This time last month things were looking pretty grim for the Fleet Air Arm Association.
Simply put, we couldn’t find anyone prepared to step up for the National Secretary’s position. Being an incorporated body, it’s a legislative requirement that we have a Secretary, so the lack of one would have left us no option but to wind up the National Body. That, in turn would have had significant implications on functioning of individual Divisions.
I’m pleased to report, however, that two nominations have since been received for the position, so the immediacy of the crisis has been averted. The Federal Council will vote on which one will be elected to the position, when it meets towards the end of October.
We’re not out of the woods, however, as we still have nobody prepared to give the Slipstream Editor’s job a crack. If we can’t find someone, then we’ll no longer be able to produce it. That situation is exacerbated by the loss of this magazine, as I’ve run out of steam and will hang up my own running shoes in November.
Our concern is that without either Slipstream or FlyBy there is no ‘product’ for most FAAAA members, and they may question whether or not to renew next year.
The solution is very simple - find someone suitable who’s prepared to give it a go! With modern computers and today’s software its never been easier to put together a magazine, and Slipstream is only published every quarter.
AUH-1H of the Helicopter Flight Vietnam undergoes a quick maintenance check. ✈
FlyBy has been a monthly magazine but that’s not to say it has to be. If someone was prepared to step up, perhaps the two could be combined? It could also become an electronic magazine? This would avoid having to find a new printer (our long standing one has just shut up shop), and the whole business of packaging and posting, which is expensive and time consuming.
So, please think about it. Any aspiring Editor(s) would essentially need to be keen, committed and have an eye for detail. You’d have a blank canvas to shape the magazine(s) as you see fit and there would be plenty of help around. See the back page of this magazine for more information.
Finally, we are still pressing the Sea Power Centre for the date of the curatorial review on the value of adding an MRH90 Taipan to the Museum’s collection. As you would know, the Taipans were a key element of the Navy’s ORBAT for over ten years and it is hard to understand why the question of relevancy is even being asked.
The Director promised such a review three months ago and the Association made a significant submission to it, but so far it has not occurred. He has promised to look into the matter and get back to us.
Regrettably, we see little tangible change in the progress of getting the Museum back to its former status as one of the top ten attractions in the Illawarra. We will continue to work with the SPC towards this goal. ✈
REST IN PEACE
Since the last edition of FlyBy we have been advised that the following have Crossed the Bar:
A few words and thoughts from the Editor of this magazine.
Rest In Peace
We remember those who are no longer with us. 05
COMFAA Update
The Wyatt Earp
The ‘real’ FAA gives us an update on what they’ve been doing for the past months. 26
Around The Traps
Bits and Pieces of Odd and Not-so-odd news and gossip.
The story of the Navy’s most unlikely ship on a voyage that didn’t go well.
The Littlest Lady
How the first female sailor joined the RAN, and what became of her.
Robert Witt; David “Foxy” Cronin; Philip Beck; Ivan (John) Waskiw; Neil Macmillian
You can find further details by clicking on the image of the candle. ✈
This month’s crop of correspondence from our Readers.
The status of orders for Wall of Service Plaques.
Time Tells
A glacier reveals the wreckage of a long forgotten aircraft crash.
32
Lavender’s Line
Charles Lavender did the RAN a great service - or did he?
46
Fathers & Sons
A snapshot of three generations of military aviators in the same family.
47
Toz’s Presentations
Remembering Toz Dadswell’s management talks.
Last month’s Mystery answered, and a new one presented for your puzzlement (p29).
By Ed. The above photo came to me via Kim Dunstan and so I wrote to the gent on the left, Winston “Wingnut” James to ask about it. He was kind enough to send me the following: Dear Editor
Just catching up on my email backlog and found I was a little overdue with this one. I have no problem with anything you want to with the photo so feel free to use it anyway you wish.
I am not sure about the exact details of the plates but have had them for a long time now on a number of vehicles including a Pajero, a Morano Skoda (pictured); Mazda 5 and a Mazda 9, where the are today.
Initially they were a present from my wife, Marie, and cost around $450. They have always attracted attention with a few Association guys commenting how they would have loved to beat me to the punch but were unaware that this sort of plate was available. I have also been overtaken on one of the local freeways a couple of times with enthusiastic drivers indicating that they had seen the plates and identifying that they were also Naval Aviators. I suspect they were on their way to RAAF Pearce and probably wondering why an old fart like me was driving such easily identified set of wheels.
On another occasion I went to HMAS STIRLING to get the vehicle registered. After going through the normal paperwork the PO asked for the rego details. I simply told him FLY NAVY which he took as a great joke and dispatched one one of his staff to get the real details. He was a little crest fallen when said member returned and confirmed what he had previously been told. I got the pass and one of the few little triumphs of my career.
I finally paid off in 1982 after a 24 year stint in the Navy but have still held on to the plates. From the Navy I joined the Civil Aviation Safety Authority as an Examiner of Airman, later changing to Flying Operations Inspector. The highlights of that move were getting a little time on business jets and flying as a pilot with the Police Air Wing where Bomber Brown was the Chief Pilot and ensured that all aircrew flew to a very high standard.
Then came the millennium when I felt it was time to hang up the old flight suit and disappear to some local drinking spot to swap lies and fading memories with others of similar backgrounds. and that’s where I have been with my plates for the last 24+ years.
Please feel free to alter, amend or anything else as you see fit.
All the best and take care, Winston James.
Mmonths since my last submission to FlyBy. When I look back over this period, the FAA has continued to go from strength to strength, delivering Government directed capability when and where it is needed.
The following lists just some of the FAA highlights over the period, and includes the Fleet Air Arm mid-year update produced in July. This is only a snapshot of the many FAA achievements in the year so far, and provides a glimpse of the incredible work our FAA members do every day in the delivery of Naval Aviation Combat power in support of National Defence.
Training
The first 6 months of this 2024 saw the accumulation of over 6000 flying hours and over 3000 simulator hours across the Fleet Air Arm. This has come as part of a collaborative effort to optimise our business and ensure that our
generation of qualified aircrew for roles in both Navy and Army Aviation. Recently graduated Pilots, Aviation Warfare Officers (AvWOs) and Aircrewman (ACMN) will remain at 723 Squadron for consolidation before moving onto MH-60R Operational Flying Training at 725 Squadron. There they will further develop the skills and knowledge to operate their Romeos as part of a Battle Ready embarked flight.
Operations
The Fleet Air Arm’s operational Romeo Squadrons, 816 and 808, continue to deliver Aviation combat power to the Fleet through our embarked flights. These flights have been incredibly agile, operating not just at sea but also from deployed locations ashore with two flights deploying to RAAF Base East Sale for the critical Antisubmarine Exercise (ASWEX) off the SE coast of Victoria. During this exercise, Fleet Air Arm members joined with surface units to exercise tactical and command decision-
making that is the centrepiece of the Submarine Commanders’ Course. The culmination of this exercise is the final practical assessment for future Submarine Commanders, with the deployed Romeo flights aircraft playing a significant role in direct support to this highly demanding course.
Other Romeo activities saw 816 Squadron’s Flight 607 embed alongside HSM-37, a US Navy MH-60R helicopter squadron based in Hawaii. Over a four-week period the RAN Aircrew flew alongside USN MH-60R both as independent RAN crew and mixed with USN aircrew, while the Flight maintenance personnel worked alongside their USN technical counterparts, both on RAN and USN Romeo aircraft. These activities continue to build on our very strong relationship and moves further toward achieving longer-term interoperability goals.
Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)
822X Squadron concluded Schiebel S-100 air vehicle operations on 30 Jun 2024. The Squadron made the most of the final months of
S-100 flying, embarking on operations and continuing to develop and grow our Remote Pilot Warfare Officer (RPWO) category in concert with the technical workforce. The Integrated Investment Program identified the government’s investment toward a range of uncrewed and autonomous systems that can work together and complement crewed systems in a range of missions. 822X Squadron have already commenced working alongside Army’s 20 Regiment (20th Surveillance and Target Acquisition Regiment) who operate the RQ-21 Integrator Uncrewed Aerial systems. 822X Squadron will continue to work closely with their Army counterparts, ensuring the right people, skills, equipment and procedures are ready for the next phase of Maritime UAS operations.
People
The Fleet Air Arm is not immune to technical workforce challenges being seen across the country, but work never stops on attracting the
Below. The Schiebel S-100. 822X Squadron concluded its flying operations on the craft at the end of June 24, helping to determine UAS policy on the way ahead. ✈
The FAA’s two MH60R Squadrons continue to deliver combat power to the Fleet through its embarked Flights.
❝As it has always been, it truly is the people that make the Fleet Air Arm what it is ❞
next generation of aircrew, maintainers and other Fleet Air Arm members. All Squadrons and units have played an active role in promoting the naval aviation through a variety of public engagement activities. Aircraft Maintenance Engineering (AME) attraction programs; 723 Squadron EC135 School visits, support to Power FM local radio breakfast broadcasts; and the FAA’s own Naval Aviation Prospect Scheme (NAPS), that continues to showcase skills and opportunities a career in naval aviation can provide. Our NAPS personnel travel with helicopter simulators and Gas Turbine Virtual Reality maintenance simulators throughout NSW, but also more recently as far as Darwin during Exercise Pitch Black. These important efforts allow the public to get a small taste of life in the FAA, and help attract our future workforce.
As it has always been, it truly is the people that make the Fleet Air Arm what it is. I am continually impressed by the calibre of humans that support FAA accomplishments each and every day. There are countless activities occurring in parallel at any given moment, from our high quality maintainers working shifts to keep our aircraft airworthy and flying, to our skilled aircrew that tactically operate them. And the myriad of FAA personnel conducting administration and background staff work that supports and enables our front line operations.
All of it is truly amazing, and I was very pleased and proud to see some of our people acknowledged for their efforts in the King’s Birthday Honours list. Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) to CPO William Carter, Conspicuous Service Medals (CSM) to LCDR William Stow and LCDR Timothy Craig, plus twelve Australia Day Medallions awarded to FAA members.
Today’s FAA continues to display high levels of adaptability and resilience as the ADF continues to navigate the ever changing geopolitical environment. I have no doubt that our people will continue to develop their individual and collective skills and knowledge in preparation to ensure the ongoing security of our amazing nation.
NEXT PAGE: The Fleet Air Arm mid-year flyer update. It captures the essence of what the FAA did from Jan-Jun 24 on one page. ✈
In 1947, the same year as the birth of our Fleet Air Arm, the Australian Government formed ANARE, a body charged with establishing permanent Australian Antarctic stations. Its first expedition involved the most unlikely of ships and illsuited aircraft and, not surprisingly, it didn’t go well.
Composite image by Marcus Peake.
After the second world war Australia was increasingly keen to engage on the international stage and, in particular, to establish a permanent presence in the Antarctic.
In 1947 a number of reconnaissance flights were conducted over the Southern Ocean and the Government moved quickly to approve permanent stations on Heard and Macquarie Islands. It also started looking around for a ship to reconnoitre a site for a station on the mainland continent.
The principal requirements for the vessel were that it be robust enough for the task, readily
HMAS Wyatt Earp leaving Williamstown, VIC, on 19 December 1947. This voyage would be the first to operate under the banner of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE). It would also mark the end of her employment with the Navy (Wikipedia). ✈
available, and cheap. Sir Douglas Mawson, who had been involved in a number of expeditions before the war, remembered the Wyatt Earp, an old sealing ship of that time, and recommended it for the task.
The “Twerp” had a long and chequered history. It had been built in Norway in 1918 the fishing boat Fanefjord and was strongly constructed from pine and oak, with a rounded bottom and no keels to avoid damage by ice.
Having plied her trade in northern waters for 15 years she was bought by the American millionaire explorer Lincoln Ellsworth in 1933, who had its hull sheathed in oak and steel plate for additional protection. He named it the Wyatt Earp after his childhood hero.
Ellsworth made a number of expeditions to Antarctica between 1933 and 1939, but grew increasingly disillusioned with the ship, which, in heavy seas, rolled through 110º in just 4½ seconds.
By 1939 Ellsworth had had enough, and he gifted the ship to Hubert Wilkins, the well known Australian Antarctic explorer, pilot and observer. Wilkins, who had an equally low opinion of the Twerps sea-keeping qualities, promptly sold the vessel to the RAN for the princely sum of £4,400, which included an Aeronca floatplane and Northrop Delta secured on her deck.
The outbreak of war some weeks later gave the vessel new purpose. The RAN renamed the vessel Wongala, and set her to carrying ammunition and stores from Sydney to Darwin. But even that tested her qualities and she returned to Adelaide to serve in such roles as a port examination vessel, guard ship and finally, by the end of the war, as a static training ship for the Boy Scouts Association in Adelaide. Her sailing days might well have ended there, but for the need to find an Antarctic research vessel for the newly formed Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition, or ANARE.
Finding a ship to fill this role had presented a real problem. It seemed there was no vessel available and, if the first expedition was to occur in 1947, there was no time to lease one from overseas. Then Mawson remembered the Twerp
The RAN agreed to be responsible for the ship and the Wondalga was placed in dry dock where she was largely rebuilt at a staggering cost of £150,000. Rotting timbers in her hull were replaced, her superstructure was extended forward and upwards, the galley was enlarged, and a new and much larger engine was installed. Surprisingly, the sails of the Marconi rig were retained, partly as an emer-
gency means of propulsion but mainly to help stabilise the ship. She was, quite possibly, the last sailing vessel to commission into the RAN.
What the crew didn’t know was that when the superstructure was extended forward, what had been the scuppers on the main deck were boarded over - but the work was badly done with inadequate caulking between the gaps in the planking. Later, this was to become a real problem.
The commissioning ceremony for the newly renamed HMAS Wyatt Earp set the pattern for the future fortunes of the ship. On the 17th of November 1947, with many dignitaries present and with the commissioning pennant flying proudly from the mainmast, the dry dock’s chocks were knocked out from under her hull and she slid smoothly down the slipway stern first into the water.
Unfortunately the momentum of the heavy little ship caused her to surge across the width of the River Torrens to strike a tramp steamer moored on the opposite bank.
Apparently unperturbed by the incident, the crew
made the ship ready and, defying seafaring superstition, sailed from Port Adelaide on Friday 13th December 1947.
Three days later she secured alongside Nelson Pier in Williamstown, where she loaded a Voight-Sikorsky VS-310 Kingfisher floatplane aboard, together with a pilot and one maintainer. In its assembled state it stood too high to be safely transported as cargo, so the massive central float was removed and stored alongside the fuselage. Having done that, the little ship cast off and shaped course for Hobart. Things were about to get rough.
Within an hour of sailing, the Twerp reminded her crew why Lincoln Ellsworth had given her away, remarking that he never wanted to see her again. The ship rolled, in the colloquial, like a bitch.
Phillip Law, one of the scientists aboard, later wrote:
“Of all the ships I have travelled on, the Wyatt Earp was by far the worst. The first night out, the ship was a shambles. Everything seemed to come adrift. Cupboard doors burst open and their contents were hurled horizontally to crash into the nearest vertical fixture. Chairs, personal gear, books, cameras, kit-bags and desk drawers bashed back and forth in the cabins. Water poured through the ship’s side into the after accommodation forward and through the bridge structure”.
HMAS Wyatt Earp moored to an ice floe for ‘watering ship’by bringing aboard lumps of ice for melting in their improvised exhaust manifold heater. There was woefully inadequate fresh water storage aboard, with the crew limited to just one pint a day for washing, cleaning teeth and shaving. (L. Le Guay).✈
Water six inches deep sloshed around in cabins and passageways. In the radio room a five gallon flagon of distilled water threatened to punch a hole in the bulkhead whilst the main radio receivers tore loose and slid half submerged amongst the detritus on the deck.
The scene in the galley was revolting. Pots of stew had been flung from the stove, despite their retaining fiddles, and covered the deck in a cold emulsion of water, grease and scraps sloshing around in a soup of smashed crockery, tinned provisions and cutlery.
The head was even worse. Only one had been functional for the trip and when the outlet port dipped below the waterline, which it did with every violent roll, the contents of the bowl were flung upwards to strike the unfortunate occupant’s bottom or to coat the bulkheads and deck.
It difficult to walk around the ship. Those who were required for duty wedged themselves in corners as best they could and hung on for dear life. Those not required mostly retired to their bunks, bracing themselves grimly to avoid being flung out. And as they lay there, they pondered on the fact that this was only the Bass Strait. What would happen when they tried to cross the Great Southern Ocean?
The answer was not long in coming. Having re-provisioned in Hobart and an attempt made to fix the worst of the damage, the Twerp departed Hobart on another Friday - straight into the arms
The Wyatt
Norwegian town
life as
after
was bought by American millionaire Lincoln Ellsworth in 1933 for use as an Antarctic support ship, and was renamed after Ellsworth’s childhood gunslinging hero .✈
of a force nine gale.
Although attempts had been made to make good the defective caulking, it came to nothing as the Captain reported:
It was discouraging to find the sea again entering accommodation aft through the ship’s side. This was believed to be due to the heavily laden condition of the ship with its violent movement producing undue strain on the superstructure.
Whatever the reason, the vessel lurched into the teeth of the gale, its lower decks awash and the crew miserably clinging on to whatever they could.
Most people were having difficulty sleeping, especially in bunks oriented athwartship. The intolerable rolling caused the occupant to slide first to starboard until their feet hit one bulkhead, and thence port until their head crashed into the other. No amount of wedging seemed to work, and people rapidly grew exhausted.
Above.
Earp started
the Sealing Vessel Fanefjord, shown here
her launch in 1919 in the
of Molde. She
In the galley the cook was unable to remain standing as the deck was thick with congealed grease from the contents of upended saucepans. To remedy this, a thick rope hawser was shaped on the tiles, back and forth, to cover the whole tiled area. This worked for a week or so until it became soaked in grease, upon which it had to be unshipped and towed behind the Twerp for an hour or two to clean it.
Below. The VS210 Kingfisher was, like the ship, an imprudent choice of aircraft for the task. It was too large for the ship and required a major evolution to assemble ready for flight and unship it. Right: The Wyatt Earp with the disassembled Kingfisher on deck. The Whaler just forward had to be lifted clear, and the aircraft hull then hoisted above the deck to allow the main float to be bolted on, an evolution that took about five hours. The engine also had to be warmed by an auxiliary heater for several hours before it could be started in cold weather. It was only used one one day during the entire voyage.✈
Even eating was a problem, as meals were flung from the table in an instant to smash into bulkheads or onto the deck. Crewmen on the benches between the table and the bulkhead could attempt to wedge themselves in place, but those on chairs on the other side were hurled back and forth with every roll.
Four days after leaving Hobart engine revs
were reduced as it was found the stern gland was running hot. Not long after, the ship was stopped for repairs to the fuel pump. When that was fixed the ship limped onwards, but not long after the engines were stopped altogether and the Twerp wallowed in the heavy seas, corkscrewing viciously.
It seemed the new, heavy diesel engines had sunk on their beds by a fraction of an inch, and the subsidence was causing the propeller shaft to bend. The Chief engineer had loosened the stern gland to alleviate it, but water leaked into the bilges and soon rose above the deck into the engine room.
That afternoon the ship was ordered to return to Williamstown, where it was discovered the engines had not movedrather, it was thought that the Twerp had at some stage in its life been lifted by ice long enough to put a ‘hogs back’ in the wooden keel - only a few thousandth of an inch, but enough to throw the shaft out of alignment.
The ship limped back to Port Phillip. Incongruously, the weather abated and with
Below. Officers of the Wyatt Earp, with CO Commander Karl Oom centre. With its eclectic collection of seamen, engineers and scientists thrown together in adverse circumstances, the harmony of the crew could have been a disaster, but by and large they worked well together. Lower. A rare moment of jocularity in the Mess when the cook was given a day off and volunteers prepared the meal. The fellow on the left has false teeth fashioned from carrots. (AAD). ✈
Main. The ‘Twerp’paid off in 1948 and became a coastal tramp steamer as the MV Wongala before changing hands again to become the MV Natone. She was struck by severe weather during a voyage from Cairns to Brisbane and sprang a leak before running aground about 100 nm north of Brisbane. Her hull, designed to withstand pack ice, was no match for rocks and she broke up after a few days. Right. Not much of the ship was left, other than a few timbers and this propeller salvaged from the wreck (K. Phillips)..✈
fair winds and a following sea, the ship made nine knots for the first time since leaving the mainland.
In Williamstown it was found that the propeller shaft was 47/1000 inch out of alignment and the wooden sheathing of the hull had been sprung on both sides by the working of the ship in rough weather. The defective caulking needed replacement, the engines removed to allow shaft and stern gland repair, and part of the the stern post replaced - and all before reassembly and re-rigging the steering gear.
The whole evolution would take weeks, and cost thousands.
It was not until early February that the Twerp ventured south again - this time on a Saturday so as not to tempt fate. For two days the weather remained fair, and then it backed north westerly and increased to a Force 7. In an instant the ship reverted to her old self whilst it was battered for two days When the tempest subsided, the crew turned the ship into the pack ice. The Kingfisher was launched after much work, and two short re-
depths in the troughs. She did everything but stand vertical, although once or twice did her damnedest’. Her job done, albeit not as well as it might have been, the little ship arrived in Melbourne on the morning of 1st April 1948. Her exhausted crew disembarked and the Navy was left pondering what to do with her. Antarctic voyaging was clearly not in her future.
She was paid off two months later, and, for a while, resumed her old name Wongala as she carried cargo for the Pucker Shipping Company who paid the Commonwealth £11,000 for her.
connaissance flights on 13 March revealed impenetrable pack ice between the ship and the Antarctic mainland, so she turned north to Macquarie Island.
A week later she embarked on the return voyage to Australia and, as she cleared the lee of Macquarie Island, was struck by a westerly gale what was, in the opinion of the First Officer, the ‘most dangerous of the whole trip’. In his journal he wrote: ‘We rolled like a log, pitched, tossed, yawed, rose to incredible heights on crests and plunged to abysmal
In 1956 she changed hands again to become the tramp steamer Natone, plying her trade off the coast of Queensland. She finally succumbed to her her old nemesis - bad weather - when a severe storm breached her hull. With the pumps unable to cope her crew ran the ship aground north of Brisbane, where her structure, designed to withstand the forces of ice, proved no match for the rocks on which she rested. ✈
References:
The Antarctic Voyage of HMAS Wyatt Earp by Phillip Law.Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1 86373 803 7. Wikipedia.
Sea Power Centre.
Museums Victoria Collection
Naval History Society of Australia
The ANARE Club.
The Australian Naval Institute.
What will be the world’s largest aircraft is being designed to address one of the biggest challenges in the renewal energy sector: how to transport huge wind turbine blades to remote localities.
It will have 12 times the volume of a Boeing 747 and will be as wide as a New York City block, and will run on sustainable aviation fuel.
Astonishingly, it will also be able to land on short (1800m) unpaved strips to bring the 100 metre blades directly to wind farms. A fully loaded 7478 requires about 1000m more.
The design is specific to that one purpose: to carry 100 m turbine blades. Only the cockpit is pressurised, and the build favours volume over payload. The frame is made of aluminium to reduce construction and maintenance costs; the fuselage is ‘kinked’ to avoid tail strikes and the multi-bogie wheels are massive to accept unpaved strips.
The SAF powered engines will emit about 94% less emissions than carbon fuelled equivalents, an important feature for an aircraft designed to deliver zero-carbon power solutions.
It is expected to fly in 2027. ✈
Not What It Seems
The caption for this FaceBook photo says its N13-154903 at Albatross in 1990, partially stripped ready for repainting. That can’t be correct as our Skyhawks were paid off in ‘83/84. 903 was sold to the Kiwis in ‘84 (and crashed in ‘01).
Its more likely to be Bu142874 which was a “B” model sent to the (American) Military Storage and Disposition Center in April 1970 and then donated to the FAA museum. It was initially displayed as N13-154906 but repainted again in 2007 as N13-154903 (882). ✈
Merlin Helicopter Ditches from HMAS Queen Elizabeth
The RN has confirmed that a Merlin Mk4 helicopter ditched close to HMS Queen Elizabeth while conducting training off Dorset on September 4th around 8.45 pm. Lt Rhodri Leyshon RN died as a result of the incident.
The remaining two of the three-crew from the 846 Naval Air Squadron aircraft were rescued. Lt Leyshon’s body has been recovered and next of kin have been informed.
No other details are available at this time but a spokesperson said “Our thoughts are with the family – who have been informed – and all those affected at this sad time. A full investigation will take place”.
Information from other sources report that, following the ditching, at least three other military helicopters engaged in a search for the missing Merlin, although it is not clear if they were searching for the downed aircraft or the deceased pilot.
The Merlin has an exceptional safety record, with the last accident being a heavy landing at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan in 2010 while in RAF service. You can see a ‘walk around’ video of the aircraft here. Our thoughts are with Rhodri’s family. ✈
Precious Veteran’s Sword Comes Home
The Fleet Air Arm Association’s Roll of Honour contains over 90 names - men and women who gave their lives to the service of the FAA. The fourth name on the list is Flight Lieutenant George John Isaiah Clarke, who was killed on active service on 25th September 1940 whilst flying HMAS Australia’s Walrus V aircraft.
Clarke, a Queenslander by birth, joined the RAN in early 1921. His early years in the Navy saw him on air capable ships and the allure of flying obviously took hold. In those days all embarked aircraft were provided by the Air Force and flown by RAAF pilots, so he transferred to that service in 1930 for four years before discharging to engage in civilian flying in PNG.
The start of WW2 saw him rejoin the Air Force and he found himself posted to HMAS Australia Flight. In September 1940 that ship was engaged in a general fleet bombardment of units of the French Vichy fleet at Dakar, and Australia’s Walrus amphibian was tasked with reporting the fall of shot. During that tasking his aircraft was attacked by a French Curtiss Hawk aircraft and was shot down.
Witnesses reported seeing two parachutes, believed to be Clarke’s crew. It is assumed that he was not able to exit the aircraft, perhaps because he was waiting for the others, and he perished in the subsequent impact.
Over 80 years later his sword was found and returned to his daughter, Kay. It will be kept in the Queensland Air Museum as a lasting tribute to him, and the sacrifice he made.
You can read his story here. ✈
She’s a Million-Air-Ess
An historic Douglas A-26 Invader has been beautifully restored and recently flew across the Atlantic to be at the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy.
Nicknames “The Millionairess”, after the company that restored her (Million Air), the twin flew operationally with the 9th Air Force during the latter years of WW2, and later saw action during the Korean War with the 3rd Bomb Wing flying out of Kunsan Air Force base in South Korea.
You can watch a video of her doing a circuit here. She was at Duxford, UK, where she stopped for some remedial engine work pending its flight back the the States.✈
How Litigation Almost Killed An Industry
By the mid 1980s the General Aviation Industry in the USA was heading to the grave. In 1979 it had delivered nearly 18,000 light aircraft . Five years later that figure had shrunk to about 2,500 units, and by 1993 it was half that number. Cessna Aircraft had made the decision to cease piston engine production and Piper, the other big player, was in and out of bankruptcy.
The sharp decline had a devastating effect on the industry, with some analysts estimating that up to 100,000 jobs had been lost - sharply different to other segments of the global aerospace industry where the US market share was still strong.
The principal reason for the collapse was product liability. Simply put, manufacturers could no longer afford the long liability trail left by their ageing machines in a country that was notoriously litigious.
Analysis of the problem showed that the average cost of manufacturer’s liability insurance had risen from about $50 per airframe in 1962 to $100,000 in 1988, a 2000% increase in 24 years. Insurance underwriters, worldwide, began to refuse to sell product liability to US general aviation manufacturers. The industry was in crisis.
The killer was the preponderance of lawsuits brought against the aircraft manufacturers, for aircraft which were, in some cases, 40 years old. Most ended in Court, and the majority were dismissed, but defending their product still cost the manufactures upwards of $500,000 each time a lawsuit was filed.
Over a period of years the industry pressured Congress to enact limits on aircraft manufacturer’s liability. The bottom line of their argument was sound “if any aircraft has lasted above a certain age its very durability proved it was not poorly designed for constructed.”
The General Aviation Revitalization Act (GARA) was passed by Congress in 1994, after years or argument and setbacks. It exempted manufacturers of General Aviation aircraft (with less than 20 seats and not operated in a commercial service), and their component parts, from liability for any of their products that were 18 years old or older at the time of the accident.
The law immediately cut the ‘long tail’ of the potential liability snake. Cessna immediately opened a new factory, and Piper was able to come out of bankruptcy. Both continue to make aircraft to this day. ✈
FlyBy Index Update
FlyBy Magazine has hundreds of stories, articles and photos of events past and present of topical or historical interest. But how do you find them?
The answer is to use the FlyBy Index, which I’ve been labouring mightily to bring up to date.
You can access it by:
• Typing “FlyBy Index” into the search box on our website, or
• Clicking on the ‘View FlyBy Library” button towards the foot of the home page of our website, or
• Clicking on the button below.
The index works on ‘key words’ so it should find things by author, title, subject or even just a word that might appear in the article, such as the place, people ships’ names and so forth. If the keyword you chose doesn’t bring the list up, choose another one. ✈
New Black Hawks
Undertake FOCFT
The Australian Army’s new UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters have recently undertaken First of Class Flying Trials aboard the RAN’s multi-purpose training vessel, MV Sycamore. The trials explore operating envelopes for the safe operation of the aircraft at various weights and in differing wind conditions, as well as evolutions such as refuelling and deck handling.
The Army will receive 40 UH-60Ms to replace the MRH90 Taipans, which were retired prematurely following a fatal crash last year. All 40 aircraft are scheduled for delivery by 2029. So far, eight have been delivered with the two latest flying into Richmond aboard a USAF C17 Globemaster earlier this year.
The Black Hawks weigh in at an AUW of just under 10,000kg and can carry up to 12 troops. ✈
THE NAVY CHIEFS: AUSTRALIA’S NAVY LEADERS 1911-1997
A new book is now available for purchase in hard cover or Kindle reader versions, which captures the biographies of the first 24 officers who led the Australian Navy in war and peace, from WW1 to the Gulf War.
Through their individual stories and experiences, ‘The Navy Chiefs’ explores how the influence of the Royal Navy shaped the RAN and its leaders in the early decades, and how a distinctive Australian culture developed as our Navy became thoroughly integrated into national defence, industry, trade and diplomacy.
This is an account of leadership in war and peace. Each Navy chief faced problems that were direct and immediate, as well as challenges that were ambiguous and distant. Decisions made by one leader would continue to impact on his successor and the navy for years to come.
AssessingAustralia's naval leadership in the First and Second World Wars, Korean War, Malayan Emergency, Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation and the Vietnam War, The Navy Chiefs takes into account the personal strengths and frailties of each leader. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand leadership in defence, andAustralian naval history.
Priced at $49.99 (hardcopy) or $36.36 (Kindle), you can find out more and secure your copy here.
The Littlest Lady of The Fleet
At just 6 years old, Nancy Bentley was far too young to join the Navy, yet alone one which had yet to enlist a single female into its ranks. But join up she did, to become The First Lady of the Fleet.
Little Nancy Bentley was just six when she was sitting on a headland at Port Arthur, watching band members play on HMAS Sydney [1] anchored in Carnavon Bay. The ship had just spent time in the Pacific Ocean and was only there for a brief visit. She was well known amongst the Australian population after her successful battle against the German raider Emden six years earlier.
The presence of the ship and the band’s performance would have been an un-
usual event for the local population, given the remoteness of the locality in 1920.
The nearest town was hours away by norse and buggy, so the entertainment was welcome.
But it was time to go home, and the little girl leapt to her feet at her mother’s call; but as she ran down the headland she slipped and fell, and was immediately bitten by a snake on which she landed.
Above. Nancy’s Certificate of Service. Below. This blurred photograph is the only known image showing Nancy in Sydney’s sick bay. She was aboard for a total of eight days. (Bentley family). ✈
In 1986 Nancy became a life member of the HMAS Sydney Association, an invitation only extended to those who have served on one of the ships so named. She went on to live a full life and died in 1999 aged 85. HMAS Sydney [1] was decommissioned in 1928 and broken up for scrap. ✈
Above. Nancy posting with Captain Henry Cayley and others aboard HMAS Sydney, not long before her discharge from the Navy on the grounds of ‘being missed by her parents’. The sailor suit was made for her by the ships’ crew.
Below. The First Lady of the Fleet trophy, which was conceived in 2017. It is a perpetual trophy developed from parts of decommissioned ships, including the voice pipe from HMAS Sydney [1V]. It also bears an image of Nancy upon it, and is awarded to the longest serving commissioned ship in the Navy. It is currently held by HMAS Collins.✈
NEXT MONTH’S
MYSTERY PHOTO
QUESTION
The V12 engine to the right (pictured ‘head on’) powered one of the most widely produced fighters of WW2which had a unique feature particular to that aircraft.
What was the aircraft and the feature?
Answers here please. ✈
Have you thought about getting your name put on the FAA Wall of Service?
It’s a unique way to preserve the record of your Fleet Air Arm time in perpetuity, by means of a bronze plaque mounted on a custom-built wall just outside the FAA museum. The plaque has your name and brief details on it (see background of photo above).
There are over 1100 names on the Wall to date and, as far as we know, it is a unique facility unmatched anywhere else in the world. It is a really great way to have your service to Australia recorded.
It is easy to apply for a plaque and the cost is far less than the retail price of a similar plaque elsewhere. And, although it is not a Memorial Wall, you can also do it for a loved one to remember both them and their time in the Navy. Simply click here for all details, and for the application form.✈
Order No.53. is shortly to be affixed to the Wall.
McCALLUM H.L. LCDR (P) O 114097
CLULEY R.J. LSATA S 113325
HOOPER D.R. WOATA S 133260
SANDBERG E.D. LCDR (O) O 1024
SANDBERG M.A. ABATWL S 125208
CLARK A. CAF(A) R 35828
GILLAM A. CPOATWO/ETW S 118699
THOMPSON B. LSATC S 128255
LYALL J.W. WOSN R 65884
SAUSVERDIS I. CPOATWL R 62399
DAGG M.A. CPOATV S 129644
STEVENS L. CPOATV 8209580
HEALEY A.W. LSATWL S 130197
KONEMANN J.A. LCDR (P) O 120636
SINCLAIR A.B. LCDR (P) O 108473
MOWAT D. L.R.E.M.(A) R 50764
Order No.54. is open with the following names on the list so far:
R.B.Sellers
Pending confirmation of payment:
ITime Tells
n 1946 air travel was very different from today. Aircraft were largely ex-military, navigation aids were sparse and safety features only just beginning to be thought about. Accidents were, by today’s standards, relatively frequent.
Despite the risks, the twelve souls onboard the C53 Skytrooper transport (the military derivative of Douglas DC-3 airliner) who took off from the Tulln Air Base near Vienna on 18th November 1946 did not know that within a couple of hours they were to join another crash statistic. And yet they were incredibly lucky - despite their aircraft flying directly into high terrain, they survived not only the impact but five nights of freezing temperatures at extreme altitude.
The crew of the aircraft were well aware of the enroute forecast, and had altered their route to avoid the worst of it. Nevertheless, they found themselves in instrument flying conditions avoiding alpine peaks as they loomed ahead.
Their luck ran out when a sudden down draft caused a sudden loss of altitude. The aircraft struck the surface of the Gauli Glacier at 160 knots and an altitude of 11,000 feet above sea level.
Fortunately, the impact was into deep snow which cushioned the impact and rapidly slowed the forward speed. One of the passengers suffered a significant injury and another a broken leg. The remainder of the passengers and crew were uninjured.
The crew thought they had crashed in the French Alps (they were actually in Switzerland), and the emergency message they managed to send galvanised a large search - but in the wrong place. It wasn’t until two days later that a more accurate bearing was obtained from their radio signals, narrowing the search to the Gauli Glacier.
On the morning of 22 November a RAN Lancaster spotted the wreck through cloud cover. A large alpine rescue effort as assembled, with Willys MB jeeps and snowcats, together with American M29 ‘Weasel’ tracked vehicles, all of which proved to be useless in the terrain. The only way to reach the stricken aircraft was on foot.
On 23 November, five days after the crash, two Swiss soldiers reached the stricken aircraft on skis. It was too late in the day to make a descent so the party endured another night in -15C temperatures.
Left: The stricken C-53 at 11,000 feet on Gauli Glacier, and [inset] an image of what it should have looked like. Above. The glacier showing the impact point and the subsequent 70 year track of the wreckage. Right. One of the C53’s engines after it emerged in the valley Lower right. A Fieseler Storch, of the type the SwAF used to rescue the survivors. The Storch was widely used by the Luftwaffe during the war as an observation and communication aircraft, and was highly regarded for its STOL properties and low stall speed. ✈
The following morning the group started a slow descent, but failed to make any radio contact with the search coordinators in the valley. Nevertheless, Swiss Air Force pilots were able to land two Fieseler Storch aircraft on the glacier beside the party, and managed to lift them out with eight ferry flights, each carrying one stretcher or two uninjured passengers. The rescue was the catalyst to establish the Swiss Air Rescue unit, which remains in place today.
The glacier did what glaciers do, and slowly flowed down to the valley to deliver pieces of the machine that had crashed seventy
years earlier. There is nothing salvageable, of course, but it reminded the media of the elemental forces of nature, and what can happen if you choose to ignore them. ✈
By Graeme Lunn
IThe story of Charles Lavender is inspiring, but a mystery remains about his legacy to the RAN. Can you help?
n a description of Sydney’s flight deck operations off Korea we are told that:
CVLs shared with all carriers the problem of fitting the maximum number of aircraft in the deck park forward. This required pilots to taxi their aircraft with the outboard wheel perilously close to the edge. Although aircraft were under the watchful eye of an aircraft handler director, the moving deck, as well as the divided responsibility and the many distractions, meant that they sometimes ended up with one wheel over the side. LieutenantCommander Charles Lavender DSC RN, the Flight Deck Officer, created the Lavender Line, a simple faint dotted line painted on the flight deck. Directors never let the inboard wheel stray over that line and no RAN aircraft in Korea ever taxied over the side. ('Flying Stations’, ANAM, 1998, p.93)
Intrigued with the fable of this faint dotted line I searched, in vain, to find any record of a Lavender ever serving in Sydney as her Flight Deck Officer.
When Sydney returned toAustralia from England in mid-1950, having embarked the 21st Carrier Air Group of 808 (Sea Fury) and 817 (Firefly) Squadrons, her Flight Deck Officer was Lieutenant-Commander (P) Edmund Lockwood RN.
Commencing work up for carrier and CAG to relieve Glory off Korea in 1951 Lockwood’s two years of loan service with the RAN was coming to an end. Lieutenant-Commander (P) Richard How RN, then Senior Naval Officer at RAAF Point Cook, volunteered to extend his loan service and was appointed Sydney’s FDO in May 1951. On completion of her Korean active service, from September 1951 to January 1952, Lieutenant John Campbell DFC, from 808 Squadron and a RAAF veteran of 457 (Spitfire)
Squadron in the South-West Pacific, was appointed as the FDO to replace How.
The Flight Deck Officer during Sydney’s posthostilities Korean deployment, from October 1953 to January 1954, was Lieutenant-Commander Julian Cavanagh RAN.ARoyalAir Force Warrant Officer who had flown 62 operational missions in Mustangs and Spitfires, Cavanagh emigrated and joined the newAustralian FleetAir Arm in 1948. Like Campbell he had flown a Sea Fury with the Sydney CAG over Korea in 1951/52, then commanded 808 Squadron. When Campbell went ashore to command 723 (Composite) Squadron in August 1953 Cavanagh replaced him as Flight Deck Officer.
So who, and where, was this Lavender RN?
There had, indeed, been a Charles Lavender off Korea, but he had been embarked in the 18,000ton light fleet carrier Theseus during an earlier Korean deployment from September 1950 to
April 1951. In ten war patrols Theseus had flown an impressive 3,446 operational sorties in 86 flying days. Achieving more sorties per-pilot perplane than the 37,000-ton United States Navy’s Essex-class fleet carriers also on station, her 17th CAG of 807 (Sea Fury) and 810 (Firefly) Squadrons easily won the Boyd Trophy as the most outstanding naval aviation unit of the year.
Flying one of 807 Squadron’s 25 Sea Furies was Lieutenant (P) Charles ‘Charlie’ Lavender, a 28 year old veteran aviator who had seen active service with the British Pacific Fleet in World War 2. Charles was reported as being reliable and competent with a strong sense of humour. Remembered as being friendly, he was also a good messmate who mixed easily. Previous experience notwithstanding, he would have been embarrassed one morning off Korea when his Fury tipped on its nose and ‘pecked the deck’ whilst running in the range aft, leaving the other three aircraft of his flight to launch for the morning’s coastal reconnaissance to Chinnampo.
More memorable was a reconnaissance south of Wonsan during Theseus’s final war patrol. Lieutenant (P) T. Reece’s combat report for 10 April details the incident:
Whilst flying No 2 to Lieutenant Lavender we were investigating enemy activity in a valley, map reference CU6002, when I saw two Corsair fighters (author’s note: ‘friendly’ US aircraft) which I reported to my No 1. We were turning to starboard at 4,000 feet and saw the two Corsairs dive into the valley and drop one bomb each.
On recovering from the dive they must have sighted us because they started to climb in our direction. We continued a gentle Rate One turn to starboard until the Corsairs were astern and closing, when my leader ordered "Break". I opened the throttle fully and commenced a steep starboard climbing turn, but almost immediately there was a loud bang from the engine, so I throttled back and eased the turn as I did not realise I was being fired at.
By this time the leading Corsair, which still had one bomb under his starboard wing, was dead astern of me and he opened fire. I saw many tracers flashing over my port wing and I turned violently to starboard breaking down. The Corsairs did not attempt to follow and, as the aircraft was vibrating and the starboard wing tank was on fire, I left the area and returned to the ship.
I believe the Corsairs thought they had shot me down as they subsequently claimed "one La-9 destroyed". When they saw me break down, on fire, they concentrated on Charlie Lavender who kept going round in a very tight turn with the Corsairs firing at him. Charlie was obviously worried about me, plus his own, difficult, situation, but he eventu-
ally managed to out-turn his attackers and escaped to chase after me.
For my part, as I started for home, my first thought was to bale out, as I could see the starboard wing was bright red and smoke was pouring out of the back end.
However, the fire suddenly went out (I learned later that the bottom of the wing tank had burned through and the remaining fuel had just dropped out), and as the engine continued to give power and the aircraft was flyable I continued back to Theseus.
Charlie eventually caught up as I was flying slowly, and after a visual inspection and a slow flying check I made a normal landing. There were 21 bullet holes in the aircraft and no right wing tank (internal, not drop). The bullets had severed some of the flying controls. There was no trim but the rest worked’.
Outflying two ‘friendly’ aircraft intent on his demise, then shepherding his shot-up wingman back to Theseus, Charles landed on with a single 0.5” bullet hole in his wing. On 23 May 1952 the London Gazette recorded the award of a Distinguished Service Cross to Lieutenant Charles James Lavender RN for “operations in Korean waters”.
While Sydney was carrying out her seven war patrols off Korea Charles, now Senior Pilot of a reformed 807 with eight new Sea Fury FB.IIs under Lieutenant-Commander Andrew Thompson DSC, joined the 17th CAG. Arriving in the Mediterranean embarked on Ocean in July 1951 they disembarked to Falcon/NavalAir Station Hal Far in Malta. As Senior Pilot Charles embarked 807 a further two times in Ocean, twice in Theseus and twice in Glory before taking leave in the UK and being appointed to loan service with the RAN.
A nineteen year old Charles James Lavender had
entered the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as an aircrew trainee in April 1941. Awarded aviator wings at the United States Naval Air Station Pensacola on 6 March 1942 he commenced fighter training at USNAS Miami. Surviving a crash in the Florida Everglades, which left him with some facial scarring,Acting Sub-Lieutenant (A) Charles Lavender RNVR was next posted to 762 Squadron at Vulture/ Naval Air Station St. Merryn in Cornwall. This was one of the Advanced Flying Training Schools where he flew the Miles Master before advancing to Martlets. The Martlet fighter was the US built Grumman Wildcat F4F, which had been in RN service since July 1940, one month before the type began deliveries to the US Navy.
Charle’s 21st birthday found him briefly serving with 789 Squadron, a Fleet Requirements Unit known as the South Atlantic squadron at Malagas/ Naval Air Station Wingfield outside Cape Town.
Moving on to 795 Squadron, that Eastern Fleet Fighter Pool was located deep in the bush south of Mombasa at Kipanga II/Naval Air Station Mackinnon Road. After almost a year operating from this bush station Charles had successfully added a little Swahili to his schoolboy French and German.
When 1844 (Hellcat) Squadron formed in mid-December 1943, as one half of the 5th Naval Fighter Wing with 10 Grumman Hellcat F6Fs, Charles was appointed as a founding member. Convoy KMF.29A ferried nine FAA squadrons from the Clyde to the Eastern Fleet in a significant increase to that fleet’s air power. Taking passage in the escort carrier Begum 1844 was disembarked in Madras, arriving at RAF Ulunderepet on 17 April 1944. After working-up in southern India they flew on to Ceylon in June and based at Bherunda, the NavalAir Station occupying Colombo Racecourse.
After Deck Landing Training on Unicorn No.5 Wing embarked on the armoured flight deck of Indomitable on 25 July, joining the Barracuda squadrons of No.12 Wing who had embarked two days earlier. This 35,500 ton modified Illustrious-class fleet carrier was commanded by Captain John Eccles. As a Rear-Admiral Eccles later commanded the Australian Fleet 1949/51, specifically loaned to help embed naval aviation in Australia, he provided valuable oversight of Sydney’s work up for Korean combat operations. Charles was made well aware early in his active service of the danger of friendly fire from unthinking aggression in September. Two Hellcats tasked for a photo reconnaissance mission decided to strafe a target of opportunity. Unfortunately that target was the plane-guard submarine HMS Spirit which had surfaced to rescue the crew of a ditched Barracuda. Sounder airmanship was demonstrated by the squadron when two pilots made successful glide landings to Indomitable’s deck after engine failures.
Thesus returning from her final war patrol with Lieutenant (P) Charlie Lavender aboard.
Top. A 23 year old Lt. (A) Charles Lavender RNVR with his Grumman Hellcat fighter on Indomitable off Sumatra in January of 1945. He grew the beard to hide facial scarring from a crash landing three years earlier. Below. A Hellcat fighter of the type flown by Charlie.✈
HMS Formidable after a kamikaze strike in May of 1945. The British carriers’ armoured flight decks proved their worth.
As well as Combat Air Patrols over the Eastern Fleet the Hellcats provided fighter escort to some of the largest FAA strikes of the war. The Barracudas were replaced with the 21 Avengers of 857 Squadron in November for attacks in Sumatra. Indomitable transferred to the British Pacific Fleet in November and, after a fighting passage, arrived off Sydney in February 1945. Her squadrons briefly disembarked to Nabbington/ Naval Air Station Nowra where 1844 re-equipped with 18 Grumman F6F Hellcat IIs before reembarking on 27 February and heading north.
Indomitable was Vice-Admiral Sir Philip Vian’s Flagship of the 1st Aircraft Carrier Squadron. Squadron commanding officers from four carriers gathered with ships captains in her wardroom at Ulithi in the Caroline Islands. Vian ordered the ‘flying boys’ to stand up saying “Don’t bother taking notes. It’s only four words for you to take back to your aircrews. Get bloody stuck in!” Indomitable led north to attack Formosa and the island airfields of the Sakishima Gunto in the East China Sea as part of the Okinawa Campaign. Charles now flew
age, slewing over the armoured deck into the water before its bomb exploded Looking over at Formidable, covered in towering smoke, flames and escaping steam from her more serious kamikaze hit, a single flashing light from the carrier’s island directed to Admiral Vian spelt out with wartime antipathy - ‘Little yellow bastard’! Vian immediately replied ‘Are you addressing me?’.
A week later 1844’s CO, Lieutenant-Commander (A)(P) Michael Godson RNVR, was killed when hit by flak attacking Hirara airfield on Miyako Island. His squadron, with 32.5 kills, had become the topscoring BPF Hellcat squadron while holding the line against numerous kamikaze attacks. Indomitable withdrew for repairs in Sydney’s Captain Cook Graving Dock and on 5 June the squadron again disembarked to Nowra and leave was granted.
Charles met a local girl, Suzanne ‘Sue’ Harston, who was living on Ocean Avenue in the Sydney suburb of Edgecliff. They married on 20 October 1945 at St Peter’s Church, Watson’s Bay, and were able to enjoy the first months of their married life in Australia. Charles flew as a maintenance test pilot out of Nabberley/Naval Air Station Bankstown and Nabthorpe/Naval Air Station Schofields until May 1946.
On return to the UK with Sue, Charles joined the Naval Instrument Flying Instructional Flight of 780 Squadron. He next instructed in fighter training at an Operational Flying School before attending the RAF’s Central Flying School. There he was awarded the Clarkson Trophy in 1948 as the best all-round pilot of his Flying Instructors Course. In May 1949 he became senior pilot of 799 Squadron carrying out check flights and conversion refreshers. This composite squadron flew Harvard, Firebrand, and Sea Fury aircraft out of Heron/Naval Air Station Yeovilton.
HMS Vengeance first commissioned in 1945, one of 16 Colossus-class light fleet carriers laid down in 1942/43. The final six hulls were upgraded during their delayed construction to handle the latest generation of aircraft and re-designated Majesticclass. Four Colussuses and five Majestics saw service with seven nations - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India and the Netherlands.
When the fitting out of the first Majestic, purchased by Australia to be HMAS Melbourne, was delayed, Her Majesty’s Ship Vengeance was loaned to the Royal Australian Navy and became Her Majesty’s Australian Ship for three years. With a steaming party of 56 officers and 551 ratings under Captain Henry Burrell RAN she took passage for Australia on 21 January 1953. Burrell reported that lack of maintenance during her trooping duties to and from Korea meant that the flight deck, gun mountings, sponsons and other spaces would not be in a satisfactory state on arrival.
Embarked for delivery were replacement airframes in protective wrappings - 10 Sea Fury XIs and 21 Firefly VIs. Also embarked off Portland on 16 January were the RAN’s first helicopters. As the three Bristol Sycamores made a formation landing, flown from RNAS Gosport by three newly trained rotary-wing aviators, they were watched by executives from the Bristol Aeroplane Company and accompanying press.
perilous ground attack Ramrod missions in addition to normal CAP and escort sorties.
On 1 April the Japanese First Air Fleet in Formosa mounted desperate kamikaze attacks against the BPF, with some breaking through the CAP and damaging Indefatigable. Over the next few months 1844 was so successful against this new menace that they became known as the ‘Kamikaze Hunters’. Attacks on 4 May were part of the fifth kikusai mass kamikaze raid of 120 aircraft around Okinawa, but the single kamikaze that hit Indomitable just aft of the island caused little dam-
June 1950 found Charles at a Service Trials Unit and completing a short jet course. The unexpected need for aircrew in Korea meant that he was then given a Sea Fury deck landing refresher before embarking with 807 Squadron on Theseus. The second RN carrier to be committed to the conflict Theseus commenced her first war patrol off Korea’s west coast in early October. During her ninth war patrol six months later an announcement was made in the Sydney Morning Herald that on 31 March 1951 at Abbey Cottage, in the distant Somerset parish of Charlton Adam, his son Peter had been born.
Promoted to Lieutenant-Commander Charles was appointed for 2½ years loan service with the RAN from 27 November 1952. He joined the newly commissioned HMAS Vengeance on 2 December at Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth, as the Air Department’s Flight Deck Officer.
The carrier’s Commander (Air) was Allan Downes RN, a Royal Air Force pilot in the 1930’s who had joined the Fleet Air Arm in January 1939 and became an outstanding Fairey Swordfish pilot. In the desperate days of the Dunkirk evacuation seven Swordfish of 815 Squadron attacked an aerodrome near Rotterdam. Making a forced landing on a nearby island Downes and his observer set fire to their aircraft and managed to escape back to England. In 1942, as senior pilot of 830 Squadron operating hazardous night strikes out of Malta, the squadron sank or damaged 500,000 tons of axis shipping. Lieutenant Downes and his commanding officer were awarded immediate Distinguished Service Orders.
Charles’s flight deck party were still attacking rust when Vengeance arrived in Sydney, flying off her helicopters to Nowra before entering harbour on 11 March 1953. The next day the ferried fixed-wing aircraft were loaded on lighters to Rydalmore, then transported by road to Schofields, where Commander VAT Smith DSC RAN had spent eleven months converting a RAAF Base to a naval establishment. Nirimba/Naval Air Station Schofields commissioned only three weeks later. Sue and their infant son passaged to Australia in the liner Orion, not reaching Sydney until April.
By the end of May 1953 Charles could finally report that the whole of the flight deck had been chipped,
treated with red lead or zinc chromate and painted. Perhaps this is when ‘Lavender Lines’ were painted on? Unfortunately flight deck drawings and photographs of Vengeance at this time are not detailed enough to show. In any event, by June 816 Squadron was being worked up, with those inevitable barrier entries during deck landing training, prior to 805 and 850 Squadrons embarking. A single Sycamore, now parented by 723 Squadron, had been attached. It was flown by Lieutenant Gordon McPhee RAN, an ex-RAAF Flying Officer, and Captain Burrell lauded his helicopter as “…available at all times during flying. In addition to its value as a plane guard its use for general fleet requirements cannot be over emphasised.”
Lieutenant Fred Lane RAN, who had also flown Sea Furies over Korea, joined Vengeance as her first Australian Deck Landing Control Officer. Now 94 he still remembers not only the ‘Lavender Line’ but also the introduction of a ‘clear the deck’ evolution. During the inevitable barrier entries of straight deck carrier landings the aircraft would end entangled and tipped forward on main wheels and nose with tail high:
“Pre-Lavender, we slowly evacuated the aircrew, one at a time, via Jumbo and/or ladder, then tying Jumbo to the aft fuselage we gently eased the tail down by hurling a rope over the tail and pulling it down against the Jumbo lift. Post-Lavender, the aircrew stayed strapped in and we just jerked the tail down with a rope. The tailwheel absorbed the thump and aircrew made a normal egress after the aircraft cleared the barrier area. This meant maybe a two-minute delay, versus 10 or 15 minutes, before the next aircraft could land on.”
Queen Elizabeth II’s first Royal Tour of her reign was to Australia in 1954. Charles, accompanied by a very proud Sue, attended an Investiture at Sydney’s Government House on 6 February 1954 where, in the wording of the invitation, Charles received the insignia of the DSC “at the hands of Her Majesty”. Vengeance then escorted the royal yacht SS Gothic where Charles helped the carrier’s Commander on 3 April replicate the new queen’s signature on his flight deck with ship’s company. Sent an image of the evolution taken from a Sycamore helicopter the Queen signalled Vengeance: “Thank you for your original forgery”, and the image was reproduced in London’s Daily Mirror the following Saturday.
After almost two years onboard Burrell reported that Lavender was a dynamic personality who knew his own mind and was an asset to the ship with his flight deck being ‘a noteworthy credit’. He was found to combine airmanship and seamanship with ability and ‘in spite of his greater interest in the air he never forgets that an Aircraft Carrier is a ship’. Commander Downes commented that Lavender was a ‘first class flight deck officer who
handles his ratings well. He has trained up two flight deck teams from scratch and they have both been good’.
Sue was having complications in pregnancy so Charles spent the final six months of his loan service ashore at Penguin. There his assistance in running the depot was remarked upon, especially organising the ‘Penguin Fair’ and handling visiting helicopters. Completing loan service in early 1955 the Lavender family, increased to four by their Australianborn daughter Victoria, now aged three months, returned to the UK in the liner Orcades.
Had Charles painted ‘Lavender Lines’ on Vengeance’s flight deck as an original thought or was he repeating a practice he had seen on RN flight decks? When Melbourne finally arrived in Australian waters in 1956 there is a contemporary image
which appears to show a curved safety line for the starboard side forward deck park, separate from the normal straight flight deck markings. Perhaps this is a ‘Lavender Line’ and the practice continued in the RAN with the new carrier?
Having been recommended for command of a front line squadron Charles felt he had been passed over when appointed Chief Flying Instructor to reservists at Blackcap/NavalAir Station Stretton in Cheshire. The station was home to 1831 Squadron, a fighter squadron of the Royal Navy Reserve in the Northern Air Division, who had replaced their Sea Fury FB.11s in May 1955 with seven Attacker FB.2 jet fighters.
Gloster Meteor jets had first equipped the RAF’s 616 Squadron from mid-1944 to counter the V1 flying bomb threat. The RN’s first jet fighter seven years later was the Supermarine Attacker which did not enter frontline service until August 1951 with 800 Squadron, embarking on Eagle the following March. The Rolls-Royce Nene powered fighter was also the first front line jet fighter to be flown by any RAN aviator. Superseded by the Sea Hawk and Sea Venom fighter in 1954 the Attacker was relegated to reserve units.
By November 1955 Charles had 2,439 flying hours, 46 of those on jets, including 14 hours in a de Havilland Sea Vampire T22. Thursday 10 November, however, was rostered to be his first flight in anAttacker FB.2. Taking off in WP281 at 14:37 from runway 09 for a familiarisation flight, he was seen to rotate to a higher than normal nose-up attitude. Meanwhile, a Percival Sea Prince ‘flying
As FDO, Lavender would have had a large part to play in the forging of Queen Elizabeth’s signature, spelled out on Vengeance’s Flight Deck during her Royal Escort duties in ‘54.✈
Is the curved line starboard side forward on Melbourne a “Lavender Line”?✈
An 1844 squadron Hellcat taking the barrier.✈
The Supermarine Attacker was the first front line jet fighter to be flown by any RAN aviator ✈
classroom’ navigation trainer, whose three trainee observers were all RAN and whose pilot was unfamiliar with the station, entered the circuit and turned downwind on runway 15. Air Traffic Control did not warn either aircraft of the other’s presence.
As Charles climbed through 400 feet he saw the Sea Prince and instantly broke steeply to portavoiding a midair collision and multiple fatalitieswhile the Sea Prince dived to starboard. The Attacker stalled, which Charles managed to recover from but too late to prevent ground contact. The belly mounted fuel tank exploded into flames, the
aircraft skidding through two fields and a hedge 400 yards from the station’s eastern boundary. The Board of Inquiry assessed that Charles had been killed instantly on impact.
Charles had left money behind the wardroom bar for drinks that evening with his squadron mates as it was his 34th birthday. A week later Victoria had her first birthday. On remote Lord Howe Island
‘Chut’ Harston, his Australian father-in-law and a Gallipoli veteran, wrote to the Admiralty that:
“I just got a cable from my daughter to say he was
killed, and no doubt she is more or less heartbroken…I am the only person she has living to assist her and not very well off.”
In reply theAdmiralty assured him that his daughter would receive a payment of at least £200 in addition to her widow’s pension.
Unable to ever discuss the accident that had taken her husband’s life, or even visit his grave, Sue nevertheless applied herself to running a successful business while raising her young children.Aceramics expert, she also worked as a site supervisor for
the Oxford Archaeological Unit.In the 1970’s Sue returned to Australia and lived in Balmain for several years. Missing her married children and grandchildren she returned to England and was “a wonderful grandmother”.
Sue Lavender died forty-three years after her beloved Charles in 1998.✈
This image, from the David Hobbs collection, is of an unknown squadron most probably in Ceylon in 1944 - so, right aircraft, right place and right time for 1844 Squadron. We think the bearded figure in the centre (circled) may be Charles Lavender, but the family think not. In any event it is a representative and evocative image of a young Fleet Air Arm at war. ✈
LAST MONTH’S
MYSTERY PHOTO ANSWER
Last month we asked what aircraft the instrument cluster (above) was attached to, and received quite a large number of replies that correctly identified it as a Convair B-36 Peacemaker.
Most respondents went on to quote the nickname: “six turnin’ and four burnin” which referred to the six Pratt and Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major piston engines and the four General Electric J47 jet engines that powered it. We believe the mystery photo is of an early model of the Peacemaker, however, before the GE J47s were fitted.
It was, without doubt, a colossus in the annals of aviation history - and for a good reason.
The B-36 was designed in 1941 as a “10,000 mile bomber”, to carry enough fuel and bombs
to make the long flight from the USA to Germany and back, in case Britain fell to the Nazi regime.
Jet engines were in their infancy, not yet regarded as dependable, whilst piston engines were the proven, reliable choice for long-distance flight.
And so, to carry what it needed, the B-36 was BIG. Six 28-cylinder Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major engines lifted an airframe 49 metres long with a wingspan of 70 metres - twice the distance of the Wright brothers first flight only 40 years previously.
The giant wings, with their enormous chord and length, gave the aircraft an operational ceiling of over 40,000 feet - and at that height
the aircraft was still more manoeuvrable than any interceptor of the time. Some units were lightened, giving them a a maximum altitude of over 50,000 feet.
Not long after WW2 ended the Cold War began, and the US needed bombers capable of delivering the very large and heavy first generation atomic bombs. The B36 became the platform of choice and was modified (by the socalled “Grand Slam” installation to allow it to carry all nuclear weapons in America’s arsenal as standard.
Right. Wench with a wrench! The 110 inch tyres required special tools to change them. They were later replaced by a bogie of four wheels to give better pavement loading and redundancy. ✈
Each of the six J47 engines displaced 71.5 litres and they collectively required 336 spark plugs and 1,200 gallons of oil to keep them running. The thickness of each wing was so large that its engines could be accessed in flight.
After 85 airframes had been built the D-model variant
arrived, the four G47 jet engines were added, configured as two pods of two engines suspended near the end of each wing respectively. These greatly improved take off distances and speed, but they were generally shut down in cruise to conserve fuel. They could be restarted in flight to give a high ‘dash speed’ over the target.
The Wasp engine’s ‘pusher’ configuration prevented propeller turbulence from interfering with airflow over the wing, but led to overheating due to insufficient airflow around the engines, resulting in quite frequent in-flight engine fires. This led to the cynical slogan
A B36 with its 22 man crew. The cost and logistics of maintaining an operational fleet was astronomical.Below Left. This tunnel inside the fuselage allowed crew members to pass the non-pressurised bomb bay while moving through the aircraft. Below Right. A Republic GRF-84F suspended under a B-36 during the FICON (FIghter CONveyer) project. ✈
change from “six turning, four burning” to “two turning, two burning, two smoking, two choking and two more unaccounted for”.
The Peacemaker carried formidable defensive armament, comprising sixteen 20mm cannon mounted in six retractable remote-controlled turrets. Recoil vibration from gunnery practice often caused electrical wiring to jar loose and vacuum tubes to malfunction, leading to the failure of the aircraft’s controls and navigation equipment. The 1950 crash of B36-B was attributed to this. A detailed account of the extraordinary circumstances of this incident can be read here.
Despite its impressive size and performance, the Peacemaker was not regarded as a complete success. One flight commander commented its handling ‘ was like sitting on your porch and flying your house’. It was enormously expensive to buy and operate, and hideously difficult to maintain. Crews were also well aware that war missions would have been one-way, as the aircraft was not fast enough to escape the blast of their nuclear weapons. Fortunately it never came to that.
The appearance of fast jet interceptors such as the MiG-15 made propeller driven bombers obsolete as strategic offensive weapons. A new generation of jet bombers, flying faster and higher, were needed to negate Soviet fighters.
By 1952 Boeing’s B52 became the favoured
Although the B-36 had a better than average safety record for the time, 32 of the aircraft were written off in accidents between 1949 and 1957, although some were the victim of a tornado which struck Carswell Air Force base in 1952.
The crashes were caused by a variety of reasons including in flight fires, controlled flight into terrain (two), and malfunctions in aircraft controls when the aircraft’s guns were fired (see text below). The image left is of B-36H which had been flown from RAF Fairford in the UK and struck the ground near Goose Bay, Labrador due to a GCA fault.✈
design and by 1955 the B-52 Stratofortress had entered the inventory in substantial numbers. The era of the B-36 was done, although the last examples lingered in service until the end of that decade.
A number of examples of the B36 remain in museums in the United States. Perhaps the best preserved can be seen in the image below, in the National Museum of the USAF in Ohio. It has pride of place and dwarfs the other strategic bombers parked in its shadow. ✈
Fathers and Sons Toz’s Presentations
It isn’t often you get three generations engaged in military aviation, so we thought we’d see if we can bring you a few examples. The top photo shows Flight Sergeant Ian Speedy deployed from New Zealand with 17 Squadron RNZAF to the South West Pacific theatre in August 1943. In this image he is 3rd from the left in front of his P40 Warhawk L-Leslie in Guadalcanal.
Middle photo: Ian and his wife Leslie had a son, Ian Maxwell (Max) Speedy, who was born in March 1944. This image shows the then Lieutenant Speedy in his Iroquois in Vietnam in 1968. Max went on to a distinguished career and has since written an acclaimed book on the Helicopter Flight Vietnam entitled “A Bloody Job Well Done”.
Bottom. Max (left) with his son, (then) Major Nigel Speedy Australian Army Air Corps, in his job as a rotary wing test pilot at ARDU in 2007. He’s now working for Leonardo helicopters as their test pilot. On the right is the late Graham “Zork” Rohrsheim, who was Max’s boss on the second HFV Flight. ✈
By Ross Smith from “Along For The Ride’
It’s a couple of weeks prior to embarkation in ‘70 and Toz has obviously been to some management seminar where they told him how to get a better understanding of the people working for him. A memo is circulated through all the squadrons getting the junior officers (Lieutenants and below) to choose a topic for a 45 minute presentation to the whole Air Group at a time of CAG’s choosing.
Some strange subjects were chosen (Manganese Nodules? WTF?) and my pick was VD.
The initial transit to Hawaii was done at high-speed producing much engine and prop noise and vibration (although not a lot of extra speed) and only flying when we had a wind down the deck while the ship pointed to Pearl Harbor. Plenty of time for presentations on the way.
Manganese Nodules wasn’t the most boring as the guy who picked Genghis Khan basically read from a bio. Baking a Cake cracked us all up as Scotto used a lot of props and covered the guest egg-whipper (CAG), flour sifter (Commander Air) and the front-row glitterati (Squadron COs, Senior Pilots etc) with flour. And so the lectures droned on through the cruise when we had down-time.
On the way home I thought I had dodged a bullet until I was given a time for my pitch. I was introduced by Toz explaining my late scheduling as me ‘having needed some shorebased research time on the cruise’ which bought the house down and I launched into the pitch.
It was quite a packed house and there were a lot of non-Air Group faces but I didn’t think of it at the time. The Encyclopaedia Brittanica in the Training Room hadn’t been updated since the days of the Raj so there was plenty of non-pertinent information about tropical buboes and lymphogranuloma venerium for me to scare the audience with stories of exploding ulcers, anal fistulae and genital elephantiasis, without covering the more popular but more mundane ailments.
In the Wardroom that night three separate people approached me asking what different discharges meant. I took the first guy seriously but pretty quickly started referring them to the Medical Officer. We were off North Queensland at the time and I hope the friends on whose behalf they were inquiring all got appropriate treatment before we arrived in Sydney.✈
[1] Toz, Commander of the Air Group.
✈
[2] Hard to get excited about a Manganese Nodule! [3] A close approximation of Scotto’s presentation. [4)] Ross’s tongue in cheek presentation on Lymphogranuloma Venerium (pictured) got an unhealthy number of questions.
Slipstream Magazine Can
You Help?
Slipstream Magazine has been our mainstay publication for decades but the Editor has had to retire for reasons of health, and we are in danger of losing it.
We urgently need a volunteer who is prepared to give the Editor’s job a go. This would involve collecting and collating stories and articles of interest for publication once every quarter.
The only qualifications needed are a desire to give something back to the FAA veteran community, a keen eye for detail and some computer skills.
If you think you can assist, please contact Marcus Peake using the button below. He’ll be happy to expand on the role and advise what assistance can be given to any prospective volunteer.
Slipstream Q&A
What is involved?
The Slipstream Editor’s primary job is to collect stories and articles of interest and format them into a computer document which can then be sent to members. Some material comes from each Division, whilst other content can be found on the internet, elicited from readers or generated by the Editor him/her self.
The magazine is only distributed four times a year so there’s plenty of time ‘between sips’ to find material and put it in your computer.
What if I don’t have a suitable computer?
The Association can assist with hardware requirements if your computer isn’t up to the job.
We can also help with software if you need it, and there are people around to offer advice and help to get you started.
Do I need to be in a specific location?
No. Past editors have lived in Nowra and in Adelaide. You can do the job from anywhere, including overseas.
Will I be out of pocket?
No. Most people have a computer and ‘basic’ services such as an internet connection and generating a Slipstream magazine won’t burden those services. You will be reimbursed for an extra expenses, such as printing ink, paper etc if you need it.
Are there any guidelines for the Slipstream Editor?
Yep, there sure are. The Association set out a document a year or two back to give guidance. A copy can be obtained on request.
Will I be involved in the printing and distribution process?
Not necessarily. The cost of producing and distributing Slipstream in hardcopy has increased to the point where it may be no longer viable in that format, but a policy on this will be formulated later this month. Either way, the Editor doesn’t necessarily have to be involved in the printing/ distribution of hard copies. He/she just needs to produce a PDF file.
