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The Aviation Historian
The modern journal of classic aeroplanes and the history of flying
®
THE PACIFIC
FAR EAST FERRY ROUTE
EXPRESS
THE FLEET AIR ARM’S 1945
ISSUE
No 19
Published quarterly by:
The Aviation Historian
PO Box 962
Horsham RH12 9PP
United Kingdom
Subscribe at:
www.theaviationhistorian.com
(published April 15, 2017)
The Aviation Historian
The modern journal of classic aeroplanes and the history of flying
®
ISSUE NUMBER 19
TM
Editor’s Letter
EXACTLY 60 YEARS ago, Britain’s Conservative government
published “that” Defence White Paper, in which a radical new
direction for the nation’s air defence was announced, to howls
of fury and outrage in many quarters. The Minister of Defence
at the time, Duncan Sandys — whose name to this day still
elicits a barrage of boos and hisses — had been tasked with
redefining Britain’s defence strategy, partly in response to the
bruising events at Suez the previous year, but also in light of
the increasingly terrifying prospect of all-out nuclear war, the
deadly zero-sum game in which there could be only losers. At
the heart of Sandys’ air-defence proposals was the notion that
the tactics employed so effectively during Fighter Command’s
“finest hour”, less than two decades before, would be
hopelessly inadequate against a considerably smaller force of
Soviet bombers carrying nuclear weapons; if even one reached
its target, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Sandys’ answer was to switch resources to the development
of a network of surface-to-air missile batteries in place of a
conventional manned-fighter force, the missiles incorporating
the most modern technology to despatch the intruders before
they had a chance to release their devastating cargo. What
effect would this new direction have on industry, particularly
Britain’s aircraft manufacturers, those mass-employment
“heavy hitters”? In this issue, Professor Keith Hayward FRAeS
examines the political and industrial fallout of the infamous
document, in the first of a series of specially-commissioned
TAH
articles celebrating — or commiserating on, depending
on your perspective — the 60th anniversary of what came to
be known simply as “Sandys”; an ill-conceived act of political
recklessness or a vital rationalisation of a failing industry?
Nick Stroud
e-mail nickstroud@theaviationhistorian.com
Mick Oakey
e-mail mickoakey@theaviationhistorian.com
EDITOR
MANAGING EDITOR
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Amanda Stroud
Lynn Oakey
FINANCE MANAGER
For all telephone enquiries:
tel +44 (0)7572 237737 (mobile number)
Gregory Alegi, Dr David Baker, Ian Bott,
Robert Forsyth, Juanita Franzi, Dr Richard
P. Hallion, Philip Jarrett HonCRAeS,
Colin A. Owers, David H. Stringer,
Julian Temple, Capt Dacre Watson
EDITORIAL BOARD
David & Angie Siddall,
David Siddall Multimedia
Published quarterly by
The Aviation Historian,
PO Box 962, Horsham RH12 9PP, United Kingdom
©
The Aviation Historian
2017
ISSN 2051-1930 (print)
ISSN 2051-7602 (digital)
While every care will be taken with material
submitted to
The Aviation Historian,
no responsibility
can be accepted for loss or damage. Opinions
expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect
those of the Editor. This periodical must not, without the
written consent of the publishers first being given, be
lent, sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of in a
mutilated condition or in any unauthorised cover by way
of trade or annexed or as part of any publication or
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(impossible to imagine, we know),
please ensure you recycle it using an appropriate facility.
Printed in the UK by
The Magazine Printing Company
using only paper from FSC/PEFC suppliers
www.magprint.co.uk
FRONT COVER
Hellcat pilot Lt John Haberfield RNZNVR of No 1839
Sqn aboard
HMS Indomitable
in 1945. See
The Pacific Express,
which begins on page 64. His flying kit offers a stark contrast to . . .
MADE IN BRITAIN
BACK COVER
. . . the high-altitude pressure suit and helmet worn by
the aircrew of the high-flying Lockheed Blackbird. See pages 48–59.
48–
THE AVIATION HISTORIAN
3
Issue No 19
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THE AVIATION HISTORIAN
Issue No 19
48
CONTENTS
82
Issue No 19
3
EDITOR’S LETTER
6
AIR CORRESPONDENCE
10
KILL OR CURE? THE VIEW FROM WHITEHALL
Exactly 60 years after the publication of Duncan Sandys’
infamous 1957 Defence White Paper, Professor Keith
Hayward FRAeS examines the document’s political fallout
22
THE JOLLY ROGERS’ CAPE YORK CATASTROPHE
Consolidated B-24 specialist Bob Livingstone describes
the disastrous debut of the USAAF’s 90th Bombardment
Group in the South-west Pacific theatre in late 1942
34
FURTHER OUT ON A LYMPNE
In the second part of his series on flying for Skyways
Coach-Air in the 1960s, Brian Turpin puts us in the cockpit
of the thoroughly modern Avro/Hawker Siddeley 748 — a
very different proposition from the DC-3 he was used to
48
GIANT REACH: THE BLACKBIRD IN EAST ANGLIA
22
64
The extraordinary shape of the Lockheed SR-71 was a
regular sight in the skies over Suffolk during 1974–90; Bob
Archer traces the history of the Mildenhall-based Det 4
60
AN EYE FOR DETAIL: NINE’S LIVES
Juanita Franzi continues her series on notable airframes
and their markings with the story of Australian aviation
pioneer “Horrie” Miller and his hardworking Airco D.H.9
64
THE PACIFIC EXPRESS
With the war in Europe all but wrapped up by the Allies by
late 1944, the Fleet Air Arm needed aircraft in the Pacific
— and fast. Ray Flude details the establishment of a joint
RAF/FAA air ferry route from the UK to the Far East in 1945
74
THE HORNET DILEMMA
In 1931 the sole Hawker Hornet took part in a highly
successful sales tour of Yugoslavia — except it didn’t.
Philip Jarrett investigates what really happened to the
prototype of the supremely elegant Fury biplane fighter
112
10
82
BLUE ON BLUE
Latin American aviation historian Santiago Rivas relates
how the Gloster Meteors of the
Fuerza Aérea Argentina
played a big part — on both sides — in the ultimately
successful series of anti-Perónist coups in 1955
92
POLE POSITION
In the mid-1930s Norwegian airline DNL had high hopes
of being one of the first air carriers to establish a route
across the North Atlantic; Rob Mulder reveals how Pan
American ultimately thwarted DNL’s transatlantic dream
104
DEFENDING THE REICH: PART 3
Luftwaffe specialist Robert Forsyth concludes his
three-part series on the wartime exploits of experimental
weapons unit E.Kdo 25 with a look at the SG 116
Zellendusche upward-firing optically-triggered cannon
34
112
MONSIEUR MOINEAU’S MONSTROSITY
Alain J. Pelletier chronicles the genesis and development
of a 1916-vintage armed-reconnaissance biplane designed
by René Moineau, powered by a “sideways” engine
122
ARMCHAIR AVIATION
127
LOST & FOUND
128
THE GRAVEYARD SHIFT
British United Airways DC-3 captain Ed Wild recalls a
macabre round trip between Jersey and Gatwick in 1965
130
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
Issue No 19
THE AVIATION HISTORIAN
5

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