Types involved in Suez

[noisy]

There was a fascinating documentary on BBC 4 last night about the Suez crisis. The focus was on the political goings on around the crisis, but brief mention was made of the air campaign.

What types were involved in suez? There were brief clips of:

Sea Hawk
Hunter
Vampire/Venom
Valiant
Supermarine swift :confused:

Is the swift misplaced in this list? I was under the impression that early marks of the swift were a bit of a flop. Would they have seen action in Suez?

[henry crun]

The F1's were a flop and no way did they particpate at Suez.

Only 56 squadron at Waterbeach were equiped them and then with several limitations on their use.
After a number of accidents and all sorts of problems with serviceability they were withdrawn from service after about a year.

Havn't seen the program you refer to but did they mention the Canberra ?, quite a few used in that campaign.

[noisy]

canberra, yes. I knew there was one I had forgotten.

They probably just got some stock footage of fities RAF/RN jets and stuck it in there.

Edit: the prog is called

The other side...of the Suez crisis.

[Milt]

The things that happen !!!

Vickers Valiants bombed Cairo airport and destroyed a Vickers Viscount.

[noisy]

they failed to put the airfield out of action, which was their primary objective.

The runway was sunsequently destroyed by the Egyptian engineers to deny the Brits the use of it.

The Egyptians were using Meteor NF13's. What else did they have?

[Romeo Tango Alpha]

Westland Wyvern also participated somewhat.

[The SSK]

Full (?) list here:
http://www.britains-smallwars.com/suez/Aircraft.html

[teeteringhead]

Seem to remember an old pilot in my youth talking about RAF Sabres at Suez.

And there was the (in them days) well-known story that Cairo had left their NDB switched on, which made the bomber navigators' jobs a bit easier!!:p :p

[newswatcher]

I was a goggle-eyed 7-y-o at the time, living in married quarters at RAF Nicosia. I remember the E-W "reserve" runway being wing-tip to wing-tip with aircraft.

I am surprised to see no mention of the Blackburn Beverley on the list, also the Fairey Gannet. I am sure they were used in some role, at the time. There were some French aircraft there at times, possibly Mysteres or Corsairs. There were also large numbers of something called a "boxcar", but I forget where they came from, possibly also French.

Nicosia also possessed a Beaufighter at the time (seriously), but I am sure this did not take part, although the Israelis are thought to have used Mosquitos, Mustangs and Spitfires during their campaign!! There may also have been some participation from the Army's Austers, if I remember, not frontline!.

It must have been very difficult for the "allied" Air Forces to distinguish between the Meteors and Vampires on each side! From a quick read this morning, I am reminded that the US did their level best to upset eveything by flying regular sorties over the British fleet and Cyprus, without notice, thus requiring a number of scrambles to investigate.

Noisy these were the egyptian (http://www.britains-smallwars.com/suez/EgyptianAircraft.html) aircraft.

[PaperTiger]

something called a "boxcar", but I forget where they came from, possibly also French Nord Noratlas (http://www.airteamimages.com/pages/classic/classic-noratlas.html), although the boxcar moniker was properly applied to the similar-in-appearance Fairchild C-82/C-119. Probably a bad bit of aircraft recognition by someone at the time, but the name stuck.

I have seen references to French F-86s but found no confirmation, although they definitely used F-84s.

[smartman]

Not really of 'types' - but I know of a mate who sells great SPACE models that was the first Para to jump out of a Valetta (I think that was the type) over Suez, got entangled in a palm tree with lead buzzing around him; and then had a mention in some book or other wherein his officer bollocked him for not getting on with the war --------

[Gainesy]

Had an Uncle in the Paras at Suez, he was lobbed out of a Hastings. Understand Shacks were also involved (not meat bombing).

[shack]

As a Shack driver at the time I can assure that Shacks were involved, trooping at first,33 pongos packed in, then later doing anti-sub patrols around the carriers. The Corsairs from the French carrier were a pain in the backside, always wanted to play.

I was about 6 in the take off queue at Nicosia when the brave Canberra mate lined up on the runway then pulled his legs up 'cos he didn't want to go, chaos like you wouldn't believe!!

[newswatcher]

PaperTiger, thanks for the info.

shack, this (http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/printer_103.shtml) account has lots of info. It says that a Canberra pilot was court-martialled, for damaging his aircraft whilst taking off from Malta. Were there two incidents?

[shack]

Newswatcher as I remember it was Nicosia, as the excellent report you indicated says many times the Canberras were based at Nic for the "war"!!! I remember that 39 were at Luqa but I do not think the incident happened there,unfortunately my log books were lost in a house move so I cannot confirm.

Having said that I and the rest of the Shack fleet did not know where we were for most of the time, we would start from the UK with a crew of 6 and 33 pongoes or ground crew, fly to Luqa Malta which would take about six hours, the aircraft would be refuelled there as we were not allowed to refuel in Cyprus, fly the leg to Nicosia,another six hours then twelve hours off. After your twelve hours take the next available aircraft back to the UK ie. another twelve hours flying, then the same thing again. After a few trips you did not know whether you were coming or going!!!

The days around the carriers were after the build up had finished, reading your article reminded me of what a pain in the a**e our American "friends" were and of some of the stupid things they did with their carriers, submarines and aircraft trying to disrupt the proceedings. There had been a warning of an Egyptian submarine being around so we were carrying,on our patrols around the carriers,a bomb bay full of depth charges...............then some American plonker drives his submarine into the middle of the carriers.............lucky he did not get more than he bargained for.

Makes me realise how old I am when I think this all happened nearly 50 years ago.

[newswatcher]

shack, I am trying to verify this. In the meantime, here (http://www.orbat.com/site/history/historical/isreal/suezsinai1956airorbat.html) is another page from Tom Cooper. Sadly the external link is redundant.

:ok:

[noisy]

crikey shack that's a bit hairy :uhoh:

I am confident that the shackleton could really ruin a submariners day; that's what it was designed for.

[newswatcher]

noisy, you may not have had the time to read the account within the link I posted, but here is a relevant extract:The Avengers from Arromanches then detected the USN submarine USS Cutlass in the middle of the French task force, and forced it to surface.

[noisy]

Just goes to show how rapidly things can get out of hand.

[Nigel Osborn]

The regiment I was in was put on call to go to Suez. Accordingly I was called off my annual leave and had to pack my bags in a hurry. As the 'war' was over so quickly the regiment never went and I missed out on the rest of my leave.
Some years later when I was in the RN, I met a pilot, Lt Mills, who was reputed to be the only person shot down in Suez in a Sea Hawk by a rifle bullet hitting some sensitive part of the engine.

[shack]

What a small world, Don Mills was a student of mine at Valley before I changed onto the Old Grey Lady.

[newswatcher]

Nigel Osborn, not sure if you are saying that Lt Mills was the only pilot shot down, or the only pilot shot down by small arms fire. The excellent "Thunder&Lightning" site has two Sea Hawks downed by ground fire during Suez, which also saw the losses of a Canberra (over Syria), one Venom, two Wyverns, and two Whirlwind helicopters.

[Cornish Jack]

Newswatcher -
re. the Bev, methinks it was a bit previous for the old girl - her predecessor, the Valetta was 'Auntie Mary's' medium range transport at the time. We were operating on the periphery with the Aden 'pigs' shuffling the troops around - total confusion, as I recall!!!
One of the 'oddballs' of that period was the use of Tudors as troop transports to Aden. That, indirectly, lead to a local charge of 'spreading alarm and despondency' - very unusual.

[Gainesy]

Shack

Any other Shacklebomber tales please; perhaps another thread?

("Gear Up, Galley Master Switch ON").:)

[shack]

Gainesy, plenty of stories but just a little nervous when I read your profile.

Shack

[Gainesy]

No need to worry, I'm not looking to write anything, I (and all the others on here) just love reading the real gen and anecdotes, told by those who were there and who did it.

[newswatcher]

Cornish Jack, thanks for reply. I was juggling recollections. I know that I saw Beverleys at Nicosia during this time. Since this was the first year of their active service with 47 Squadron, I thought they might have been involved in Suez.

Ah yes - the Valetta! I remember a flight to Habbaniya in one of those. I think we went via Amman.

[shack]

Re-reading one of the previous entries re a Beaufighter at Nic, it was probably a TT version used when the Squadrons came for a gunnery visit to the range.

To finish, at the end of the Suez Campaign some bright spark stood up in Parliament and said all our troops will be home for Xmas and they were!!!! We did the reverse of the outbound trips and I eventually landed at Aldergrove, my station, at 2350h on December 24th, completely knackered.
Since we had been taking the next aircraft available after each rest? Coastal Command was in a complete mess for weeks, as we for example, only had one of our own aircraft at Aldergrove the rest were from different squadrons around the Command and there was much to-ing and fro-ing to get them back to where they belonged.

For non ex-Service members, each aircraft had its own servicing record (a F700) in which any snags were recorded after a flight, a Form that stayed at the aircraft's base, and the aircraft carried a travelling F700 in case it landed at another airfield and needed rectification to be recorded. If a snag arose that could not be fixed but was considered safe to fly, a "red line entry", was made in the F700, needless to say the travelling F700s at the end of Suez were a technicolour nightmare.

[uy707]

In addition to the navy Corsairs and Noratlases, heard the french corps also relied on F.84s, Mytère IVs and Mistrals(Vampires licence built in France).
The Israelis also contributed with their own Dassault Mystère IVs and older Ouragans.
Alain