NO 93 SQUADRON - Form 540 August 1953

F540 Operations Record Book August 1953 NO 93 SQUADRON. PRO Kew No. AIR27 Piece 2636 Microfilm Row 1 Draws 52-71 from Duncan Curtis
PLACE	DATE	TIME	SUMMARY OF EVENTS COMPILING OFFICER Plt.Off. W.E. Bell.	REF. TO APPENDICES

JEVER.	AUGUST	1st	SATURDAY. The convoy was expected to return from Wahn at approx. 12.00 hours. A report came through to say that two three tonners had left the road. Fortunately nobody was hurt. (Photo thanks to Lofty Hope - not from F540). Then a German Lorry shunted all the convoy vehicles but one. (Photo thanks to Lofty Hope - not from F540) Damage between shunted vehicles. (Photo thanks to Lofty Hope - not from F540) The convoy finally arrived at 16.00 hours and was unloaded by the pilots and groundcrews. The station was stood down for the August grant.
		2nd	Sunday. August Grant.
		3rd	MONDAY. August Grant.
		4th	TUESDAY. August Grant.
		5th	WEDNESDAY. The tents and camouflage nets, that were still damp from the exercise were laid out to dry in one of the disused hangars. Today the groundcrews had a chance to catch up on all the repairs that could not be done at Wahn.
		6th	THURSDAY. The Squadron is acting as Battle Flight for the rest of the week. There were no interceptions carried out today because 2 Group radar was u/s. One sortie was flown local flying. Fg.Off. Wallace flew with Plt.Off. Revnell to Celle to order the Squadron badges.
		7th	FRIDAY.As 2 Group radar was still u/s today, Battle Flight flew two local flying sorties. Flt.Lt. Paterson interrupted the second sortie catching the pilots completely by surprise F/Sgt. Telfer flew with F/Sgt. Shrubsole in close formation through cloud. They completed the exercise with a Q.G.H. New pilots, Plt.Off. Balfour and Plt.Off. Macknish flew on their first sorties on the Squadron today. They both did sector recces to find out the landmarks of the local area.
		8th	SATURDAY.This morning's parade was a rehearsal for the coming A.O.C.'s parade in September. F/Sgt. Telfer and Sgt. Thomas flew to Gutersloh in the Meteor to collect some secret documents. Plt.Off. Revnell, the Squadron herald, has written away to London to order the Squadron ties. Various designs of ties were put forward. Two were finally selected. One for the whole Squadron to wear and the other for the pilots. They should be ready in about 16 weeks.
		9th	SUNDAY.Weekend Stand down.
		10th	MONDAY.The Squadron has resumed working parades at 07.45 for the airmen to smarten up their drill movements. A total of 30 sorties were flown today. these included two low level cross countries. Several pairs practiced combat dog fights above 10,000 ft., and three pilots practiced aerobatics.
		11th	TUESDAY.The weather has been very fine gain today. Fg.Off. Bates lead a formation of simulated dive bombing attacks preparing for exercise "Momentum". Sgt. Thomas led "Black" formation, practising close and battle formation. Sqn.Ldr. Allen took off shortly afterwards to try to intercept "Black" section.
		12th	WEDNESDAY.The Squadron began the morning with an A.O.C.'s rehearsal parade. F/Sgt. Telfer did a 50 minute I:F sortie with Sgt. Knight in the Meteor. The rest of the morning, pilots spent compass swinging or painting starter trolleys ready for the A.O.C.'s inspection.
		13th	THURSDAY.Flt.Lt. Paterson led an aerobatic formation this morning. The formation took off at 08.10 hours. As the sortie took off before the ground crews arrived, all the aircraft pre-flights were made by the pilots. The rest of the Squadron carried out local formation flying until 11.30, when a message came through to say that the Squadron had the use of the Meppen Range. 19 R/P sorties were flown at Meppen during the rest of the days flying.
		14th	FRIDAY.The days flying did not start until 11.00 because of bad weather at Meppen Range. As soon as the low cloud base improved, cannon attacks were carried out. On the way to and from Meppen, various formations were practiced. Flt.Lt. Paterson led a low level Battle formation in the afternoon. During a break Fg.Off. Spearman and Plt.Off. Hannah collided. Fg.Off. Spearman was killed. Fortunately Plt.Off. Hannah managed to bale out unhurt.
		15th	SATURDAY.Exercise "Momentum" started today. Sqn.Ldr. Allen led a formation of 6 aircraft to the U.K. to make a simulated bombing attack on Bristol. There was an 8/5 cloud cover for most of the flight making Bristol impossible to see. However the target was bombed using D.F. fixes. The aircraft were re-fuelled at Merryfield whilst the pilots had lunch. The formation took off on the return journey at 14.45. Five minutes after take off Plt.Off. Bell had fuel pump trouble. Before he could return to Merryfield he had to jettison his drop tanks due to overloading. F/Sgt. Shrubsole had undercarriage trouble and diverted to West Raynham. The rest of the formation arrived safely back at Jever later that evening after being diverted to Gutersloh because of bad weather.
		16th	SUNDAY.Plt.Off. Bell's aircraft was serviced successfully at Merryfield and he returned in the morning with a flight of "4" Squadron aircraft. F/Sgt. Shrubsole and Sgt. Thomas also returned from West Raynham safely. Plt.Off. Revnell flew across to the U.K. with a formation of "4" Squadron aircraft at 15.20 hours.
		17th	MONDAY.Stand Down.
		18th	TUESDAY.Thirteen sorties were flown practising G.C.A.'s at Gutersloh and Wunstorf. The standard of talk down was very good except for a slight tendency to come in too high. F/Sgt. Telfer did an I:F sortie in the Meteor. The night flying programme had to be restricted to 12 sorties as bad weather was forecast.
		19th	WEDNESDAY.The weather has been very bad today. The only sortie flown was an air test by F/Sgt. Shrubsole. Sqn.Ldr. Allen has resumed his position as Squadron Commander as Wing Commander Coulson has returned from hospital. Plt.Off. Revnell went to Hamburg to meet Fg.Off. Spearman's relatives who have come for tomorrows funeral.
		20th	THURSDAY.The whole Squadron went to Fg.Off. Spearman's funeral today, which took place at Hamburg. The service was conducted by Padre Gray, who made it very simple and ideal for the occasion. Sqn.Ldr. Allen and the two Flight Commanders went to the A.O.C.'s conference at Wunstorf.
		21st	FRIDAY.Sqn.Ldr. Allen gave the pilots a lecture on Flying Discipline this morning. Much more attention must be paid to briefings and debriefings in future. Also the two Flights are going to act much more independently of each other than has been in the past.
		22nd	SATURDAY.Six aircraft were scheduled to fly across to Merryfield, via Bristol on Exercise "Momentum". The formation took off at 12.45 short of Flt.Lt. Pearch and Fg.Off. Standish who both had starter trouble. The flight was intercepted by Sabres on both the outward and return journeys. The interceptions were reported to be weak line astern attacks. Plt.Off. Revnell returned from Hamburg.
		23rd	SUNDAY.Flt.Lt. Pearch led three aircraft over to the U.K. Refuelling had to be carried out at Oakington due to a warm front through Merryfield. Four interceptions were made by Sabres. Low level cross countries were flown by Plt.Off. Bell and Plt.Off. Revnell.
		24th	MONDAY.Stand Down.
		25th	TUESDAY.The Met. forecast low cloud coverage clearing by about 10.00 hours. Various types of battle and close formations were practises during the days flying. Fg.Off. Standish flew to Gutersloh to practise G.C.A.'s. The standard was not very good as there was heavy rain storms in the area. The brakes on Plt.Off. Bell's aircraft failed whilst taxying round the peri-track. To avoid collision with a hangar Plt.Off. Bell retracted his undercarriage. [Maybe WA342?] Sqn.Ldr. Allen returned from the Court of Inquiry at Wunstorf.
		26th	WEDNESDAY.The A.O.C.'s rehearsal parade took up half the morning. The latter part of which was spent servicing aircraft. All out of date compass swings were completed by the pilots.
		27th	THURSDAY.Bad weather was forecast at Meppen Range this morning. Fg.Off. Standish took off with Plt.Off. Bell to make an actual report on the weather at Meppen. The cloud base was fairly low, but not bad enough to prevent the cannon firing programme from being carried out. Thirty one sorties were flown to the range during the day. Rain on the dive path made it difficult for the pilots to see the targets. Sixteen night flying sorties were flown under moonlight conditions. These consisted of cross countries and Q.G.H.'s. Plt.Off. Macknish had a turbine blade failure in his aircraft after take off. He landed the aircraft safely back at base.
		28th	FRIDAY.The Squadron was on Battle Flight today. Sgt. Knight led the first formation. Two good P.I.'s were made on another Vampire. On the second flight, which was led by Sgt. Thomas, Plt.Off. Revnell's canopy disintegrated whilst he was flying at 9,000 ft. He managed to land safely. Part of the canopy hit the hydraulic tank which sprayed fluid over Plt.Off. Revnell making it very difficult for him to see.
		29th	SATURDAY.The Squadron four serviceable aircraft were on Battle Flight today. Flt.Lt. Sturman led the first two formations. The first was a P.I. on formation of Venoms which was quite successful. The second flight consisted of four P.I.'s which ended in tail chases. The third flight of the day was led by Flt.Lt. Pearch. Three satisfactory P.I.'s were made. Flt.Lt. Sturman led the last interception with four aircraft. F/Sgt. Shrubsole had to return to base almost immediately after take off due to a fuel leak from his port wing. Two P.I.'s were carried out against a flight of Venoms. The first one was quite a long way out and ended in a tail chase.
Date	suspect	29th	SATURDAY.Flt.Lt. Sturman went on a close formation practice with Plt.Off. Couch. F/Sgt. Shrubsole repeated the exercise with Plt.Off. Balfour when the aircraft had landed. Flt.Lt. Paterson gave a short lecture on formation flying to ensure all pilots are standardised in their method of formation flying.
Date	suspect	30th	SUNDAY.Stand down.
			Sorties flown- Vampire - 325 Meteor - 1 Rounds fired - 20 m.m. - 2619 R/P76
			MOVEMENTS Fg.Off. WOOD.- Leave 5th to 29th August, 1953. Flt.Lt. STURMAN- " 6th to 27th August, 1953. Plt.Off. RAMSAY- " 9th to 11th August, 1953. Fg.Off. WALLACE- " 10th to 5th September, 1953. Fg.Off. SPEARMAN- Fatally injured - 14th August, 1953 Fg.Off. WALLACE- 9th August, 1953 in Swedish A.E. - Detached. Plt.Off. REVNELL- Detached - 19th to 22nd August, 1953. Plt.Off. RAMSAY- Leave 22nd August, 1953.
			ADMINISTRATION. The early part of the month was spent in general, reorganisation after exercise Coronet. All mobile field equipment has been checked and stored for further use. Later in the month the emphasis shifted to preparations for the forthcoming A.O.C.'s inspection. A large part of the technical accommodation in the Hangar is being redecorated. The most serious manning problem in the Squadron is in the Armoury. We started the month with 1 Corporal against an establishment of 2 Corporals and a promise of 1 Sergeant. The manning of armourers is still generally unsatisfactory. have 15 against an establishment of 25.
			NOMINAL ROLL OF PILOTS. SQN.LDR. R.N.G. ALLEN. D.F.C.. "A" FLIGHT"B" FLIGHT FLT.LT. A.W. PATERSON.FLT.LT. K.M. PEARCH. Flt.Lt. A.V.H. STURMAN.Flt.Lt. J.S.M. WALLACE. FG.OFF. J.C.M. WOOD.FG.OFF. E.K.G. BATES. FG.OFF. A.R. WALLACE.PLT.OFF. A.C. RAMSAY. FG.OFF. D.W. STANDISH.SGT. D.J. THOMAS. PLT.OFF. W.E. BELL.SGT. R.G. KNIGHT. FG.OFF. R.S. HANNAH.PLT.OFF. B.J. REVNELL. PLT.OFF. T. BALFOUR.PLT.OFF. B.A.E. SANDERSON. PLT.OFF. G.J. COUCH.PLT.OFF. H.D. RIDGEWAY. F/SGT. C.J. TELFER.PLT.OFF. J.E. MACKNISH. F/SGT. W.R. SHRUBSOLE.. Signed RNG Allen (R.N.G. ALLEN.) SQN.LDR. Officer Commanding, NO. 93 Squadron, R.A.F.