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| Place |
Date |
Time |
Summary of Events COMPILING OFFICER Fg.Off. P. Leigh-Lancaster |
REF. TO APPENDICES |
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| R.A.F. Jever |
1st |
August. |
August Grant |
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2nd |
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August Grant |
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3rd |
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An unexpected tragedy happened on the Squadron today. Fg.Off. Scott on the
first detail at Meppen Range crashed and was killed. The rest of the day was spent
on normal flying. The cause of the accident is under investigation. |
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4th |
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The emphasis today was on high level battle formation. The day's flying had
a minor setback by fear of the aircraft being diverted to Oldenburg owing to a
Hunter running deep into the overshoot after an abandoned take-off. Nevertheless
15.55 hours were flown during the day. |
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5th |
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Again most of the flying was devoted to high level battle formation practice,
five operations being performed on this. The remainder of the flying being devoted
to two low level sorties and three individual aerobatic sorties. At the end of the
afternoon the airmen and officers practiced their drill for the coming funeral. |
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6th |
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There was no flying today, instead the squadron reported to work at 08.00 and
was inspected with regard to appearance for Fg.Off. Scott's funeral on 8th August.
Later a rehearsal of the ceremony was held and the Squadron stood down early for
the weekend at 11.00. |
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8th |
- Monday |
The Squadron left for Hamburg at 05.30 this morning to attend the funeral,
and arrived there at 12.30. A short chapel service was held at 14.15, then the
coffin was moved to the cemetery for interment, where our last respects were paid
to Ted Scott. We are all very sorry that he left so suddenly and our deepest
sympathies are with those who have been bereaved.
[Click to see photographs taken at the funeral.] |
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9th |
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Two high level navigation exercises were flown this morning, pairs having to
rendezvous over a selected point. Unfortunately the cloud cover of cumulus was
quite extensive, making pinpoint navigation impossible and the pairs did not meet.
We had more success with our trials on vertical quarter attacks. Four of the
Squadron pilots were checked out on night flying on T.11.s., the last aircraft
landing at 23.25. It was the first night flying done by the Squadron since March
1954 when on detachment at Ahlhorn. |
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10th |
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We flew 10.20 hours today before standing down at 13.00 for a sports afternoon.
For the first time for a long while we were practicing G.C.A.s at Ahlhorn and
completed six sorties on this exercise. During the morning Fg.Off. Exley made a
heavy landing in Sabre XB824. The aircraft was classified as Cat.3 and possibly
Cat.4, the undersurface being badly bent, and in one place split. [Click to see fuller story]. |
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11th |
Monday. |
A programme was arranged for Meppen range today but the first pair arriving
at the range found the cloud base of low stratus at 600 feet and accordingly the
programme did not begin until 10.30 when the cloud broke up. The scores were not
so good as previously, most probably because the safety height has now been raised
to 525 feet indicated, which makes it difficult to fire in range. The top scorer
was Sqn.Ldr. Browne with 17.6%.
In the evening the Squadron pilots football team drew 1 - 1 with a 98 Squadron
team, during which game Fg.Off. Garthwaite hurt his ankle and now cannot fly for a
while. |
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12th |
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We had a varied day's flying today consisting of G.C.A.s., vertical and
high quarter attacks, high level cross countries and battle formations, low level
cross countries and individual aerobatics. Only 22 sorties were successfully
completed as the number of serviceable aircraft sometimes fell to two. |
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13th |
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93 Squadron was on a Station Commander's parade this morning and afterwards
there was a film show of the week's air to ground gunnery which did show that pilots
were finding it more difficult to fire in range. Also shown were films of quarter
attacks - it was quite obvious that more practice is required on these especially
in tracking, and there will now be greater emphasis on this flying. The rest of
the morning was spent on ground duties and the Squadron stood down for the weekend
at 13.00 hours. |
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15th |
Monday |
We started an air to ground programme at Meppen Range but by 10.00 hours the
cloud base was down to 1000feet over the range making it impossible to fire with
the safety height of 550 feet indicated. Range recces were continued with
alternative briefings making allowances for pilots to continue to Ahlhorn to
practice G.C.A.s. The weather cleared later in the morning and twenty successful
sorties were completed by the end of the day. The top scorers were Sqn.Ldr. Browne
(once again) and Fg.Off. Page with 28%. |
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16th |
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We began Battle Flight again today and completed six operations during the day.
The aircraft intercepted were one Dakota, two Canberras and three Meteors. During
the first operation, the formation leader was separated from the rest of the
formation and they could not be joined together as they were 'in the dark' to the
G.C.I.
There was no night flying programme laid on as a Guest Night was held at the
Officers' Mess. |
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17th |
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Only four operations were flown today as the Squadron stood down at midday
for a sports afternoon. However, one Anson, two Meteors and four Thunderjets
were intercepted. The height finding apparatus of the G.C.I. was out, although
the control was good. |
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18th |
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Today Battle Flight flew six operations, but owing to lack of trade, the trips
were devoted to practice interceptions. The control was good and all interceptions
ended with fighters being in very good position for attacks. The only failures
were when the fighters failed to spot the targets at ranges of five miles and less!
The height finding was very accurate being at times within 100 feet according to
aircraft altimeters. The quality of the G.C.I. control was worthy of the highest
praise.
In the evening some Squadron pilots were checked out in T.11.s for night flying. |
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19th |
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After Met. briefing this morning a short talk was given on attack and firing
trials of the Hunter. At the same time a pair from Battle Flight flew their only
sortie of the day, during which they 'claimed' two Venoms. When they returned the
cloud base was down to 400 feet in low stratus owing to an approaching warm front
and this persisted with rain throughout the day. There was no more flying, but
Battle Flight was held at readiness until 17.00 hours. The rest of the Squadron
concentrated on their Squadron duties during the day. |
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20th |
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There was a practice this morning for the C.-in-C.s parade after which the Squadron
ground duties were carried out. Battle Flight were held at readiness during the
morning but did not fly. |
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21st |
Sunday |
A Battle Flight were at 2 hours availability from dawn to dusk but no call was made
upon them. |
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22nd |
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Battle Flight flew 7 details today and carried out successful interceptions
on 3 Meteors and a Vampire T.11. Interceptions were attempted on 5 Hunters but
these proved to be unsuccessful.
Fg.Off. Bell hit a bird in the circuit and the aircraft required a fin
change. |
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23rd |
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The flying today consisted of local individual sorties and G.C.A. practices at
Ahlhorn. Nine hours were flown in the Vampire T.11 on I.F. and night flying checks. |
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24th |
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There was a practice parade this morning and afterwards the aircraft were being
fitted with drop tanks ready for Exercise "Loco". Only 3 sorties were flown before
standing down for a sports afternoon. |
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25th |
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A total of 20 sorties were flown today, mainly on battle formation and low
level cross countries. |
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26th |
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Today was the first day of Exercise "Loco". We are in the role of bombers
making raids on Holland to test their defences. The first take off was at 08.00 hours
and 6 raids were carried out during the day. Only one raid was successfully
intercepted and very few "enemy" aircraft were seen. |
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27th |
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The first two details on Exercise "Loco" were cancelled because of bad
weather, and the first take off was not until 09.00 hours. Four raids were
carried out none of which were successfully intercepted.
Other flying consisted of close formation sorties giving a total of 27
hours for the day. |
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29th |
Monday |
Flying did not begin until 10.30 hours because of haze and low cloud. A
lecture was given on aircraft recognition, and a film on icing.
The flying consisted of battle formations and 3 low level details, giving
a total of 21 hours for the day. |
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30th |
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There were lectures on aircraft recognition and on the armament of the Mig 15
before flying began at 10.30 hours. A total of 8½ hours was flown today before
the Squadron target of 350 hours for the month was achieved. This is th fifth
month in succession that we have achieved the target. |
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31st |
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There was no flying today as the monthly target has been reached. The day
was spent on monthly returns. |
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Hours Sorties.
Sabre 352.30 436
Vampire T.11 79.15 102
Hunter 1.35 2.
433.20 540
Rounds fired - 7,303
Stoppages - 3
Stoppage rate - 2,434
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PERSONNEL
During August the following had leave :- Sqn.Ldr. Browne, Flt.Lt. Colvin,
Fg.Offs. Clayton-Jones, Pigdon, Busby and Page. |
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4th - |
25th |
Fg.Off. Balfour attended and passed an I.R.E. course at R.A.F. Wunstorf.. |
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25th - |
31st |
Fg.Off. Leigh-Lancaster was sick with tonsillitis. |
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OPERATIONAL
Flying started on 3rd August, after the Bank Holiday, and very unfortunately
produced a fatal accident on Meppen Range; the first fatal for two years and
the first major accident for over twelve months. Two other days, after the
accident were spent on the Air to Ground range, using modified cease fire ranges
and safety heights. The scores produced were still rather low. A Squadron
average of 12% being the results of the best day. All pilots need practice at
this part of their training.
A special effort was made to get night flying programmes started again, and
in fact eleven pilots have now been checked out in the T.11. So it will be
possible to carry out a Sabre programme for dusk flying. The rest of the flying
training was fairly well balanced, consisting of battle flight, interceptions,
cine quarter attacks, G.C.A. and Q.G.H. practices. The two day exercise "Loco"
gave all pilots practice at medium cross countries, but otherwise had little
training value for the "raiding" Squadrons.
The 352 Sabre flying hours for the month. although lower than July, meet
the target, and pilots were available throughout got a satisfactory amount
of flying. Five 'ratings' were received and one I.R.E. was qualified - this plus
night flying checks accounts for the rather high utilisation of training aircraft
(79 pilot hours) |
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ADMINISTRATIVE
On 3rd August Fg.Off. Scott was killed in an aircraft accident at Meppen Range
Germany. On 8th August he was buried with full military honours at the British
Military Cemetery at Hamburg. The escort party was made up of Squadron volunteers
and the coffin borne by officers of the Squadron. The Station Commander,
Group Captain T.O. Prickett, D.S.O., D.F.C., attended. The funeral party returned to Jever the same day by train.
[Click to see photographs taken at the funeral.]
Four aircraft were damaged in accidents and incidents this month. One aircraft
has been repaired and another replaced, making a total of twelve on strength. In
spite of this the flying target was achieved for the fifth month in succession.
Exercise "Loco" was a two day exercise, which necessitated some very early
starts, as flying was due to commence at dawn. The airmen came into work at
02.30 hours, and were relieved by the other flight at 08.00 hours. Ten operations
with sections of four aircraft were flown during the period.
Signed DFM Browne
(D.F.M. BROWNE)
Squadron Leader
Officer Commanding
No. 93 Squadron
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