Names of the Pilots in the 22 Hunter Loop
 

This was being asked in another thread. Here is the definitive list:

Pilots were 111 Sqn unless otherwise annotated:

XG194 SqnLdr Roger Topp
XG170 FltLT "Oakie" Oakford
XG200 FlGOff "Oscar" Wild
XF515 FltLt Alan Brindle
XG201 FltLt Paddy Hine
XG171 FlTLT Brian Mercer
XG592 FLTLT George Ord
XE563 FlTLT Matthew Kemp
XJ715 Fg Off Ron Smith
XG189 FltLt Bob Smith
XF416 FltLt Bob Barcilon
XF424 FlgOff Roger Hymans 43 Sqn
XE616 FlgOff Peter Jennings 263 Sqn
XG190 FltLt Les Swart
XE656 FlgOff Norman Lamb 1 Sqn
XE584 FltLt "Will" Scarlett 1 Sqn
XG193 FlgOff "CJ" Clayton-Jones
XJ687 FltLt "Chas" Boyer 66 Sqn
XG266 FltLt Frank Travers-Smith 66 Sqn
XG160 FltLt Mike Thurley
XF506 FlgOff Tony Aldridge
XG191 FltLt David Edmondston 19 Sqn

Airborne Spares
FltLt "Chan" Biss 1 Sqn
FlgOff Barry Vaughan 56 Sqn

Extra pilots
FltLT Les Elgey
FltLt Fred Hartley

Sweet nostalgia... Farnborough has never been the same.

52 years ago.

Anyone still flying ?

Dunno. but one will soon be Captain of the R & A.

Might be then. Here he is

Patrick Hine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Roger Topp is 87 years young. Even guys like Brian Mercer are in their 80's. I doubt anyone is flying in any serious manner.

Where are they now?
 

Speaking of which, if anyone can fill in the gaps about the later histories of these pilots, it would come in very useful for a project underway about the achievements of the Black Arrows. PM me if you need to ... thank you in advance...

Was Flt Lt George Ord in your list actually George Aird - of Hatfield Lightning ejection fame and later British Aersopace 125 Test Pilot (and Mossie RR299 display pilot).

I'm pretty sure he took part in the 22 ship formation

cheers

AS

Did they ever?

I'll check with my source about George Aird... but it looks like you are correct.

George Aird was an original Black Arrow, but was posted out before 1958. George Ord is the correct name.

I stand corrected Capt K - but thank's for clarifying my fading memory:ok:

Brian Mercer was instructing airline pilots at Burgess Hill about 14 years ago, i had the pleasure to meet him there and he was so knowledgeable...and still very interested by warbirds !!

"Oscar" Wild - Lightnings OCU early 70s
George Ord - Flt Cdr at the Towers? 65
Bob Barcilon - Lightnings 5 Sqn ?
Les Swart - Lightnings OC .. Sqn ?
Tony Aldridge - Lightnings 23 Sqn 67
Les Elgey - Lightnings ?

I believe Les ( Ed ? ) Swart was OC 111 Wattisham, mid / late `60s.

Gosh, that stirs some memories, I can remember lying in the grass as a young 'erk' in '61 or maybe '62 ( one of those sunny summer evenings) at Cottesmore and seeing this loop, am sure we counted 22 Hunters, just the one loop then a long stream of them landing one after the other.

Could MoD afford the fuel today...?

(QUOTE)Gosh, that stirs some memories, I can remember lying in the grass as a young 'erk' in '61 or maybe '62 ( one of those sunny summer evenings) at Cottesmore and seeing this loop, am sure we counted 22 Hunters, just the one loop then a long stream of them landing one after the other.(UNQUOTE)

I doubt it, as the Black Arrows disbanded in December 1960. You may have seen the subsequent Blue Diamonds that flew during 1961-62, but the most they flew was 18 Hunters.

Names of Pilots in 22 Hunter Loop
 

At the risk of being pedantic, the Black Arrows officially stood down on 3 November 1960 following the presentation of the Rolls-Royce trophy to acknowledge the achievements of the team, which was followed by an evening display by nine Hunters.

I stand to be corrected, but I believe that a 'Diamond Sixteen' was the maximum number of Hunters flown by the 92 Squadron team during its routines and was first flown on 18 July 1961, in readiness for the forthcoming SBAC Show.

Hello Dave, good to see you pop up and hope you are now fully recovered. Well your official disbandment date may be correct, but I have a photo of the team lined up at Bruggen in December 1960. Of course, they may well have just been operating as a regular squadron, but their Hunters were still all black!
Of course I won't dispute the numbers that the Blue Diamonds achieved, as you're quite correct, so totally dispels 'bluesafari's memory of seeing "22 Hunters looping in 1961 or 62" The facts would be "16 Blue Diamonds Hunters"!