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SUMMARY OF EVENTS COMPILING OFFICER Flt. Lt. J.T. Hall |
REF. TO APPENDICES |
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| R.A.F. JEVER |
SEPTEMBER |
1959 |
Tuesday 1st September - Monday 7th September
The new month opened with a phase of battle formation. Flt. Lt. R.D. Stone gave
a very comprehensive briefing on battle formation and SOPs: the
Squadron flew battle formation sorties all Tuesday, revising the pilot' knowledge
of SOP, and
giving a number of less experienced pilots practice in briefing and
leading a four.
On Wednesday the Squadron flew a four against the army in low
level area . Both the German and British Armies were having an exercise in the
Hameln area. and each had built a pontoon bridge over the Weser the previous
night. 2 Squadron sent a recce aircraft to the area in the morning, and both No.
93 and No. 4 were detailed to attack the British Bridge. We did so successfully
but there is still some doubt whether No. 4 Squadron hit the right one. The
remainder of the week was spent flying high speed interceptions and cine
weave with, on Friday, a low level commitment consisting of a strike against the
army at Wildenhausen in low level area 1. The pilots were briefed to attack some well camouflaged guns placed in a field to the south of the town during the
attack the gunners were able to practice their tracking under realistic
conditions. The pilots experienced
considerable difficulty in spotting the guns
through the camouflage: it is not believed that this would have been the case
had the gunners been firing in earnest however!
Throughout the early part of the week Flt. Lt. R.D. Stone practised his
aerobatics for a show he was to give at Landsberg, Munich, on Sunday 6th
September. He set
out for the show on Saturday, accompanied by Fg. Off. B.J.
Tonkinson, who flew the spare aircraft, which was to be exhibited in the static
park. Both aircraft had been cleaned for the occasion, and had a Union Jack
painted on their nose cones.
Flt. Lt. J.J. Parker with Flt. Lt. B. Butterworth, navigating, flew the Anson to
Landsberg with groundcrew and equipment. The show was a great
success: Flt. Lt. R.D. Stone received tremendous applause from the crowd as
he was being driven from his aircraft to the debriefing room; applause which, much to his embarrassment, Flt. Lt. Parker was forced to receive as well as he,
too, was sitting in the jeep.
The Anson did not do aerobatics. The Landsberg
party returned to Jever the following Monday. The weather for the entire week
was extremely good: no flying time was lost through bad weather.
On Thursday, 3rd September, we welcomed Fg. Off. D. Fahey to the
Squadron. Fg. Off. Fahey was posted to us from 56 Squadron. |
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Tuesday 8th September - Monday 14th September, 1959
The morning of Tuesday began badly. Aircraft generally became serviceable
towards the end of the afternoon Several syllabus sorties were flown. On Wednesday
the Squadron exercised both pilots and sector in broadcast control. Until recently
broadcast control has been much neglected at Jever, awaiting Brockzetel's decision
to adopt a standard system of reporting. Pilots found that
Sector still required
considerable more practice (a) in plotting the target - in
some cases Sector
complained when our target aircraft (flying a high level cross
country deviated
from the planned route: surely they cannot rely upon the
Russians for such
consideration - and (b) in broadcasting each plot at the same time within each minute. This is essential, for the leader of a formation needs to
know exactly when he should listen to the broadcast to receive target information which applies to him, and
when he is free to talk to his number two on the "quiet" frequency. On Thursday 10th
September, Exercise Argus took place. The Squadron flew four pairs during the exercise. That evening the month's first night sorties were flown, namely a total
of nine cross country flights (cunningly to dodge the bombers on night Argus).
During these night sorties the 2nd T.A.F. fixer service was again proved to be
extremely inaccurate in its fixing. The night was very clear and none of the pilots
had any doubts of their whereabouts: in marked contrast to the gentlemen of the
fixer service! The remainder of the week was spent practising practice interceptions
and more broadcast control. The week's weather was again excellent. |
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Tuesday 15th September - Monday 21st September, 1959
On Tuesday a Battle of Britain parade was held on the station, fifty percent
of the Squadron's air and groundcrew were detailed to attend. Despite the parade,
however, our first four, detailed to do low level battle formation, was airborne
at 09.25rs. On Wednesday Flt. Lt. P.A. Barrow and Fg. Off. C. Haig went on an
Exercise Round Robin to Etain. The Squadron seems doomed whenever it sets foot
in France, for when on a G.C.A. the pair was by Etain tower whether refuelling
facilities were required. On being told that they were, Etain replied that
regrettably there were none available! Flt. Lt. Barrow the leader of the formation
decided to divert to Gros Tonquin (possible influenced by the thought of 430
Squadron's Canadian hospitality), a mere 40 or so miles away. There the pair
landed and was given a speedy and efficient turn round. The reason for Etain's
lack of jet refuelling facilities was that all the jet fighters previously based
there had departed, following General de Gaulle's decision not to allow American
atomic bombs on his soil. On Thursday air to ground demos were flown at Nordhorn
range, (this was the first time the Squadron had used the range at Nordhorn within
the memory of the present members - the reason that it was made available to us was
that the extremely dry weather had made it dangerous for its normal role of bombing
target), and that night four sorties were flown: three of them a dusk strike on
Ahlhorn airfield. The excellent weather continued for the remainder of the week,
battle formation being flown on Friday and air to ground at Nordhorn on Monday.
The highest scorer on Monday was our newcomer Fg. Off. D. Fahey with the excellent
score of 87.9%. The second highest was Flt. Lt. Butterworth with 46.6% |
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Tuesday 22nd September - Monday 28th September, 1959
The air to ground programme at Nordhorn continued on Tuesday: the highest
scorer was again Fg. Off. Fahey with 51.6%, the second highest again Flt. Lt. B.
Butterworth with 45%. Flt. Lt. R.D. Stone flew to Bruggen to take part in the
N.A.T.O. air display. The weather was bad, however, Flt. Lt. Stone was unable to
perform, and the most interesting exhibit both static and locomotive was said to be
General Norstad. Flt. Lt. Stone basked in his glory at a distance of 300 yards.
Practice Interceptions were flown again on Wednesday, and on Thursday the day was
taken up by Exercise Ambled. The Squadron flew six pairs and a singleton on
the exercise. Thursday also saw the month's first slightly bad weather: low
cloud prevented take offs until 09.15 (an unprecedented occurrence for many a day
now), but the weather soon cleared up, becoming excellent within an hour or so.
On Thursday night nine sorties were flown: six cross countries (during which the
fixer service did its best to get our C.O. well and truly lost - or should it be
'mislaid' for Commanding Officers?) and three dual checks. On Friday, with only
two aircraft serviceable for most of the day, a rather limited air to ground
programme was fired at Strohen range. The day's highest scorer was Flt. Lt.
Parker with 56%, the second highest Fg. Off. Wild with 49%. On Monday the Squadron
carried out six sorties on Green Salad exercises. |
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Tuesday 29th September and Wednesday 30th September, 1959
Flt. Lt. Stone went to R.A.F. Bruggen to give an aerobatic display before
representatives of R.A.F. Flying College Manby who were suitably impressed with
what they saw. The Squadron carried on with a broadcast control exercise on
which total of three sorties were logged. The T.7 was flown a great deal by
Squadron pilots practising I.F. in preparation for the coming winter. On
Wednesday the Squadron was stood down as once again it reached the flying
target for the month. The Squadron Commander and Flight Commanders attended a
conference with the O.C. Flying to decide on a winter flying policy and much was
done to solve the many problems of winter flying. |
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DOMESTIC |
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During the month the Squadron received a grand cleanup. Many of the rooms
have been changed, the C.O.'s office moving into the operations room, the operations
room moving downstairs into the old Form 700 room. A pagoda is being procured for
the line party and line Form 700s, but until it arrives a tent is being used. The
new Ops. Room will be a very grand affair - an enormous map has been constructed
(made up of American maps bought from the Americans by Flt. Lts. R.D. Stone and
P.A. Barrow on their travels), plans are being made for a new desk and raised
platform, not to mention an abundance of notices declaring the room prohibited
for all those except on essential duty. The crew-room remains put: a brick bar
was built in it not so long ago and it weighs two and a quarter tons - need more
be said. |
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The Squadron carried out a very satisfactory months training achieving its flying
task for the third month in succession and increasing its proficiency accordingly. |
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Signed DS White
( D. S. WHITE )
SQUADRON LEADER
OFFICER COMMANDING
NO. 93 SQUADRON
ROYAL AIR FORCE, JEVER. |
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