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BBC's Greatest Turning Points in Aviation
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30th Jan 2015, 07:22
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ian16th
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: South Africa
Age: 87
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That didn't take long. A Giggle of 'DH Vampire Atlantic' produced this from Wiki:
Quote:
On 14 July 1948, six Vampire F.3s of
No. 54 Squadron RAF
became the first jet aircraft to fly across the
Atlantic Ocean
when they arrived in Goose Bay,
Labrador
. They went via
Stornoway
in the
Outer Hebrides
of
Scotland
,
Keflavik
in
Iceland
and Bluie West 1, Greenland. From
Goose Bay airfield
they went on to
Montreal
(c. 3,000 mi/4,830 km) to start the RAF’s annual goodwill tour of
Canada
and the
US
where they gave formation aerobatic displays.
[14]
At the same time, USAF
Colonel
David C. Schilling
led a group of
F-80 Shooting Stars
flying to
Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base
in
Germany
to relieve a unit based there. There were conflicting reports later regarding competition between the RAF and USAF to be the first to fly the Atlantic. One report said the USAF squadron delayed completion of its movement to allow the Vampires to be "the first jets across the Atlantic".
[15]
Another said that the Vampire pilots celebrated “winning the race against the rival F-80s.”
[16]
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