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F540 Operations Record Book November 1956 NO 118 SQUADRON.
PRO Kew No. AIR27 Piece 2705 Microfilm Row 1 Draws 52-71
Place Date Time Summary of Events                     COMPILING OFFICER__Fg. Off. A. F. Brewer_________   REF. TO APPENDICES
       
JEVER 1.11.56   Only six aircraft available to start the month's flying, and in the afternoon the weather
clamped, with the result that only 14.25 hours were flown.   The German press visited
the Station and the Squadron flew a section for them to photograph.   Flt.Lt. K.J. Goodwin
gave his aerobatic display under bad weather conditions, but it impressed the Germans
immensely.
 
  2.11.56   A 'Bitty' day in which a fair number of individual syllabus requirements were filled
for a total of 15.30 hours.
 
  3.11.56   No flying this morning as most people were still recovering from 'jabs' given yesterday
afternoon.   Lectures filled the morning and the ground crews did some work on the A/C.
 
  4.11.56   Stand-down.  
  5.11.56   A good days flying with some 26 hours logged.   High level battle and P.I.'s resulted
in some good interceptions with other aircraft.   No night flying due to the firework
show, which was later abandoned due to weather.
 
  6.11.56   An average days flying with about 20 hours being flown including some dusk sorties for
the new pilots.   Most of the flying consisted of high level battle formations and
practice interceptions.
 
  7.11.56   Not much flying done today due to the normal Wednesday afternoon sports.   A few endurance
trips were flown towards the end of the morning, Sqn. Ldr. N.C.P. Buddin staying up for
1½ hours and still landing with available fuel.
 
  8.11.56   Bad weather caused flying to be 'scrubbed' for the morning, the first take off being at
12.20 hours.   However, with about 8 serviceable aircraft available and about 13 hours
night flying, the squadron achieved the respectable total of 26 hours for the day.
 
  9.11.56   A very good days flying with some 38 hours being flown in 43 sorties.   The emphasis was
almost entirely placed on high level battle formation and practice interceptions.   Some
good hard practice was put in on high level battle and some excellent P.I.'s were
obtained.
 
  10.11.56   No flying due to bad weather.  
JEVER 11.11.56   Stand-down.  
  12.11.56   Bad weather resulted in a complete 'clamp' for the day.  
  13.11.56   The weather started off on 'Amber' but 'clamped' at 10.00 hours.   Flying was resumed at
12.00 hours and a total of 25 hours was flown maintaining the total hours well about the
target for this stage of the month.
 
  14.11.56   A late start due to bad weather and half a day due to sports restricted the flying to
6 Hunter sorties.
 
  15.11.56   A very good days flying produced a total of 34 Hunter hours on a well balanced mixture
of high level battle, cine and individual sorties.
 
  16.11.56   A continuation of the period of good weather and good serviceability enabled another
good total of hours to be achieved today.   37 Hunter hours were achieved to bring the
monthly total up to 254 hours. well above the target for this stage of the month.
 
  17.11.56   No flying due to a parade etc.  
  18.11.56   Stand-down.  
  19.11.56   A day devoted almost entirely to high level battle formation at extreme heights and a
long period of night flying enabled a total of 46 Hunter hours to be achieved.   A couple
of new pilots were given checks in the Vampire at night.
 
  20.11.56   A day devoted to individual sorties with a few cine trips.   A late start was made due to
last night's night flying and only 12 hours were achieved today.
 
  21.11.56   The normal Wednesday sports day reduced flying to about 8 hours today.  
JEVER 22.11.56   The squadron concentrated on cine today and pretty good footage was achieved.   A few
dusk landings were carried out for the newer pilots.
 
  23.11.56   Today was mainly devoted to individual trips, 10 hours being achieved.   This put the
squadron above the target figure for the moth, quite a good achievement for the month
of November.
 
  24.11.56   Stand-down.  
  25.11.56   Stand-down.  
JEVER 26.11.56   A reasonable start was made to the day but the weather 'clamped' at 13.00 hours and no
further flying was carried out.   A total of 14½ Hunter hours were achieved.
 
  27.11.56   The concentration again placed on cine, a total of 20 hours being achieved.  
  28.11.56   Seven Hunter hours were achieved mainly on cine.  
  29.11.56   As an experiment the squadron operated from the airfield dispersal today, and also did
some air to air firing.   A total of 12 hours was achieved to bring the monthly total
up to 410 hours.
 
  30.11.56   Flying was off until mid-day today due to ice on the runway.   In the afternoon a few
air to sea firing sorties were carried out.

 

 
 

Aircraft
Hunter
Hunter
Vampire
Vampire.






26.11.56

28.11.56



  Day
  Night
  Day
  Night

                                      FLYING HOURS
        Hrs.                Mins.                            Sorties
       381                   45                                    559
         36                   50                                      53
         58                   20                                      63
           2                   20                                        4                       signedNCPBUDDINSqnLdr
                                                                                                        (N.C.P. BUDDIN)
                                                                                                       Squadron Leader,
                                                                                                       Officer Commanding,
                                                                                                       No. 118 Squadron.
                                                                                                       Royal Air Force.
                     PERSONNEL
Flt. Lt. A.W. Gleaden joined Squadron from O.C.U.
Fg. Off. Lawn joined from Odiham
Fg. Off. M.J. Wraight joined for a fortnights 2refresher from the staff at Chivenor.

 
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