mossbank, Saskatchewan. VIA JOHN DIBBS

(with an initial detachment at Bagotville, Québec), and Gander in Newfoundland. BW881 remained with Eastern Air Command until 23 June 1943 when it was returned to CCF at Fort William to be upgraded to Hurricane XIIa standard by the removal of the arrester hook and catapult spools, while the Merlin III was replaced with a Packard Merlin 29 driving a Hamilton Standard propeller. The aircraft was returned to Eastern Air Command on 20 September 1943 and delivered from Rockcliffe to No 1(F) Operational Training Unit at Bagotville, Québec, on 29 September. Just after take-off on 10 December Flt Sgt E. E. Whitehead was climbing through 4,000ft about three miles north-west of Ste-Anne when the aircraft suffered engine failure. Whitehead was uninjured in the subsequent wheels-up landing. An investigation determined that the engine had thrown oil through the breather, possibly as a result of a failure of the scavenge pump. BW881 suffered category D damage but was dispatched for repair and returned to the unit. Only a month before the OTU’s final course was due to finish, on 7 September 1944 Fg Off E. L. Banks was testing a new Merlin in BW881 when a conrod failed. Banks brought it down to another wheels-up landing behind the hospital at Chicoutimi. He was not harmed. The aircraft sustained category B damage and was allocated to No 9 Repair Depot at St John/Saint-Jean, where on 28 September 1944 it was written off as ‘spares and produce’. The remains of BW881 surfaced many years later in the Cultural and Aeronautical Collection of Tex Lavallee at Saint-Chrysostome, Québec, which featured several Hurricane hulks among a wide variety of aeronautical junk. When Lavallee sold his collection BW881 and BW853 were acquired by Matt Sattler of Carp, Ontario, who sold

them to Tony Ditheridge in the summer of 1987. At the time Tony’s company, AJD Engineering, had successfully restored or rebuilt a number of World War One and World War Two aircraft. Once he looked at the Hurricanes in depth he realised, “they were a metallurgist’s nightmare. It became obvious very quickly that to get the material and the tooling made was well beyond our budget. We needed several million pounds to get it done properly. So we sold our two Hurricanes and walked away completely.” BW853 and BW881 were purchased by two friends, William Tassell and Henry Pearman, and moved to Tassell’s farm at Ulcombe, Kent. Restoration work to static display condition was started on BW853 but BW881, owned solely by Pearman, remained untouched. After several years in storage it was sold to Maurice Hammond of Eye Tech Engineering, who moved it back to Suffolk and registered the project as G-KAMM on 23 February 1995. Hammond did no work on it either and it was sold back to Tony Ditheridge at Milden in Suffolk, where on 10 December 1998 it was re-registered to Sir Tim Wallis’ Alpine Deer Group of Wanaka, New Zealand. Tony had formed a new company, Hawker Restorations Ltd, in partnership with Sir Tim, specifically to remanufacture Hurricanes. The Flying Heritage Collection acquired BW881 from Wallis as part of a four-aircraft package and restoration continued until 2006, when the completed aircraft, now fitted with a Packard Merlin 224 driving a Hamilton Standard Hydromatic propeller, was taken by road to Wattisham, Suffolk, where it made its first flight in the hands of Stu Goldspink on 15 March. Following on from P3351, AE977, ‘KZ321’ and

R4118, it became the fifth Hurricane to fly from those restored by HRL. Once further test flights were complete BW881 was shipped to Arlington, Washington, in August 2006. It was re-assembled by John Norman of JNE Aircraft Restoration before its final move to the home of the Flying Heritage Collection — now the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum — at Paine Field, Everett, where it is flown regularly. It is now registered in the USA as N54FH. The colour scheme chosen is representative of a Hurricane flown by No 135(F) Squadron, RCAF. It was formed at RCAF Station Mossbank, Saskatchewan, as part of No 4 Training Command on 15 June 1942, six months after the strike on Pearl Harbor, to provide air defence of the west coast of Canada against possible attack by the Japanese. There ensued a period of intense training and working-up, during which the unit’s distinctive bulldog insignia was devised. It was based on that used by the USAAF’s 62nd Fighter Squadron, which itself had been designed by Disney Studios in California. No 135(F) Squadron acquired a bulldog puppy on 5 August 1942, and the unit diary for the day records, “The Squadron Mascot, a British bull pup, as purchased today in Regina, Saskatchewan, to be known as Cpl Piccadilly Regina, Regimental No 166762, nicknamed ‘King’. King reported by air from Regina, Sask, at 12.00hrs today, and he is entitled to Rations and Quarters, effective the same date”. Sadly King died on 6 October from an abscess on one of his kidneys, but another bulldog named Queen was acquired to take his place. This was shortly after the squadron had arrived at RCAF Station Patricia Bay, near Victoria at the southern tip of Vancouver Island. The serial carried, 5429, is that of a Hurricane that in fact served with No 128(F) Squadron, an east coast air defence unit within Eastern Air Command. It was equipped with Hurricane XIIs from December 1942, initially based at Sydney, Nova Scotia, until being disbanded in March 1944 at Torbay, Newfoundland. RCAF 5429 subsequently joined No 1 Advanced Tactical Training Detachment at Greenwood between February and December 1944 and was finally written off for disposal in November 1945.

For more information on the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum, visit www.flyingheritage.com

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04/12/2017 15:56

Hawker Hurricane XIIa BW881/N54FH Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum JOHN DIBBS

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04/12/2017 15:57

JOB OPPORTUNITY Assistant Editor Would you like to play a big part in the growing success story of Aviation News? This could be your chance. As we gain more readers and plaudits from both enthusiasts and the aviation industry, we are now seeking an Assistant Editor to help us in the next stage of Aviation News’s development. Based at Key Publishing’s offices in Stamford, Lincolnshire, this is a full-time role. You will assist editor Dino Carrara in the writing, compilation and editing of articles on all aspects of aviation past, present and future as well as in sourcing top quality imagery and contributors. The successful candidate should also be bursting with ideas for interesting and exciting features. It is a challenging and demanding role, but the rewards include the chance to travel all over the world to cover the best aviation stories. You will need to be an aviation enthusiast who thinks nothing of spending a day by the fence of an airport or air base and will have travelled in pursuit of your interest. Ideally, you will already be an experienced The closing date is January 8, 2018.

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journalist with an understanding of regular production schedules within a small editorial team, though candidates without this background who can demonstrate excellent potential may be considered. This is an outstanding opportunity to join Europe’s foremost specialist aviation magazine publisher. Benefits include five weeks holiday per year plus a company pension scheme. To apply please send a full CV and a covering letter explaining why you think that you are the best person for the job to: Dino Carrara, Editor, Aviation News, PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire, PE9 1XQ or email: [email protected]

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15

DATABASE IN-DEPTH PAGES

Development Technical Details

HAWKER SEA HURRICANE WORDS: MATTHEW WILLIS ● The successful stopgap naval ﬁghter

CHRIS SANDHAM-BAILEY

● How the Hurricane was navalised

● Fleet ﬁghters and ‘Hurricats’ at war

In Service

ABOVE: Sea Hurricane Ib P2886 of 768 Naval Air Squadron, a deck landing training unit.

● ‘Winkle’ Brown’s impressions

BELOW: A MkIb getting airborne from HMS Victorious during exercises in June 1942. AEROPLANE

Insights

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DEVELOPMENT HAWKER SEA HURRICANE LEFT: On the catapult mounted aboard the SS Empire Darwin and bound for North Africa is Sea Hurricane I V6733 from the Merchant Ship Fighter Unit.

Successful stopgap

T

he Hawker Sea Hurricane was unsuitable in many ways for the role it was shoehorned into, and at times it seemed that no-one wanted the Hurricane to go to sea. During the ﬁrst years of the war the RAF was unwilling to allow the Royal Navy to have any Hurricanes, and many in the navy were sceptical as to their value. When the type eventually became a naval ﬁghter, however, it made an immediate impression, appearing just in time to play a pivotal role in crucial strategic maritime battlegrounds. The lack of serious interest in a naval Hurricane in the 1930s was connected with developing Royal Navy doctrine and myths about the inevitably inferior performance of carrier-based aircraft. In the

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second half of the decade, the Admiralty seemingly became convinced that it would be impossible for carrier-based aircraft to be competitive with land-based machinery and had begun to develop requirements that would be hard to meet with highperformance types. These included the ability to escort strikes, carry out reconnaissance, and patrol at some distance from the parent carrier, which in the 1930s meant a two-seat aircraft ﬁtted with wireless telegraphy (WT) apparatus and fuel for more than four hours’ endurance.

In June 1938, three months before the Blackburn Skua and Roc two-seat ﬁghters were due to enter service, the Air Ministry recommended that the aircraft be cancelled. At around this time, the Admiralty was made an offer of a supply of Hurricanes, which was hastily withdrawn in the rush to re-equip after the Sudetenland crisis. The First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, suggested in January 1940 that the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) should take over the air defence of naval bases. While the FAA was still adamant that

The commander-in-chief of the Home Fleet wrote to the Admiralty, “the sooner we get some efﬁcient aircraft the better”

it needed two-seat aircraft to perform the main ﬂeet ﬁghter role, it was agreed that a small number of Hurricanes or Spitﬁres could fulﬁl shorebased duty while also being available for embarkation aboard carriers when required. The chief difﬁculty involved in this was accommodating the aircraft in aircraft carriers’ hangars — the lifts provided on newer carriers could not take types without folding wings, and the navy rejected the use of deck parks as a solution. The minutes reveal that Hawker was, “already working on designs for modiﬁed wings for this purpose and they hoped to be able to report on the possibilities very shortly.” On 20 May 1940, however, with British forces under pressure in Norway and France, the Admiralty was informed that absolute priority in production resources was to be given to RAF types, meaning that the FAA could expect no replacement of its obsolete Skuas and Gloster Sea Gladiators for the foreseeable future. An event that caused the Royal Navy to re-evaluate the Hurricane as a possible naval ﬁghter, and change the policy of the service in favour of high-performance singleseaters, came with the collapse of the Norwegian campaign. Rather than leave their valuable aircraft in Norway, the Hurricane pilots of No 46 Squadron attempted to land their machines on an aircraft carrier, despite the lack of arresting gear. They succeeded, on 7 June, in ﬂying their Hurricanes on to HMS Glorious. The commander-in-chief of the Home Fleet wrote to the Admiralty that, “our FAA aircraft are hopelessly outclassed by everything that ﬂies and the sooner we get some efﬁcient aircraft the better. We have made a ‘false God’ of the business of ﬂying

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Development Technical Details In Service

on and off a carrier but now that […] 10 Hurricanes have been flown onto a carrier, the matter should be reconsidered.” Meanwhile, the risk to Britain’s vital supply convoys was increasing with the fall of France and Norway, and the entry of Italy into the war. Long-range patrol aircraft could pinpoint convoys and direct submarines towards them as well as attacking directly. In their first few months of operation, Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor maritime patrol bombers sank no fewer than 90,000 tons of Allied shipping. The Admiralty responded with plans for fighters to accompany convoys on ships, “as long-range shore-based fighters could clearly never provide the whole protection required”. FAA fighters were fitted with catapult spools as a matter of course, to enable them to use accelerators mounted on aircraft carriers. This meant, however, that the

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only fighters immediately available were the Skua and the just-introduced Fairey Fulmar, which had inadequate performance. Many cruisers were fitted with catapults, and the catapult training ship HMS

Pegasus (the former seaplane carrier Ark Royal) was available. An approach was therefore made to Hawker by the Directorate of Research and Development in October 1940

ABOVE: The first ‘shipboard’ Hurricanes were the MkIs of No 46 Squadron, RAF. Pictured here being hoisted aboard HMS Glorious at Greenock docks in early May 1940, bound for Norway, the aircraft were flown off the carrier to the airfield at Skånland on 26 May. They returned to Glorious on 7 June, thus notching up the first Hurricane take-offs from and landings on an aircraft carrier.

Insights

ABOVE: A flight of non-hook-equipped Hurricanes from 759/760 Squadrons at Yeovilton. The aircraft coded ‘N’ is MkI V6541; behind it is CCFbuilt MkX AE977, the aircraft today airworthy with the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar. VIA MATTHEW WILLIS

with a view to creating a modified naval Hurricane variant. The manufacturer responded that it could do so in the space of mere weeks. As noted above, Hawker had been considering naval modifications to the Hurricane since at least late 1939 as it was working on a folding-wing design. The favoured aircraft for this project were the Miles M20 and the Grumman Martlet, but the Admiralty noted in December that, “the Air Ministry are already investigating whether the Hurricane can be similarly adapted.” The Navy was not prepared to release catapult-equipped cruisers for convoy duties, and it would take years to obtain enough conventional hydraulic catapults to fit on auxiliary cruisers or merchantmen. An alternative was to develop rocket take-off gear for a Hurricane to be able to launch from a 150ft ‘take-off platform’. A further suggestion was the so-called

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DEVELOPMENT HAWKER SEA HURRICANE

ABOVE: Sea Hurricane I Z4936 — originally built by Gloster — of the Merchant Ship Fighter Unit being readied for a launch from the training catapult located at Speke, Liverpool, with some of the firing rockets for the launch cradle leaning against the rear of the catapult assembly. ‘KE’ was the squadron code allocated to the RAFcontrolled MSFU.

‘Woolworth’ option of fitting simple catapults to merchant ships and auxiliary cruisers. The Admiralty considered it unlikely that a simple type of catapult that could be manufactured quickly would be available for years. It reckoned without the Royal Aircraft Establishment’s Catapult Section at Farnborough, which developed the ‘P’ (pyrotechnic or projectile, depending on the document) catapult in just a matter of weeks at the end of 1940. The RAE created custom trolleys for the Hurricane and Fulmar to be powered by a battery of 18 rocket motors developed for use as projectiles, and tested them in January 1941. That May, the first of a projected 50 Catapult Armed Merchantmen (CAM ships) were fitted with the P-catapult, though in the end conversions stopped after 36 had been conducted. Furthermore, in early 1941 three Royal Navy auxiliary ships, dubbed Fighter Catapult Ships, were fitted

with conventional catapults taken from cruisers under construction, being ready in April. The first aircraft to be used were FAA Fulmars, but these quickly proved to have insufficient performance to tackle German aircraft, particularly the fast Junkers Ju 88, so Hurricanes were employed exclusively thereafter. The Hurricane variant produced for catapult use on convoy protection duties was designated as the MkIa. It had the bare minimum of adaptations from the standard MkI, the main changes to the machine consisting of the addition of the catapult spools, instruments recalibrated to naval measurements, and naval radios. Even so, there were around 80 separate modifications to be carried out. The aircraft were all received from RAF stocks. In the meantime, Hawker pursued a parallel programme of more extensive navalisation of the Hurricane for use as a conventional carrier fighter.

ABOVE: The Fleet Air Arm used standard ex-RAF Hurricanes for training purposes. This is MkI P2859 conducting deck landing practice with the Naval Fighter School at Yeovilton in 1943. AEROPLANE

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TECHNICAL DETAILS HAWKER SEA HURRICANE Development

Navalising a legendary fighter

Technical Details In Service

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MkIb, similar to the MkIa but with an A-frame arrester hook stressed for a 10,500lb aircraft, reinforcement of the lower longeron, carried recessed in a redesigned lower fuselage fairing, and a break in the ventral fin to fit the hook. The

MkIb was generally fitted with a de Havilland propeller, which was heavier than the Rotol and helped restore the Hurricane’s centre of gravity after the fitting of the hook. A proposal to fit the cannon-armed wing of the

ABOVE: A good view of the Sea Hurricane Ib configuration — especially the A-frame arrester hook — is provided by 768 Squadron’s P2886, making a training approach to HMS Argus in August 1943. AEROPLANE

Insights

T

he Sea Hurricane was the most basic possible adaptation of the existing aircraft for marine use. In structure and armament it was the same as the land-based aircraft, as the vast majority of Sea Hurricanes were conversions of existing airframes. A small number of Sea Hurricane Ibs from Canadian Car and Foundry were built as, or based on, brand-new aircraft, while a batch of 60 MkIIc versions was reportedly built as Sea Hurricanes by Hawker. The rest were converted. The first conversions to be initiated were from MkI aircraft and designated as the MkIa, specifically for use on catapultequipped ships. The conversions took the form of fitting catapult spools and navalising certain equipment, such as the radio and instruments. These aircraft were powered by a Merlin III driving a Rotol propeller, which gave a better rate of climb. The first conventional carrier fighter Sea Hurricane was the

The prototype MkIIc with its four 20mm cannon. AEROPLANE

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TECHNICAL DETAILS HAWKER SEA HURRICANE

ABOVE: Wrens — members of the Women’s Royal Naval Service — serving as armourers at HMS Heron, RNAS Yeovilton, refitting the wing-mounted .303in Browning machine guns of a Sea Hurricane. VIA MATTHEW WILLIS

Hurricane IIc on to Sea and Canadian MkXII variants. Hurricane Is resulted in at least The MkII-based aircraft were one prototype, and up to 100 powered by a Merlin XX, while production aircraft were MkXII-based machines would ordered, though it is likely that have originally been fitted with few if any other than the a Packard Merlin 29, both prototype V6741 were actually types driving a Rotol propeller. delivered. Catapult spools were deleted Designations of Sea on MkII/XII Sea Hurricanes. Hurricanes are notoriously Overall, up to 800 difficult to pin down. The initial Hurricanes and Sea Hurricanes suffixes ‘a’ and ‘b’ did not refer were delivered to the Fleet Air to the aircraft’s Arm, around wing 400 of them armament MkIs — no Overall, up to 800 configuration, Hurricanes and Sea precise as on RAF statistics on Hurricanes were Hurricanes, Sea Hurricane delivered to the Fleet but the conversions configuration exist. General Air Arm of catapult Aircraft spools and handled UK arrester hook. The MkIc conversions from 1941-42; in description, however, applied 1943 that work switched to to a MkI airframe with the Hawker’s Langley factory. The MkIIc wing. last Sea Hurricane delivered Later Sea Hurricanes were was MkIIc NF717 during similar modifications of MkII August 1943.

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SPECIFICATIONS: SEA HURRICANE Ib (MkII/XII) POWERPLANT:

One Rolls Royce Merlin III, 1,030hp (Merlin XX, 1,280hp/Merlin 29, 1,300hp)

DIMENSIONS: Length: Wingspan: Height:

31ft 5in (32ft 0in) 40ft 0in 13ft 1in

WEIGHTS: Empty: Loaded: Maximum:

5,440lb (5,880lb) 7,100lb (8,100lb) 7,550lb

PERFORMANCE: Maximum speed: Cruising speed: Range: Service ceiling:

308mph at 18,000ft and +6.25 boost/ 315mph at 7,500ft and +16 boost (342mph at 22,000ft) 208mph at 20,000ft (292mph at 20,000ft) 500 miles normal, 1,030 miles with auxiliary tanks (460 miles normal, 908 miles with auxiliary tanks) 32,700ft (35,900ft)

ARMAMENT: Eight 0.303in machine guns with 333 rounds per gun, two 250lb bombs (MkIIb: twelve 0.303in machine guns with 333 rounds per gun; MkIIc: four 20mm Hispano cannon with 100 rounds per gun, two 250lb or 500lb bombs)

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TECHNICAL DETAILS HAWKER SEA HURRICANE Development

SEA HURRICANE IIb

Technical Details In Service Insights

SEA HURRICANE Ib

SEA HURRICANE IIb

SEA HURRICANE IIc

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TECHNICAL DETAILS HAWKER SEA HURRICANE

HAWKER SEA HURRICANE II 1 Fabric-covered rudder construction 2 Tail navigation light 3 Rudder tab 4 Elevator tab 5 Fabric-covered elevator construction 6 Elevator horn balance 7 Tailplane construction 8 Rudder horn control 9 Elevator hinge control 10 Sternpost 11 Tail fin construction 12 Fabric covering 13 Rear aerial mast 14 Rudder balance weight 15 Aerial cable 16 Tail fin aluminium leading edge 17 Port tailplane 18 Control cable pulleys 19 Port access panel to tailplane controls 20 Ventral fin 21 Tailwheel 22 Dowty shock absorber tailwheel strut 23 Fin framework 24 Fin/tailplane root fillet 25 Fuselage fabric covering 26 Lifting bar socket 27 Arrester hook latches 28 Dorsal stringers 29 Fuselage diagonal wire bracing 30 Upper longeron 31 Aluminium alloy fuselage frames 32 Bolted joint fuselage tubular construction 33 Deck arrester hook 34 Arrester hook pivot point 35 Bottom longeron 36 Arrester hook damper 37 Wooden dorsal fairing formers 38 Aerial mast 39 Upper identification light 40 Upward-firing recognition flare launcher

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41 Tailplane control cables 42 Fuselage access panel 43 Ventral stringers 44 Trailing-edge wing root fillet 45 Downward identification light 46 Radio racks 47 Radio equipment (R3002 and R3108) 48 Parachute flare launch tube 49 Sliding canopy track 50 Canopy rear fairing construction 51 Turn-over crash pylon struts 52 Radio equipment (TR1196 and R1304) 53 Radio equipment (TR1143 and TR1133) 54 Battery 55 Oxygen bottle 56 Hydraulic system equipment 57 Dinghy stowage 58 Seat back armour plate 59 Head armour 60 Rearward-sliding canopy cover 61 Canopy framework 62 Safety harness 63 Pilot’s seat 64 Seat adjustment lever 65 Fuselage/wing spar attachment joint 66 Ventral oil and coolant radiator 67 Position of flap hydraulic jack (fitted on port side only) 68 Gun heater air duct 69 Inboard flap housing 70 Trailing-edge ribs 71 Outer wing panel rear spar joint 72 Breech-block access covers 73 Cannon breech-blocks 74 Outboard flap housing 75 Rear spar 76 Aluminium aileron construction

77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117

Fabric-covered starboard aileron Aileron control gear Wingtip construction Starboard navigation light Intermediate wing spars Aluminium wing ribs Front spar Leading-edge nose ribs Starboard landing lamp Wing stringer construction Ammunition feed drums Ammunition boxes (total 364 rounds) Main undercarriage swivelling joint Hispano 20mm cannon Starboard wing cannon bays Cannon barrel front mounting Main undercarriage door fairing Oleo-pneumatic shock absorber leg strut Starboard mainwheel Cannon barrel fairings Recoil springs Cannon muzzles Landing gear pivot point Camera aperture Cine camera Front spar outer panel joint Position of nine-Imp gallon (41-litre) leading-edge oil tank (port side only) Landing gear hydraulic retraction jack Retraction linkage Fuel filler cap Port wing main fuel tank (34.5 Imp gal) Main undercarriage wheel well Centre-section strut framework Cockpit floor level Pilot’s foot boards De-icing fluid tank Rudder pedals Instrument panel Control column Elevator trim tab control wheel Engine throttle control

118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136

Reflector gunsight Bulletproof windscreen Canopy hand-grip Rear-view mirror Port outer split trailing-edge flap Fabric-covered port aileron Pitot tube Aileron control gear Port wingtip Port navigation light Aluminium alloy wing skin panels Port landing lamp Port cannon barrels Hispano 20mm cannon Port wing cannon bays Outboard ammunition box Ammunition feed drums Fuel filler cap Fuselage (reserve) fuel tank (28 Imperial gallons) 137 Exhaust anti-glare shield 138 Oil filter 139 Engine compartment fireproof bulkhead 140 Pneumatic system air bottle 141 Front wing spar centre section 142 Engine bearer support strut 143 Port mainwheel 144 Carburettor air intake 145 Supercharger 146 Engine control rods 147 Coolant filler flap 148 Coolant system header tank 149 Magneto 150 Engine bearer struts 151 Rear engine mounting 152 Hand-turning crank fitting 153 Lower engine cowlings 154 ‘Fishtail’ exhaust pipes 155 Rolls-Royce Merlin XX engine 156 Coolant pipes 157 Upper engine cowlings

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IN SERVICE HAWKER SEA HURRICANE Development Technical Details In Service

This somewhat tatty Hurricane I, P3090, flew with 759 Squadron, which operated as part of the Fleet Fighter School from 1940-43, and later with 760 Squadron’s Fighter Pool. AEROPLANE

A

fter years of delay in accepting that a naval Hurricane was possible and desirable, it took only months for the aircraft to enter service. Hurricanes were delivered to the Fleet Air Arm from January 1941, though initially these were strictly land-based aircraft with modifications restricted to equipment such as the radio and instruments. The prototype carriercapable Sea Hurricane was available for testing in March 1941. This was Canadian-built MkI P5187, which had supposedly been written off in November 1940. Assuming this was the same aircraft, it was probably converted to Sea Hurricane standard while under repair. In May that year, further conversions began and the first front-line squadron, 880 Naval Air Squadron, received its first non-carrier-capable Hurricanes for training. By October 1941, some 120 aircraft had been converted. It should have been possible to form the first Sea Hurricane fleet fighter squadron rather earlier, but for a shortage of pilots caused by the fact that

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many were still on loan to the RAF. When 880 embarked on the carrier HMS Furious for operations in July, it was only possible to send a flight of four aircraft, which was dubbed 880A Squadron. With the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the war cabinet wished to make a gesture of support, and a simultaneous raid on the northern Norwegian ports of Petsamo and Kirkenes was planned for 31 July 1941. The missions would be conducted from HMS Furious and HMS

Victorious with Fairey Albacores bombing shore installations and torpedoing ships in the harbour, escorted by Fairey Fulmars. The Sea Hurricanes of 880A Squadron were responsible for air defence of the fleet. The raids themselves were largely unsuccessful, with little achieved in the way of damage to the targets and heavy losses in the attacking squadrons. The Sea Hurricanes chalked up their first victory after the operation, when a Dornier Do 18 flying boat

ABOVE: A Sea Hurricane from HMS Indomitable making a mock attack on a pair of Fairey Albacores. VIA MATTHEW WILLIS

located the task force, and two fighters from 880A duly shot it down. The CO, Lt Cdr Judd, was credited with the kill. The squadron recombined and embarked on HMS Indomitable later in 1941. It took part in Operation ‘Ironclad’, the capture of Diego Suarez on Madagascar to deny its use to the Japanese, during May 1942. Although Sea Hurricanes were now available to the FAA, the service found significant problems with the availability of the spares, equipment and knowledge to operate the fighters, and the tired state of the aircraft received from the RAF. In July, three Sea Hurricanes brought to the Mediterranean by HMS Furious were flown by Ark Royal’s pilots and took part in trial landings and take-offs from the carrier. Ark’s commanding officer was unimpressed, reporting to Admiral Somerville, in command of Force H, that two of the aircraft had gone unserviceable. He noted that no technical publications, spares or tools had been provided, that the

Insights

Fleet fighters and ‘Hurricats’

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IN SERVICE HAWKER SEA HURRICANE

ABOVE: 880 and 800 Squadrons provided the Sea Hurricanes aboard HMS Indomitable for Operation ‘Pedestal’, the August 1942 Malta convoy protection effort. VIA MATTHEW WILLIS

mechanics had no experience with the type, and that consequently great difficulty was experienced in keeping them running. Somerville was equally frustrated and explained to the Admiralty that he intended not to embark any Sea Hurricanes on Ark Royal. The condition of the Hurricanes initially supplied to the FAA from RAF stocks was extremely poor, especially considering how important they were to their new operator. Many were from the first batches of deliveries to the RAF, after long and sometimes hard lives, and some had sustained serious damage more than once. “All these old aircraft suffer from a multitude of minor defects and the Stations have had to expend many weeks’ work in rendering them fit for allotment to a Squadron”, wrote the Vice Admiral, Naval Air Stations to the Admiralty in September 1941, adding, “it is most likely that they will continue to suffer from minor defects during their remaining life”. The vice admiral was further concerned with the effect on morale such “castoffs” would have on the squadrons they were issued to.

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That month, Prime Minister Winston Churchill expressed surprise that the FAA’s fighter squadrons were equipped with the Sea Hurricane I rather than the newer and more powerful MkII. He wrote to the Chiefs of Staff Committee in September 1941, following a visit to HMS Indomitable, noting that he was, “astonished to learn that the handful of Hurricanes to be allotted to this vital war unit were only of the lower type

Hurricane Ones. I trust it may be arranged that only the finest aeroplanes that can do the work go into all aircraftcarriers… The aircraft-carriers should have supreme priority in the quality and character of suitable types.” This was a dramatic U-turn from Churchill’s position as expressed in January 1940, but gave impetus to the FAA receiving newer Hurricanes. In the meantime, though, it had

Churchill wrote, “I trust that it may be arranged that only the finest aeroplanes that can do the work go into all aircraft carriers”

ABOVE: Canadian-built MkXII JS327 of 804 Squadron from HMS Dasher ran out of fuel during the first day of Operation ‘Torch’, November 1942’s Allied landings in North Africa, and force-landed near the beach at St Leu (now Bethioua), Algeria. The US-style white star was applied over the roundels of British aircraft engaged in ‘Torch’ as an identification measure for Allied forces; note also the overpainted fin flash.

to soldier on with older machines. Sea Hurricanes finally joined Force H in early 1942, when HMS Eagle took Ark Royal’s place (the newer carrier having been sunk in November 1941). Initially Eagle could only carry two Sea Hurricanes of the 813 Squadron Fighter Flight, but these provided what air defence they could during operations to supply Spitfires to Malta in May 1942. When 824 Squadron’s Swordfish disembarked at Malta ahead of the Operation ‘Harpoon’ convoy in June 1942, however, the 12 Sea Hurricanes of 801 Squadron replaced them, making 14 defending the convoy, along with six Fulmars of 807 on Argus. This was 801’s first major carrier operation since it had reformed as a Sea Hurricane unit in August 1941, having been largely devoted to defence of the Scapa Flow base in that time, although its aircraft had shot down an Fw 200 while operating from Eagle, covering an outbound Singapore convoy in December 1941. ‘Harpoon’ was an attempt to escort six merchantmen to Malta, while concurrently another convoy would approach from Alexandria, Operation ‘Vigorous’. Only the old carriers Eagle and Argus were available to provide air cover as the newer armoured carriers were all occupied in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. The air defence of ‘Harpoon’ was compromised by light winds directly from aft, meaning that to fly off aeroplanes the carriers had to leave the screen and steam fast in the opposite direction to the convoy. Despite this, Eagle managed to maintain a section of Sea Hurricanes airborne from 08.45hrs until nightfall on 13 June, the first day after departure from Gibraltar. They damaged a Ju 88 and shot down a CANT Z1007. The following day opened with more air combat: Eagle’s Sea Hurricanes damaged a Ju 88 and shot down a Breda Ba 88 early in the morning. Shortly after 10 o’clock it was

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Development Technical Details In Service Insights

ABOVE: 880A Squadron’s charges aboard Indomitable off Freetown in late July 1942, when the carrier was heading for Malta following Operation ‘Ironclad’. Also visible are Albacores and Martlets. AEROPLANE

clear that enemy forces were massing for a concerted attack. Eagle’s Sea Hurricanes shot down a bomber at around 10.20, and thereafter the convoy was under attack for two hours. The Sea Hurricanes downed two torpedo bombers and a high-altitude bomber, plus two fighters. The attacks commenced again at 18.15 with 10 minutes of dive and high-level bombing. The fighters managed to break up the attacks and forced some aircraft to jettison their bombs, while those that did get through all missed. Further raids came in after eight o’clock in the evening, including a force of torpedo bombers with a 20-strong fighter escort that prevented the carrier fighters from disrupting the bombers, though all of the enemy aircraft missed the targets.

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At the end of the day, the convoy now being within the range of fighters from Malta, the carriers turned back for Gibraltar. While ‘Harpoon’ had been under the protection of the FAA, only one of the merchant ships had been hit. The immediate pressure on Malta was relieved slightly, but the Admiralty knew that another convoy would be needed soon. The resulting Operation ‘Pedestal’ would be a single convoy from the west, made up of 14 fast merchant ships with the strongest escort of any convoy in the war to that point. It included four fleet carriers, which were able to accommodate more Sea Hurricanes by carrying them

on outriggers projecting from the flight deck. HMS Victorious embarked six Sea Hurricanes of 885 Squadron in addition to her Fulmars; Indomitable had the 12 Sea Hurricanes of 880 Squadron and 10 from 800 Squadron, which had replaced its Fulmars with the singleseaters in June, alongside some Martlets; Eagle still carried the 12 Sea Hurricanes of 801 Squadron and four 813 Squadron aircraft; while Furious, whose job was to fly off more Spitfires, had six Sea Hurricanes of 804 Squadron for self-defence. Before the convoy entered the Mediterranean, exercises were carried out with the carriers, which provided the Navy with

While convoy ‘Harpoon’ had been under the protection of the FAA, only one of the merchant ships had been hit

some valuable lessons in fighter control. The convoy passed through the Straits of Gibraltar in two groups on the night of 9-10 August. The first enemy aircraft were sighted on the morning of the 11th, and two sections of 880 Squadron were launched to intercept. One shadower was damaged and another shot down at 08.30. Furious flew off her Spitfires between 12.15 and 15.15, but during that phase Eagle was torpedoed by a U-boat and sank with the loss of all but four of her Sea Hurricanes, which were airborne on patrol at the time. Furious collected Eagle’s survivors and returned to Gibraltar that afternoon, leaving the convoy under the protection of Indomitable and Victorious. The first air attacks arrived at dusk, in the form of six groups of Ju 88s. Fifteen Sea Hurricanes and four Fulmars

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IN SERVICE HAWKER SEA HURRICANE launched to bolster the afternoon of Wednesday 12 defences. One Ju 88 was August, the Admiralty attacked out of the sun by narrative of the convoy noting, Indomitable’s Sea Hurricanes “German and Italian ﬁghters and was seen diving into the present in large numbers. sea, though one of the ﬁghters Fleet ﬁghters heavily was hit by defensive ﬁre and engaged”. Aircraft and pilots had to ditch. It was too dark were wearing out fast. A for the Sea Hurricanes and formation of bombers ﬁnally recovery became confused in broke through the cordon and the failing light, several aircraft hit Indomitable, whose ﬁghters landing on the wrong carrier. in the air had to land on The maintainers were kept at Victorious. Another Sea full stretch repairing damage Hurricane pilot, Lt Cdr Rupert to the surviving ﬁghters — one Brabner MP, made ace status Hurricane had to have its after shooting down two entire tail unit replaced. Italian torpedo bombers, but The attacks resumed the the co-ordinated attacks following morning, 30 more between torpedo and highJu 88s making dive-bombing level bombers stretched the attacks, but ﬁghter force, again they which was The Admiralty was failed to do outnumbered any damage and couldn’t determined to and two were be everywhere undertake the North shot down. at once. A The ﬁrst hit to African landings under section of the cover of the most one of the Hurricanes merchant modern and powerfully from 880 ships was Squadron, armed ﬁghters achieved by a pursuing a raid of Italian ﬂight of CANT Z1007s at 12.14, a torpedo bombers, was bomb striking MV Deucalion, bounced by Messerschmitt but the vessel was able to Bf 110s and two were shot continue. Half an hour later, 35 down, including the squadron torpedo bombers attacked, commander, Lt Cdr Judd. The but while there were multiple senior pilot, Lt Cork, a veteran close calls, no ships were hit. of the Battle of Britain, The Sea Hurricanes were once assumed command. Cork again in the thick of the would shoot down six aircraft defence with 800 and 885 in the ‘Pedestal’ defence. Squadrons tangling with The carrier force turned bombers at 18,000ft. Lt Cdr back when the convoy was Bill Bruen, a veteran of 800 under the ﬁghter umbrella of Squadron, became an ace Malta. While the Fleet Air Arm when he claimed his ﬁfth kill, a had been responsible for the Ju 88. defence of the convoy against The Axis efforts to air attack, only one merchant overwhelm the convoy’s ship had been hit and none defences increased into the sunk. “Fleet ﬁghters

ABOVE: On 10 October 1944, MkIIc NF722 overshot on landing aboard HMS Ravager, or missed a wire, and ran into NF728, severely chewing its tail. Both aircraft belonged to Inskip, Lancashire-based 760 Squadron. AEROPLANE

intercepted all bombing attacks on Force ‘F’”, reported the Admiralty narrative, a remarkable achievement considering how few in number they were. Vice Admiral Syfret stated, “during daylight hours our ﬁghters, though greatly outnumbered, continued their magniﬁcent work both in reporting approaching raids and in shooting down enemy aircraft”. The ﬂeet ﬁghters claimed 39 aircraft destroyed and ﬁve probably destroyed, the lion’s share by Sea Hurricanes. With more heavily armed ﬁghters, the totals would have doubtless been higher.

Upon the temporary relief of Malta afforded ﬁrst by ‘Pedestal’ and then the withdrawal of many German squadrons to the Eastern Front, the Allied commanders’ attention turned to the invasion of North Africa, Operation ‘Torch’. The shortcomings of the Hurricane I’s armament having been underlined by ‘Pedestal’, the Admiralty was determined to undertake the North African landings under the cover of the most modern and powerfully armed ﬁghters. This required dramatically bringing forward agreed deliveries of Hurricanes. Vice Admiral Lyster, who had been in

BELOW: Sea Hurricane IIc NF691 of 835 Squadron, the last unit to ﬂy the type operationally — it did so from HMS Nairana in 1944. CHRIS SANDHAM-BAILEY

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Insights

beginning of July, 25 Sea Hurricane Ia variants had been delivered to the MSFU, and there had been 16 CAM ship sailings but no launches. That month, HMS Maplin began its second voyage, a convoy to Halifax. On 18 July, an Fw 200 of I./KG 40 was spotted approaching, and Lt R. W. H. Everett launched his Sea Hurricane to make a head-on attack when the Condor was shot down by anti-aircraft ﬁre. The ship’s next voyage was on the Gibraltar run, again with Everett and two sub lieutenants as the duty pilots. On 2 August, Everett launched to intercept a Condor, and shot it down after a tailchase. He managed to ditch, after trying twice and failing to bale out, and was recovered by HMS Wanderer, later being awarded the DSO for the achievement. By September 1941, 39 pilots had trained for the MSFU and there had been 37 CAM ship sailings on Atlantic convoys, but still no launches. The Gibraltar route, however, was starting to suffer badly at the hands of Condors and only had FCSs to cover it. On 2 September Sub Lt Walker launched from Maplin to attack a Condor, which jettisoned its bombs and withdrew after taking damage from the Sea Hurricane. Later that month, six CAM ships were put on the Gibraltar route.

In Service

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C

atapult trials of Sea Hurricanes took place at RAE Farnborough in late 1940, and by the end of March 1941 some 60 Merlin III-powered MkIs were allocated for convoy protection duties. These aircraft were ‘one-shot’ machines, intended to be launched from a naval Fighter Catapult Ship or a Catapult Armed Merchantman (CAM) ship. The pilot, after launching, would be required to ﬂy to land if possible, or to bale out ahead of the convoy in the hope of being recovered. The Hurricane’s ditching characteristics were very poor — Hawker estimated that the aircraft would ﬂoat for less than two seconds. The FAA unit 804 Squadron at Sydenham, Belfast, was given the task of ﬂying from Fighter Catapult Ships. On 9 May, HMS Maplin sailed with Sea Hurricanes aboard. Shortly after the naval operation commenced, the Merchant Ship Fighter Unit (MSFU), an RAF outﬁt, formed at Speke. It was to be manned by RAF volunteer pilots and maintenance crew, supplemented by FAA pilots in an emergency, and RN ﬁghter direction ofﬁcers. SS Michael E was the ﬁrst CAM ship ready to operate, and a Hurricane Ia was loaded for a maiden voyage on 28 May, with an FAA pilot due to a lack of RAF pilots. By the

Technical Details

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CONVOY ESCORT

Development

charge of the ‘Pedestal’ air operations, demanded 60 hooked Hurricane IIcs by 15 September and a further 15 Hurricanes without hooks for training by 1 September, in addition to Supermarine Seaﬁres. Hawker’s Langley factory was working at full stretch to deliver hooked Hurricanes, but as well as the greater performance of the MkII the Admiralty wanted the hitting power of the four-cannon ‘C’ wing, and acquired 30 sets of wings thus equipped. Hawker was not prepared to take back the .303in-armed machines it had already converted to Sea Hurricanes, so the RAF maintenance unit at Henlow carried out this work, and was also able to modify 24 of the 30 aircraft to carry long-range fuel tanks. This would allow them to make ferry ﬂights to operate on shore if required. Unlike the Seaﬁres, the Hurricanes were all modiﬁed with hooks in good time, which allowed for plenty of deck landing training. Nevertheless, the availability of stores remained a difﬁcult issue, and it was noted that the FAA was only starting to receive Hurricane I spares in quantity as the MkII was replacing it. Squadrons on leave, including those that had been given leave after taking part in

‘Pedestal’, were recalled early in September. This hit morale somewhat for units that had just been through the hardest-fought operation of the FAA’s war so far, but given the short time available to work up it was inevitable. Nevertheless, while considerable problems were experienced with Martlets and Seaﬁres in training, the Sea Hurricane II — despite being new to the Navy — presented no problems. Five squadrons were re-equipped with the newer type: 800, 802, 883, 804 and 891, all of which would be operating from modiﬁed escort carriers. The central naval task group at Oran included HMS Biter and Dasher, and the eastern task group at Algiers featured Avenger, all with 15 Sea Hurricanes. On 7 November, Dasher ﬂew off six Hurricanes of 804 Squadron to escort Fairey Albacores from HMS Furious to La Senia. Unfortunately, on returning, the Sea Hurricanes were unable to locate the carrier and had to force-land on the shore. The following day, Sub Lt Goodfellow was able to acquire petrol to return to the carrier, but the other aircraft were all lost. After that, Dasher maintained a CAP with 891 Squadron, which also undertook some beach patrol and close support missions, while 800 from Biter provided close air support and top cover to American troops, during which the squadron claimed ﬁve Dewoitine D520s destroyed. Sub Lt Godfrey of 891 was set upon by two D520s over La Senia and shot down. He was captured, escaped, recaptured and ﬁnally escaped for good, being reunited with Allied forces on 12 September. ‘Torch’ was the last major operation in which Sea Hurricanes operated with the ﬂeet. Thereafter, their role was increasingly taken by Seaﬁres and American-built ﬁghters, but the Hurricane IIc would remain potent for some time to come, operating from escort carriers in convoy protection.

ABOVE: The ‘one use only’, catapult-equipped Sea Hurricanes launched from CAM ships, as here, were nicknamed ‘Hurricats’. BAE SYSTEMS

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IN SERVICE HAWKER SEA HURRICANE The first operational CAM ship launch finally came on 1 November 1941. Plt Off Varley, flying from Empire Foam, disrupted a Condor’s bomb run and drove it to escape into cloud. From the beginning of 1942, most of the Condors were withdrawn from North Atlantic patrols so the CAM ships were transferred to the Gibraltar route and Russian convoys. Fg Off Kendal aboard Empire Morn made the first CAM ship launch on the latter run on 25 May 1942, shooting down one of two Ju 88s attacking convoy PQ16. Unfortunately his parachute failed to open properly and Kendal died of his injuries. Plt Off Al Hay later flew off Empire Laurence to intercept torpedo-carrying Heinkel He 111s, damaging one and disrupting the attack so that no hits were scored, before baling out successfully. The MSFU was at its peak from May-July 1942 with 29 CAM ships in operation on three different routes. However, they were rapidly eclipsed. Eight were removed in July when the vessels were withdrawn from North Atlantic convoys, and by the end of that summer only 13 remained. Russian convoys were scaled back that August to support Operation ‘Pedestal’ but CAM ships continued to cover the Gibraltar convoys through the Bay of Biscay. This was followed by the largest Russian convoy to date, PQ18, on 2 September 1942, escorted not only by the CAM ship Empire

ABOVE: A ‘Hurricat’ on its launcher, ready to go. The flaps would be pre-selected in the take-off position.

Morn but by the newly received American-built escort carrier HMS Avenger with 12 Sea Hurricane Ibs of 882 and 802 Squadrons. Many lessons were learned on this convoy. The first time an enemy aircraft was spotted, on 12 September — a Blohm und Voss Bv 138 flying boat — several Sea Hurricanes were launched but the shadower evaded them in cloud and mist, largely wasting the fighters’ energy. A diversionary bombing raid by a few Ju 88s successfully pulled the Hurricanes away from a large-scale torpedo attack, which scored eight hits on the convoy’s ships. The Sea Hurricanes did at least manage to shoot down several He 111 torpedo bombers that attacked in the evening. Avenger’s captain subsequently resisted the temptation to scramble the fighters whenever an enemy aircraft appeared, deciding that it was preferable to hold them back to tackle concerted

attacks such as the torpedo strike on the 12th. Sure enough, another large, low-level attack materialised on 14 September, and Avenger quickly launched nine Sea Hurricanes, which made a head-on attack and broke up the formation. This time, the fighters were in the right place when another attack developed from astern the convoy. A determined effort opened up a breach in the diamond of Ju 88s, and, in the words of one pilot, “the formation broke up and there was a lovely scrap all over the sky”. The Sea Hurricanes were engaged all day, and none were lost to enemy fire, though three were shot down by ‘friendly fire’. All three pilots were recovered. The following day looked to be a repeat of the 14th, but few of the German bombers ventured below cloud, and most attempted to bomb ‘blind’ from high altitude. On the 16th, Avenger withdrew but Empire Morn launched her

THE FINAL HURRICANE KILL

O

n 26 September 1944, 835 Squadron chalked up the last combat kill for the venerable Hurricane. “Some distance out on the convoy’s starboard bow, we saw a Ju 290 which must have just descended to sea level to escape convoy detection”, wrote Lt Burgham. “We were at 2,000 or 3,000 feet and decided to separate so that we could attack him from opposite sides. He soon saw us and turned away, putting Richardson in a position to attack first. As he committed himself to a diving attack the Ju took the

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usual evasive action by turning towards him, making it difficult for him to get a bead on it. This meant that the 290 was turning away from me and put me in an excellent position to attack. As I approached it I could see Charles Richardson closing in astern in a very tight turn, when his wing tip hit a wave and he exploded in a ball of oily flame. As the Ju began a turn towards me, I came within range, opened fire and began to see pieces falling from the aircraft which climbed a little, then nosed over into the sea, where it exploded.”

Sea Hurricane in response to a developing attack the next day. Fg Off Burr shot down a Heinkel before heading for Murmansk, where he landed safely. CAM ship operations were briefly extended to Algiers convoys in November 1942, but the following March they were withdrawn from Russian convoys. The MSFU disbanded in July 1943, but some CAM ships were still in operation, with two returning from Gibraltar. The Condors were now generally attacking in formation at high altitude. On 28 July one made a rare individual attack at low level, and was shot down by Fg Off Stewart flying off Empire Darwin. On the same day Fg Off Flynn launched from Empire Tide against another Condor at low level and shot it down. Both men were safely recovered after the last MSFU action. Eight operational launches resulted in six kills and, more importantly, many raids were broken up and disrupted. Only one pilot was lost, and that was unfortunately due to a faulty parachute. Sea Hurricanes continued to fly from escort carriers throughout 1943 until finally being replaced fully by newer types in October 1944. The last squadron to use the type in anger was 835 Squadron, a composite unit with a Sea Hurricane ‘fighter flight’ alongside anti-submarine Swordfish, flying from HMS Nairana. Its Hurricanes wore a distinctive, mainly white colour scheme, which helped camouflage them against abundant clouds experienced on the North Atlantic and Arctic runs. For 10 months of 1944, the squadron’s Sea Hurricane IIs flew in appalling conditions, tackling shadowers and bombers, and providing cover for the Swordfish when attacking submarines. The Sea Hurricane, initially unwanted and hurriedly adapted, took to its role with aplomb, performing feats in the Battle of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean theatre that were arguably as significant as its land-based counterpart’s success in the Battle of Britain.

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INSIGHTS HAWKER SEA HURRICANE

In Service

ust one Sea Hurricane survives in naval conﬁguration: this is, of course, the Shuttleworth Collection’s MkIb Z7015/G-BKTH. A Canadian Car and Foundry-built example ﬁrst ﬂown on 18 January 1941, it was shipped to Britain The Shuttleworth Collection’s and converted for FAA use Sea Hurricane Ib Z7015. BEN DUNNELL by General Aircraft Ltd. Z7015 was delivered that July to RNAS Yeovilton, entering service with 880 Squadron and being despatched with that unit to RNAS Hatston in the Orkneys. 880 embarked on HMS Indomitable during October 1941, but Z7015 was unserviceable and missed out. Following a period of repair, the aircraft returned to Yeovilton on the strength of 759 Squadron (the Naval Fighter School) in December 1942. By the following autumn it had been retired to Loughborough College as an instructional airframe. Later acquired by Shuttleworth, Z7015 spent many years as Old Warden Aerodrome’s ‘gate guard’. A joint Shuttleworth/Imperial War Museum restoration was carried out at Duxford from 1986, culminating in a maiden ﬂight on 16 September 1995. It wears the markings of 880 Squadron. As described in the preceding feature, the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum’s MkXII BW881 was once a Sea Hurricane, but has been restored to nonnavalised conﬁguration. MkX AE977 of the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar, meanwhile, served with the Fleet Air Arm but was never converted into a Sea Hurricane. Ben Dunnell

Technical Details Insights

he Sea Hurricane was deck landing and the popular with pilots for undercarriage had a lot of its handling and bounce in it which could aerobatic qualities. prove embarrassing on Though its deck landing occasions. At least it was characteristics were not as more robust than the Seaﬁre good as aircraft such as the that was to succeed it and Martlet, Fleet Air Arm pilots could withstand quite a lot generally adapted easily and more deck landing the aircraft did not suffer the punishment.” high accident rate of types Cdr R. ‘Mike’ Crosley such as the Seaﬁre. described his ﬁrst ﬂight in a Capt Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown Sea Hurricane in They Gave was with 802 Me A Seaﬁre: Squadron “My ﬁrst Eric Brown called during its take-off in a work-up Hurricane was the Sea Hurricane, “a before like a ﬁrst ride very manoeuvrable embarking on in a highHMS Avenger, ﬁghter with fairly good powered and undertook harmony of control speed-boat, some of the noisy, shaky throughout the speed ﬁrst landings and out of range” of a Sea control and, Hurricane Ib with the same on an escort carrier. colossal acceleration which “Aerobatics in the Sea almost dragged my hand off Hurricane were certainly the throttle and jerked my pleasant and easy to execute”, head back against the he wrote in Wings of the Navy, headrest, it was so “adding up to a very unexpected. The aircraft took manoeuvrable ﬁghter with charge. It shook with power as fairly good harmony of control the 900 horses, only a few throughout the speed range.” feet in front, wrenched round For deck landings, Brown the propeller and dug it into felt the Sea Hurricane was the air. It was frightening too, inferior to the Martlet, and for the whole thing leapt into “the inadequate view forward the sky well before I was simply had to be accepted. Its ready for it, and having harsh stalling characteristics used only a quarter of were anything but suited for the runway.”

Development

FAA pilots’ impressions SEA HURRICANE SURVIVORS T J

BELOW: The ‘batman’ stands by as a Sea Hurricane gets ready to land on HMS Avenger in June 1942. AEROPLANE

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BRIEFING FILE

Under the skin of aviation technology and tactics

Radial Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp as example Cylinders

Arranged around a crankshaft. Adding extra banks increases power. In this case, there are two banks of seven, totalling 14 Pros Short crankshaft reduces torsional vibration.

One of the disputes that peaked in Wo which piston engine conﬁguration was

Aids to engine efficiency

Cowl flaps Opened to increase airﬂow and cooling at low speeds

NACA cowling Smoothed airﬂow reduces drag, improves cooling

Cooling

Cylinders cooled by airﬂow over them

Single cylinders can be removed, easing maintenance

Fins in cylinders increase surface area to cooling air

Cons High drag of large frontal area

Pros Cooling system unnecessary, reducing complexity, weight and vulnerability

One crankshaft throw has to take load of seven connecting rods

Cons High installed drag Generally increased risk of detonation (early ignition of fuel) due to lower cooling efﬁciency

Valves

Worked by pushrods timed from central cam

F c

RADIAL VERSUS I A

perennial argument in aviation technology pits the simplicity, robustness and reliability of the radial piston engine — advantages offset by the large frontal area and drag — against the more streamlined in-line piston engine, which itself suffered from the extra weight and vulnerability of its liquid cooling system. Some non-fighter in-line engines were of course air-cooled, generally the lower-power types; notable examples were the Fieseler Storch’s Argus As 10 inverted V8, a number of US Ranger engines and the widely used de Havilland units. In the early period of World War Two, successful naval fighters (as illustrated by the Wildcat, above left) were often fitted with simpler and more reliable radials, while fighters required to achieve highspeed, rapid interceptions over home territory (like the Spitfire, above right) more regularly used

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in-lines. As the war progressed, and engine capability and power increased, that distinction became less clear. While each had advantages, both benefited from developments in engine and airframe design, which addressed each configuration’s shortcomings, while neither engine configuration entirely supplanted the other in most major roles.

For the benefit of a reduced frontal area, the in-line engine had to carry extra weight, primarily the cooling system. This had been a significant performance burden for aircraft such as the inter-war Schneider Trophy racers, with almost every external surface of several racers being covered with coolant radiators. By the late 1930s this was being overcome

Although the ducted spinner on the ﬁrst Fw 190 proved a failure, in almost every other way the engine design showed what could be done with a radial in an uncompromised ﬁghter. VIA JAMES KIGHTLY

through design and engineering improvements, while other solutions, like evaporative steam cooling, were found to be dead ends. The use of the Meredith effect, from the mid-1930s onwards, significantly countered the drag of the radiator system.

On the other hand, the frontal area of a radial engine is not, of course, a solid disc. Rather, the airflow passes between the cylinders and fins and cools them, and the use of a Townend ring and NACA-type cowlings, plus other streamlining fairings, meant that the radial engine’s drag was significantly reduced, while cooling efficiency was improved. That cooling could be adjusted by the use of cowl flaps, open at lower speeds and closed for less drag at higher speeds with the ram airflow providing adequate cooling. From the Focke Wulf

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d in World War Two was a notably powerful one: ion was superior — radial or in-line?

irﬂow ng

In-line Merlin V12 as example

Cylinders

Cooling system components

Header tank Engine-driven pump

Two banks of six cylinders arranged 60º apart

Radiator

Pros Crankshaft throws only take load of two pistons Less frontal area, lower drag and smaller target

Cons Needs dedicated cooling system

Cooling

Liquid-cooled system. Glycol* pumped around engine spaces absorbs heat before circulating to a radiator where the heat is conducted to the air. Glycol then returns to engine Pros Low drag, allows for streamlined engine cowling

Frontal area comparison

More accurate temperature control permits longer high boost pressure periods before onset of detonation

Cons Cooling system adds weight, complexity and vulnerability

S IN-LINE

*Mix of ethylene glycol and water. Has higher boiling and lower freezing points than water

Fw 190 (first flown in 1939) onward, careful cowling and airframe design enabled powerful two-row fighter radials to be efficient both in terms of cooling and drag, and by the late part of the war the difference could be moot — exemplified by the in-line-powered but still ‘roundnosed’ Fw 190D. Wars are not won by fighters alone. Many bombers were radialpowered, and radial-engined transports were even more common. The reliable longevity of the radial, first achieved in the 1920s, as well as its relative simplicity and easier servicing trumped the advantages of the inline. The Merlin was a successful engine in British bombers, but it is often forgotten that it was not so highly regarded for transport use. Two-row radials mostly run efficiently despite the aft row having less cooling efficiency from the heated, disturbed airflow, but

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WORDS: JAMES KIGHTLY ARTWORK: IAN BOTT an oil cooler system, essentially a smaller version of the in-line’s radiator, and vulnerable to the same damage and resultant failure.

Whether with the Allison V-1710 — as here — or, later, the Packard Merlin, the P-51 Mustang’s design was a triumph of elegant and effective streamlining around the in-line conﬁguration. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

radials with three or more rows usually suffered from significant cooling issues on the aft cylinders. Interestingly, the huge, 3,500hp Pratt & Whitney R-4360’s 28 cylinders in four rows worked well thanks to careful airflow design, and was shown to have a similar frontal area to the liquid-cooled, less powerful, in-line H-3130.

Accounts of engines continuing to run with phenomenal damage, while important, don’t prove the superiority of either configuration without careful quantified assessment — which would need to include those engines that failed in flight on single-engine types and ‘failed to return’. Almost all radial and in-line engines also required

It is worth noting that the world air speed record for pistonengined aircraft has been held at various times since the 1930s by both specialised (and standard, but modified) radial and in-line engines. The latest record was set with a special Merlin and propeller configuration on highly modified racing Mustang Voodoo, beating the previous benchmark set by the radial-powered Bearcat Rare Bear. While there were definite, clear advantages for one configuration over the other at times, the fact that both types of engine were effectively and widely used by most combatant nations though to the end of World War Two — and beyond — is the most significant point.

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SHORT SCION

SCION OF TH Shorts’ little airliner of the 1930s was not built in large numbers, but made its mark with several companies on short-haul flights with low passenger numbers — and even in air races WORDS: MIKE HOOKS

T

he Scion was designed for single-pilot operation and seated five passengers, but a sixth tip-up seat could be installed in what could be classed as an early feederliner. It had a welded steel fuselage and metal wings of robust construction, it was all fabriccovered, and powered by two 75hp Pobjoy R engines. The design was intended to enable easy maintenance, this being particularly useful in less developed countries, while flying costs would be economical. A target purchase price was £2,500. The prototype, G-ACJI, was built at Rochester. It was taken by road to Gravesend for its first flight on 18 August 1933. A report on flight-testing at Martlesham Heath in February 1934 said that both engines were needed to keep the aircraft airborne, that the Dunlop brakes were difficult to operate and that the undercarriage was harsh, but that the Scion was pleasant in flight except in bumpy conditions. In this respect it was said to have beautifully harmonised controls and lively performance. The prototype was soon followed by the first production aircraft, Scion I G-ACUV, which had 90hp Pobjoy Niagara engines and appeared at the 1934 SBAC Display at Hendon. Three more, G-ACUW, ’X and ’Y, were built in 1934. Early flight trials by the prototype included 1,082 scheduled hourly flights between Rochester and Southend from June to October 1934. Fares were 8s single and 12s return.

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The first Scion II was G-ACUZ, flown at Rochester on 13 February 1935. Enhancements included having the Niagaras raised on the wing, an improved windscreen, better cabin windows, and a hinged and moulded nose giving access to the back of the instrument panel and controls. Subsequent aircraft were all Scion IIs. An hourly scheduled RochesterSouthend service by Shorts and Southend Flying Services in 1935-36 used G-ACUY and Scion II G-ADDN. Olley Air Services employed Scion II G-ADDO on pleasure flights at Shoreham, while Scion I G-ACUX, fitted with twin floats, was operated in Port Moresby, New Guinea as VH-UUY. On 25 May 1936 Channel Air Ferries began daily Shoreham-Ryde services with G-ADDO, these lasting until September. The 10th Scion built, G-ADDR was retained by Shorts and fitted with an experimental tapered and highly-polished plywood wing and Gouge patent high-lift trailing edge flaps. With B Conditions marks M 3 it took to the air on 8 August 1935. The wing was a scale model of that proposed for the Empire flying boats. Tested at RAE Farnborough, it proved to reduce take-off run and landing speed. It was removed in February 1936 and G-ADDR was converted back to standard form, flying as such in April 1936. The experimental wing was refitted for a short time thereafter before it again reverted to normal.

The last of the Scion Is, G-ACUY, poses with potential passengers — hopefully the sixth seat has been added! SHORTS VIA MIKE HOOKS

Prototype G-ACJI at Gravesend. Built at Rochester, it was taken by road to Gravesend for its first flight on 18 August 1933. VIA MIKE HOOKS

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THE FAMILY

The first production Scion II, G-ACUZ, was impressed as W7419 in March 1940, becoming the personal transport of Sir Arthur Harris. AEROPLANE

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SHORT SCION

ABOVE: The first of two Scion Seniors for the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company in Burma. VIA MIKE HOOKS

TOP RIGHT: The hinged nose proved useful for access to the back of the instrument panel and controls. VIA MIKE HOOKS

ABOVE RIGHT: Senior G-AECU awaits the starter’s flag at the 1937 King’s Cup at Hatfield, with a Miles line-up including Whitney Straight G-AEZO behind. AEROPLANE

Scions were used by West of Scotland Airways between Renfrew and Mull, Aberdeen Airways flew G-ACUV to the Orkneys and Shetlands, and Great Western and Southern linked St Just to St Mary’s in the Scillies, while West Coast Airlines served Dublin from Liverpool. Yorkshire Airways gave pleasure flights in G-ACJI, and similar flights were given in Scions at Ramsgate and Plymouth. Leased by Pobjoy Airmotors to Lundy and Atlantic Coast Airlines in November 1939, G-AETT was lost in a crash at its Barnstaple base on 13 February

1940. These were just a few of the UK operators — research reveals more than 20 small airlines and private owners, with some aircraft moving from one company to another. Shorts built 17 production Scions: G-ACJI, ’CUV to ’CUZ, ’DDN to ’DDT (excluding Q), ’DDV and ’DDX plus VH-UUT, ’UVQ and ’UTV, the latter three for Adelaide Airways. VH-UUT crashed and was returned to Rochester, rebuilt and, becoming G-AEOY, sold to Arabian Airways in Aden. This company

RIGHT: Senior G-AETH emerged as L9786 for the Air Ministry to test a half-scale model of the Sunderland hull.

AEROPLANE

COMPETITORS COMPARED

Scion I/II

Scion Senior

Span

42ft 55ft 47ft 4in

48ft

Length

31ft 6in

42ft

34ft 6in

All-up weight

3,200lb

5,750lb 4,500lb 5,500lb

Cruising speed

116mph

122mph 114mph 132mph

Ceiling

13,000ft 12,000ft 14,500ft 19,500ft

Range

390 miles

420 miles

Dragon

34ft 6in

545 miles

Dragon Rapide

578 miles

Passengers 5-6 10 6 6

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began experimental flights on 30 September 1937 from Khormaksar using Monospar G-AEJB and the Scion, but the latter was written off in a crash on 17 December that year. A replacement, G-AEIL, arrived in Aden in March 1938 when services were resumed, initially with mail only. After the closure of Arabian Airways, its former owner Antonin Besse kept the Scion for possible use, but unfortunately it crashed on take-off and turned over at Mukerias, Aden on 25 April 1940. Besse suffered spinal injuries but his wife was unhurt. With Shorts undertaking much work on the Empire boats in 1936, the decision was taken to end Scion production. The sole manufacturing rights to the type were sold to the Pobjoy company, which produced four Scion IIs: G-AEIL, ’EJN, ’ETT and ’EZF and two for Palestine. They were the first two Pobjoy-built Scions, VQ-PAA and ’PAB, delivered in 1937 to Palestine Air Transport in Haifa and used on the route to Lydda, supplemented a year later with Scion Senior G-AECU as VQ-PAD. The service was extended to Beirut until the war stopped it in June 1941. Those two Scion IIs were impressed as Z7189 and ’90 (see table) and served with the RAF’s Lydda Communications Flight. The first was written off on 15 April 1941 when, due to overloading, it stalled during an attempted take-off. Z7190 lost a propeller in flight on 24 December 1942 and had also to be written off, while the Scion Senior became HK868 and was lost in service on 22 September 1943. There are only three surviving Scions. VH-UUP, the former G-ACUX, was airworthy as late as 1966 and is now in storage in the

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BY SCION TO INDIA Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. VH-UTV of Connellan Airways, reengined in 1946 with 90hp DH Gipsy Minors, made its final flight during September 1958. A proposal to convert it into an air ambulance was thwarted when the Australian Directorate of Civil Aviation would not give it a certificate of airworthiness without a full type record, this having been lost at Rochester during the war. Today VH-UTV is a restoration project and kept at The Missions 1937, a property on the Hawkesbury River near Wiseman’s Ferry, New South Wales. The last Scion built, G-AEZF, first flew as a seaplane in September 1937. It was due to go to Elders Colonial Airways in Sierra Leone, a subsidiary of the Elder Dempster Shipping Line, which operated more than 600 ships, but is believed never to have done so. G-AEZF made two more test flights from the Medway at Rochester by the end of 1937 prior to being stored at Rochester Airport. Damaged there by Luftwaffe bombing on 21 September 1940, the airframe was moved to Pobjoy’s Northfleet works near Gravesend for repairs. Upon impressment by the RAF in November 1941 the Scion was returned to flight in landplane configuration with No 24 Elementary Flying Training School, stationed at Barton-in-theClay, Bedfordshire. That unit flew the machine from September-December 1942, when it sustained further damage in a gale at Cark, Cumbria. Shorts’ Windermere facility carried out repairs this time, allowing it to continue flying with the RAF until February 1945. Post-war, G-AEZF was operated by Air Couriers at Heston, notably on photo-mapping duties, being withdrawn from use in May 1954. It gradually deteriorated at Southend for the next 50-plus years before a rebuild was started by the Medway Aircraft Preservation Society at Rochester (see ‘Medway Masterpiece’, page 80). The Scions were useful little aircraft with lively performance and well-harmonised controls, as demonstrated by G-ACUY when it was looped at the Rochester Carnival Air Fete on 12 September 1936!

SCION SENIOR The success of the original Scion prompted Shorts to design a slightly larger, four-engined version that could accommodate 10 passengers and therefore do the work of two Scions, reducing the need for two

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ABOVE: Charles Gardner and navigator Peter Mursell before they ﬂew Scion II G-ADDT the 15,932 miles to India in April 1936. VIA MIKE HOOKS

T

he only long-distance ﬂight by a Scion involved G-ADDT, which was famously piloted by leading air race pilot Charles Gardner to India. Leaving Croydon on 21 January 1936 it routed via Soﬁa, Istanbul, Aleppo, Baghdad, Bushire (Bushehr), Gwadar, Karachi, Jodhpur, Delhi, Jaipur and Limbdi, before arriving in Bombay. During its stay in India it took part in the Viceroy’s Cup Race in Delhi, ﬂying at full throttle for 1,500 miles and coming

sixth: quite an achievement for a little feederliner. The machine returned on 15 March 1936, having covered 15,932 miles. It later went on tour with Tom Campbell-Black’s Air Display in the UK, but during a ﬂight at Coventry on 10 May extremely gusty winds caused it to lose a wheel when it hit a hedge on take-off. Two months later, on 26 July, G-ADDT was written off in a crash at Porthcawl.

Refuelling G-ADDT in Bombay, with a Percival Gull behind. VIA MIKE HOOKS

THE POBJOY CONNECTION

P

objoy Air Motors was established at Hooton Park, Wirral in August 1930. It had been operating since 1926 when D. R. Pobjoy, formerly an engineer with Daimler Aircraft, designed a small sevencylinder radial engine known as the Pobjoy P. It took two years to eradicate various problems, but it entered production as the Pobjoy R. The company moved to Rochester in December 1934 and Shorts took a ﬁnancial interest, which resulted in Pobjoy engines with electric starters being chosen for the Scion series. Pobjoy built engines for a number of other types: the General Aircraft Monospar, Comper Swift, Kay Gyroplane, Spartan Clipper, Miles Satyr,

Currie Super Wot and Parnall Imp. As an indication of early engine production, 233 were sold between August 1930 and March 1933 with ﬁrm orders for 56. In 1938 Douglas Rudolph Pobjoy left his company, which was restructured as a subsidiary of Shorts. When the latter became heavily involved with production of the Empire ﬂying boats, Pobjoy acquired manufacturing rights for the Scion and built the last six Scion IIs and the six Seniors. An enquiry for adaptation of the design as a slow-ﬂying, escort carrier-based ﬂeet spotter would have required folding wings. The design ofﬁce worked on it, but in the event the price quoted was too high.

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SHORT SCION

ABOVE: A particularly rare photograph of Senior G-AENX on the slipway at Rochester — in this instance it bears a certain similarity to Mercury, the upper component of the Short Mayo Composite.

AEROPLANE

pilots and with a consequent cut in fuel and maintenance costs. The first of six Seniors built was G-ACZG, flown on 22 October 1935 as floatplane VT-AGU (it seems unlikely that the British marks were ever worn). The Senior’s construction was similar to its predecessor, with the cabin length increased from 10 to 17ft and its width by 15in to accommodate three rows of seats, all facing forward, plus a single seat at the back. The engines were again Niagara IIIs. The first customer for the Senior was the Scottish-owned Irrawaddy

Flotilla Company (IFC), which operated passenger and cargo services along the Irrawaddy River in Burma until the late 1940s. Floatplane VT-AGU was shipped to Rangoon on 4 December 1935, pilot John Lankester Parker having amassed six hours’ flying time in the aircraft before 14 November when he flew it to Felixstowe for C of A approval. This was issued on 11 January 1936 — after it had left the UK. Satisfied with its performance, IFC ordered a second Senior in June 1936. G-ADIP was flown as VT-AHI on

IMPRESSED SCIONS

M

ost of the UK-based Scions were impressed into military service between March and July 1940. A number served at one time at Ringway, Manchester with No 6 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit, which had detachments at various locations around England. The AACUs operated different aircraft to provide target-towing, gunlaying training or attack simulation, but those jobs were normally fulfilled by much higherpowered types than the Scion, so the latter were probably used as air taxis. The two overseas impressments were Seniors VQ-PAD in August 1940 and G-AECU in 1942. Nearly 100 firms ranging from aircraft manufacturers and airlines to car builders, railway companies and so on were involved in the Civilian Repair Organisation (CRO), and no doubt a number of the impressed Scions were used to ferry ATA personnel to return repaired aircraft back to squadrons or MUs. One that went to various MUs was G-ACUY, while ’CUZ served at RAF Wyton and then Waddington for use by the officer commanding No 5 (Bomber) Group, and ’DDO was used by Austin Motors, one of the many CROs, for communications purposes.

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10 August and shipped to Rangoon three days later. The only difference from the first was the addition of a small ventral fin. Completed as a landplane demonstrator and flown on 15 June 1936, G-AECU became the third Senior. Lankester Parker took it to Martlesham on 17 July for its C of A trials. Tests showed that its ceiling with two engines out was 6,000ft, the only other complaint being that placement of the engine switches enabled them to be knocked off easily. The C of A was issued just 11 days later, the switches presumably having been adjusted. The Senior was seen at a number of UK events. In the hands of Flt Lt H. L. Piper, it was the largest of 38 starters in the 1937 King’s Cup Air Race, the 786-mile elimination round of which was flown from Hatfield to Baldonnel on 10 September. The final the following day took in 656 miles from Baldonnel back to Hatfield. The winner was Charles Gardner in Mew Gull G-AEKL, the pilot who had flown Scion G-ADDT to India the previous year. The Senior took seventh place, again a creditable showing. In March 1937 the Senior visited Jersey Airways for evaluation.

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SCION PRODUCTION The Shorts constructor’s numbers began with S; these were retained for the ﬁrst six Pobjoy-produced aircraft, while the Pobjoy sequence began with PA. Missing c/ns in the series belonged to other Shorts types such as the Rangoon and Singapore. Registrations allocated but not applied are shown in brackets. c/n

Registration/ impressed serial

First user after delivery

Fate

Scion I and II S.766

G-ACJI/X9375

Yorkshire Airways

SOC 2 September 1941; to 2725M, No 114 ATC Squadron, Ruislip

S.774

G-ACUV

Aberdeen Airways

Spares use during war

S.775

G-ACUW/AV981

Lundy and Atlantic Coast Airlines

Crashed 1 January 1940 on approach to Ringway, two killed

S.776

G-ACUX/VH-UUP

Papuan Concessions

Preserved, Ulster Folk and Transport Museum

S.777

G-ACUY/AV974

Short Bros

SOC No 5 MU 12 April 1944

S.778

G-ACUZ/W7419

Nottingham Airport

SOC No 5 MU 12 April 1944

S.785

G-ADDN/X9364

Southend Flying Services

SOC by ATA 26 November 1941, became 2723M

S.786

G-ADDO/AX864

Olley Air Service

SOC No 5 MU 12 April 1944

S.787

G-ADDP/X9374

West of Scotland Air Services

SOC at Southern Aircraft Ltd 3 April 1941

S.788

G-ADDR/X9366

Short Bros

SOC 2 September 1941; to 2724M, No 301 ATC Squadron, Bury St Edmunds

S.789

G-ADDS/VH-UUT

Adelaide Airways

Crashed 22 January 1936, rebuilt as G-AEOY; written off 17 December 1937

S.790

G-ADDT

Pobjoy Airmotors

Crashed Porthcawl 26 July 1936

S.791

VH-UVQ

Adelaide Airways

Deregistered 1946

S.792

G-ADDV/X9456

R. J. B. Seaman

SOC to 2726M

S.793

VH-UTV

Adelaide Airways

Extant, The Missions 1937, New South Wales

S.794

G-ADDX/X9430

R. J. B. Seaman

SOC 17 April 1942

PA.1001

VQ-PAA/Z7189

Palestine Airways

Crashed 15 April 1941

PA.1002

VQ-PAB/Z7190

Palestine Airways

Forced landing 24 December 1942; SOC May 1943

PA.1003

G-AEIL

R. J. B. Seaman

Crashed Aden 25 April 1940

PA.1004

G-AEJN/AV990

C. G. M. Alington

SOC to 2722M September 1941

PA.1005

G-AETT

Lundy and Atlantic Coast Airlines

Crashed 13 February 1940

PA.1006/7

-

-

Project for possible ﬂeet spotter, not built

PA.1008

G-AEZF

Elders Colonial Airways

Extant, under restoration at Rochester

Scion Senior S.779

VT-AGU (G-ACZG)

Irrawaddy Flotilla Co

Deregistered as written off 25 April 1938

S.810

VT-AHI (G-ADIP)/ VQ-PAD/Z7187

Irrawaddy Flotilla Co

SOC 7 September 1942

S.834

G-AECU/HK868

Iraq Petroleum Co

Lost in ﬂight 22 September 1943

S.835

G-AENX

West of Scotland Air Services

Sunk Bathurst August 1939

S.836

L9786 (G-AETH)

Air Ministry

Sunk at sea 1944

S.837

VT-AIJ

Irrawaddy Flotilla Co

Crashed Yenangyaung June 1937

Key to acronyms: AACU — Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit; ATC — Air Training Corps; ATA — Air Transport Auxiliary; FPP — Ferry Pilot Pool; MU — Maintenance Unit; SOC — struck off charge

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SHORT SCION

ABOVE: This past September, MAPSL brought the fuselage of Scion G-AEZF outside for a trial wing fitting, showing the progress made on the structure. MAPSL

MEDWAY MASTERPIECE

T

he Medway Aircraft Preservation Society Ltd (MAPSL) has undertaken many fine restorations in its time: eight complete aircraft for the RAF Museum, for example, among many projects for that organisation and other clients. But none have had quite such resonance as the aeroplane that will become MAPSL’s flagship, a machine conceived, built and flown at the society’s Rochester home: Short Scion II G-AEZF. The last production Scion is being returned to floatplane configuration as a static exhibit, a substantial undertaking given the condition it was in when the airframe was acquired by MAPSL and transported from Redhill — its home after decades at Southend — to Rochester in June 2013. The fuselage frame, the port wing and part of the starboard wing were all that were left. Despite the best of intentions, some earlier attempts at restoration hadn’t helped matters. It goes without saying that the MAPSL volunteers — with generous support in the form of a grant from the Rochester Bridge

ABOVE: The latest wing work in the Rochester workshop, pictured in October, displays the extent of new-building required. MAPSL

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Trust — are taking great pains to make the restored G-AEZF as authentic as they can, despite the long list of lost components. As far as possible, original items are being restored. Where this cannot be done, period techniques will be followed and correct materials used, so long as cost and availability permit. Project leader Robin Heaps reports that strengthening has taken place on the fuselage frame, with the addition of new bracing rods. Remanufacturing is the order of the day for the sides, floor and roof of the cabin, all fairings, the tail fin, control surfaces and the starboard wing — of the latter, just the spar box remained. With only photographs to go on when it comes to the Scion’s construction, the job is painstaking. One Pobjoy Niagara engine was purchased, and MAPSL is on the hunt for another. If this proves unsuccessful, a replica will be fashioned. Reproduction propellers are to be made, while the loan of a float by the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum is enabling two of them to be newly produced, albeit simplified internally. When finished, some of the structure may be left exposed, rather than covered in Ceconite — which will replace the original Irish linen — to allow visitors to view ‘under the skin’. The Scion will be displayed in MAPSL’s premises at Rochester Airport as a tribute not just to this type, but the history of Shorts’ aircraft manufacturing and testing presence in this part of Kent. Beyond that, it represents one of the most notable aircraft restoration projects ongoing in Britain today. For more information, including details of how you can visit the workshop and see the Scion for yourself, visit www.mapsl.co.uk. Ben Dunnell

It was said to have been flown by three pilots, but there was no order. Another source claimed that Jersey Airways leased the aircraft for the 1938 summer season, but no trace of this would appear surfaced. That December it was sold to Haifa-based Palestine Air Transport as VQ-PAD, and during 1942 it was used by the Iraq Petroleum Transport Company until impressment as HK868. The aircraft was with the RAF’s Iraq and Persia Communications Flight until its transfer in 1943 to No 173 Squadron at Heliopolis, which operated it until 22 September 1943, when it disappeared and was never found. Initially flown as a landplane on 22 June 1937, G-AENX was converted to floats seven weeks later for West of Scotland Air Service. In February 1938 it was shipped to Elders Colonial Airways at Freetown, Sierra Leone for use on its regular weekly service to Bathurst, Gambia and to link Kano to the company’s docks at Takoradi on the Gold Coast from April 1939. Sunk at its moorings at Bathurst that August, the machine was written off. The sixth and last of the Seniors built for civil use was VT-AIJ for the IFC, flown on 13 December 1936 and shipped to Rangoon to join the initial pair. G-AETH, the fifth example, was somewhat different. Originally intended for a ferry service between Sydney Harbour and Newcastle, New South Wales, when this did not materialise it was bought by the Air Ministry for use on the development of flying boat hull designs. Shorts built a central-float, half-scale model of the Sunderland hull with underwing floats, and becoming L9786 the Senior was launched at Rochester to make its first flight on 18 October 1939. Later going to the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment (MAEE) at Helensburgh, it was engaged in many tests until sinking during a takeoff in frosty conditions in 1944. Little interest had been shown in the landplane Senior. It had strong competition from the de Havilland Dragon and Rapide series, even though these carried only six passengers. Considerable sub-contract work for Shorts by 1938 meant that Pobjoy would not have been able to lay down further examples even if orders had been forthcoming, but the company had built 12 of the total of 28 Scions of both types.

AEROPLANE JANUARY 2018

04/12/2017 09:28

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From

JANUARY ISSUE OUT NOW

meets

TONY HAIG-THOMAS

WORDS: BEN DUNNELL

This Old Etonian’s “insanely enthusiastic” obsession with ﬂying led him to many an adventure in the RAF, the highest level in competition aerobatics, and the cockpits of some of the world’s ﬁnest historic aeroplanes

J

oin the RAF today and achieve your aim of flying combat aircraft, and your career might see you at the controls of a couple of front-line types, at most. Of course, it wasn’t always like that. In the days of much more substantial squadron strength, many air force pilots went through a great variety of aeroplanes, filling their logbooks with a range of different machines. But even by those standards Tony Haig-Thomas

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was exceptional. In his RAF days he flew everything he could get his hands on, wherever and whenever he could. It was a very different time. Civilian flying scarcely brought a less diverse selection of experiences. Against the backdrop of what became a very successful career in the City, Tony got into competition aerobatics and airshows, owned several historic aircraft of his own, and flew still more for others. Those who entrusted him with their charges included the Shuttleworth Collection, for which he became a key figure. Indeed, he was central to Shuttleworth’s survival. We met over an excellent lunch of game terrine and roast partridge at the RAF Club on Piccadilly — very appropriate surroundings to hear about life in the service during its Cold War jet age. Born in 1937, Tony grew up on the East Anglian coast, where aviation was all around. “There were lots of wartime things to see. I saw a German aeroplane being shot down, ‘doodlebugs’ going over, a balloon being shot down. We had four V2 rockets within a mile of our house, a Thunderbolt crashing into a field, and bombs on Horsey Island, which was where we were living. You couldn’t avoid the war, and all I wanted to do was become a fighter pilot and shoot down Germans.” Having been sent to Ludgrove School in Berkshire, he took up aeromodelling with free flight models. “It kept me absolutely gripped by aeroplanes”, he says. Indeed, he still flies radio-controlled models. “I went to Eton, and I was a member of the CCF [Combined Cadet Force] there. My last day at Eton I spent at Farnborough; I had a trip in a Meteor and a trip in a Canberra. I discovered then that the air force was very good at responding to letters, because I’d written to the wing commander

flying at Farnborough, and he told me that if I came along he’d get me some flying. I applied that when I joined the air force: firstly to get in, because I was very short-sighted, and secondly, once I was in, to fly lots of interesting aeroplanes that I had no business to be flying anywhere.” The short-sightedness almost curtailed Tony’s RAF hopes. “I was always rejected. I kept writing letters to air marshals, and eventually I was summoned to the Reading recruiting centre and told to stop because they’d had complaints about me. On my way back from the recruiting centre I bought a copy of The Times, and it said that Air Cdre Neely had been promoted to air vice marshal. I wrote to him at once and scored a bullseye because he was a doctor, the chief ophthalmic surgeon to the air force. He said to come and see him in the holidays. He said I was miles outside the standard, but as long as the other guys were happy to have me he’d pass me”. Plus, I put it to Tony, it must have helped that he was obviously very enthusiastic. “Not very”, he laughs: “insanely enthusiastic!” Allowed to join up, he went through initial training at Kirtonin-Lindsey before beginning flying training. “The course was split into two, which it always was in those days. I went very keenly indeed to Jet Provosts; the other half went to Canada to fly Harvards and T-33s, which arguably was much more fun.” Tony found himself in the vanguard of all-through jet training. In 1956-57 he was part of the second course on the brand-new Jet Provost T1 with No 2 Flying Training School at Hullavington, going solo on 31 July 1956. “The Mk1 looked ridiculous, but it was very nice to fly. It was hard

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Tony Haig-Thomas at the controls of the Shuttleworth Collection’s replica Roe Triplane IV. AIR PORTRAITS VIA TONY HAIG-THOMAS

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AEROPLANE MEETS… TONY HAIG-THOMAS

RIGHT: Venom FB4s of No 8 Squadron at Salalah, in the Omani province of Dhofar, during 1960. TONY HAIG-THOMAS

BELOW: Acting as a forward air controller for some ground attack Venoms.

VIA TONY HAIG-THOMAS

work, though. As soon as you could take off and land you started doing aerobatics, formation flying, night flying. It was one thing after another. Right from the start we had to have an instrument rating so we could climb through 10-15,000ft of cloud and fly on top, with 25 hours total. Then we had to get back again, in aeroplanes that had 40-45 minutes’ fuel. That part of jet flying was drummed into you very early: climbing through cloud and shortage of fuel. It was very well-handled by the air force, actually. I would have said it was impossible to get people to do it without crashing quite often, but we didn’t.” He did have one incident, though. While conducting a practice grassstrip landing at Keevil, Hullavington’s satellite airfield, the Jet Provost Tony was flying suffered a starboard undercarriage leg failure. “We touched down and the thing lurched to the right. It was very lucky I had an instructor with me, because I wouldn’t have been quick enough. It would have dug a wingtip in and cartwheeled, certainly, if I’d been solo. He grabbed it and got it to go round again. We had one leg hanging down and swinging free, as the saying goes, so we went back to Hullavington and landed on the grass there, where it could be repaired more easily.” Tony’s other memory of circuits at Keevil is rather happier. “My instructor, who was a flight sergeant, was very keen on cricket. We used to have to stop after two roller take-offs and taxi past the control tower so the

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When we were up-country I had no idea how many rounds of ammunition were shot at us. One week we had 16 Venoms holed, but it never did any damage airman in the tower could lean out with ‘43 for 2’, or whatever, chalked on a blackboard so he could keep abreast of the test match score.” For advanced training, it was on to Swinderby and the Vampires of No 8 FTS: dual in the T11 and solo in the FB5. There was fun to be had,

too. “I did a ‘hi-lo-hi’ down to see my family. My sister said she didn’t like jets because of the horrible smell of paraffin, which pleased me no end because at least I was low enough for her to smell it.” The next step took Tony to one of the aircraft central to his career, the Hunter. Conversion came on the F4s of No 229 Operational Conversion Unit at Chivenor. “The Hunter looked so beautiful, but, I have to say, it was firmly in charge for the first three or four hours. It had performance like I hadn’t imagined, because there were no dual Hunters then. You just had to get in and go. They had an Iraqi student there who was very apprehensive about his trip — he taxied out, and he had to taxi down past the officers’ mess. He decided it was too frightening, so he got out of his aeroplane, ran in to the mess and sat there reading a paper, leaving his Hunter with the engine still running on the tarmac! He then denied he’d been in it…” When the postings came through, Tony was sent in June 1958 to Waterbeach-based No 63 Squadron, flying the Hunter F6. It wasn’t to be a long assignment. “The squadron got disbanded five months after I joined it. It was absolutely soul-destroying. They said they’d got too many fighter pilots.”

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It would be an understatement to say a transfer to the heavy world, converting to the Handley Page Hastings with No 242 OCU at Dishforth in preparation for joining No 24 Squadron at Colerne, didn’t appeal. “I just couldn’t stand it — a terrible, ghastly life. They were flown by people old enough to be my greatgrandfather, but looking back on it a lot of them had DFCs and had flown bombers during the war. I was 20, and I regarded anyone who was 28 as old. “I resigned my commission, went to London and demanded to see the squadron leader in fighter postings. It turned out to be my old squadron commander on No 63 Squadron. He said, ‘What are you doing? You can’t just walk in here and demand to see me’. But when I got to Colerne they said, ‘We don’t want you here. You’re being posted to ground attack Venoms’. Then I went off to Aden.” Tony’s new berth from May 1959 was with No 8 Squadron, flying the Venom FB4 from Khormaksar. “It was lovely. It was really a Mk5 Vampire with a bigger engine, but it had a different wing, and it killed a lot of people, actually. I was solo on my first familiarisation and another Venom was taking off on its way

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down to Nairobi. Suddenly I heard, ‘Red Leader turning downwind for landing’. His ammunition door had come open, and the aircraft flicked and spun in… with 800 gallons of fuel there was a black pillar of smoke up to the heavens. I thought, ‘Gosh, the Venom is dangerous’, but I never had a frightening moment in it. “It was wonderful flying. We had a weapons range next door to the airfield, and I loved weapons training. We had two days a week on the range, when on a European-based squadron you’d have one or two weeks a year. We were expected to fire as many of our rockets and as much of our ammunition as we could.” There was operational flying, too: ‘flag-waving’, and cannon and rocket strikes to demolish houses used by local insurgents who had committed attacks, having smuggled arms in from the Yemen. “We used to fly over them and tell them we were coming by dropping leaflets saying, ‘Move out of this house’. It was like kicking a beehive, knocking down these mud buildings. We gave them time to take the wooden doors off, because wood’s quite rare there. “When we were up-country I had no idea how many rounds of ammunition were shot at us. Every time a Venom flew over there was a

sort of tidal wave of rifle fire. At the end of one week we had 16 Venoms holed, but it never did any damage, which amazed me. I never had a bullet, and I was pissed off because I wanted to have a bullet in my aeroplane. “One chap called John Morris was knocking someone’s house down, and he called and said, ‘I’ve been hit’. The flight commander asked, ‘Can you finish the sortie, or is it too bad?’ He said, ‘I’ve got a lot of blood coming out of my shoulder’. This bullet had come in to the cockpit, severed the throttle controls, gone through his shoulder and into the parachute. Just enough power was left set to clear the mountains back to Aden, and he managed to land back with a very nicely judged forced landing on the airfield. He was killed night-flying a Javelin in Cyprus a few months later.” Tony had been able to convert to the Meteor when he was at Waterbeach, and thus spent some time at Khormaksar in the Arabian Peninsula Reconnaissance Flight’s Meteor FR9s. “I used to fly with them all the time, because occasionally they were short of a pilot, and I was the only No 8 Squadron pilot with a Meteor rating. I secretly had a lot of admiration for them, because they used to fly around very fast and very low”. It was hazardous work:

TOP: A No 2 FTS Jet Provost T1 taxiing at Keevil, Hullavington’s satellite airfield — the aircraft and location of Tony’s first solo. TONY HAIG-THOMAS

ABOVE: Graduating from No 8 FTS at Swinderby in November 1957 after the Vampire advanced training course there. Tony is second from left in the front row. VIA TONY HAIG-THOMAS

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AEROPLANE MEETS… TONY HAIG-THOMAS

TOP: Refuelling a Meteor T7 of the Arabian Peninsula Reconnaissance Flight during a stop at Al Mukalla.

VIA TONY HAIG-THOMAS

ABOVE: A unique image of the Haig-Thomas Moth collection flying together. Leading is Gipsy Moth G-ATBL, flanked by Fox Moth G-ACEJ and Tiger Moth G-AGYU; the diamond four behind comprises Moth Minor G-AFNG, Puss Moth G-AEOA, Leopard Moth G-ACLL and Hornet Moth G-ADLY.

VIA TONY HAIG-THOMAS

ABOVE RIGHT: Inverted during a display in Cosmic Wind Ballerina at Seething in 1966.

VIA TONY HAIG-THOMAS

‘Manx’ Kelly, a fellow No 8 Squadron pilot and future Rothmans Aerobatic Team founder, once ended up with 38 bullets in his FR9. When No 8 Squadron converted to the Hunter FGA9, it carried out a deployment to Gwelo, Southern Rhodesia. It was there in July 1960 that Tony and a fellow pilot, John Volkers, found themselves in serious trouble for low flying. “We broke 19 windows in a girls’ school. We went down a railway line either side of a locomotive, just subsonic. The driver never saw us coming — it was just an explosion as far as he was concerned. He did an emergency stop and squared-off the wheels. The RAF had to replace them. It wasn’t a good time. “Of course, when my officer’s report came out it was very bad. They had ‘starred items’, when you went below two out of 10 or something. Discipline: 0. Example to subordinates: 0. I had four starred items, which was unheardof at the Air Ministry. “My flight commander, Andy Devine, got killed in a Hunter T7

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with another guy, Mike Walley. Another guy, Les Swain, was standing next to me while we were burying Andy and Mike; there was a hole dug next door to them and Les nudged me and said, ‘That’s for you, Tony’. The next week he was in it.” Tony escaped from the low-flying charge without a court martial. Instead, he lost six months’ seniority, not much of a sanction for someone who had only been a flying officer for two months. He finished his tour and came back to the UK, where another opportunity arose: flying the Sea Hawk with the Fleet Air Arm’s 738 Squadron. “HMS Centaur, the aircraft carrier, came through Aden and there were Sea Hawks parked on our pan. I went up to the squadron boss and asked if I could fly one. He said, ‘No, you certainly can’t, but I am going to be commander (air) at Lossiemouth when I get back. Get yourself up there and I’ll make sure you fly a

Sea Hawk’. I got off the aeroplane at Lyneham with my free ticket to anywhere in the UK, which you got when you were coming back. So, I went up to the far end of Scotland. He remembered me and said, ‘Well, you’d better get going’. By 11 o’clock I was airborne in a Sea Hawk. I was into cloud at 2,000ft, came out at 36,000, let down again and landed. “It was lovely to look at, lovely to fly, but I’d have thought completely useless. I had four trips in it, and on the next one I had a go on the range. I also did a MADLS, a mirror-assisted deck landing system approach, which I’d never done before. I put the blob in the middle of the mirror and flew it down. I reckoned I was ready to go to sea, you know.” Instead, in July 1961, came what was meant to be a non-flying assignment. His misdemeanour in Rhodesia counting against him, Tony was chosen as aide-de-camp to AOC No 11 Group. “The air vice marshal in charge, a very nice man called [Harold] Maguire, had been told by

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the Air Ministry that they were going to tell him all about me, but he said, ‘I wouldn’t worry too much about it — I got done for low flying when I was your age’.” The aide-de-camp job — initially based at Ouston, but mainly at Leconfield — turned out rather well. Tony ended up flying the Anson, Devon, Chipmunk and Meteor in the course of his regular duties, not least ferrying the AOC around ‘his’ group’s bases, and three other types on an opportunity basis. “At the time people weren’t meant to fly more than one type. They got quite shirty about it, actually. I was on a ground job, having been told I’d never fly another air force aeroplane ever again. It was the best flying job I ever had. “When I asked the wing commander in charge of the Javelin OCU if I could fly one, he said no. I then wrote to the wing commander flying at Leeming, and he told me there was a three-week ground school course and that I’d have to pass an exam. I asked whether, if I didn’t do the ground school course and did pass the exam, would that be all right? If I got 98 per cent, OK, he said. I got 99 per cent. Then I went back to the headquarters at Leconfield, and Wg Cdr Rogers, who was an absolute bastard, saw the report come through on the students from the last Javelin course. There was my name on it. He came storming through: ‘I thought I told you that you weren’t to fly the Javelin?’ It was a big, heavy aeroplane. It certainly wasn’t a fighter, but I liked operating it. I had ‘talking ballast’ in the back for the first time in my life, a young American captain — very brave. “I finished the OCU course, and about three months later I went to Middleton St George with the AOC. No 33 Squadron was there, and I was talking to the squadron commander. I said, ‘I thought the Javelin was a lovely aeroplane when I flew it, sir’. He asked me if I’d done the course. When I said yes, he said I should get myself up there again and fly the Mk9. I flew the Mk3 and Mk5 at Leeming, and then the Mk9 with No 33 Squadron. “I did the same thing with the Canberra, because they had Canberras in Fighter Command. If you were in Fighter Command you could do anything in Fighter Command, especially within one group. In No 11 Group I could fly anything; in No 12 Group it was more difficult. The Canberras were at West Raynham, used for target facilities for Lightnings. I wrote to the CO of the squadron, asking if I could come and fly a

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I had to make some money, basically. I wasn’t ever cut out to be a banker, but it taught me a lot about money... I told Martin Barraclough that I’d given up flying, that I was never going to fly again Canberra. I’d have to do the short course at Bassingbourn, so I got some leave, went to Bassingbourn and did the week’s course, and then went to West Raynham and flew the aeroplane — two duals and a solo. If you were a Bomber Command guy you had to do an awful lot of duals before you went solo. Fighter Command had a slightly more casual approach. “Leconfield was a Hunter station, and I used to go at lunchtimes to fly with Nos 19 or 92 Squadrons. I did my first interception of a Russian bomber, a reconnaissance ‘Bear’, with 19. One day the AOC was going off to Fighter Command headquarters, and he was going to come back in the early afternoon. I went to 92 and asked, ‘Any chance of a trip?’ The boss had said, ‘You’re not to go flying when I’m away, Tony. I want you in the office to field any ’phone calls’. Hardly was his car out of sight when I was down at 92. “I got airborne, being led by a Pakistan Air Force pilot, a very nice guy and a very good pilot. We were a four-ship, and when we came

back he decided to do some practice formation flypasts. We went round and round in a box-four, doing wingovers and so on. Suddenly, to my horror I heard, ‘Leconfield, this is Hadrian, 20 miles’. That was the AOC’s callsign. The leader said, ‘One more pass, wingover port’. I thought, ‘Oh, please don’t do this!’ “We finally landed and taxied in. I tore my flying clothes off, put my uniform on and went as fast as I could to group headquarters, arriving at my desk just as the boss walked down the corridor. ‘Hello, Tony, how are things going?’ ‘Very well, thank you, sir’. ‘Any ’phone calls or anything?’ ‘No, none at all, sir’. ‘How do you know? What is that black mark all round your face where you’ve had an oxygen mask on? Did you go flying when I told you not to?’ ‘Er, yes, sir…’” Tony left the RAF at the end of 1963. He went into the City to work for a merchant bank, Philip Hill, Higginson and Erlanger. “I had to make some money, basically. I wasn’t ever cut out to be a banker, but it

ABOVE: Harvard IV ‘P5865’/ G-BKCK was a mount for many years. BEN DUNNELL

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AEROPLANE MEETS… TONY HAIG-THOMAS

RIGHT: With son Edward and the mighty TBM-3R Avenger, a carrier on-board delivery variant of the torpedo bomber.

VIA TONY HAIG-THOMAS

BELOW RIGHT: Tony bought Jet Provost T3 XN637/ G-BKOU from Sandy Topen and displayed it for several years, painted in the markings of No 1 Tactical Weapons Unit at Brawdy. BEN DUNNELL

taught me a lot about money”. One day, playing squash with a shipping executive and private pilot called Martin Barraclough, Tony mentioned his air force background. “He said, ‘Why don’t you come and fly with the Tiger Club?’ I told him I’d given up flying, that I was never going to fly again. Martin replied, ‘You can’t do that — we need people like you’. “I applied to join, but I had to do a check flight in a Tiger Moth with somebody called Neil Williams… I’d never flown a Tiger — I’d never even flown a biplane. I went down to Fairoaks and paid for three trips in a Tiger. When I met Neil he asked me if I’d ever flown a Tiger. ‘No, Neil, never. I don’t even know which end goes first’. We went off; I did a loop and a stall turn, which were all right. Then he wanted me to do a slow roll. Slow rolls in a Tiger Moth are bad news, and I screwed it up. Neil said, ‘That wasn’t very good, was it?’ He made me go back and start again. But the rest of the sortie went OK, and I was in.” This got Tony into display flying, in the Turbulent and Cosmic Wind Ballerina, and then competition aerobatics with the Stampe SV-4. “It really taught me how to handle an aeroplane”, he comments. He made the British team alongside Williams, James Black and Robin d’Erlanger for the 1966 World Championships in Moscow, flying the Zlin 226 he’d acquired with fellow Tiger Club pilot ‘Taff ’ Taylor. “I was never going to win; I’d only been doing aerobatics for 14-15 months”. It was his debut at that level, but also his swansong. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t enjoy it. It was very hard work, and you couldn’t do anything else, because it was very competitive. “One day in 1967 I was rung up in the City: was I the Haig-Thomas who’d flown Hunters? Yes. Would I like to do it again, in Saudi Arabia? No, I told them: I’m an important banker now. They said what they’d be paying, if it would change my mind, and that they needed me quickly. This was a Wednesday morning. What they meant by ‘quickly’ was that they wanted me at Chivenor the next day. I saw the director that I reported to, and he said, ‘Off you go’… “I drove down to Chivenor, with my old Hunter pilots’ notes. They put me in the simulator, and then I went to Yeovilton for two trips in a T8. It didn’t present me with any problems, though I can remember that the Navy pilot said, ‘There’s nothing wrong

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with your g threshold, is there?’ I went from Heathrow to Lebanon, and then Saudi Arabia on the Saturday morning. On Sunday I flew in to Taif, and I was leading a battle four down the Yemen border four days after I’d had the ’phone call.” Officially Tony was a contractor for Airwork flying Royal Saudi Air Force Hunters, though there was heavy UK government involvement. He was there, stationed first at Taif and then the newly constructed base at Khamis Mushayt, for 15 months, including some operational-type flying. There was one scramble against an Egyptian Air Force Ilyushin Il-28 ‘Beagle’, though no combat ensued. On his return, flying was put on the back burner to some degree. Tony changed jobs, starting his own very lucrative business in the City. But vintage aeroplanes now became a big part of his life, and he assembled an outstanding collection of airworthy de Havilland types. “That began when I was in Saudi Arabia. I bought the

Moth Minor for £400, a Hornet Moth for £500”. To them were added Gipsy, Tiger, Leopard, Puss and Fox Moths, and Dragonfly G-AEDU, which was acquired in collaboration with Martin Barraclough. “We brought it back from South Africa, and the propellers were in America. A chap in my office who’d gone out to America brought them back as hand luggage. It was beautiful, but it was a horrible aeroplane to fly.” In the early 1970s Tony enjoyed one trip in Spitfire IX MH434, then owned by Sir Adrian Swire. He found it “very easy”. Three years later, further famous machinery beckoned when he became a Shuttleworth Collection pilot. “I bullied David Ogilvy [then the Shuttleworth general manager], and eventually he said, ‘Oh, all right, we’ll get you going’”. Soon he started flying most of the fleet. His favourite? “The Gladiator. It was a dreamy aeroplane, really lovely. There were lots I liked, but there were even more I didn’t like”. It was to be a long association with Old Warden.

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Tony acquired his own piece of ‘heavy metal’ when, in 1988, he bought TBM-3E Avenger BuNo 53319 from an owner in the States. “It had to be something where there was no competition on the air display circuit, and it was either an Avenger or a Skyraider. The Skyraider used more petrol than the Avenger did, so I bought an Avenger”. In fact, the Old Flying Machine Company had also acquired a TBM, which actually arrived in Britain first, but it didn’t stay as long. “It was a lovely aeroplane on a sunny day to go from A to B in”, says Tony. “I was never very happy because I didn’t insure the hull, and I had too much money wrapped up in it. I had it for 19 years. In the first year it made a profit of £18,000, after all costs. By the end” — when Tony sold the machine to Charles Trachsel in Switzerland — “it was breaking even.” The same, alas, could not be said of the Shuttleworth Collection in the mid-1990s. Steps needed to be

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taken to turn things around, and Tony became the aviation trustee during 1995. “I was made a trustee by Micky Astor, who used to have a Dragon Rapide [G-AHGD Women of the Empire]. I had dinner with him, and he asked if I’d like to run Shuttleworth. I’d always secretly wanted to run it. I like running businesses, and it was a very badly run business. It was massively over-staffed… There had been no cost controls on it at all. “I cut out more obvious lines of waste until I could see no more, and having pruned it pretty heavily I decided to do something about the revenue side. I proposed putting the entrance fee up to £5 and then £10. Everybody on the committee was against it, but I said we were going to do it. It then went up to £15, then £20 and £25. Of course the numbers of people going there came down, but the revenue went up 400-500 per cent. After two years, all of a sudden it stopped losing money and broke even. After three years it made a profit.

“I got the chairman of trustees really on side; he’d been a banker and I knew him very well. When we needed money to, say, do up a hangar, he always let me have it. The collection kept an operating surplus and the trust paid for new hangars, reconditioning the hangars, lengthening the runway, rather than out of my preciously hoarded surplus. I found that the collection had an overdraft facility of half a million, and when they got to half a million they had to sell an aeroplane. They took that in as revenue. By the time I took over they’d sold 26 aeroplanes.” The controversial decision to sell the ex-Jean Batten Percival Gull Six, G-ADPR, to Auckland Airport had already been taken before Tony’s appointment. Some time later the collection’s Hornet Moth was sold to a private owner. However, Tony also put a stop to the proposed disposal of certain other airframes. A Chipmunk and Provost were re-acquired to replace examples that had gone, and there were other purchases. Yes, there were difficult choices to be made, but the result was Shuttleworth’s survival in a much better state, and the results are clear to see. Meanwhile, jets had re-entered Tony’s story. “I went back to them happily. I had a Jet Provost of my own [T3 XN637], and when people started buying jets I’d check them out in them and write a letter to the CAA… they would then give them a licence. I did that for about 50 people. I did more than 1,000 hours in six different jet types at North Weald”. These included not only the JP but also the T-33, the L-29 Delfin, and re-acquaintance with the Hunter, Venom and Vampire. The latter was the Vampire Preservation Group’s T11 WZ507, which he’d flown in his RAF service at Swinderby and Chivenor, and then a little for its first civilian owner Sandy Topen. Tony retired in 2012, both as the Shuttleworth aviation trustee and as a pilot. The last Shuttleworth aircraft he flew was the Sea Hurricane, and his final ever flight was at the controls of a Jet Provost T3. This gives him a special distinction. “I started on the Jet Provost and, being a rapid learner, I finished on the Jet Provost. But I did go from Mk1 to Mk3.” There was a lot of flying in between — a lot of adventure, a lot of experience. All of it was what one might call ‘real flying’, too: proper stick-and-rudder stuff, whether in light aeroplanes, big pistons or classic jets. No wonder Tony says, “I’ve had a lovely time.”

LEFT: Getting airborne in the Shuttleworth Collection’s Hawker Hind, one of the Old Warden-based aircraft Tony most enjoyed. VIA TONY HAIG-THOMAS

BELOW LEFT: Rounding the Old Warden bend during a display in the Avenger, originally registered N3966A but later put on the UK register as G-BTDP. BEN DUNNELL

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04/12/2017 17:36

NEIL WILLIAMS

It seems only yesterday…

It was in a CASA 2.111, the Spanish-built, Merlin-engined version of the Heinkel He 111, that Neil Williams lost his life 40 years ago. Following on from last month’s tribute, Neil’s brother Lynn recalls the great pilot’s long-distance ferrying exploits in these aircraft — and December 1977’s tragic ﬁnal ﬂight WORDS: LYNN WILLIAMS

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ly

O

n the fateful morning of 11 December 1977, the rugged mountain slopes of the mist-shrouded Sierra de Guadarrama north of Madrid resonated to the deep growl of powerful aero engines. Local reports stated that an aeroplane was seen briefly before disappearing into the mist, the rumble of its big V12s fading into the distance. The time was 09.45hrs. So passed four souls. At 09.30 the CASA 2.111, G-BFFS, had lifted off the aerodrome at Cuatro Vientos bound for Burgos to land and refuel en route for San Sebastián and Nantes, VFR, non-radio. The destination was Bournemouth then Blackbushe, where the CASA was intended for Doug Arnold’s vintage aeronautical collection as a flying exhibit. On board were Neil Williams, 13-times British aerobatic champion and team captain, an internationally famous aerobatic pilot — his official callsign was ‘Akrobat One’ — and vintage aircraft display, test and film pilot, ATPL and author; his wife Lynn, herself a skilled aerobatic pilot; Joseph Donaghy, ex-RAF pilot/engineer; and Stephen Darnell, Blackbushe Airport air traffic controller. The 2.111 series was manufactured by Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA for the Ejército del Aire during World War Two following initial supply of the earlier Daimler-Benz-powered Heinkel He 111B with stepped crew position and truly elliptical wings which, with the Legion Condor on the Nationalist side, took part in the Spanish Civil War. In 1940 CASA negotiated with Heinkel to build examples from the later series with the fully glazed nose, delivering 117 of the contracted 200 Junkers Jumo-powered He 111H-16s as the 2.111A, C and F: medium bomber, reconnaissance-bomber and dualcontrol trainer respectively. The first Spanish-built aircraft flew in 1945. Due to problems with Jumo spares as hostilities drew to a close, some 2.111s had been re-engined with Rolls-Royce Merlins and were thereafter built from scratch with Merlin 500s supplied as a ‘power egg’, a nacelle form and radiator combination developed for the Beaufighter II and Lancaster. They became the 2.111B and the 2.111D reconnaissance version. A ninepassenger version was also evolved as the 2.111T8.

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Five each of CASA-built Heinkels and Junkers Ju 52/3ms, known as CASA 352s, saw action in the Spanish Colonial Wars, particularly the Spanish-Moroccan Ifni War of 1957-58. The 2.111’s final ‘moment of glory’, however, flown by Spanish Air Force pilots (along with Spanishbuilt Hispano HA-1112 Buchóns), was a starring role as Luftwaffe bombers in United Artists’ film Battle of Britain and later in Patton. Neil Williams had previous experience of flying the Heinkel, having delivered two to the Confederate Air Force (CAF), then based at Harlingen, Texas, via the World War Two North Atlantic return ferry service route. As a very experienced pilot of multi-engine types and powerful twins he was the ideal man for such a commission. His logbooks abounded with time on Lincoln, Shackleton, Hastings, Dakota, Mosquito and numerous commercial twin and four-engine types, as well as multi-engine jet bombers and tankers such as the Victor. With a consistent rating of ‘above average’ he’d been the obvious choice to test the first post-war Lancaster restoration in the UK, that of NX611, a decade previously. Four years after the type was officially retired from Spanish service, the first ‘Heinkel’ delivery flight to the CAF was completed in September 1977. N72615 routed from Blackbushe-PrestwickReykjavík-Narsasuaq-Goose BayBangor, Maine, as recorded here in the remarks column of Neil’s logbook.

ABOVE: A contemplative moment for Neil as he studies the Spanish ‘Heinkel’s’ handling notes. VIA LYNN WILLIAMS

LEFT: Neil Williams ﬂying CASA 2.111B N99230 out of Blackbushe, prior to its October 1977 delivery ﬂight to Texas. This aircraft is today preserved in the Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison.

AIR PORTRAITS VIA LYNN WILLIAMS

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Moncton by request. Electrical failure, R/T silence, map reading. Three-pointer. Delivered Bangor safely on schedule.”

ABOVE: Peter Hoar (left) with Williams following the arrival at Blackbushe of the 2.111 that had been T.8B-124 with the Spanish Air Force. It was given British registration G-BDYA and later became N72615. PETER BROWN BELOW: Neil’s view of the desolate Greenland landscape through the distinctive glazed nose.

VIA LYNN WILLIAMS

“Light rime icing in cloud. Lumps of ice breaking off propellers against Perspex nose @ FL105… going smoothly… layers of cloud, rain and snow. No icing. Good tail wind. Consol [basic radio navigation aid] OK on first leg. Rain blowing hard in Iceland, rough on approach using two-pilot technique — better with two hands. Overtook Catalina… land of frozen volcanoes, vast snow plateau… incredible green seas. “ASI [air speed indicator] frozen, rads getting cold @

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18,000’ above cloud, anoxic. Nav OK. [Prins Christian Sund] NDB [non-directional beacon] for bearings. Down fjord past sunken ship (Bluie West One — Narsarsuaq). Rads failed into trail twice (CBs [circuit breakers] tripped). Fuel transfer levers jammed. “Labrador desolate. Nav OK. Goose clamped. IFR [instrument flight rules] departure in heavy rain. Let down over St Lawrence. Low cloud base. Low run @

Moncton, the airport of entry for Canada, had N12420 on radar and the word had got out. Within 45 minutes of the requested fly-by, the car park was jammed to overflowing and people were crowded along the airport fences to see the ‘Heinkel’ perform a low, fast run, pulling up into a chandelle followed by a slow flypast, everything down, with a second run cleaned-up and a wingwag farewell. Two days later Neil was back in the UK flying in a two-ship Spitfire formation for a TV advert. His second Spanish ‘Heinkel’ delivery flight, involving N99230, can be summed up again from his terse but telling comments to be found in the remarks column of his surviving 1977 logbook. 7 and 9 October, crew Williams with R. F. Martin, and later with Peter Hoar: “Air Test 0:55/1:15 (Blackbushe). Less soggy than previous a/c. Port brake binding — pulling hard left on t/o. More forward CG [sic]. +4 [boost] /2,400rpm. Clean-level 150km/h. Feathering OK in flight. Flies OK on one. Harmonisation poor. Many design faults, several small snags. ILS [instrument landing system approach] @ Gatwick.”

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10 October, crew Williams and Peter Hoar: “Blackbushe-Strathallan 2:15. Finally prised a/c away from film crew — glad to get away from BB [Blackbushe]. Good WX [weather]. Arrived at dusk — couldn’t see anything. Skip & three-pointer. (NB. Blackbushe ATC much better when unmanned!)” 11 October: “StrathallanPrestwick 0:40. Low-level runs for Dick [Richardson — see Aeroplane March 2015]’s camera. Shell NBG [no bloody good]. Three-pointer with drift in X-wind. Customs man ‘burning rubber’ to help! Advised of general strike in Iceland! “Prestwick-Reykjavík 3:55. No proper forecast. No long range R/T. Many snags. Icing up @ 6,000’. Fuel-transfer failed, cloud base 400’ above very rough sea, hand-pumping furiously. Wind 40kt, low cloud, fog, rain. Good three-pointer.” A postcard to Neil’s mother, Thelma, from Reykjavík says, “Arrived here yesterday — all is chaos due to national strike. Aircraft u/s, spent all day working on it in the open — frozen stiff, but at least, just for once, no rain. We got the Heinkel sorted just before dusk. Hope to leave for Greenland tomorrow. Should reach Gander tomorrow night, then it will be plain sailing all the way to Texas. “This is travelling the hard way! At least it gives me material for another article! Love, Neil.”

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13 October: “ReykjavíkNarsasuaq 3:35. A perfect flight, 11,000’. Greenland CAVOK [ceiling and visibility OK], looks like Arctic desert. Low run down glacier. Much colder than last time. Incredible colours. Fjord frozen over. Air crystal clear and still. Good three-pointer. “Narsasuaq-Goose Bay 4:15. Down the fjord, low-level. Wide sheets of ice. Airframe icing @ 5000’. Descended to sea level for rest of trip. Gander clamped — divert — up inlet @ zero feet to Goose. Hills in cloud. Snowstorm. Wind 45kt. Flapless [landing]. Port brake u/s. In RAF hangar!” 14 October: “Goose Bay-Bangor 3:40. Left brake failed completely. Avoided Vulcan and hangar — just! Labrador desolate, granitic rock of the Canadian Shield; taiga then tundra to the north. Compass inaccurate. Very cold. Miles of forest — autumn colours, most impressive. Air crystal clear. ‘Is that there one of those Heinekens?’ (on R/T) “Bangor-Rickenbacker AFB 3:55. Taxiing difficult with only one brake. On the deck thro’ hills. W/X clearing in SW. Top turret Perspex blew out on descent. Picked up tail to jump arrestor wires and almost lost it directionally. Fuel hard to get.” 15 October: “Rickenbacker AFB-Little Rock 3:40. Dawn start. Port oleo flat. Took 1-1/2 hours to sort. Taxiing comedy with one brake! Big airshow @ Little Rock.

Met Red Devils [the Parachute Regiment freefall team], declined offer to participate. Just made it out before airfield closed. 12,500’ to get on top. Little RockHarlingen 4:10. Rendezvoused with CAF for formation photo. Looked like WW2! What a set-up!”

ABOVE: N72615 on the tarmac at a wet Reykjavík Airport during the first of the trans-Atlantic ferries. VIA LYNN WILLIAMS

17 October: “Lockheed P-38 N25Y. [Lefty] Gardner/Self. Local. Air/air photo. Foetal position on luggage rack! Excellent aircraft. No vices and plenty of performance. Incredible view backwards during aerobatics! Engines smooth.” Returning to the UK, Neil waxes lyrical about flying his Jungmann. Still evenings and biplanes are a balm for the soul. Successful vertical flicks and lomcováks. He tested a Lysander and the Spitfire VIII Trainer, G-AIDN, performing a 1179 check — a competence on type check — with its owner. There was a practice big vic for the Lord Mayor’s Show, Neil leading in the Active II; a Spitfire V air test, Spitfire IX aerobatics, and more. Neil’s last Heinkel ferry flight, though, ended almost before it had begun, in the mountains of the Sierra de Guadarrama. Two locals, Andrés Ruiz and Antonio Ruiz Asumendi, have provided testimony, with research by José Luis Albarrán. “I was 15 years old and, following a trip to the area in the company of my father and brother, we found the remains of the aeroplane by chance

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ABOVE: CASA 1.131E Jungmann G-BECX, another ex-Spanish Air Force aeroplane, was among the last mounts in which Neil gave a display performance. It was also flown by his brother Lynn and Shuttleworth Collection chief pilot John Lewis to scatter the ashes of Neil and his wife Lynn.

VIA LYNN WILLIAMS

RIGHT: Neil in contemplation while a CASA 2.111 is prepared for test.

VIA LYNN WILLIAMS

on that morning of 11 December. We’d walked along the road from Alto del Léon towards Peguerinos and saw smoke coming from the middle of the mountain. There, lying on the ground, was a big wheel and undercarriage oleo strut and further along a huge 12-cylinder engine, a Rolls-Royce Merlin. I remembered the RollsRoyce stamping on the rocker cover. There was no propeller. The engine was oil-stained, but otherwise apparently intact. Three hundred metres further and we came across the second motor. It seemed incredible that we did not see the rest of the aeroplane, but perhaps it lay hidden in the mists on the slope below, among the pines and rocks.” The Sierra, incidentally, features some brutal terrain with massive, striated granite up-thrusts due to African-Iberian tectonic pressure. They have names like ‘Wall of Death’. Some are fantastically contorted and weathered, like ‘the Elephant’. “Minimum clearance altitude through the Alto del Léon is 1,600m and the pass through the mountains is high, at 1,511m. Staying in sight of the ground it is surmised that he entered the wrong valley, which was covered by cloud with mist clinging to the mountainsides. The aircraft was reported flying low in the vicinity of the Jarosa Dam before disappearing into fog and impacting a southern slope 200m from the summit in an area of low forest, scrub and rocky outcrops. All occupants died on impact and the aircraft caught fire. Remains were scattered widely, but the rear fuselage and tail group remained generally intact.

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“The wreckage was officially undiscovered for a further three days despite an intensive air search involving a Spanish Air Force C-207 Azor and C-212 Aviocar scouring a presumed area of triangulation, with a German-based US Air Force C-130 Hercules searching along the Cantabrian coast, assuming that Burgos had been overflown and the aircraft had crashed in the sea. Some seven aircraft were involved until a search and rescue helicopter discovered the still smoking wreckage on the 14th near Cabeza Líjar, and no sign of life. “Thirty-nine years had passed since we discovered the crash and we felt the need to investigate its cause. We read the press cuttings and reports and the various theories that were propounded but concluded that a misjudgement had been made, though the pilot was renowned for his meticulous approach to safety and planning. Later an independent suggestion indicated that the undercarriage down-locks may have failed, the drag seriously affecting climb performance when attempting to clear the summit, but no-one can say with certainty. “We returned to the scene: my great friend, an amateur aviation enthusiast José Luis Albarrán; my brother Antonio, a good researcher; my nephew Ignacio and myself. Touring the area again with the help of friends and locals, we have been able to locate the exact site of the accident. Even today, small fragments of aluminium, coolant piping, Perspex and other debris are clearly evident.

“Today we want to pay tribute to Neil Williams, his second wife Lynn, to Joseph Donaghy and Stephen Darnell: intrepid crew of that aeroplane which met a sad finale. We will always remember them. May they rest in peace. And in memory of all brave aviators who lost their lives in their machines.” Logbook of Lynn Williams, Neil’s brother (sharing the androgynous first name with Neil’s late wife), 28 January 1978: “CASA 1.131 [Spanish-built Jungmann] G-BECX. Pilot J. T. S. Lewis/Self (shared) FarnboroughEastbach Farm 1:20. Check out on Jungmann en route. EastbachCardiff-Pontardawe-Eastbach 1:35: Dispersal of ashes over March Hywel, Salute to Neil and Lynn. Eastbach-BasingstokeFarnborough 1.25: Precautionary landing @ Basingstoke farm en route — WX awful. Lovely aeroplane!” Neil’s memorial service at St Clement Danes a few days previously had been packed with his many friends and those who wished to pay their respects. The valedictory addresses by John Blake and others were powerful and moving, as were the obituaries in the aviation press, demonstrating the high regard in which Neil was held. Long cardboard tubes with quickrelease ends and bearing the Latin phrase, ‘They change only their Skies’ I’d delivered beforehand to a rural Gloucestershire airstrip, Eastbach Farm, for collection when

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Neil’s memorial service at St Clement Danes was packed with his many friends and those who wished to pay their respects. The valedictory addresses by John Blake and others were powerful and moving, as were the obituaries in the aviation press

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NEIL WILLIAMS

Neil was a true inspiration to many, but I could never match his brilliance. When he was killed, a piece of me died too. He was superb at ultra-low-level navigation... but the conditions on that fateful day were just too brutal ABOVE: Mission completed. Both CASA 2.111s delivered to Harlingen, then home of the Confederate Air Force. A number of CAF colonels are lined up for a photo next to N72615 (right) as Neil Williams pictures the pair lined up with Hispano HA‑1112‑M1L Buchón N109W. Tragically, N72615 went on to be lost in a fatal accident near Cheyenne Airport, Wyoming, in July 2003.

VIA LYNN WILLIAMS

BELOW: Merlins purring, one of the CASAs makes its way across Greenland.

VIA LYNN WILLIAMS

refuelling the Jungmann. Neil’s great friend John Lewis, test pilot and chief pilot of the Shuttleworth Collection — a comrade from Neil’s Canberra days with No 13 Squadron based at Akrotiri, Cyprus — was the captain. From Farnborough we flew west under a thick overcast, me flying from the front ’pit to navigate and locate the hilltop strip next to a familiar loop in the Wye. There we refuelled, swapped seats, and I tucked the tubes under each armpit for the next part of the sortie. Over Cardiff we made an orbit for Thelma, still in shock at her loss; then further westward to the small village where Neil grew up after the family had returned from the land of his birth, Canada, to our father’s home village after his health had collapsed and Neil fought his fierce young battles against the narrow village mentality of the Welshspeaking local youths, soon gaining their respect — and friendship. Insensitive planting of coniferous trees has since destroyed the splendid views from the mountain-top above his home, but in his day the view from Mynedd March Hywel had revealed the fires of Swansea raging under Luftwaffe bombardment and he’d watched, awestruck, the air

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battles in the skies above, identifying Dornier and Messerschmitt, Hurricane, Spitfire and the occasional twin-engined Whirlwind, up from Fairwood Common. No doubt he saw his first Heinkel back then, too. There, next to the Bronze Age cairn that stands on the summit, stood an old soldier. A Somme survivor, and never spoke of it; black-clad, alone and bare-headed in homage: our uncle, Thomas John, his kindly smile remembered, for the two of us. Unclipping the cockpit door and undoing my harness, leaning far out into the slipstream with the engine throttled back, I tore off the end caps and let the ashes of those two souls fly on the wind, forever. Bound again for Eastbach, I was very aware that my brother’s hand had gently grasped that stick and throttle. Those who knew them, flew with them, loved them: many now are gone beyond recall. But I recall, in fond memory and in dreams. Barry Tempest wrote, “Neil was a true inspiration to many, but I could never match his brilliance. When he was killed, a piece of me died too. An unforgettable mentor and friend.

I flew up that valley in a Nord 1002, engaged for some film work near Jarama under CAVOK. Neil was superb at ultra-low-level navigation and I had followed his lead on many occasions with the Rothmans team when rightly we should have been on the ground. He never failed to hit the destination precisely, but the conditions on that fateful day in Spain were just too brutal. “Once, coming back from a display in the Channel Islands in awful weather, Neil had planned to make landfall at St Catherine’s Point on the Isle of Wight. In fairly tight low-level battle formation, me in the number two slot, Manx [Kelly] as number three, and Iain Weston as number four in echelon on Manx. Neil was so accurate we hit the landfall within a few metres, but in appalling visibility. Neil and I went right, Manx and Iain left, so we went in two pairs round the island to rejoin over the Solent to land at Southampton. Afterwards I think I finished a king-sized cancer stick in one puff!” I remembered my brother’s last display in ’ECX: July, the PFA Rally. His flying was as immaculate as ever: one aileron roll on a 45° climbing line finished with a quarter-flick that was seamless, and on landing he’d performed a ‘Cantucazène Special’. As he touched, in a tail-down wheeler, the power came back on sharply and the Jungmann’s nose suddenly rose in a rapid flick roll ‘off the deck’, wings flashing around — like D. V. Armstrong used to do, using his Sopwith Camel’s rotary gyroscopics to keep the wingtips just clear of the grass. The crowd gave a collective gasp — those who’d not turned away thinking the display was over. But I saw it and remember it still. John Blake, commentating, was ecstatic! Wouldn’t be allowed, not now. But it seems only yesterday…

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Royal Air Force Annual Review 2018 Produced by Key Publishing with exclusive access to the Royal Air Force, The Official RAF Annual Review 2018 is a 132-page special magazine providing behind the scenes insight into the aircraft, equipment, people and operations of one of the world’s premier air forces. FEATURING Reaper Reality The Officer Commanding XIII Squadron, one of two RAF units flying the Reaper remotely piloted air system, talks frankly about the aircraft, its capabilities and how the RAF operates it. A Bright New Future Introducing five new aircraft types – Juno, Jupiter, Phenom, Prefect and Texan, the UK’s Military Flying Training System is starting its first ab initio course imminently. To The Ends Of The Earth Wing Commander Ed Horne, Officer Commanding LXX Squadron, explains how the Atlas is excelling in the strategic transport role. A Tumultuous Year Officer Commanding Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Squadron Leader Andy ‘Milli’ Millikin and ex-OC Squadron Leader Clive Rowley MBE RAF (Retd) look back on the Flight’s 60th anniversary year.

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The latest books and products for the discerning aviation enthusiast

BOOK of the MONTH Focke-Wulf Fw 200: The Condor at War 1939-45 by Chris Goss published by Crécy

It is difﬁcult to underestimate the impact made by the Fw 200 Condor on Axis maritime operations during the Second World War. From its origins as an airliner, the four-engined heavy became one of Germany’s most potent weapons over the sea, and at the height of its powers a true menace to Allied vessels. Written by a leading expert on wartime Luftwaffe aircraft, this brand-new volume comes as a result of lengthy research into all aspects of the Fw 200’s wartime activities, and really is quite remarkable in its detail. It charts the Condor’s initial rise to prominence during the Norwegian campaign of 1940, through the Battle of Britain, into its greatest successes in the Battle of the Atlantic and its use in

The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker

by Robert S. Hopkins III published by Crécy ‘More Than A Tanker’ is a very apposite sub-title for this big, and packed, work by a former US Air Force EC-, KC- and RC-135 pilot — a new edition of a volume ﬁrst published 20 years ago, and very signiﬁcantly updated to take into account recent developments and conﬂicts, for the Boeing C-135 family shows few signs of losing its relevance even after more than six decades. The Stratotanker itself forms but one portion

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the Mediterranean. Ultimately, as Goss recounts, the growing effectiveness of Allied defences led to unsustainable attrition among the Fw 200 ﬂeet operated by Kampfgeschwader (KG) 40, and the aircraft’s relegation to the transport role. How the mighty were fallen… The story is told with a great deal of reference to contemporary records from both sides, including extensive quotes from German and Allied combat reports, these rendering the text all the more readable. A postscript covers the Condor’s use by the Fliegerstaffel des Führers in transporting Hitler. Throughout, the words are accompanied by a photo selection that absolutely deserves the description ‘outstanding’, featuring many images with which the reviewer was unfamiliar, all reproduced to a very high standard and attractively presented. Lovely colour artworks and in-depth appendices complete the package. It may be pricey, but, as they say, ‘you get what you pays for’. This is a superb work, and an important one. Ben Dunnell ISBN 978-1-90653-754-8; 12.25 x 9.25in hardback; 288 pages, illustrated; £50

★★★★★

of the very well-written text, much space being given over to the myriad special missions derivatives. Indeed, it’s worth buying for the insights into Cold War RC-135 operations alone. Bringing things up to date, the book goes as far as to feature detailed discussion of the procurement whereby the RC-135W Rivet Joint was acquired to replace the RAF’s electronic intelligence-gathering Nimrod R1s of No 51 Squadron. The photo selection continues the high standard, being both extremely wide and reproduced with a degree of quality too seldom seen. First-rate, and excellent value given the sheer amount of material contained within. BD ISBN 978-1-91080-901-3; 11.25 x 8.75in softback; 384 pages, illustrated; £27.95

★★★★★

Twin Cessna

by Ron Smith published by Schiffer Publishing Light civil aeroplanes are not popular with publishers, so it is good to see this new hardback on the Cessna 300 and 400 series by an obvious enthusiast, an aeronautical engineer, historian and photographer who produced ﬁve very useful volumes on British-built aircraft several years ago. Coverage of the post-war Cessna twins begins with the 1953 Model 310, a ﬁve-seater that spawned a number of sub-variants over the next 32 years. Rather strangely the author considers the ‘push-pull’ twin-boom 336 and 337 to be outside the scope of this book. Competitors are discussed and illustrated — the Aero Commander twins, and the Twin Bonanza. The section on the 400 series begins on page 78 and runs through the types in detail. Those who ﬁnd difﬁculty in distinguishing between them should look at the number and shape of windows, while wondering why so many different shapes and sizes were necessary. Finally we come to the F406, still being built in France. Much attention is given throughout to detailing performance and other data, while the high quality of the colour illustrations is noteworthy. If you are interested in Cessna twins you should invest in this volume; you will ﬁnd something you didn’t know about the nearly 6,000 built. Mike Hooks ISBN 978-0-7643-5226-3; 11.25 x 9in hardback; 144 pages, illustrated; £33.50

★★★

The Merlin EH(AW) 101 by Rich Pittman published by Amberley

It’s difﬁcult to think of another helicopter that has at times become so mired in politics that it actually made the pages of

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Reviews the dailies, but the AW101 (née EH101) Merlin is just such a machine. Major orders placed by Canada and India were cancelled for very different reasons, while plans to replace the US Presidential helicopter fleet with the developed, American-built VH-71 Kestrel collapsed under the pressure of over-specification, cost over-runs and maybe (just maybe) a hint of ‘not invented here’. That said, the AW101 has served the Royal Navy and other customers well, is still selling, and the variant delivered to Norway is arguably the world’s most capable rotary-wing SAR platform, though the first Norwegian example has just been badly damaged in a ground roll-over accident. The story of the AW101 is here related with a broad brush and without a huge amount of technical detail, while the VH-71 fiasco ($3 billion cost to the US taxpayer) is given its own chapter, tactfully entitled ‘The American Dream’. Photos, almost all in colour, are decently reproduced; flip the pages and you’ll soon appreciate the number of countries that have ordered the AW101. There is, sadly, some evidence of a lack of proof-reading, with, for instance, two sentences on page 86 repeated word-for-word on page 88. Denis J. Calvert ISBN 978-1-4456-7436-0; 9.2 x 6.5in softback; 96 pages, illustrated; £14.99

HHH

Northern ‘Q’

by Ian Smith Watson published by Fonthill If one accepts occupation by a balloon unit of the Royal Engineers as the starting point, RAF Leuchars has the longest history of flying of any British military airfield. While Coastal Command units were in occupation through World War Two, the airfield was transferred to Fighter Command charge on 29 March 1950, and it is as a fighter base — and, more specifically, as the long-time home of northern QRA — that Leuchars became best known. The bulk of the text in this volume thus relates the

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station’s air defence activities through to 31 March 2015, when the base was formally handed over to the Army. The text is good, with both historical fact and anecdotes from those ‘who were there’. Page 144 details the incident when a live Sidewinder inexplicably left the rails of a parked ‘Treble-One’ Phantom on QRA in August 1977, bouncing its way cross the airfield before falling just short of the River Eden Estuary. There was an interesting follow-up to this story involving the same Phantom some months later, which is also related. While the text is good, the same cannot be said of the standard of photo reproduction, which rates no more than ‘acceptable’. DJC ISBN 978-1-78155-609-2; 9.2 x 6.1in softback; 208 pages, illustrated; £18.99

HHH

British Military Jets by Kev Darling published by Amberley

Here we have an overview of all (well, pretty much all) the major British jetpowered fighters and bombers of the past 75 years. The story starts, as it should, with the Gloster E28/39 of 1941 and quickly progresses to the first British jet types to reach squadron service, namely Gloster’s Meteor and de Havilland’s Vampire. The author approaches the subject logically and succeeds well in summarising the major points in a chatty, engaging and — most importantly — concise manner. After all, with only 64 pages at his disposal there is no way he could go too deeply into detail. Photos, mostly in colour and reproduced decently but small, are accompanied by good captions. I would only take issue with the caption on page 58 of “an unidentified Sea Harrier FRS1” on board HMS Hermes, which goes on to offer, “later this airframe would go through the FA2 conversion programme”. Surely, if the airframe is unidentified, it is by no means certain that it went into the conversion programme to become an FA2. Thirty-five did; 22, for various reasons, did not. This volume is not aimed at the specialist, but it does provide a good, readable introduction to the subject at a competitive price. DJC ISBN 978-1-4456-6932-8; 9.2 x 6.5in softback; 64 pages, illustrated; £8.99

HHH

Grumman F6F Hellcat by Oleksandr Boito published by Kagero

It is unusual to have to review a book with virtually no text, but that is precisely what this is. Apart from a brief introduction to the F6F Hellcat in both English and Polish (everything in this book is dual-language) on page 1, the rest comprises either scale aircraft drawings or colour artworks of the F6F-3 and F6F-5. The drawings, beautifully executed, offer not only a standard six-view of the Hellcat in 1:48, but also include fuselage crosssections, detail views at 1:24 and a set of side views in the ever-popular, all-British scale 1:72. Clearly aimed at the modeller, this title provides four pages of colour profiles and a set of paint masks for the cockpit canopy framing of a model in 1:48 and 1:72. Not cheap, but if you’re modelling a Hellcat you may find this one indispensable. DJC ISBN 978-83-65437-56-3; 11.7 x 8.2in softback; 28 pages, illustrated; £18.67

HHH

Local Aviation Collections of Britain by Ken Ellis published by Crécy

We have often remarked in our pages that too little is done to remember the history of the UK’s aircraft preservation movement; that many memories of its development risk going unrewarded. This new title from ‘Mr Wrecks and Relics’ himself, Ken Ellis, seeks in part to redress the balance. It takes in more than 60 museums around the UK — excluding the national collections, which were covered in the author’s earlier Great Aviation Collections of Britain — with recollections of their formative years, profiles of important exhibits and more. Throughout, the richness of the scene shines through. BD ISBN 978-1-91080-911-2; 8.5 x 6in hardback; 352 pages, illustrated; £18.95

HHH

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Reviews simulator experiences in the Midlands, Manchester and Doncaster areas, and more. Gift vouchers are available for £50, £75 or £100. For information and prices visit www.theaviationexperiencecompany. co.uk or call 0845 456 6515

BOOKS IN BRIEF War: Tales of Conﬂict and Strife by Roald Dahl published by Penguin

ABOVE: Two of Finest Hour’s Tiger Moth pilots on locomotive 6412 at Chinnor on The Watlington Flyer.

EXPERIENCES The Watlington Flyer The Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway and Bicester Heritage-based vintage aviation experience provider Finest Hour Experiences have joined forces to offer the chance to drive a steam-hauled train on the line and to take a ﬂying lesson in a Tiger Moth over the Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway while steam trains are operating. All the instructors involved are, naturally, very experienced. The Watlington Flyer name has been chosen to recall the train that ran until 1957 between Princes Risborough and Watlington via Chinnor. Various ‘levels’ of experience are available, the headline package being a 45-minute ﬂying lesson in the Tiger Moth while ithe

weekend steam services are operating and a half-day driving the steam train. The weekend ﬂights will be from Chiltern Park aerodrome near Wallingford, but they can also be taken on some summer evenings from Bicester Heritage. Note that availability is limited: one day per month between April and October 2018. For information and prices visit www.chinnorrailway.co.uk and www.ﬁnesthourexperiences.co.uk

The Aviation Experience A new name in the ﬁeld of providing aviation experiences is called, suitably enough, The Aviation Experience. The company offers Tiger Moth ﬂights, trial lessons in modern helicopters and light aircraft as well as a Tiger Moth, ﬂight

Not strictly an aviation title, but worth having in the library nonetheless. While it takes in the famed author’s wartime service in the RAF, from ﬂying training in Tiger Moths in Kenya and Hawker Harts in Iraq, through Gladiator operations in Egypt and combats in Hurricanes over Greece, War features other writing by Dahl on the subject of conﬂict. Even if you’ve read much of the content before when it was ﬁrst published, the vivid prose makes it well worth revisiting. BD ISBN 978-1-405-93319-3; 7.75 x 5in softback; 326 pages, illustrated; £8.99

★★★

Whither Wings?

by J. R. Ingram published by Words by Design The self-published memoir of an RAF chaplain, describing a situation known to many new recruits: long breaks in training. Eventually, though, he did take to the air. Redolent of a long-gone era. BD ISBN 978-1-909075-17-7; 9 x 6in softback; 314 pages, illustrated; no price given

★★★

MODELS Air Force 1 The range of diecast aircraft available from Air Force 1 Models has been further expanded. Among the latest additions is this 1:72-scale Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopter of the German Army (left), augmenting a selection in that scale that also takes in the likes of B-17G Flying Fortress Nine-O-Nine (right). Air Force 1’s products are now being distributed exclusively to the UK trade by Clevelands Wholesale. Tiger £46, B-17 £108 from www.clevelandsdiecast.co.uk

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Archive

Ben Dunnell explores The Aeroplane’s outstanding archives to cast new light on past stories

LAST MONTHS ON SILVER WINGS Coverage of a Fighter Command station parade recalls the ﬁnal carefree inter-war days — and the rather less carefree matter of a brutal murderer

T

o our modern eye, it hardly looks like a day on which to be flying biplane fighters — a wet, windswept Thursday in January amid the flat lands of Lincolnshire. But it was an important occasion for RAF Digby and its two resident fighter units. The date was 20 January 1938, and the reason for the event the presentation of No 46 Squadron with its official badge. A parade was staged in front of the Air Officer Commanding No 12 (Fighter) Group, the then Air Cdre Trafford Leigh-Mallory DSO. It was held, The Aeroplane reported in its 2 February 1938 edition, as part of “the annual inspection of the station” by the AOC, “and the presentation took place after the inspection of the Parade and before the march past. “Air Commodore Leigh-Mallory, in a short, informal address spoke of the squadron’s history and described

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its first air combat in France in the Autumn of 1916. He also said that he hoped that the barbed arrows on their badge would be an inspiration to them to stick to their enemies when they got close to them. He then handed the badge, mounted in the approved form, to Sqn Ldr P. R. Barwell, officer commanding the squadron.” It was with Sopwith Pups that No 46 Squadron first became a fighter outfit in 1917. Having been disbanded post-World War One, the ‘numberplate’ was resurrected on 3 September 1936 out of ‘B’ Flight, No 17 Squadron at Kenley. Its equipment was the Gloster Gauntlet II. A full aircraft complement was not, the operations record book states, reached until the end of February 1937. Kenley remained 46’s base until 15 November 1937, when it moved

to Digby. Leigh-Mallory was very familiar with the Lincolnshire airfield, having been station commander there from 1934-35. At that stage it was home to No 2 Flying Training School. Then the decision was taken to make Digby a Fighter Command station within No 12 Group, a sector operations bunker being constructed. The airfield’s fighters were planned to defend Lincoln, Leicester, Nottingham and their localities in the event of war. Along with 46, No 73 Squadron also took up residence, equipped not with Gauntlets but the type’s immediate successor in production with Gloster, the Gladiator I. This unit had re-formed at Mildenhall on 15 March 1937 flying the Hawker Fury I as part of No 11 Group. Its time on that type was limited, the Furies being reallocated to other squadrons over the course of June and July, and replaced by Gladiators.

ABOVE: No 46 Squadron’s Gauntlet IIs with their Bristol Mercury engines ﬁred up, ready for the ﬂypast on 20 January 1938. ALL PHOTOS AEROPLANE

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Archive

These were the last carefree months of peacetime service flying. On 21 September 1938, the operations record book for No 46 Squadron says, ‘Squadron recalled from leave in connection with the crisis which ended with the Munich agreement’ TOP: Air Cdre Trafford Leigh-Mallory, then the Air Ofﬁcer Commanding No 12 Group, takes the salute. ABOVE LEFT: Three vics of three Gladiators each airborne from Digby’s damp grass.

With them 73 moved to Debden on 12 June. The squadron records recall an unsavoury episode soon afterwards. On 23 June, they say, Plt Off N. G. C. Heath “returned under close arrest, having been absent without leave since March 22, 1937”. A second entry for the same date says that Heath “escaped close arrest during the night, but returned the following day”. His court martial took place on 22 August. “Sentence was to be cashiered”, the record notes, “but was commuted to one of dismissal.” Neville Heath was 20 years old at the time. The following year he was jailed for fraud and theft. A fantasist, he used many aliases, and would claim to have been to Eton and Oxford despite having done nothing of the sort (he had actually attended a grammar school in Wimbledon). Upon the outbreak

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of war Heath managed to join up, serving with the Royal Army Service Corps in the Middle East. When more misdemeanours again caught up with him he was to be repatriated to the UK, but he escaped in Durban and joined the unwitting South African Air Force. Seconded back to the RAF, he flew North American Mitchells with No 180 Squadron out of Melsbroek, Belgium. In a rare act of selflessness, when his Mitchell was shot up by Luftwaffe fighters during a raid on the Maas bridges in Venlo on 29 October 1944, he helped his navigator escape the stricken machine before baling out himself. But such behaviour was the exception rather than the rule. He deserted, and was once more court-martialled. Returning to the UK post-war, Heath brutally murdered two women with whom he had struck up relationships, Margery Gardner and Doreen

Marshall. Convicted for the killing in a Notting Hill Gate hotel of Gardner, Heath was sentenced to death by hanging. Albert Pierrepoint carried out the execution at Pentonville prison on 16 October 1946. Heath’s old squadron, 73, moved to Digby a few days before 46, completing the transfer both to the Lincolnshire station and No 12 Group on 9 November 1937. From then on, the records illustrate how both units took part in the regular round of peacetime flying exercises, rehearsing their air defence tactics in the course of mock combats against other fighters and simulated attacks on bombers. At the parade on 20 January 1938, The Aeroplane reported, “the machines and other equipment of the two squadrons were inspected and the squadrons then took off and

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flew past in formation. The AOC watched them from the Operations Room.” A notable member of No 73 Squadron at this time was a young New Zealander who had learned to fly in his homeland and then joined the RAF. Edgar James Kain soon became known as ‘Cobber’, and as a pilot officer he was posted to 73 in November 1937. His Empire Air Day aerobatic displays of the Gladiator during 1938 gained much acclaim. The Shuttleworth Collection’s example is today liveried as Kain’s mount. No 46 Squadron took its Gauntlets to Aldergrove, Northern Ireland, in April-May 1938 for firing practice. A “successful standard was attained”. Its three-aircraft aerobatic team gave numerous well-received performances that summer, at occasions such as the openings of Ringway,

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Wolverhampton and Ipswich airports. Day and night flying training was undertaken, the latter involving cooperation with searchlight units. These were the last carefree months of peacetime service flying. On 21 September 1938, the ORB for No 46 Squadron says, “Squadron recalled from leave in connection with the Crisis which ended with the Munich agreement. During the crisis all aircraft of the Squadron were camouflaged”. No more would silverwinged biplanes hold sway in English skies — not least because the new monoplanes were on their way in. No 73 Squadron had already re-equipped, receiving Hawker Hurricane Is from July 1938 onwards. Its Gladiators went to No 3 Squadron at Kenley. It was in 73’s Hurricanes that ‘Cobber’ Kain was, for a time, to

become the RAF’s leading ace. He notched up 16 confirmed aerial victories during the ‘phoney war’ and the Battle of France, when 73 — which departed Digby for the continent in September 1939 — was an element of the Advanced Air Striking Force. He lost his life in a flying accident while performing aerobatics in his Hurricane over the aerodrome at Échemines, France, on 6 June 1940. As for No 46 Squadron, its Gauntlets finally gave way to Hurricanes on 6 March 1939. It was this unit’s aircraft that, as recounted in our Database this month, went to Norway during 1940 aboard HMS Glorious, and became the first Hurricanes to take off and land on an aircraft carrier. It was all a far cry from Lincolnshire in peacetime, and elegant biplane fighters purring through the air.

TOP: A No 73 Squadron group photograph. At the time, the unit was commanded by Sqn Ldr Eric Finch. ABOVE: The Gladiator Is of No 73 Squadron about to taxi out for their formation flypast.

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