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Front Page Jeverland-Bote 138 Jahrgang No. 120/145 dated Sunday the 23June1956
Translated by Maurice Parker
Picture Captions
Top right: Smart lines of a Mercedes 300 and the Valetta of the Italian Air Force Chief of Staff.
Below; The air acrobats of RAF Jever, in the centre Major Brown
Middle left: The 4 acrobats at the beginning of a closed loop.
Bottom Left: Group Captain Hughes (left) await the aircraft with the Italian guest.
Friendly encounter under the roar of jet engines
Incidental notes on our visit to the RAF at Jever.
Jever. On the occasion of the visit by the British Air Marshal Earl of Bandon and the Italian Chief of Staff General Rafaeli, which we have already reported on in the County page of today's edition, our reporter had for the first time the official 'shooting authorization' for his camera for flight operations, which for the German public up until now the RAF had not permitted. For our readers in Friesland and with the kind permission of the RAF Commander at Jever, we are in a position to report on some of the small every day jet fighter incidents of the visit.
[Click to see 93 Sqn F540 report on visit.]
The population of Friesland know for sure that it is not always heavenly in the jet fighter sky. Here on the wide airfield in its present expanse, with the continuous roar of the Hunter jet engines and if one compare this with the airfield of previous German fighters under the command of Schuhmacher it would have seemed to be a sort of miniature. The infernal concert swelled to a 'fortissimo' when about 16 fighter aircraft commenced their take-off. The 'piano' had been struck off the list. When reading these lines, the Friesland population may be reminded of a 'fighter symphony' with 'kettle-drums' that reached phenomenal speed of sound oscillations and which can be annoying to our window panes and nerves. As a reporter one quickly thinks about the technical possibilities of sound reduction which competent scientists are racking their brains on, but however to date no solution has been found for this lovely engine music. It will take a number of years before the avant-garde can write the modern music for the first quartet for jet fighters.
The jet fighter quartet.
Even though the music is still missing - the quartet is already there in one of the RAF Squadrons of Group Captain Hughes at Jever. In the meantime however the 4 aces devote their time to air acrobatics and are satisfied with the thunder as an acoustic accompaniment. Many people in Friesland, above all the Jever population, often see these 4 excellent artists when the Hunter quartet fly daring close formed figures in the sky. Who would not for once like to know what these courageous pilots look like. We hereby introduce them: In the centre, the No. 1 of the quartet, the 31 year old Squadron Leader Brown. This would be the equivalent German rank of Major. He is surrounded by 4 young officers of his squadron from which one is always held in reserve and who also fully master the flying programme. One of the team members is Flt/Lt Sanderson (far right) who is well known by German sportsmen because he is a prominent member of the RAF Rugby Team which have often played against SC Varel.
When top brass come to visit.....
As the Valetta slowly taxied onto a concrete 'branch off' on the edge of the runway and after leaving the aircraft both white poodles of General Rafaeli jumped around between everybody's legs while only a hundred metres away two RAF cricket teams were playing on the large area of grass next to the runway. They were practicing and did not stop playing for one second as the Commander in Chief, Air Marshal the Earl of Bandon, who was the first to climb out of the aircraft, greeted the Station Commander of RAF Jever Group Captain (Oberst) Hughes.
Just for a moment the chronicler remembered the same sort of visit of 'top brass' during his previous service life where the whole barracks was turned upside down, hours spent waiting on parade, marching to the accompaniment of military music and also the precise drill. The Air Marshal obviously took great pleasure in the activity that were taking place on and above the runway and in fact the Italian Chief of Staff did not hold back on his admiration as the 'Hunter Quartet' impressively over flew the airfield despite the low cloud of 300 metres. The Earl of Bandon wrung his hands, but not because of the cold weather on this the first day of Summer....
After a brief shake hands with the pilots of the 'Artist Squadron' of Major Brown, the very attentive and esteemed Press Officer Hauptman Yates invited all to a small snack in the Officers Mess. The inviting and cosy impressing room has remained unchanged since the time of the German fighter pilots. Under the vast painting depicting the Brandenburg Fleet Landing, [Click to see] the Queen of England smiled from a thin silver framed portrait.
Yesterday evening the RAF had entertained many German guests in this room. Personalities of public life from the surrounding areas of Jever and Friesland as well as officers from the new German Navy. The RAF gave a friendship party without any jet engine noise...
(Thanks to Bruno Albers for the cutting and Maurice Parker for the translation.) |
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