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Old 11th Feb 2014, 12:33
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Wensleydale
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
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"A story I can't verify - my mother's RAF boyfriend apparently decided to fly down one of the main streets of Salisbury Rhodesia below building height in a Hawker Hunter. Must have been the late 50s but again I don't really know. It was past the union building if I understand correctly. My uncle was on top of this building, where he worked, with a camera supposedly to capture the event but he was so shocked that he missed it. Apparently it caused fairly serious trouble but was smoothed over for the sake of diplomatic relations. I will never know how much truth there is in this story but I think that whatever untruth there is didn't originate from her. Maybe there are some newspaper archives if they haven't been left to rot."




Read "Fall Out the Roman Catholics and Jews" by Anthony Haig-Thomas (available on a well known book website). He was one of a pair of 8 Sqn Hunters that carried out this beat up. In addition to breaking windows in a girls school during the .95 pass at low level through the city, the pair beat up a steam train - they were so low that the train driver slammed on the brakes and flat spotted the wheels - the RAF received a bill for this damage. It was to prove too expensive to fly witnesses home for a Courts Martial so Haig-Thomas escaped with a reprimand and a loss of 6 months seniority. He returned home to become the ADC to the AOC.


Edited to add: having consulted my copy of the book - the other pilot was John Volkers; it was in 18th July 1960 and their callsign was Snowstorm Black. Indeed, the two pilots were dating two sisters in Salisbury and the flypast was for the girls' brother who was in the Caltex building. Rest assured, the two girls are not named in the narrative!

Last edited by Wensleydale; 11th Feb 2014 at 12:45.
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