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| PLACE |
DATE |
TIME |
SUMMARY OF EVENTS COMPILING OFFICER Plt.Off. W.E. Bell. |
REF. TO
APPENDICES |
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| JEVER. |
SEPT. |
1st |
TUESDAY. Flt.Lt. Paterson went to Oldenburg to sit for his Administration and
Organisation exam today. Plt.Off. Bell. also went to act as an invigilating officer.
 Fg.Off. Standish did an air test at 30,000 ft. The aircraft was not
satisfactory when he landed. |
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2nd |
WEDNESDAY. Met. briefing forecast fine weather for the rest of the day. This state-
meant was backed up by a wonderfully cloudless sky.
The Squadron was acting as Battle Flight this morning. At 10.45 hours
a Form "D" came through. It consisted of an R.P. attack at Meppen Range. Sgt.
Thomas led the strike. Unfortunately for Plt.Off. Ridgeway, his sortie was cancelled
as he had no experience on R/P attacks. Fg. Off. Standish took his place.
The Squadron stood down for sports activities this afternoon.
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3rd. |
THURSDAY. The fine spell of weather has given way to more rain today.
At 09.00 hours Flt.Lt. Sturman took off with Fg.Off. Standish for R/P
attacks at Meppen. The exercise had to be abandoned because of the low cloud base.
Instead they carried out a Q.G.H. The range was serviceable for cannon attacks, so
the rest of the day was spent on Air to Ground.
Plt.Off. Couch made a short local sortie, later on in the day to do some
cloud flying.
Three night flying sorties were made. Plt.Off. Balfour practiced land-
ings after a local sortie. Plt.Off. Sanderson and Plt.Off. Ridgeway went on the
night cross country. |
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4th. |
FRIDAY. There was a fair amount of cloud to start with this morning, but it was
forecast to disperse by about midday.
Battle Flight was scrambled at 10.30 led by Flt.Lt. Sturman. Two P/Is
were made. The first was very good, but unfortunately the second turned unto a
tail chase.
Contrary to the Met. forecast the weather has grown steadily worse.
Battle Flight was scrambled this afternoon, but no inter-
ception could be carried out as the cloud went up to 37,000 ft. The two sections
were unable to see each other at the top of the snake climb, so they descended and
landed independently.
Flt.Lt. Paterson made two trips in the Meteor, taking Plt.Off.
Balfour and Plt.Off. Couch for I.F. practice. Flt.Lt. Paterson then made an aerobatic
sortie. |
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5th. |
SATURDAY. The A.O.C.'s rehearsal parade went off very well this morning.
Flt.Lt. Paterson went on another aerobatic sortie as he is practising
for giving a display for the A.O.C.
All the pilots and groundcrew spent the morning tidying the Hangar for
the C.O.'s inspection. |
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6th. |
SUNDAY. |
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7th. |
MONDAY. Flt.Lt. Paterson started this mornings flying, practising Aerobatics.
He then flew to Sylt for a Court Martial, which is taking place tomorrow.
Plt.Off. Macknish and Plt.Off. Couch went out on Air Contact team
practice. Fg.Off. Wallace and Plt.Off. Balfour made two ground support sorties under
the direction of the Air Contact team.
Six pilots went to Ops "B" radar site. They were all shown around and
the method of controlling and interception was described to them. It also gave the
pilots an insight of the very difficult conditions the radar operators have to work
under. |
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8th. |
TUESDAY. The ridge of high pressure that has been centred over North Germany for
the last two days, is still persisting, giving us completely clear sky.
Practice I.F. details were carried out by Flt.Lt. Pearch and Fg.Off.
Bates in the Meteor this morning.
F/Sgt. Telfer flew to Sylt to collect the Vampire which Flt.Lt. Paterson
flew last Tuesday as it has several hours to go before its
major and can now be flown instead of left lying idle at Sylt.
Fg.Off. Wallace took some flying time returns to Gutersloh.
Battle Flight was scrambled twice this morning. The form-
ation had to split up into sub-sections on both details. The P.I.'s on the first
detail were both abortive. The second detail took off with three aircraft. This
time the P.I.'s were far more successful and very well controlled.
This afternoon Sqn.Ldr. Allen took over the lead of Battle
Flight. The formations split up into sub-sections as in the morning. The first and
third P.I.'s ended in tailchases. The second was very well controlled but unfortun-
ately the fighter aircraft did not see their targets. Battle Flight was scrambled
for the last time of the day against a B.45. Unfortunately the Vampire could not make
height in time and had to give up the chase.
Night flying started with a dusk formation detail led by Flt.Lt.
Pearch. The rest of the details were X-country and Q.G.H.'s. Thirteen sorties were
flown during the evening. |
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9th |
WEDNESDAY. The decorators have finished painting the pilots crew-room and "A" and
"B" Flight Commanders offices. All the furniture was moved back into the rooms which
took up most of the morning.
Fg.Off. Wood flew to Celle with Fg.Off. Bates in the Meteor. Fg.Off.
Bates practised I.F. going. On the return journey Fg.Off. Bates flew back with "V"
which had just been resprayed.
The whole Squadron was stood down this afternoon for sports activities. |
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10th |
THURSDAY. Flying got off to an early start this morning at 08.45, so as to get
the maximum possible sorties at Meppen Range. The first four sorties were cannon
only. Rocket and cannon attacks were then carried out. Sgt. Thomas made an operat-
ion sortie firing 50 rounds in two attacks. Flt.Lt. Pearch obtained the highest
score of 78% during the days shooting.
Flt.Lt. Paterson returned from the Court Martial at Sylt.
Plt.Off Revnell flew on Battle Flight with 4 Squadron. He
made one sortie.
Met. briefing was at 18.00 hours this evening for night flying.
The weather looked very doubtful, so Sqn.Ldr. Allen made a weather check and decided
it was not good enough and cancelled the programme.
The pilots and groundcrew worked in the Hangar for the rest
of the evening spraying and cleaning aircraft. |
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11th |
FRIDAY. Flt.Lt. Paterson gave an aerobatic display as a final practice for the
A.O.C.
Wg.Cdr. Coulson led an A.O.C.'s fly past practice, with Sqn.Ldr. Allen
and Flt.Lt. Pearch leading two of the Flights.
The rest of the day and evening was spent generally getting the aircraft
spic and span for Tuesday. |
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12th |
SATURDAY. After the Station Commander's parade the Group Captain inspected the
Squadron living accommodation. He was delighted with the excellent effort made.
All the aircraft were lined in front of the hangar ready for the Group Captain's
inspection. He was also pleased with the turnout of the aircraft and hangar
The Squadron stood down at mid-day for the weekend. |
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14th |
MONDAY. Today is the final day before the Air Officer Commanding's inspection.
The Squadron took part in two dress rehearsals for the parade tomorrow. All the
aircraft were lined up outside the hangar. They will be left out overnight so that
they will be all ready for tomorrow. The pilots stayed on in the evening to add the
finishing touches to the hangar and crew-rooms. |
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15th |
TUESDAY. Apart from a strong wind this morning, the weather was ideal for the
parade. Air Commodore McGregor arrived at 09.30 hours and the parade commenced.
After the parade the A.O.C. inspected all the various sections.
At 11.20 Air Commodore McGregor inspected 93 Squadron Hangar. All the pilots were
standing by their aircraft with their respective groundcrews. Whilst the A.O.C.
inspected the aircraft Sqn.Ldr. Allen introduced him to the pilots. The Squadron
contributed 8 aircraft to the Wing flypast of 16 aircraft for the benefit of the A.O.C.
An enjoyable and uneventful trip.
Group Captain Powell Sheddon came round this afternoon to
congratulate all members of 93 Squadron on the result of the A.O.C.'s inspection. |
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16th |
WEDNESDAY. Battle Flight got off to a good start this morning, with a scramble at
08.45. Fg.Off. Wood led the formation. F/Sgt. Telfer had to return after a few
minutes flying due to R/T trouble. Only one P.I. was carried out, which went off
fairly well. The second scramble was also led by Fg.Off. Wood. Plt.Off. Bell had
to return this time with R/T failure. Controlling was excellent on this P.I. and a
very good interception was made.
The Squadron flying consisted of practice close and battle formation.
The afternoon half the Squadron was employed putting up tents for
the exercise and the rest were potato picking. |
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17th |
THURSDAY. R.A.F. Oldenburg were having a ground defence exercise today. Battle
flight had three F "D"'s to give the gunners some practice. They consisted of
approaching at ground level and then making a rocket attack, followed by a cannon
attack on the control tower. The last Form "D" was unfortunately cancelled through
bad weather.
Night flying started with a dusk formation flight. This was followed
by X-countries and Q.G.H. Each of the last sorties ended with runs over the airfield
to give a search-light battery some practice. Twelve night flying sorties were flown. |
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18th |
FRIDAY. The weather looked very grim this morning. Fg.Off. Wallace who was on
Battle Flight went up with Plt.Off. Couch to make an actual weather check. Battle
Flight was not scrambled until 14.00 hours. F/Sgt. Shrubsole
was going to lead but his brakes failed whilst taxying, so Sgt. Knight took the lead.
One very poor interception was carried out. The target aircraft was about 8 miles
away when control was reporting them as four.
The rest of the Squadron was employed in erecting tents for
the start of the exercise. |
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19th |
SATURDAY. Exercise "Grand Repulse" started today. First pilots or sparrows were
in the ops tent at 05.00 hours. Unfortunately the A/F colour state was red for most
of the morning and very little happened. Sqn.Ldr. Allen led a pair at 12.45 for an
armed recce of the Rheine area. At 14.40 Fg.Off. Wood took off with Plt.Off. Balfour
to patrol the Beachhead.
Unknown and Lofty Hope on Exercise Grand Repulse. (Not from F540 thanks to Lofty Hope).
Sgt. Thomas led a pair at 18.30 to make an anti-aircraft patrol. He
saw two formations of F.84's and made a successful interception on one and claimed one
F.84 destroyed.
Sqn.Ldr. Allen made a successful interception on a formation of F.84's
claiming one destroyed and one damaged.
Battle Flight was scrambled at 14.15 and were vectored to the battle area.
They were then used as target practice for an ack-ack emplacement. |
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20th |
SUNDAY. Todays activities on exercise "Grand Repulse" were much quieter than
expected. The colour state was red for most of the morning due to a low cloud base.
At 15.55 Fg.Off. Standish took off with Plt.Off. Sanderson to do an armed
recce in the Delmenhorst area. Fg.Off. Standish managed to make a good attack on some
S.S.V.'s with cannon.
Sqn.Ldr. Allen led the next flight which consisted of a formation of 4
aircraft. This mission was R/P and attacks on tanks and S.S.V.'s in the Harpstadt
area. Sqn.Ldr. Allen located the S.S.V.'s in a wood and made an R/P attack. He then
led his formation in to strafe the area with 20 m.m. The claims for S.S.V.'s damage
were very good. |
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21st |
MONDAY. The whole Squadron moved to Ahlhorn today. No. 98 Squadron should
have been here today, but as they have been grounded we took their place. Fg.Off.
Wallace had gone to Ahlhorn the night before with the ground party. Sqn.Ldr. Allen
led the pilots to Ahlhorn arriving at 09.30. We flew over the aerodrome in a close
formation for the benefit of the high ranking officers from N.A.T.O. who were there
watching the days operations.
There was far more going on here than back at base, and 31 sorties were
flown in all. Most of these were good targets of tanks and S.S.V.'s. All the pilots
had an excellent days flying. The Squadron returned to base at dusk. |
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22nd |
TUESDAY. Flt.Lt. Sturman led the first flight of 4, which got airborne at 07.30.
It had been reported that a concentration of S.S.V.'s were suspected to be in the Delmen-
horst area. The S.S.V.'s were spotted very heavily camouflaged in a barn by the side
of a farm yard. R/P and cannon attacks were successfully made.
The rest of the mornings flying consisted of road recces with attacks
being made if the pilots saw anything. All concentrations of tanks and S.S.V.'s
were radioed on the flash reporting system. |
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23rd. |
WEDNESDAY. The formations got away this morning before the exercise came to an end
at 10.15 hours.
Squadron practice flying was then carried out for the rest of the day.
Sgt. Thomas led a low level Battle formation at 10.30, while the rest of
the pilots cleared up all the tents and apparatus used in the exercise. |
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24th |
THURSDAY. The Squadron got back to normal flying today, practicing close and Battle
formation, controlled descents and tail chases.
Night flying started at 18.20 hours and carried on until 21.00 hours.
The majority of the sorties carried out were in the nature of cross-country flights,
the route being Base - Emden - Zwischerahner - Wesermunde - Luxhaven - Base. Besides
the X-countries however Sgt. Knight flew the Meteor on Army searchlights co-operation
with Major Corey as a passenger. |
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25th |
FRIDAY. Flying Wing was stood down for 72 hours. |
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26th |
SATURDAY. Stand down. |
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27th |
SUNDAY. Stand down. |
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28th |
MONDAY. The Squadron provided Battle Flight which was led by Fg.Off. Wallace, and
carried out two sorties before being stood down for lunch. The rest of the Squadron
carried on with the new pilots having dual checks in the Meteor and doing solo sector
recce.
After lunch the weather clamped, and found that the cloud extended from
1,500 ft. to 3400 ft. Battle Flight did no further sorties. |
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29th |
TUESDAY. Battle Flight was led by Fg.Off. Standish today and carried out four
sorties. On the third sortie Fg.Off. Standish had trouble starting up and Sgt. Thomas
took the lead, only three aircraft taking off.
Flt.Lt. Pearch flew down to Oldenburg in the Meteor with Plt.Off. Price
doing dual on the way there. Flt.Lt. Pearch then brought the Meteor back to base
whilst Plt.Off. Price flew Vampire "E" to base, the nose having been repaired.
Plt.Off. Bell flew Vampire "S" to Fassburg for re-spray and remained at
Fassburg. |
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30th |
WEDNESDAY. The weather this morning was very bad with a cloud base of 400
ft., therefore the airfield colour state was red. The Form "D"'s were in for Battle
Flight but owing to the low cloud over Meppen Range, Battle Flight did no flying
whatsoever.
The airfield state became green after lunch and Fg.Off. Bates flew to
Fassburg and returned to base later in the afternoon.
All the pilots not on duty which kept them away from the Squadron crew-
room were lectured on new flying equipment by the Command Medical Officer, who visited
the Squadron. |
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Rounds fired - 20 m.m. - 2489
R/P-96
Hours flown
-Vampire-241.35
Meteor-30.00
Sorties flown-
Vampire
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338
Meteor
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38
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MOVEMENTS.
Fg.Off. WALLACEReturned Off Leave- 6-9-53.
Plt.Off. RAMSAYT.D. Cuxhaven- 16-9-53.
Plt.Off. SANDERSONT.D. Cuxhaven- 16-9-53.
Flt.Lt. STURMANTour Expired., U.K.- 27-9-53.
Plt.Off. SENARArrived on Squadron- 21-9-53.
Plt.Off. DAVISArrived on Squadron- 21-9-53.
Plt.Off. MITCHELLArrived on Squadron- 23-9-53.
Plt.Off. HARPERArrived on Squadron- 23-9-53.
Plt.Off. HICKMANArrived on Squadron- 23-9-53.
Plt.Off. PRICEArrived on Squadron- 23-9-53.
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ADMINISTRATION.
"Grand Repulse" provided a good opportunity to operate the Squadron from a
dispersed site although normal domestic accommodation was used. In addition the
redeployment of 10 aircraft and 16 pilots to Ahlhorn and their subsequent operation
at short notice during this exercise was a valuable experience.
The Squadron U.E. of aircraft has been officially confirmed as 22 and a new
personnel establishment is expected soon, closely followed, we hope, by the additional
men. |
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NOMINAL ROLL.
SQN.LDR. R.N.G. ALLEN. D.F.C..
"A" FLIGHT"B" FLIGHT
FLT.LT. A.W. PATERSON.FLT.LT. K.M. PEARCH.
FG.OFF. A.R. WALLACE.FG.OFF. E.K.G. BATES.
FG.OFF. J.C.M. WOOD.PLT.OFF. A.C. RAMSAY.
FG.OFF. D.W. STANDISH.PLT.OFF. B.J. REVNELL..
PLT.OFF. W.E. BELL.PLT.OFF. B.A.E. SANDERSON.
FG.OFF. R.S. HANNAH.PLT.OFF. H.D. RIDGEWAY.
PLT.OFF. T. BALFOUR.PLT.OFF. J.E. MACKNISH.
PLT.OFF. G.J. COUCH.PLT.OFF. K.B. SENAR.
PLT.OFF. J.S.C. DAVIS.PLT.OFF. G.E. HICKMAN.
PLT.OFF. W.G. MITCHELL.PLT.OFF. F.C. PRICE.
PLT.OFF. D.H. HARPER.SGT. D.J. THOMAS.
F/SGT. C.J. TELFER.SGT. R.G. KNIGHT.
F/SGT. W.R. SHRUBSOLE..
Signed RNG Allen
(R.N.G. ALLEN.)
SQUADRON LEADER,
OFFICER COMMANDING,
NO. 93 SQUADRON, R.A.F. |
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