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Date |
Time |
SUMMARY OF EVENTS COMPILING OFFICER Flt. Lt. T.A.K. Wood |
REF. TO APPENDICES |
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| JEVER |
May |
1959. |
Friday 1st May - Saturday 2nd May, 1959
Battle Flight restricted flying on these days,
so much time was spent on decorating the pilots bar. This now sports three walls
of black paper with gold dots and one wall of white paper with red dots. The
woodwork is officially 'Silver Birch' but looks light blue and the brick bar has a
Salvador Dali type mosaic top. The commencement of the pre-A.O.Cs inspections
caused some interruptions to the rebuilding programme. |
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Monday 4th May, - Saturday 9th May, 1959
Battle Flight expired on Monday. The
excellent weather continued. The advance party for the cultural exchange with 724
Squadron Royal Danish Air Force at Skyrdstrup left by R.D.A.F. C.47 on Monday. It
consisted of Flt. Lt. J.T. Hall, Fg. Off. J.C.H. Haig, 2 S.N.C.O.s and 7 airmen.
The air party, Flt. Lt. R.D. Stone (Detachment Commander) Flt. Lt. G.A. Talbot,
Fg. Off. M.A. Harvey and Fg. Off. A.J. Lakeman flew up on Tuesday. Six R.D.A.F.
pilots and one engineering Officer arrived and were welcomed in the traditional
British way, with a mug of Ale, they retaliated unfortunately with Snaps.
A parade was held on Tuesday at which Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Foster presented
the Foster trophy to Jever yet again.
A six-a-side Soccer Tournament was held on Wednesday the Squadron unsuccessfully
entered two teams, the Danes one unsuccessful team.
Flt. Lt. G.W. Timms was dined out by the Squadron on Sunday 3rd May and left for
U.K. and fatherhood on Wednesday 6th May. Flt. Lt. J.J. Parker got himself wed on
Saturday 9th May to Fg. Off. M. Stephenson an ex-nursing Sister. The Squadron was
represented by Fg. Off. and Mrs P.R. Wild, the 'Old Boys' by Flt. Lt. and Mrs G.W.
Timms and Flt. Lt. P.D. Raeburn also Fg. Off. P. King who was the best man. |
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Monday 11th May - Friday l5th May, 1959
The glorious weather continued this week,
unfortunately having four aircraft at Denmark and Command Mods and S.T.I.s prolonging
primary stars to 7 days cut down flying at Jever to a minimum.
The station were hosts to 35 English Headmasters on Monday who arrived by Comet
for an overnight stay. A flypast was shown before they left on Tuesday morning,
4 R.A.D.F. pilots taking part. Fg. Off. D.J. Gleen was arrayed in full cold weather
flying kit and was undressed to string vest and long johns by the station Commander in
front of the visitors, who left shortly afterwards.
Sqn. Ldr. H. Minnis exchanged with Flt. Lt. R.D. Stone as detachment Commander at Skyrdstrup on
the 13th.
Take-off by a visiting Danish Squadron at Jever. The top picture was taken at a distance the day
before. When Ron Lund saw the same pilot lining up the next day, he crawled out on the grass
and got the lower shot. This character repeated this trick of holding the undercarriage UP button
IN so that at lift-off, once the weight was off the wheels, the gear retracted. Dave Gleen of 93 Sqn
tried to copy this and succeeded in scraping his right hand drop tank off on the runway. This was
embarrassingly in front of a group of visiting Headmasters from UK - 11May59. (See story. and
Fm540 report below) Col Steen Hartov of the Royal Danish Air Force has researched this
incident and reports on 8th August 2008: "It was most likely taken on 13 April 1959. I spoke to the
pilot in #2 aircraft, Villy Breinholt, a couple of days ago. The squadron in question, 724 Sqn, had
a reunion last weekend and one of his old mates gave him a copy of this very picture, reminding
him of the event. (Thanks to Pete Jennings and Ron Lund. Not in Fm540.)
Fg. Off. D.J. Gleen unfortunately prematurely selected undercarriage UP on take off
on the 11th, sank blew his port drop tank, scraped odd bits but got airborne and
after burning off fuel landed his Cat. 3 aircraft.
The Danish exchange finished on Friday, our four aircraft returned having flown 102 hrs.
and the Squadron stood down for Whitsun except for Fg. Off. M.A.F. Ryan who took a Hunter
to Etain and Phalsberg for static display on 'Armed Forces Day' on Sat. and Sun. respectively. |
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Tuesday 19th May - Sat. 23rd May.
Battle Flight again, as there was only limited flying with
excellent weather. Two scrambles occurred on Friday, Flt. Lt. R.D. Stone and Fg. Off.
P.R. Wild were off first to help an aircraft in distress, the emergency ceased as soon
as our pair got airborne. The second pair Fg. Off. M.A.F. Ryan and Fg. Off. J.C.H. Haig
chased a stranger back across the Curtain. Four packs were fired into the sea on
Friday. Two new pilots arrived on the 19th, Fg. Offs. C.R. Lamont and B.J. 'Call me
Tonk' Tonkinson. |
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Monday 25th May - Friday 29th May, 1959
Parades and cleaning took precedence this week.
Flying ceasing on Tuesday afternoon except for a practice Flypast and aerobatics by
Flt. Lt. R.D. Stone. The superb weather continued.
Fg. Offs. C.R. Lamont and B.J. Tonkinson were despatched to the Aviation Medicine Centre
at Wildenrath for a weeks course.
Friday 29th May was the A.O.C.s inspection, the parade and subsequent race around the
Station appeared to satisfy Air Vice Marshal Crisham. Flt. Lt. R.D. Stone
performed his aerobatics and was later informed that he had finished top in the R.A.F.
Germany Hunter Competition. A Wing Flypast also took place.
Fg. Off. D.G. Gleen gave lectures on the Mae West and Ejection seat and, after a
merciful rest, Fg. Off. M.A.F. Ryan has recommenced his Aircraft Recognition lectures.
Flight Safety Flashes are now being shown after Meteorological Briefing in the mornings. |
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OPERATIONAL |
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The main features of this month were 2 weeks of Battle Flight, a 10 day
exchange with the Royal Danish Air Force and the A.O.C.s Inspection on the 29th May.
Some flying was inevitably lost because of these commitments, but the Squadron flew all
but 16 of the 310 hrs. Hunter target. The training was rather unbalanced because of the
Battle Flight, and P.I.s were carried out whenever possible. 3954 rounds were fired
into the sea for a stoppage rate of 1088. |
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Signed H MINNIS
(H Minnis)
Squadron Leader
Officer Commanding
No. 93 Squadron |
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