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SUMMARY OF EVENTS COMPILING OFFICER Fg. Off. C.H.C. Hardie. |
REF. TO APPENDICES |
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| R.A.F. Jever. |
1st January, 1957. |
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No. 93 Squadron won the Fancy Dress Competition last night for the third year
running. Five officers went to Brockzetel in the morning to visit the G.C.I. station.
Because of the icy runway flying was still not possible so the morning was spent in
finishing the monthly returns. In the afternoon the wing watched a film on
thunderstorms: afterwards, the Station Commander lectured on his own experiences
in thunderstorms. |
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2nd |
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In the morning the wing listened to Flt. Lt. B. Watson talking on the subject
of the treatment of prisoners of war in Korea. After lunch the squadron did parachute
training in the gymnasium. |
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3rd |
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The weather cleared at lunchtime, this enabled five sorties to be flown before
the visibility decreased and flying stopped. The groundcrew continued with
servicing. |
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4th |
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As the weather did not clear until after lunch only 14 sorties were flown in
restricted flying conditions. Fg. Off. A.W.E. Johnston lost an access panel whilst
carrying out an aerobatic sortie in Hunter Mk.4 WV318. Unfortunately, the damage
occurred in a part of the fuselage which is not repairable, consequently, the
aircraft is Cat. 4 - unavoidable!
23 May 2005 - Foxy Lady is Fifty - Was Hunter F.4 WV318 on 93 Sqn.
Delta Jets had a 50th birthday party for their Black Hunter T7, WV318 (G-FFOX). Having had its first flight by Flt. Lt. N.J. Carver exactly fifty years ago to the day, it was a fitting tribute to the aircraft that has been the mainstay of the Delta fleet at Kemble since 1996. Originally built as a F.4 at Hawker's Kingston plant, WV318 was delivered to 5 MU Kemble on 16 June 1955 and issued to 33 MU Lyneham a month later. Its long operational career began with 14 Squadron, based at Oldenburg in Germany, transferring to 93 Squadron at Jever on 27 March 1956.
Whilst with this unit she suffered a flying accident on 4 Jan 1957 - F/O Johnston was performing some aerobatics when the gear box panel came adrift, damaging the port wing fillet and the starboard fuselage to such an extent that it was Cat 3 and shipped back to the manufacturer in England for repairs. The panel hinge points were torn off and although the panel was not found it was considered that the toggle fasteners failed. Air Ministry were asked for STI/Hunter/88, which provides a locking plate for the gun and radio access panel fasteners, to be extended to all panels fitted with toggle fasteners.
Back in UK, instead of repairing the aircraft, it was converted to a T.7 two seat training aircraft. WV318 was back with 5 MU at Kemble again on 1 June 1959 for storage pending reissue and returned to operational status with 111 Squadron in March 1960, ending the year on the strength of the CFS. In October 1964 it was converted to a T.7A and passed to the soon-to-be-equipped Lightning Squadrons of 5 and 74. After 5 Squadron had reformed WV318 became its first operational aircraft for the first ten days until the Lightnings arrived.
In February 1970 WV318 started its long association with the Buccaneer force when it was issued to 12 Squadron, which had just reformed with the type at Honington. WV318 was employed with training new Buccaneer crew and keeping present crews current on type with check flights. It also operated the same role in Germany with 15 and 16 Squadrons. It eventually ended up a RAF Lossiemouth with 208 Squadron, where it saw out its service career. When put up for disposal, '318 was one of the last Hunters to serve with the RAF. Just before it was retired it was painted black along with the other three Hunters at Lossiemouth to commemorate forty years of the type and carried the 111 Squadron (Black Arrows) crest.
Purchased in early 1996 by Delta Jets, WV318 was subsequently flown to its new home in March to Kemble, a place it had been based at some eight times throughout its long RAF career. After a complete overhaul back to airworthiness its first post-restoration flight took place at Kemble on 2 May 1996. Since then it has, and still does, regularly appear at airshows the length and breadth of the country. Text by Glen Moreman, photo by Alan Fowles. (Thanks to Ken Sambrooks.) [Not from F540.] |
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5th |
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Flying was not possible again today and the morning was devoted to servicing and
squadron work. |
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7th |
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A good start was made today with 8 aircraft. A considerable amount of minor
unserviceability occurred ( possibly due to the aircraft sitting outside in previous
bad weather) and only 24.35 hours were flown. |
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8th |
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In the morning the wing was given a lecture on aircraft recognition. After
lunch the Squadron did parachute training followed by a game of volleyball. In
the afternoon the C.F.S. Central Examining Wing arrived. |
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9th |
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The main feature of the day was the visit by C.F.S. Three members of the
Squadron flew with the team:- Flt. Lt. R.S.G. Poole, Fg. Off. C.H.C. Hardie and
Plt. Off. R.E. Hymans. The afternoon - Sports. |
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10th |
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The best days flying of the month was achieved today. 34.20 hours were flown
including night sorties. The weather remained fair all day and except for a
short period flying was unrestricted. |
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11th |
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A pair of aircraft carried out air to sea firing today in preparation for A.P.S.
Some new packs were used and new armourers were given experience in re-arming an
aircraft. A total of 31.15 hours were flown today. |
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12th |
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The morning was given over to squadron work. Sqn. Ldr. H. Minnis inspected the
Barrack Block and the airmen's Best Blue. |
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14th |
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The weather remained fair today with a high cloud base. The Squadron flew 32
sorties practising high level battle formation and cine quarters. |
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15th |
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We were able to fly this morning, but at lunchtime heavy snow showers stopped
flying. In the afternoon the Squadron did parachute training in the gymnasium. |
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16th |
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In the morning the snow ploughs started to clear the runway. After lunch most
of the aircrew helped to clear ice patches off the runway. The groundcrew carried
on with servicing to obtain the maximum number of aircraft for Exercise Guest tomorrow. |
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17th |
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Flying is still not possible due to the bad weather, consequently Jever did not
participate in Exercise Guest. Fg. Off. I. Madelin lectured on aircraft instruments
in the morning followed by a film and a lecture on Atomic Warfare. A Squadron Squash
competition was held in the afternoon. Flt. Lt. B. Watson was the winner, Sqn. Ldr.H. Minnis was runner up. |
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18th |
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It was hoped that it would be possible to fly in the morning: unfortunately, the
weather did not clear. In the afternoon Sqn. Ldr. A.P. Jones, S.M.O. lectured and
showed a film on First Aid. Afterwards Flt. Lt. C.T. Harvey gave a talk on the
Transatlantic route, flying jet fighter aircraft. |
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19th |
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The cloud base and visibility were too low to fly. Wing Commander V.C.
Woodward inspected the Squadron in the morning. The groundcrew continued with
servicing. They have been busy all the week carrying out S.I. Hunter 30 on the
hydraulic pump. |
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21st |
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The Squadron started to practice for the Sylt Attachment today. Most of the
sorties were simulated flag quarters at 20,000 feet. The Squadron leaves on the
11th February, 1957 for A.P.S. at Sylt. |
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22nd |
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cine training continued today, Sqn. Ldr. H. Minnis led the aerobatic team in its
first trip this year. In the ten days available for flying this month the Squadron
has flown 176.45 hours on Hunter aircraft. |
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23rd |
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During the morning some pilots practised air to ground firing in a Vampire T.11
on Meppen Range. A sports afternoon followed. |
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24th |
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Flying was not possible until lunchtime due to poor visibility. The Wing
listened to a lecture given by Fg. Off. C. Taylor and Fg. Off. C.H.C. Hardie in the
morning. In the afternoon the Squadron flew 13.40 hours in restricted conditions. |
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25th |
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Again flying was not possible in the first part, of the morning. However
restricted flying was carried out afterwards. All Squadron members were delighted
to hear today that the Squadron is re-equipping with the Hunter Mk.6 in March. The
attachment to A.P.S. Sylt has been cancelled. |
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26th |
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This morning aircrew carried on with Squadron jobs and looked at their cine films.
The groundcrew cleaned the hangar and did primary servicing. |
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28th |
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The week started with reasonable flying weather. The Squadron flew 30.15 hours
mainly concentrating on high level battle formation and low level navigation. |
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29th |
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The weather remained fine all day enabling the Squadron to fly 40.20 hours.
This was the best day's flying since November. All aspects of flying were covered
except air firing. |
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30th |
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The bad weather returned today preventing any flying. The Squadron began to
prepare the monthly returns before the sports afternoon. |
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31st |
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In the morning the Wing watched a film on a Static Air Defence System.
Afterwards Wg. Cdr. A. Shaw gave a further explanation of the system. In the
afternoon the Squadron finished the monthly returns. |
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FLYING HOURS
Operational type DAY NIGHT SORTIES
Hunter Mk.4 279.30 12.30 412
Training Type
Vampire T.11 26.25 2.30
20
TOTALS: 305.55 1500 432
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2.1.57
4.1.57
11.1.57
12.1.57
13.1.57
18.1.57
26.1.57
27.1.57 |
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PERSONNEL
Fg, Off, W.R. Clayton-Jones returned from leave.=
Fg. Off. R.H. Biggs returned from leave.
Plt. Off. A.J. Netherton returned from sick leave.
Fg. Off. C. Taylor returned from Winter Survival Course
Fg. Off. B.A.E. Sanderson returned from leave.
Fg. Off. J.E. Pigdon detached to R.A.F. Old Sarum.
Lt. T.F.B. Young, R.N. proceeded on the Winter Survival Course..
Fg. Off. T. Page was repatriated to the U.K.
OPERATIONAL
The Squadron exceeded the reduced target of 284 hours by 8 hours in spite of
poor flying weather this month. A pleasing feature of the flying effort was the
fact that the 5 most inexperienced pilots got more than their fair share of hours,
which is probably unusual for this time of year.
During the first 3 weeks of the month the training consisted of some air-to-sea
firing and simulated cine flag attacks at 20,000 feet in preparation for Sylt. When
the A.P.S. attachment was cancelled normal training was resumed. The Squadron did
not do battle flight this month and consequently there were very few P.I.'s
carried out. Night flying programmes were cancelled several times because of bad
weather.
A few air-to-ground firing sorties in the Vampire T.11 were carried out to
give the new pilots some experience in this aspect of weapons training.
The aircraft serviceability increased towards the end of the month mainly because
a number of outstanding A.O.G. demands were met. We still await a Cat.4
replacement aircraft.
Signed RSGPoole Flt.Lt.
For
(H. MINNIS)
Squadron Leader,
Officer Commanding,
No. 93 Squadron.
NOMINAL ROLL OF PILOTS Squadron Leader H. Minnis , Officer Commanding.
'A' Flight 'B' Flight
Flt. Lt. B. Watson Flt. Lt. R.S.G. Poole
Fg. Off. C. Taylor Lt. T.F.B. Young (R.N.)
Fg. Off. C.H.C. Hardie Fg. Off. B.A.E. Sanderson
Fg. Off. W.R. Clayton-Jones Fg. Off. J. E. Pigdon
Fg. Off. A.J. Landon Fg. Off. R. H. Biggs
Fg. Off. A.W.E. Johnston Fg. Off. J.R. Lynn
Plt. Off. A.C. Clifton Plt. Off. P.L.F. Bradley
Plt. Off. R.E. Hymans Plt. Off. A.J. Netherton
NOMINAL ROLL OF S.N.C.O.s
F.S. O'Neill, J. Sgt. Walls, A.
F.S. Belham Sgt. Granger-Phillips, J.W.H.
C.T. Wibberley Sgt. Cowlishaw
Sgt. Scholes, J. Sgt. Best, R.
Sgt. Rowbottom, b.
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