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SUMMARY OF EVENTS COMPILING OFFICER Flt. Lt. T.A.K. Wood |
REF. TO APPENDICES |
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| JEVER |
March |
1959. |
Monday 2nd - Friday 6th March, 1959
Poor visibility on Monday cleared leaving
the rest of the week with fine weather. Unfortunately
Battle Flight commencement on
Tuesday cut down flying. A Meteor 8 borrowed from Sylt has been busily occupied towing
flags for the Wing prior to the detachment at the end of the month. Demonstration
flag-cine in the Vampires was restricted to one sortie owing to all T.11s being
grounded again. Sixteen Hunter cine flag sorties were flown. The remainder of the flying
effort was concentration on Duncan Trophy cine weave except for four sorties flown on
Exercise 'Argus' on Friday. Flt. Lt. P.A. Barrow eventually escaped from the clutches
of the M.O.S. at Farnborough returning with 'F' on Tuesday. 'F' continues with the low
level sorties. Fg. Off. J. Haig, unfortunately having no connection with the
Distillers of that name, arrived from the Black Shiny IIIth on 3rd March. One lecture
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this week, Flt. Lt. R.D. Stone ;Improvements in Cine Weave'. |
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Monday 9th - Friday 13th March, 1959
Another period of fine weather but comparatively
little flying was accomplished as pre-Sylt servicing commenced. The borrowed Meteor 8
was kept very busy 'dragging rags' and by the end of the week all pilots except the new
arrivals had completed at least three successful cine flag sorties. Two pairs were
scrambled on Wednesday 'Bomex' but very little came of it, our visit to Brockzetal last
month had still not sorted out all of the problems of 'Broadcast Control'. However, Battle Flight
had its only scramble of the session on Monday when Flt. Lt. T.A.K. Wood and Fg. Off. D.J. Gleen
intercepted a German registered (D-TDTH) Aero Commander at 3,000 ft. ten miles to the
north of Hamburg. On Friday the C.O. wangled a Swift from 2 Squadron. 'F'
after engine change continues bird scaring in the low level areas, and was flown on Saturday in
an attempt to finish the trials and free aircraft for Sylt. Flying, other than air tests and 'F'
stopped at Thursday midday for pre-Sylt servicing. |
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Monday 16th March - Friday 20th March,1959
A week of good weather. 'F' completed the
low level trials on Tuesday and has joined the other aircraft in pre-Sylt work. Two
pre-Sylt lectures were given by Flt. Lt. R.D. Stone. Light relief from aircraft
cleaning was provided by the aircrew Rugby match versus our 4 Squadron 'friends'. Main
result, Flt. Lt. G.W. Timms nose was spread across his face. Flt. Lt. J.J. Parker
missed the game as he went to Wagburg where the medics decided that a practically
slipped disc was the main reason why he woke up one morning to find that he could not
get out of bed. He is restricted to flying non-ejection seat aircraft until a further
check in six weeks time. On Thursday Fg. Off. M.A.F. Ryan left in his 'Beetle' for
Sylt as our Advance Party. Fg. Off. D.J Gleen and Flt. Lt. J.T. Hall took the Main
Convoy on Friday morning. On Saturday Fg. Off. P.A. Bouch accompanied by
Fg. Off. T.M. Ashwood and J. Haig took the rail party to Sylt. |
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Monday 23rd - Thursday 26th March, 1959
The Air Party consisting of Sqn. Ldr. H Minnis,
Flt. Lt. R.D. Stone, Flt. Lt. T.A.K. Wood, Flt. Lt. P.A. Barrow, Flt. Lt. P.D. Raeburn,
Flt. Lt. G.A. Talbot, and Fg. Offs. P.H. Wild, A.J. Lakeman, and
M.A. Harvey stood by at
0900 hrs. on Monday, left for Sylt as soon as the weather permitted at 1430 hrs. on
Tuesday, all arriving by 1615 hrs. Flt. Lt. J Butler flew one of our Hunters in
exchange for Fg. Off. Butterworth taking a Vampire T.11. At Sylt the usual briefings
ensued, unfortunately the flying did not, Kampen lighthouse being invisible most of
the time owing to fog - Easter Grant commenced 1200 hrs. on Thursday, the Squadron
efforts being split into three main directions, firstly to the apron strings at Jever,
Secondly playing for Sylt's Rugby team in Hamburg and lastly Fg. Off. M.A.F. Ryan in his
Volkswagen leaving for Stockholm (See actual route below - not in Fm540), Flt. Lt. J. Hall
navigating for Helsinki and in the back Flt. Lts. R.D. Stone and G.A. Talbot arguing for Aalborg.
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Tuesday 31st March, 1959
Everyone returned from the Easter Grant, the Volkswagen eventually
from Oslo where the occupants spent an entertaining four hours in a museum before they
had to commence the return journey. As Sylt weather was excellent, cine weave
commenced. Forty successful sorties being flown. |
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OPERATIONAL |
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Preparation for the A.P.S. attachment, in the form of cine weave at 40,000 ft. and
cine on the flag at 20,000 ft. dominated this month's training programme. The number of
days available for flying was reduced by the need to prepare the A/C for Sylt.
Serviceability has been excellent for the last few days in the month when the Squadron was
at Sylt. |
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Signed H MINNIS
(H Minnis)
Squadron Leader
Officer Commanding
No. 93 Squadron |
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