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SUMMARY OF EVENTS COMPILING OFFICER Fg. Off J.B. Cummins |
REF. TO APPENDICES |
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1958 |
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1st May - 3rd May 1958
The Squadron operated from dispersal, high level battle formation being
flown and cine exercises practised. A practice Wing flypast took place. Flt. Lt. C.J.
Taylor gave a polished display of low level aerobatics at Royal Air Force, Bruggen
returning on Saturday afternoon. Preparations for the A.O.C.s visit were well in hand
parades occupied Saturday mornings. |
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Monday 5th May - Saturday 10th May, 1958
Monday morning was devoted to another parade and the afternoon to cleaning and
tidying. A practice flypast was again flown in the afternoon. Bad weather marred the
A.O.Cs visit which was otherwise successful. The flypast was flown late in the
afternoon after having been cancelled. During the latter stages of the flight Sqn. Ldr.
H. Minnis experienced total hydraulic failure but landed successfully. Wednesday brought
a return to normality when high and low battle formations were flown, cine exercises and
general handling were practised. During the afternoon the intersection rugby sevens
knock out cup was held, the Squadron team succumbing in the semi-finals,to the
eventual winners. Thursday and Friday were good flying days, high and low level
battle formation being flown. Night flying cross countries were practised on Thursday
night. Jever Anglo-German Week started on Saturday with the Stations Open Day. The
Squadron took part in a wing fly past after giving a display of simulated air to ground
firing. Flt Lt. C.J. Taylor gave another excellent display of low level aerobatics
and took off later for Spangdahlen but was diverted to Wahn because of bad weather. |
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Monday 12th May - Saturday May 17th
A varied weeks flying was carried out including high and low level battle formation,
low level navigation cine exercise and night flying on two nights. Flt. Lt. C.J. Taylor
returned from having been grounded over the weekend due to bad weather at Spangdahlen.
The weather of Friday was very poor providing us with the opportunity to practice snake-
climbs and controlled descents. Fg. Off. Davies a new pilot spent most of the week in the Hunter Simulator. He was joined by Fg. Off. Ryan later in the week. Ground
training was intensified in readiness for the arrival of the Instrument Rating Squadron
Examiners. Three pilots were selected for testing, all three satisfying the
Examiners. Flt. Lt. C.J. Taylor flew to Etain for another display. |
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Monday 19th May - Thursday 22nd May.
Air to Ground firing was practised on Monday and Tuesday the results being most
encouraging. Two sorties were flown on Wednesday.
Monday May 19th
Squadron Average - 32%
Highest Score - Fg. Off. P. King 57%
Tuesday 20th May.
Squadron Average - 30%
Highest Score - Sqn. Ldr. H. Minnis 42%
Wednesday 21st May
Squadron Average - 41.8%
Highest Score - Fg. Off. P. King 53%
High level battle formation, low level navigation, cine exercises and tailchases
filled the rest of the flying time. The new pilots continued their Hunter Simulator
courses, were given dual checks in Vampire T.11 and carried out Hunter 6 familiarisation
sorties. The first aircraft fitted with the electric follow up tailplane was received
and several pilots tried it. The Whitsun Grant started after standown at Thursday noon. |
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Monday May 26th - Saturday May 31st.
Flt. Lt. C.J. Taylor gave another aerobatic display for the Royal Dutch Aero Club at
Ealde on Monday. Tuesday saw a return to Battle Flight. The weather deteriorated towards
the end of Tuesday, and Wednesday was very poor, the airfield being Red for most of the
morning and Amber in the afternoon. The new Battle Flight commitment, requiring only
one pair to stand by, is now in operation leaving the rest of the Squadron to carry on
with normal training. Exercise "Amled" provided realistic interception practice on
Thursday, Canberras and F 84's being claimed. The Battle Flight pair was scrambled
during the exercise but were not given an interception During the afternoon three
aircraft were sent to search for a missing RF84 but without success. A lecture on
nuclear warfare by Fg. Off. D.J. Gleen was received with interest. Saturday morning
was devoted to a cricket match between the aircrew and groundcrew which the aircrew
won. A pair remained on stand-by throughout the day. Another new pilot, Fg. Off.
Harvey joined the squadron and started the Hunter Simulator Course. |
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| Operational Type |
Day |
Night |
Sorties |
| Hunter Mk. VI |
388.20 |
41.00 |
416 |
| Training Type |
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| Vampire T.11 |
30.35 |
8.10 |
39 |
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418.55 |
49.10 |
455 |
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OPERATIONAL |
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This has been an excellent month for flying. On the 12th May, the flying
the total was only 90hrs. - the A.O.C.s inspection on the 6th and Anglo-German Open Day
on the 10th restricted the flying effort early in the month - as in the remainder of the
month, which included the Whitsun standdown, another 378 hrs. were flown, making a
total of 468hrs. (429 hrs. Hunter and 39hrs. Vampire T.11).
The training has been varied and productive. Emphasis was placed on night flying
(41 hrs.), cine (162 sorties), low level battle formation and strikes, high level battle
formation and air to ground firing( 16 sorties for a Squadron average score of 33%).
5 days battle flight covered the requirement for interception training.
Serviceability has been generally good. For a period of 9 days (12th - 21st)
there were 7 or 8 a/c on the line and during this period 253 Hunter hrs. were flown.
The only recurrent snags have been with I.P.N. starter and there is no obvious reason
why this should be so. The serviceability of the Hunter Mk.6 is still completely
unpredictable - attached is a list of snags which occurred on one day - 8th March.
A/C OCCURRENCE
G - Starter Exhaust Broken
T - Port bingo light U/S, port aileron cracked (A.O.G.)
V - Fire on start fuel leak
E - Fire on start
F - Port oleo recuperator leak
R - Double recuperator failure (on airtest from A.S.F.)
C - Starboard booster pump change
Z - Elevator hydro-booster change.
The state of the remaining A/C was:-
D - Primary*
A - Primary*
S - Cat 3
W - A.O.G. starboard aileron, cold air pipe.
Y - Det. C.M.U. Laarbruch
B - Serviceable
X - Serviceable
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Signed H Minnis Sqn Ldr
(H.MINNIS)
Squadron Leader
Officer Commanding
No. 93 Squadron |
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