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| PLACE |
DATE |
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SUMMARY OF EVENTS COMPILING OFFICER __Flying Officer P.F. Hunwick.___ |
Refs |
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| R.A.F. JEVER |
1.11.57 |
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Exercise "Amulet" occupied most of the day, and P.I.s against the Canberra bomber
stream were most successful. Very bumpy conditions did not prevent a fluid six making
a formation fly - past at the end of the trip.
HOURS 29:40 SORTIES 24 |
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2.11.57 |
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Only two pairs flew today as there were only two aircraft serviceable. However six
were prepared for Monday.
HOURS 4:30 SORTIES 4 |
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4.11.57 |
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In spite of a very pessimistic weather forecast flying started off with a swing.
However the 90° crosswind increased by lunchtime, gusting to 40 kts. Flying ceased
except for an air test later in the afternoon.
HOURS 13:05 SORTIES 11 |
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5.11.57 |
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Dawn to Dusk Battle Flight again !. A new system involving a fully flying Battle
Flight was inaugurated to-day. Instead of having to have two aircraft permanently
grounded at 5 minutes, we now get them in the air as soon as they are turned round. By
sticking to pre-arranged times, and fast turn rounds by the ground crew, we got in a
very good days flying.
HOURS 24:20 SORTIES 26 |
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6.11.57 |
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Now using the flight system 'B' Flight flew all through the morning, whilst 'A'
Flight were at readiness all the afternoon. Several interceptions were made on T.33s of
the German Air Force.
HOURS 9:00 SORTIES 10 |
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7.11.57 |
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Bad weather prevented flying until 13.00 hours, when 'A' Flight did all the sorties
HOURS 11:40 SORTIES 12 |
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8.11.57 |
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Whilst carrying out our normal flying Battle Flight commitment we were sent to
investigate an 'X-Ray' on unidentified aircraft, which turned out to be an American
B.50 We were scrambled again later on for the same aircraft, which was successfully
intercepted.
HOURS 18:15 SORTIES 19 |
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9.11.57 |
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Flying in the morning with two at 5 and two at 30 minutes all the afternoon on the
ground. The same arrangement for tomorrow dawn to dusk stand by.
HOURS 7:50 SORTIES 7 |
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11.11.57 |
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A full days flying with only four aircraft serviceable.
HOURS 19:10 SORTIES 21 |
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12.11.57 |
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The Squadron P.A.I.s introduced a cine programme which we started on today, doing
mainly the basic exercises.
HOURS 25:00 SORTIES 22 |
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13.11.57 |
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Some syllabus trips started off the day, but with only three aircraft, the last
sortie of the day was a high level cross country. Three aircraft went to Paris and
back in about 1¼ hours. Fg.Off.A.P. Brewer aborted take off due to a restriction of the
elevator.
HOURS 11:35 SORTIES 8 |
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14.11.57 |
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Low level cross countries, cine ¼s and syllabus trips all day, with serviceability
down to 2 aircraft. The unserviceability is mainly due to refuelling difficulties and
leaking recuperators. Flying Officer A.R. Pollock returned from the Aviation Medicine
course held at R.A.F. Wildenwrath. The course has recently been changed, with the accent
more on future aviation particularly on space travel and the problems which will be met
there and how they will be overcome. Almost everyone on the Squadron has been on the
old course in the last year, and it is most likely that they will be going a second time,
now that the course has changed so much. In the evening, in spite of only four aircraft
serviceable we managed to fulfill the night flying programme.
HOURS DAY 12:30 SORTIES 10
HOURS NIGHT 8:20 SORTIES 8 |
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15.11.57 |
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A Station Alert was recived at 06.00 hours. After one or two hitches, mainly over
gun pack changes, our first aircraft was airborne at 07.35 hours. We carried on with
the alert until 12.00 hours. Little flying in the afternoon as several aircraft u/s
with starter trouble. In the evening the Squadron watched the 2nd T.A.F. v 5 AGRA
BOXING TOURNEMENT.
HOURS 18:15 SORTIES 16 |
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16.11.57 |
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The whole of 2 TAF was blanked out in fog. We received a thorough briefing on Battle
Flight and Station Alert. This concerned minor alterations which have been made
necessary after the last 'Alert'.
NIL HOURS NIL SORTIES |
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18.11.57 |
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Since the fog still persisted, we cleaned aircraft during the morning. In the after-
noon the aircrew lost a crate of beer playing the groundcrew at football, however, it was
still an enjoyable match.
NIL HOURS NIL SORTIES |
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19.11.57 |
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Battle Flight commenced at 07.45 hours and in spite of poor visibility the first pair
were off at 08.00A. As long as we have five or more aircraft serviceable we can fly.
However once reduced to only four, we revert to ground states. It was due to this that
we missed two 'slots' during the day.
HOURS 17:05 SORTIES 18 |
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20.11.57 |
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Unserviceability restricted flying in the morning, and the afternoon was a sports
afternoon, however with the normal Battle Flight commitment on 5 minutes we were
prepared for a scramble. We were scrambled twice after unidentified aircraft, both of
which were intercepted. The first scramble was in record time from the crew room,
3 mins 28 secs. In the evening Flying Officer A.A. Boyle returned from R.A.F. Hospital
Wegburg where he had been for a short time with ear trouble.
HOURS 7:25 SORTIES 8 |
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21.11.57 |
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Lots of trade about all day, and interceptions were carried out on B 66's (USAF
DESTROYER), Swifts, Danish Hunters and Swifts, One F 100 was sighted.
HOURS 19:55 SORTIES 22 |
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22.11.57 |
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Absolutely clamped with fog on the deck. The aircraft which have to stay out in the open
all night, were covered with a thin coat of freezing rain. As the diurnal temperature
increased, the ice cleared. The aircrew amended their pilots notes.
NIL HOURS NIL SORTIES |
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23.11.57 |
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First clear day for weeks, and we got down to some very enjoyable P.I.s on Battle
Flight. We met some F86's coming up from the Canadian Zone which were intercepted. In
the evening Flt.Lt R.H. Barraclough left for the Aviation Medicine course at Wildenwrath
which starts on Monday.
HOURS 11:10 SORTIES 12 |
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25.11.57 |
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The best days flying this month with only five aircraft serviceable, since
November the first. Reasonable weather and a Flying Battle Flight all day.
HOURS 25:50 SORTIES 27 |
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26.11.57 |
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Fg.Off J.B. Cross and Fg.Off. P. Jones started a course on our new mobile Hunter Flight
Simulator. Althopugh both agreed it was very good for teaching emergencies, they did not
approve of it for instrument flying. Fg.Off A.A. Boyle left for leave in the U.K. for
three weeks. We did long syllabus trips all day, of an average of 1 hour 10 minutes
duration.
HOURS 21 SORTIES 18 |
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27.11.57 |
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Fg.Off R. Cope - Lewis arrived on the Squadron from R.A.F. Wunstorf, where the Venom
Wing has just disbanded. There was normal flying in the morning and a sports afternoon
for the whole Station. Fg.Off T.M. Jeffrey returned from the Rolls Royce engine course.
HOURS 12:40 SORTIES 11 |
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28.11.57 |
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Started off with eight aircraft serviceable, and so we sent up several fours on
Battle formation. By lunchtime a front had come in and the airfield was red for the rest
of the day. We had a brief on Drumfire from Sqn.Ldr. T.J. McElhaw. We also discussed
future arrangements for Christmas.
HOURS 17:15 SORTIES 15 |
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29.11.57 |
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We started a low level battle formation for the first time since Schleswig. With a
gin - clear day, and six aircraft we managed to hit our target for the month, which
is remarkable considering we only had an average of 4.5 aircraft throughout the month.
This is mainly due to the hard work and keeness of the ground crew.
HOURS 31:55 SORTIES 29 |
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T.J. McElhaw
(T.J. MCELHAW)
Squadron Leader,
Officer Commanding,
Number 4 Squadron |
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