I was about to leave his office when the Commander asked me how I had come up from Thornhill. Still a bit tranquillised I unthinkingly said I had flown up in a Vampire. This news sent the Commander through the roof.
Knowing that I must have been pretty stressed ahead of this interview, he could not understand why I had not been flown up by one of the squadron pilots. When I revealed that Mike Reynolds had hitched a lift with me, Group Captain Hawkins was called in and told to change the flight authorisation for Reynolds to captain the return flight to Thornhill. As I marched out, Air Vice-Marshal Jacklin was already on the phone to Wing Commander Wilson. I felt really bad about my CO having to take another blasting from CAS because he had done more to protect me than I deserved or expected.
Beryl and I found a lovely apartment in Shema’s Flats in Gwelo that we furnished to our liking. Beryl’s dad helped us with half the money to buy a second-hand Vauxhall Velox so we were well set and happy by the time I returned to duty and Beryl to her hairdressing job.
Air Force life was idyllic. Flying was a joy and the squadron crew room was a happy place. There was always a great deal of chatter, leg pulling, reading or playing cards, Scrabble and other games. One day we acquired a chess set. Those who had not played the game before chose to ignore it. Two of these were Justin Varkevisser (Varky) and Randy du Rand, but when I came in from a sortie one morning, I was surprised to find these two playing each other at chess. I moved closer and was astonished to see that Varky had Randy’s king off the board. “You cannot do that”, I told Varky. “The king never leaves the board." Other pilots gathered and were amused to hear Randy say, “You play to your rules and we will play to ours!”
Eddie Wilkinson had a dog named Pickles who followed him everywhere. Pickles was allowed into the squadron building where his presence was hardly noticed because he was very well behaved. The one thing that amazed us all about this dog was that he was only noticed when Eddie went out to his aircraft or taxiied into dispersals. He would follow his master right through the pre-flight inspection then move off the hard-standing to watch Eddie taxi out towards the runway. Pickles would not be noticed again until he leapt up and ran out to the flight line to meet Eddie as he taxied in. Only a dog could differentiate between the many Vampires Eddie flew. They all sounded the same to us!
Varky, Peter McLurg, Randy and Dave Thorne.
Nyasaland emergency
THE FEDERATION OF RHODESIA AND Nyasaland was facing opposition from black leaders who wanted the three territories of the Federation to be dissolved and independence bestowed upon each under ‘black governments’. Rioting broke out in Nyasaland and blood had been spilled before the Police and Army moved in to quell the unrest. Nos 3 and 4 Squadrons (Dakotas, Pembrokes and Provosts) were dispatched to the troubled region immediately and No 1 Squadron was put on standby. Then on the first day of April we deployed to Chileka Airport near Blantyre.
The Dakotas and two Pembrokes were still engaged in positioning ground forces around the country and Provosts had already flown missions in active support of Police and Army units serving as airborne observers and laying tear-gas screens when needed.
The Vampires were only there to ‘wave the flag’, uphold the spirits of the ‘goodies’ and undermine the confidence of the ‘badies’. Ours should have been a very soft number but the first flag-waving flight was a pretty hairy experience for me. A formation of six Vampires was to expose our presence in and around Zomba, the seat of government.
Pembroke landing at New Sarum.
Norman Walsh led the formation of six aircraft. We took off from Chileka Airport in pairs under ‘chiparoni’ conditions of low cloud with drizzle (known to Rhodesians as guti and normal wet weather in Britain). Because we entered dense stratocumulus shortly after take-off, Norman instructed us to hold a particular heading until above the cloud where we would link up. I was No 2 in the second pair and saw Norman and his No 2 as soon as we came into clear air in a cloud valley with higher banks to right and left of our flight line. We linked up and I became No 4 on Norman’s lead. The third pair reported being above cloud but could not see our formation. After orbiting for about three minutes Norman decided that link-up would not occur and instructed the unseen pair to return to Chileka.
The cloud opened about twenty kilometres northwest of Zomba sufficiently to allow for a visual descent. Norman picked up the main road from Lake Nyasa to Zomba and flew us fast and low in tight battle formation along the road just below thickening low cloud. I was slightly stepped up in the starboard outer position where I could see the three aircraft as well as the reaction of people along the road. Most had not seen jets at close range before and were diving for cover as Norman swept over them.
The northern slopes of Zomba mountain suddenly appeared out of the gloom, its base reaching down to the main road. This forced both of us on the starboard side to step higher and steepen the echelon angle, placing me at cloud base close against the mountainside.
As the outskirts of Zomba came into view I suddenly saw a heavy cable at such close range that I had to make a violent break to port to avoid it. I then had to repeat the manoeuvre in the reverse direction so as not to lose sight of the other aircraft, now on my right side. It became so dark over Zomba town, in moderately heavy rain, that Norman considered it unwise to make the planned orbits of the town, so he led us straight back to Chileka Airport.
On the ground we learned that the line I had so nearly hit was an old hawser cable that used to transport timber from the top of Zomba mountain down to its base. Norman expressed his relief that the third pair had been dropped because, with six aircraft, the unmarked hazard may have proven fatal.
4 Squadron guys who went to Nyasaland. Standing: Flt Lt Ken Edwards (OC) and Flt Lt Mike Saunders.
For the next few days the weather was good and we flew a number of sorties over troubled areas. We got to see much of truly beautiful Nyasaland and crystal-clear Lake Nyasa that, like Lakes Albert, Kivu and Tanganyika, is a water-filled section of the Great Rift Valley running down the eastern side of Africa.
Mount Mlanje, the highest feature in the territory, was surrounded by a vast spread of well-manicured tea estates having lines of magnificent acacia trees that acted as protective windbrakers. Norman was leading as usual when he turned our formation of four FB9s towards the mountain for a zoom climb up a well-defined gully running from the base of the mountain to its summit. Full power was applied as we commenced the ascent in loose line astern. I was No 3 and soon became concerned when the mountain seemed too steep and high because I was dropping back from the two aircraft climbing ahead of me. Keith Corrans flying No 4 passed on my right side waving at me as he flew by.
I had suspected that my FB9’s engine was shy on power during each formation take-off over the previous few days, but now I knew for sure that it was not performing like those of the three aircraft racing away from me. Soon all three aircraft disappeared from view as they pitched over the rounded summit that was still a long way ahead.
I was considering lowering undercarriage for what looked like an unavoidable stall onto the rough rising ground but by using a small degree of flap; I managed to wallow past the mountain climbers’ resthouse at the summit. Falling ground allowed a slow acceleration to safe flying speed and I reestablished visual contact with the formation descending some two miles ahead.
Pregnant Beryl: a happy consequence of the Nyasaland Emergency.
For pilots and technicians of the jet and transport squadrons, life at Chileka Airport was comfortable, with pleasant tented accommodation and the airport restaurant and bar at our permanent disposal. On the other hand, No 4 Squadron’s crews were split up at three forward Airfields where conditions were not so easy; but at least they were seeing action in close support of the Army and Police.
For the men operating the Provosts, accommodation and food was pretty basic with little to occupy the long hours between sorties. It was during such a lull that Frank Gait-Smith, sitting in a camp
chair and having lost interest in all the over-read magazines, watched a black woman bearing a bucket of water on her head cross the grass runway at Kota Kota. In a bored voice, and speaking to nobody in particular, he observed that, “Absence surely makes the blacks grow blonder!”
I was instructed to take my underpowered FB9 back to Thornhill and was granted permission to stay over for the night before returning with a replacement aircraft. A few weeks after this we learned that Beryl was pregnant and nine months after that one night stay-over our daughter Deborah was born.
One morning there was quite a commotion as police vehicles came onto the airport apron and pulled up to the open doors of a waiting Dakota. A number of black men emerged from the vehicles and were ushered into the Dakota. I noticed that one of them was small and still wearing pyjamas and dressing gown. This was Doctor Hastings Banda who was on his way to Gwelo Prison. The Nyasaland Emergency was over and we returned to base having been away for only twenty-one days.
The need to prepare aircrew to survive many days in the bush brought about a series of ‘bush survival exercises’. The first of these was run in August after our return from Nyasaland. Half of 1 Squadron’s pilots were flown to Binga airfield on the south bank of the Zambezi River, soon to be lost below the waters of Kariba Dam. Many crocodile basking points were evident right next to the runway markers.
A famous hunter cum game-ranger, Mr Cockroft, conducted the course that included a very long and strenuous hike to the Amanzituba Vlei area climbing from the hot bush-covered flats through a rugged range into the cooler highveld. Close encounters with two black rhino induced high adrenaline flow but otherwise we all enjoyed moving through bushveld that supported a full spread of African wildlife totally unaffected by human intrusion.
On completion of our bush hike we were pretty exhausted and very much enjoyed swimming in the therapeutic waters of a hot spring pool. I believe it is still there, close to the Kariba shoreline.
Standing: Eddie Wilkinson, PB and Eric Cary. Centre: Basil Green, Dave Thorne, Peter McClurg and Bill Galloway. Squatting: Keith Corrans.
Canberra bombers
NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT and the British Government had been ongoing since September 1956 concerning our participation in Britain’s defence undertakings in Africa and the Middle East. The Federal Prime Minister, Sir Roy Welensky, considered the acquisition of Canberra bombers important to the Federation for fuller support to the Baghdad Treaty signatories. Though this was opposed by a number of Federal politicians, negotiations with Britain for the on-take of the bombers continued.
The Suez Crisis delayed communications on the issue until Mr Duncan Sandys, the British Minister of Defence, wrote a letter to Sir Roy Welensky dated 13 August 1957 to say that 18 RAF Canberra B2 bombers had been earmarked for refurbishment for the RRAF. In light of today’s prices, the cost to the Federal Government of £18,310,000 for eighteen jet bombers seems remarkable. At the same time, plans were being made for RRAF Vampires to spend time in Aden to foster good relations with Britain’s Middle East Command and to prepare for situations of limited and global war. When ready to do so, RRAF Canberras would also participate.
The first flight of four Canberra B2 bombers, led by Squadron Leader Charles Paxton, arrived at Thornhill where they were met by a large welcoming crowd including the Air Force Commander, every man on station and many wives with their children.
This lovely-looking aircraft held special interest for me because my second cousin, William Petter, had designed it. His father had designed the famous WW II ‘behind the lines’ short-field workhorse, the Lysander, and William followed in his father’s footsteps. He designed a bomber that all the recognised aircraft manufacturers refused to take on. In desperation he eventually approached the English Electric Corporation who had not until then been involved directly in the production of aircraft.
Canberra B2 bombers at Thornhill.
In this group photograph taken in front of a Canadair, my uncle Squadron Leader Bill Smith (seated 7th from left) was OC of the transport squadron. Future OCs are Peter Barnett (seated 6th from left), George Alexander (seated 9th from left) and Mike Gedye (squatting 2nd from left).
Subject to design modifications to incorporate English Electric in-house technology, William Petter’s bomber was taken on and become Britain’s first jet bomber and a great success for the manufacturer.
As chief design-engineer for the company, William was also instrumental in designing the prototype of the Lightning interceptor. Later he designed a low-cost fighter that became the Folland Gnat.
Not only had the Royal Rhodesian Air Force strike power increased with the addition of Nos 5 and 6 (Canberra) Squadrons, No 3 (Transport) Squadron’s lift capacity was substantially enhanced with the addition of four Canadairs (DC4 M-2 Argonaut) aircraft, each powered by four Merlin engines. The Federation was establishing a fair-sized balanced Air Force and there were rumours that we would be getting Hunter GF9s in the near future. All of this was very exciting for the likes of myself!
The Colin Graves tragedy
AFTER THE FIRST CANBERRAS ARRIVED, No 1 Squadron was preparing a formation aerobatic team to participate at the ‘Elizabethville Air Show’. The reason for the Belgian invitation to our Air Force to participate in their great show at Elizabethville in the Katanga Province of the Congo is lost to me. Nevertheless the Vampires were to put on a formation aerobatics display and the newly acquired Canberras were to give solo and formation demonstrations.
As Squadron Commander Colin Graves led a formation team of four aircraft with Mike Reynolds No 2, Peter McClurg No 3, and Randy du Rand No 4. Norman Walsh was one of two reserve pilots and, though I led him on a couple of pairs formation aerobatic practices, I only recall him flying with the initial team of six on a couple of occasions. Then the team was reduced to four because of Vampire power limitations.
Colin had taken his team out into the flying area for some days before he felt ready to come to the airfield to have his prepared sequence viewed and evaluated. The results were pleasing and we all felt good about having such a team to show off Rhodesian talent. Most Air Forces around the world boasted national aerobatics teams of which the Black Arrows team (Hunters) of the RAF was closest to us by association.
However, there was an enormous gap between handling demands on pilots flying formation aerobatics on Hunters and those doing the same in Vampires. The Vampire’s power margins were really too small and engine response too slow for formation aerobatics, placing unusually high demands on pilots to hold a steady station in all manoeuvres. Typically a jet suited to formation aerobatics would have at least 25% power reserve and rapid response engines. The Vampire at best had 10% reserve with relatively poor thrust response to throttle.
The old Control Tower, soon to be demolished, incorporated an outside balcony that served as a perfect place from which to watch Colin’s team go through its routines. Together with others, I was on this balcony on 6 May 1959 waiting for another in a series of display practices when I happened to notice that Wing Commander Wilson was joining us.
Vampires.
Old Control Tower.
Colin had completed a barrel roll running across our front from east to west before leading the formation in a long sweeping climb to starboard during which the aircraft, all FB9s, changed from finger four to box formation. In this pattern and still in the turn, the formation kept coming around descending to gain speed for a loop directly in front of us.
Before the aircraft reached the top of the loop Randy du Rand, as No 4, had fallen back two aircraft lengths from his correct position. Immediately Wing Commander Wilson crossed the platform at a run and went racing off down the stairway. Most of us saw this out of the corner of the eye but thought nothing of it because our attention was focused on the formation.
In the descent Randy’s aircraft moved forward but overshot slightly, his nose coming under the leader’s tail plane as the formation swept through the bottom of the loop. A
s the aircraft pitched into the climb Colin’s aircraft dropped in turbulence and his tail plane was removed as it smashed through Randy’s canopy. This created a shower of flashing debris that seemed to stop dead in mid-air with the aircraft passing on. Without its tail plane, Colin’s aircraft pitched down from its shallow climb into a shallow dive then rolled inverted and disappeared from view behind a line of gum trees on Thornhill’s western boundary. A huge angry red fireball enveloped in black smoke rose into view a couple of seconds later.
We were staring in disbelief when I pointed to Wing Commander Wilson’s speeding Staff car. How he had sensed what was coming we could not say but from the start he had been heading directly for the crash site.
That the much-loved and respected Colin Graves was dead there could be no doubt and one was left wondering how the decision not to fit life-saving ejector seats could be justified on the basis of high costs. Compared to the loss of this experienced officer and father of two young children it seemed such a petty issue. But then our attention was drawn from the tragedy to a new situation. Randy, though still flying, was in mortal danger.
The impact with Colin’s tail plane had shattered Randy’s canopy. The thick armoured glass of his windscreen, still encased in its battered frame, had been pushed past the gunsight and lay across Randy’s arms fully exposing his head and upper body to high-speed airflow. This might have been tolerable had the visor on Randy’s helmet not been shattered too. Fortunately his oxygen mask was still in place and prevented Randy from an air drowning.
Winds of Destruction Page 10
