Types involved in Suez
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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.
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.
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.
Yes, Him
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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.
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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.
Ah yes - the Valetta! I remember a flight to Habbaniya in one of those. I think we went via Amman.
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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.
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.
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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
The Israelis also contributed with their own Dassault Mystère IVs and older Ouragans.
Alain
