T H E G U I L D O F A I R P I L O T S A N D A I R N AV I G AT O R S

J U N E 2 0 0 9 N o . 1 7 5

PUBLISHED BY:The Guild of Air Pilots and AirNavigators, Cobham House, 9 WarwickCourt, Gray’s Inn, London WC1R 5DJ.

EDITOR:Group Captain T Eeles BA FRAeS

FUNCTION PHOTOGRAPHY: Gerald Sharp Photography

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Except where specifically stated, none of the materialin this issue is to be taken as expressing the opinionof the Court of the Guild.

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS:The copy deadline for the August 2009edition of Guild News is 1 July 2009 andshould be sent to: The Editor, GuildNews, Cobham House, 9 Warwick Court,Gray’s Inn, London WC1R 5DJ.

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Guild DiaryJUNE 20092 2nd Technical and Air Safety Committee Cobham House11 3rd General Purposes and Finance Committee Cobham House11 New Members Briefing Cobham House11 Aptitude Assessment RAF Cranwell12–14 Aero Expo 2009 Wycombe Air Park24 Election of Sheriffs Guildhall

JULY 20092 Trophies and Awards Committee Cobham House7 Benevolent Fund Board of Management Cobham House14 2nd Education and Training Committee Cobham House16 4th General Purposes and Finance Committee Cobham House16 2nd Court Meeting Cutlers' Hall26 Guild Sunday St Michael's Cornhill

AUGUST 20092 Garden Party Old Warden Military Pageant6 Aptitude Assessment RAF Cranwell

SEPTEMBER 20098 3rd Technical and Air Safety Committee Cobham House10 5th General Purposes and Finance Committee Cobham House10 3rd Court Meeting Cobham House29 Election of Lord Mayor Guildhall30 Guild Luncheon Club RAF Club30 Sir Frederick Tymms Lecture Royal Aeronautical Society

OCTOBER 20098 Aptitude Assessment RAF Cranwell13 Benevolent Fund Board of Management Cobham House13 3rd Education and Training Committee Cobham House15 6th General Purposes and Finance Committee Cobham House29 Trophies and Awards Banquet Guildhall31 Flyer Show Sofitel, Heathrow

NOVEMBER 20093 4th Technical and Air Safety Committee Cobham House12 7th General Purposes and Finance Committee Cobham House12 4th Court Meeting Cutlers' Hall12 Scholarships Presentation Cutlers' Hall13 Silent Change Guildhall14 Lord Mayor's Show16 Lord Mayor's Banquet Guildhall

St Cecilia's Festival St Paul's Cathedral

Guild Visits Programme22 July RAF Brize Norton15 September Brooklands, Weybridge

Please see Flyers accompanying this and previous editions of Guild News orcontact Assistant Michael Glover at MJAG2001@aol.com

GUILD GARDEN PARTY, Old Warden, 2nd August. If you are planning to come, please sendyour response slip and cheque to Mike Glover as soon as possible. Whilst there is no limit onnumbers he does need to know how large the Guild group will be in good time as he mustmake sure that adequate car parking and picknicking space is allocated, and that the rightnumber of admission tickets are printed.

Cover picture: HMS Illustrious at sea, in the North Sea Exercise Areas asseen from Graham Colover’s PA30 Twin Comanche, en route fromNewcastle to Biggin Hill. Photo by Alan Jackson

THE GUILD OF AIR PILOTS AND AIR NAVIGATORS

PATRON:His Royal Highness The Prince Philip

Duke of Edinburgh KG KT

GRAND MASTER:His Royal Highness The Prince Andrew

Duke of York KG KCVO

MASTER:Rear Admiral

C H D Cooke-PriestCB FRAeS

CLERK: Paul J Tacon BA FCIS

The Guild, founded in 1929, is a LiveryCompany of the City of London.

(Letters Patent 1956)

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In this edition of Guild News

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Page 4 News Round Up

Page 5 The Master WritesPage 6 HMS Illustrious Visit Report

Page 9 Profile Capt E M Brown

Page 11 Gazette and Letterto the Editor

Page 12 Livery Dinner

Page 14 The Guilds NewAffiliated Unit

Page 15 Embraer 190 gains LondonCity approval

Page 16 The Guild Goes To SchoolIn Canada

Page 18 Hawk Flight

Page 20 Guild Visit to Martin BakerAircraft

Page 22 Flying The F86A Sabre

Page 24 Guild Visit to DefenceHelicopter Flying School,RAF Shawbury

Page 25 Sir Alan Cobham Lecture

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STOP PRESS: HENSHAW RECORDBEATEN. Chalkie Stobbart has beaten AlexHenshaw's record flight, set in February1939, for the fastest time in a single engineaircraft from London to Cape Town andreturn. Full details of Chalkie's achievementwill be published in the August edition ofGuild News.

GUILD LUNCHEON AND COBHAMLECTURE. The 29th April saw two notableGuild events, the first Luncheon Club of2009 in the RAF Club and the CobhamLecture in the Royal Aeronautical Society'sHeadquarters at 4 Hamilton Place. Thoseattending the Luncheon Club wereentertained to a fascinating and thoughtprovoking talk by Squadron Leader KevenGambold titled 'Operations usingUnmanned Aerial Systems'. The subject ofthe Cobham Lecture, given by Rear AdmiralTony Johnstone-Burt OBE MA FRAeSFCIPD, was 'Helicopter Operations in Iraqand Afghanistan'. A shortened transcript ofthis lecture will be found in this issue ofGuild News. The Guild was honoured bythe attendance of Honorary LiverymanPrince Michael of Kent at this event.

FLYER FLIGHT TRAINING SHOW. Aftermany years at Heathrow's RenaissanceHotel the Professional Flight Training

Exhibition, organised by Flyer magazine,has now moved to the Sofitel Hotel atTerminal 5. The first two 2009 shows tookplace on 25th April and as usual GAPANmembers were out in force. The Guild standwas in a prime location to catch attendeesboth when they entered through the maindoors and while they queued to attend thepopular seminars. As such the stand wasconstantly awash with potential airlinepilots eager to learn about the industry andwhat GAPAN has to offer. Throughout theday the Aptitude Testing computers were inconstant use and it was refreshing to see anincreasing number of existing Guild YoungMembers (GYM) operating these computersand passing on advice to fellow youngsters.Jaspreet Singh, Ludo Forrer, Ed Scurr,Henry Salmon, Nick Chan and Kat Hodgewere among the GYM members inattendance. According to Flyer's Editor IanWaller the show broke all previous recordswith 1,100 attendees. There were also 36exhibitors and the feedback from them andvisitors was overwhelmingly positive, withseveral exhibitors actually running out ofmerchandise, such was the demand forinformation. This bodes well for theindustry and the Guild. Exhibition ManagerDarran Ward said 'In these challengingtimes, it is encouraging to see that interestin professional pilot training remains high.'The next Flyer Professional Flight TrainingExhibition takes place on 31st October,with a further event at Dublin's RegencyHotel on 12th September. These events arenot to be missed by anyone at school,college, university or considering a careerchange as an airline pilot.

ANNUAL GYM FLY-IN. Members of theGYM joined forces with the Pooleys for theAnnual GYM Fly-In at Compton Abbas onSunday 17th May. The GYM are alsoplanning a visit to Air Atlantique's Classic

Flight Club (CFC) on 6th June, with theoffer of flights in a De Havilland DragonRapide and a personal guided tour of theCFC's hangar by GYM committee memberSteve Bridgewater. A report on this visit willappear in the next edition of Guild News.

JOINT EVENT WITH COACHMAKERS’.The Guild and the Coachmakers’ Companyhave agreed to sponsor two scholarships tomark the Centenary of Powered Flight inthe UK. The Guild scholarship would benamed 'The Cobham Scholarship'. Thewinners of the scholarships will each bepresented with a certificate at a function tobe held by the Coachmakers’ and also at theGuild's presentations in November.

DEDICATION OF RAAF SQUADRONPLAQUES. On 26th March 12 Squadronplaques of the RAAF were dedicated in aService in St Clement Danes attended by175 RAAF Spitfire veterans, Marshal of theRAF Sir Michael Beetham, Air Vice MarshalGeoff Brown RAAF Deputy Chief of AirForce and Air Vice Marshal Tim AndersonRAF Assistant Chief of Air Staff. Theseplaques joined the 8 RAAF plaques alreadyin the church and represent the RAAF'scontribution to WW2. After a lunch andreception at Australia House the veteransvisited the RAF Museum the next day andwere hosted on a guided tour and lunch byDr Michael Fopp, Museum Director andMaster Elect, and Mr Tony Edwards of BAeSystems. Finally, on 29th March, theveterans visited Biggin Hill where they werehosted by the Spitfire Association,including lunch at the Old Gaol Pub.

PAST MASTER FLIES IN HAWKER HIND.

During an Air Squadron event at OldWarden on 26th April Past Master JohnHutchinson was lucky enough to win araffle prize which turned out to be a flightin the air gunner's seat of the ShuttleworthTrust's beautiful Hawker Hind. A number ofGuild members were present and witnessedJohn thoroughly enjoying the experience,as can be seen from the accompanyingphoto. Quite a change from the left handseat of Concorde!

THE MASTER ENTERTAINS ON HMSWARRIOR. On 21st May the Master, RearAdmiral Colin Cooke-Priest, hosted aluncheon for members of the Court andtheir wives in the magnificent setting ofHMS Warrior, in the Historic Shipyard,Portsmouth. The Master's guests dined onthe superbly restored Victorian gun deck,surrounded by cutlasses, rifles and cannon.The delicious meal was a far cry, however,from Victorian Naval fare.

FRENCH HONOUR. Congratulations to PastMaster Brian Pickard who has recently beenawarded the Legion of Honour for hisservices to French charitable institutions.

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SHEEP OVER LONDON BRIDGE. LastSeptember, together with about 450 otherFreemen of the City of London from a variety ofdifferent Livery Companies, Liveryman andAssistant Dorothy Pooley took part in theancient tradition permitted to Freemen, namelydriving a flock of sheep over London Bridge.This was organised by the World Traders withthe object of raising money for the Lord Mayor'sCharities and a cheque for £50,000 waseventually presented to the Lord Mayor at the end of November. Dorothy's contributionwas about £300 made up of sponsorship mainly from members of the E & TC and theCourt plus a generous cheque from Past Master Pooley who thought the whole idea waswonderful. The event was festival like in its atmosphere, with the Pikemen andMusketeers and their drummers in attendance. Many attendees got into the spirit of theoccasion by dressing up as shepherds, Little Bo Peep and the like, as proved by theaccompanying photo of Dorothy in country gear.

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The Master writes …COLIN COOKE-PRIEST

Time flies when enjoying oneself!It seems only yesterday that theEditor was pressing me for an

inaugural message. Now he’s at itagain. The June edition is alwayssomething of a challenge as thediscipline of the printer’s deadlineallows little time for concrete progressin the new Master’s priorities onwhich to report. Indeed the deadlinewill have passed before I have evenchaired my first Court meeting! At thesame time, however, I have had theprivilege and pleasure, together withSue, of representing the Guild onmatters spiritual - the United GuildsService at St Paul’s; matters temporal -The Lord Mayor’s Banquet, andmatters historical – the annual serviceat St Clement Danes commemoratingthe formation of the Royal Air Force.

And speaking of history the aviationfraternity has, in recent months,variously celebrated the centenary ofpowered flight, whilst the Royal AirForce has celebrated 90 years since itsformation. A landmark which isperhaps less well known, thoughequally deserving and which isrecognised this year, is the Centenaryof Naval Aviation. It was the Armythat first cottoned on to the potentialof aerial vehicles. With their ability to‘see’ beyond the horizon, the value ofObservation Balloons as aids forreconnaissance and gunfire spottingwas initially noted in the Boer war andthe campaign in the Sudan. It was notlong before the Royal Navy too,recognised the potential of thesenewfangled contraptions and theairships into which they swiftlydeveloped, for use against enemycoastal targets. In May 1909 theAdmiralty Board, not usually noted forits speed in embracing change,commissioned Mayfly, His Majesty’sAirship 1 from Vickers at Barrow, at acost of the then considerable sum of£30,000.

Progress thereafter, in both army andnaval aviation was swift and by theoutbreak of the First World War thenewly formed Royal Naval Air Servicepossessed more aircraft than the RoyalFlying Corps. Amongst these were allthe non-rigid airships previously usedby the Army. Commissioned as HMAirships they were used mainly forsubmarine hunting and escortingconvoys. The history of whatfollowed is better known and as theGreat War progressed it becameapparent that the considerable overlapbetween the RFC and the RNAS, theinevitable competition for aircraft andspares and, above all, the failure of thesupply system to satisfy either,required a new approach.

However anniversaries, be theycentenaries or lesser milestones,whilst usually wholly enjoyable are

only of value if the appropriate lessonsare drawn from them. It is in therecognition of the conviction, tenacityand zeal of the first naval aviators,together with their determined beliefin the potential of air power from thesea, which, in turn, convinced theAdmiralty Board of the case for navalaviation, to be so comprehensivelydemonstrated such a short time later,that the true importance of thiscentenary lies. It is the recognition ofa century of outstanding courage,professionalism and technicalinnovation that is the real cause forcelebration. Innovation that led a‘wavy navy’ Commander’s idea oftaking steam from a ship’s main boilerdevelop into the steam catapult; aCaptain’s ‘doodle’ to the angled flightdeck; or, and arguably the greatestsingle contribution to safety andoperational effectiveness, thetechnical ingenuity of CommanderNick Goodhart’s Mirror Landing Sight.I could go on – the Induction Loopand the ‘ski jump’ ramp bothrepresented further huge advances,not least in the eternal quest forincreased flight safety.

The first City Livery Companies cameinto being to set and maintain thehighest standards in their respectivefields. The Modern Companies are nodifferent and a founding objective ofour own Guild was to establish andmaintain the highest standards of airsafety through the promotion of goodairmanship, high quality training andprofessional excellence. That is why,in this hundredth year of navalaviation, it will be my privilege, asMaster, to present to the Fleet Air Armthe Guild’s Centenary Sword at theTrophies and Awards Banquet, inrecognition of a century ofoutstanding courage, professionalismand technical innovation.j

The first Vickers Airship, the HMA No1in 1911, also known as Mayfly

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In late March and early April twogroups of Guild members wereinvited to join our affiliated unit,

HMS Illustrious, to experience the lifeand activities of the ship at sea. Anemail request for volunteers, fromvisits organiser Michael Glover,elicited an almost overwhelmingresponse – places were allocated on a‘first come, first served’ basis. In hisinvitation Commander Mark Deller,Commander Air, ‘Wings’, outlined thescenario: ‘Naval Strike Wing will beconducting basic ‘Safe to Operate’Deck Currency flying in addition toroutine GR (Ground Attack andReconnaissance) training. The shipwill be hosting a number of visitorgroups including some mediapersonnel. Our intention is to exposeGuild members to a Wholeshipexperience – visiting every department….taking in capability briefs and ofcourse meeting ‘Jack’ and ‘Jill’ aroundthe ship.’ Until recently the NavalStrike Wing had been deployed toKandahar in Afghanistan and nowneeded to get used to shipborneoperations again.

The first of these two very fortunateGuild parties embarked on March 26when the ship was alongside atNewcastle (turning the ship around inthe confines of the River Tyne was, by

all accounts, no mean feat) andcomprised Alan Jackson, GrahamColover, Assistant John Robinson,Oliver Russell and Gavin Keegan – thisgroup were accompanied by RichardHammond of BBC ‘Top Gear’ fame,who was excellent company and wasin demand for his autograph from theship’s crew. This group left the ship on30 March, by the HDS (HelicopterDelivery Service) which was a BritishInternational Helicopters S-61 (G-ATFM) normally employed on theScilly Islands service, landing atNewcastle Airport. The second group,made up of Jonathan Seccombe, IanBurnett, Past Master Arthur Thorning,Mrs Jane Middleton and MarkRandall, flew onboard by HDS fromNewcastle to the ship some ten milesoffshore on 5 April, and left when itdocked at Portsmouth on 10 April.Both groups had similar programmeswhen onboard – the undersigneddescribes the experience of the secondgroup, albeit essentially the same asthe first. We must mention at thispoint that we were hosted very wellthroughout by Lt Simon Mittins and LtEdward Rolls, both Air TrafficControllers, to whom our especialthanks are recorded.

First things first, we were issued withlifejackets, given a general briefing asguests in the Wardroom, and had a

discussion of the plan of action with‘Wings’. Next day Lt Martin Heaney,Strike Operations Officer, gave us atour of the ship. There are nine decksfrom the flight deck down, and severalup in the ‘island’. Being a warshipmuch progress required going up anddown ladders (no need for the gym).Slowly, the relative locations of theBridge, Sick Bay, Hangar and all theother parts started to form up in land-lubber minds. As the tour progressedwe were pleased to be diverted by thechance to stop and watch Harrierstaking off and the HDS arriving,followed not too much later by theHarriers forming up alongside andmoving sideways to drop down ontheir allocated spots on the deck.While on the bridge, the navigatingofficer, Lt Cdr Michael Wood gave us acomprehensive description of thenavigation equipment and procedures.The last Harrier sortie coincided withrelatively poor weather so thatPrecision Approach Radar (PAR)recoveries were in order and our hostLt Ed Rolls was able to re-qualify as aradar controller. The day ended withdinner in the company of the Heads ofDepartments.

Our second full day started with a pre-flight briefing, by Commander KevinSeymour, Officer Commanding NavalStrike Wing, for a Harrier sortie. Thiswas followed by a general briefing onthe ship and its operations byCommander Air (Chatham House

HMS Illustrious - Visit ReportPAST MASTER ARTHUR THORNING. PHOTOS BY ALAN JACKSON

HMS Illustrious at sea

A Harrier taxis into Fly 1 after landing on

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Rules applied). Then it was time toclimb to FLYCO, the bridge annex fromwhich flight operations are controlled,to watch a ‘2-ship’ takeoff. TheHarrier can takeoff with a remarkablyshort run, as little as 200feet from theend of the ramp – after acceleratingwith the nozzles pointing aft, as itclears the end of the ramp the pilotmoves the nozzle lever to a pre-selected setting, the flaps come downa bit more to assist, and the aircraftclimbs away using a mixture ofaerodynamic lift and vectored thrust.As it accelerates after takeoff thenozzles are moved aft and, when he orshe has a free hand, the pilot selectsthe undercarriage up.

Soon afterwards, donning earprotection, we moved to the ‘GoofersGallery’ on the side of the islandsuperstructure to watch the sortiereturn. The aircraft make a carefulapproach, aided by a glide pathprojector landing sight, coming to thehover abeam their designated landingspot on the flight deck. Then theytranslate sideways and come downwhen over the spot, not as easy as itsounds – there is a collective sigh ofrelief all round when the aircraft isdown and throttled back, not least onthe part of the observers – it is verynoisy!

After lunch in the wardroom wegathered on the Admiral’s Bridge,immediately below the main bridge, towatch a four ship takeoff, then downto the ‘Met Office’ for a briefing by LtPenny Armand-Smith – a wellequipped and important place on anaircraft carrier. For an exercise such asthis one, there is a very definitebenefit in being able to ‘move theairfield’ to avoid fog and roughweather – both Guild parties movednorth to the Moray coast for weatherreasons at some point. Then, afterwatching the four aircraft return weattended the de-brief and then wereshown around the Operations room byLt Martin Heaney and the Senior AirTraffic Control Officer, Lt Cdr IanGreen. There is a wide range ofdisplays in the Ops room, showingboth surface and air targets. We saw

two pairs of Harriers being trackedand had the shipping identificationsystem (AIS) explained – the origin,destination and type of all nearbymerchant ships are shown. To roundoff a busy but very interesting day wewere entertained to dinner by CaptainBen Key, in his quarters, in thecompany of Commander Air, theDeputy Air Engineering Officer, Lt CdrEmma Blackburn, and Lt Cdr IanGreen.

The next day it was time to find outhow they keep the aircraft fit forservice. Warrant Officer NeilAlexander gave us a comprehensivetour explaining the support availablefor the three main types which areoperated from Illustrious; the HarrierGR7/9, the Merlin helicopter, which isprincipally an anti-submarine asset,

the Sea King Airborne Surveillanceand Control helicopter whichprimarily supports the jets and offersthe ship a much greater radar horizon.The engineering support provided iscomprehensive, including a widerange of avionic diagnosticequipment. On the mechanical frontengine changes can be carried out forHarriers, albeit reluctantly since thisrequires the removal of the wing, andthere are non destructive testingfacilities for engine components suchas fan blades. Then, squeezingthrough a small (to us) aperture anddown a vertical ladder we were in amagazine full of ‘Smart’ weapons, thewarheads and guidance elementsbeing kept separate until brought upto the deck. We were advised thatother munitions were stored safely

The engine control room, and not a boiler or greasy stoker in sight

We learn about maintenance in a confined hangar deck

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elsewhere in the ship.

In the afternoon, one of the Harrierpilots, Lt Nick Mattock demonstratedthe flight crew personal clothing andequipment that would be worn onoperations (and indeed had recentlybeen over Afghanistan) – quite animpressive set of garments to protectthe body, counter g forces, and aidsurvival in case of emergency. Nickalso gave us a demonstration of thepre flight planning process for amission, which results in the pilottaking an electronic memory out tothe aircraft to ‘plug-in’. His colleague,Lt Simon Rawlins then gave a verycomprehensive presentation onoperations in Afghanistan, showingsome film clips and adding interestingpoints such as the use of a pair ofbinoculars positively to identify thetarget! At this point the Naval StrikeWing had finished their necessarytraining and it was time to fly off backto Cottesmore, so we witnessed astream takeoff over the Moray Firthfollowed by a formation fly-past.

Our last full day was spent travellingsouth for Portsmouth, throughextensive fog banks at times. TheGuild party were kept busy however.In the morning Lt Shirwin Blake of theMarine engineering departmentintroduced us to the engine controlroom – the ship has four mainengines, marine versions of the BristolSiddeley Olympus rated at 25,000shaft horsepower each – essentiallysimilar to Concorde but without thesupersonic inlets and with a few moreturbine stages! There are also eightdiesel driven electrical generatorswhich can supply as much power aswould be used by a small town. Theship necessarily has a powerfulventilation system (it is kept fairlycool to discourage the breeding ofcoughs and colds) and has excellentwater treatment and supply

arrangements, making fresh water bythe reverse osmosis principle.

We were given a very comprehensivetour of the engine rooms by PettyOfficer William Watts who was bothfriendly and enormouslyknowledgeable. Dressed in boiler suitswe squeezed through more smallhatches and descended more steepladders to observe the huge DavidBrown gearboxes (at one time thebiggest in the world) which transmitthe power to the two propellers.Mostly the drive is direct from theoutput of the gearbox, but for slowmanoeuvring, when it may benecessary to change from ahead toastern briskly, fluid, oil-filledcouplings are engaged. The ship wascruising on just two engines, so wewere able to crawl into the nacelle ofa shut down engine – truly impressiveand food for thought when shown thespare engine, which could be installedat sea if circumstances dictate.

Re-emerging from the depths, Lt CdrDavid Wright, the Senior WeaponsOfficer showed us one of theGoalkeeper guns which providedefence against sea skimmingmissiles, or any other unfriendlytargets. There are three of theseimpressive weapons systems onIllustrious, each capable of anincredible rate of fire under the controlof a sophisticated radar system. Theship has a variety of other small guns(20mm and less). Lt Cdr Wright is alsoresponsible for the comprehensive

range of radarsand com-m u n i c a t i o nequipment onthe ship – someof which is quitevenerable in age.

Last but by nomeans least LtGillian Murraygave us a tour ofthe various parts

of the ship’s logistics branch.Throughout the visit we had beenimpressed by the high standard ofcatering, so important for morale, andso it was interesting to tour the galleysand bakery and hear about thearrangements for a 350 personbanquet, to be held in the hangar andscheduled for 7 May when the ship isdue at Greenwich as part of thecelebration of ‘Fly Navy 100’, thecentenary of naval aviation. Then viathe pay office (even more importantthan catering?) to more small hatchesand steep ladders into the stores in thedepths of the ship. And finally, a visitto the laundry, as tradition seems todemand under the control of acheerful Chinese gentleman fromHong Kong.

Through the night the ship sailed ontowards Portsmouth – the owls amongus observing the night passagethrough the traffic in the Straits ofDover. Then, on a grey morning,assisted by a pilot boat and a pair ofdockyard tugs we came alongsidewithin a short walk of HMS Victory –a fitting end to a most memorablejourney.

In summary we must record ourthanks for the very warm welcomeextended by all members of the crew,young and old, ‘Jacks and Jills’,officers and ratings. Throughout thevisits it was noticeable that it was acontented company with greatcourtesy being shown to us byeveryone. The ship appeared to be in apristine condition that must bedifficult to maintain with a vessel thathas been in service since 1983 – areflection on the enthusiasm anddedication that is displayed by thecrew for the ship and its tasks. Longmay this continue, at least until thenew aircraft carriers are ready.Everyone in the Guild parties has beenleft with a lasting impression of whatan aircraft carrier is about and isprepared to undertake on behalf of thenation anywhere in the world. j

Two Harriers recovering to the deck

The S61 that delivered us to the ship Harrier in the hover, about to land on

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Profile, Captain E M Brown CBE DSC AFC FRAeS RN‘A flawless pilot in every

respect... an acute analyticalmind makes him one of thecountry’s finest test pilots. A

brilliant aerobatic flyer.’The words of Group Captain Alan Hards, OCRAE Farnborough, entered into the log bookof Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown in 1945 andnever since gainsaid. Indeed the only quibblethat might be raised is Hards’ use of thephrase ‘one of’, for there are manyknowledgeable men – not just Navy, and notjust British – who will tell you that CaptBrown was the best test pilot in the world,ever, bar none.

I cannot in this short article begin to dojustice to the extraordinary feats of WinkleBrown; for that you must delve into his best-selling books, particularly ‘Wings on mySleeve’, an autobiography which, if it were awork of fiction, you’d throw away indisbelief; nobody could do so much in onelifetime. Capt Brown has flown more aircrafttypes than any other human being, probablyby a factor of four; the Guinness Book ofRecords credits him with 487, and it counts14 marks of Spitfire as one type. His bagincludes all the early jets, British andGerman, and the extraordinary Me 163 rocketplane, which was one of many aircraft thatreally should have bumped him off – ananalyst has calculated that while there havebeen countless close shaves, there wereeleven accidents in which Capt Brown reallyhad no right to survive.

Not only did he fly all of the Luftwaffe’shairiest experimental aircraft, but being afluent German speaker – he was in Germanybefore the war, flew with Ernst Udet and sawHanna Reitsch fly the Focke-Achgelis Fa-61helicopter in 1939 – he was called in to helpinterrogate leading Nazis. He spoke toHimmler, interrogated Goering,Messerschmitt, Heinkel, Kurt Tank andWernher von Braun as well as the ‘Beast ofBelsen’ Josef Kramer and his psychopathicwoman deputy Irma Griese, described byCapt Brown as ‘the worst human being I haveever met’.

His test pilot career took him into the poorly-understood transonic zone in a succession ofropey prototypes, and virtually every day hetook risks that would now be thoughtunacceptable. After Geoffrey de Havillanddied testing the tailless DH 108 Swallow, CaptBrown took it up to see what killed him – andhe found out, too! He was the first man toland a jet on an aircraft carrier, one of hisrecord-breaking 2,407 carrier landings, andhe would have been the first man through thesound barrier had we not inexplicablycancelled the Miles M.52.

Yet for all the risks he has taken, Capt Brownhad attained the age of 90 and remains haleand hearty and as acute and analytical asever. He doesn’t entirely accept that heshould be dead eleven times over, but heallows that his survival runs markedlyagainst the odds. “As a test pilot, you’re in the

game for the risk,” he says in his soft ScottishBorders burr. “You’re not in there to do thethings that have been done already. You can’tsit and think, oh well, I’m not prepared to dothis… that’s your job, to take on risk. I neverin my life refused to fly an aircraft – I do lovea challenge.”

He attributes his survival to three things.“Firstly, I prepared myself very, very carefullyfor every flight. Secondly, my size worked inmy favour – in the Swallow, in the crash of anMe 163 at Wittering and in other cases, Iwould have been killed, or at least lost mylegs, had I been taller.” (He’s five foot seven).“Thirdly, there’s a small element of luck,whatever that is.”

Captain Eric Melrose ‘Winkle’ Brown CBE,DSC, AFC, FRAeS, RN now lives in activesemi-retirement in Copthorne, in WestSussex, surrounded by aviation memorabiliaand paintings of his favourite aircraft. He stillconsults, writes articles and makes speeches,but far from dwelling on past achievementshe looks to the future as a great age inaviation, particularly naval aviation, wherehis heart lies. He has been directly involvedin planning for the Royal Navy’s new aircraftcarriers Queen Elizabeth II and Prince ofWales and is filled with enthusiasm andoptimism for their prospects. As DeputyDirector of Naval Warfare in 1962, CaptBrown headed the think-tank responsible fora new large strike carrier designated CVA 01,cancelled in February 1966.

“The new carriers incorporate some of thefeatures of CVA 01,” he says. “The paralleldeck is the main thing, as opposed to theangled deck. The angled deck removed theproblem of needing a barrier, which causedGod knows how many losses of aircraft, butit created other problems. If the angle gets toowide – and in one carrier we went up to tendegrees – it is difficult for the pilot turning inat the final stages, particularly in badweather. When you break out in very lowcloud, the first thing you see is thephosphorescent wake of the ship, which is anabsolutely straight line, and it’s is not the lineof the deck.

“When you go parallel, you have a landinglane, a separate taxi lane, and a catapult lanefor take-off. Originally one had to limit thewidth of a carrier to make sure it could gothrough the Panama Canal, but with the newships, much of the deck is overhang so that’snot a problem.

“I think that the potential is there for a reallyperfect defence facility for this countryprovided we make all the right choices. Wemust closely examine everything to makesure we’ve got it right, and leave ourselveswith options to change when necessary.

“We had a lot of discussion about VTOLversus conventional carrier aircraft, and thereare advantages to both types. There’s apenalty to pay for VTOL, mainly in weightcarrying capability. You may go off on a sortiewith weapons aboard your aircraft, and if forsome reason you can’t carry out your sortie,you’re left with your weapons. Do you

jettison them? Nowadays you’re dumping ahuge amount of money, so it is necessary tobring your weapons back to the ship. I haveargued that they should have arrester gear onto allow landing at a very low speed, maybe50 knots. A facility has been made for arrestergear to be put in, but they want to leave thatuntil after two years in service.

“The F35 is going to be an outstandingaircraft for these carriers. I was invited byLockheed Martin to fly the simulator at FortWorth, and it’s very impressive. The US Navyhas gone for the conventional model, the USMarine Corps and ourselves for the STOVLversion. The lift engine depends for itsoperation on a clutch, which is another goodreason to ensure that you have arrester gearavailable should it fail – otherwise you’d haveto ditch, and you’d be ditching a veryexpensive piece of machinery.”

One thing that remains constant astechnology changes, says Capt Brown, is thecalibre of pilot required for combat flying.“The only difference between the pilots of the1940s and today is that they must now bevery technically capable,” he says. “The F35pilot will depend so much on computery, andhis cockpit is going to be totally different towhat has gone before. He’s going to have amass of data available to him and so much ofit will be resolved for him bycomputerisation, but he’s always got to beready for the inevitable failure – he won’thave a heavy workload when things areworking, but he must be prepared to take ona heavy workload when things go wrong.

“Beyond that, he’s no different from the pilotI knew in the 40s. An exceptional pilot isborn, I think, rather than made – there arepeople who’ve just ‘got it’, so to speak. Anatural pilot tends to be a natural combatpilot, too; I think a fighting man’s instinct, akiller instinct, is absolutely essential if you’regoing to succeed. You can sense it in a manbefore he gets near a plane, you can see it inhis approach to sport, to life in general.”

Among the most exceptional test pilots, CaptBrown numbers Scott Crossfield, NeilArmstrong and Jeffrey Quill, all of whomwere personal friends. “The X15 pilot ScottCrossfield was highly technically qualified,he was highly motivated, and I would say –and this may strike you as strange – he wasmodest. He was a superb pilot, he must haveknown it, but he never projected an I-know-it-all attitude. There have been notableexceptions to this.

“Neil Armstrong is in the same stamp as ScottCrossfield. Nowadays I see quite a bit of Neil;we have lectured together, we were bothmade honorary doctors by EdinburghUniversity last year, and we received theGuild’s Award of Honour at the same time.

“I also have high regard for Jeffrey Quill, whohad all the qualities, natural ability andmotivation. Jeff and I were of the same mind– we were both prepared to accept all therisks the job entailed. What sets Scott, Neiland Jeff apart is the degree to which theywere prepared to do their homework. None of

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us believed in the attitude some young testpilots had of kick the tyres, light the fires andlast one off’s a cissy. That attitude is doomedto disaster.

“But it was a marvellous era to be a testpilot, with the V-bombers coming along, wewere working towards TSR-2 and Concorde,and a lot had to be learned, some of it soobvious today. The original jets that we andthe Germans built went very fast, but we’dforgotten we had to slow them down – theydidn’t have dive brakes. Very few if anyMe262s were shot down except on take-off orlanding – mainly on landing, because theyhad to do a long, draggy low approach andthey were absolute sitting ducks if an enemyfighter came over the airfield at that time.

“As head of the RAE’s Enemy Aircraft FlightI flew the Me 262 quite a bit, and luckily Imanaged to fly the Me 163, under powerrather than as a glider, which very fewpeople did.”

The story of Capt Brown’s pursuit of the Me163 is told in 'Wings on my Sleeve' andseems to have become an obsession – and adangerous one, too. The volatility of the163’s rocket fuel was such that a single dropcould blow your head off, but Capt Brownwas so determined to fly it that he did soclandestinely. “I could have avoided it,” hesays, “but yes, it had become an obsessionwith me. I wanted a rocket under my bottom,and I got one… I was glad to have done it,and I didn’t really fancy doing it again.

“The problem with the 163 was that whenyou were landing, you had to make utterlysure there wasn’t a drop of fuel left in thetanks. You only needed a cupful and theimpact of touchdown would explode it, andthe result was a total fatal accident – it justblew the aircraft to smithereens, and thepilot.

“I flew it partly because in the back of mymind was the Miles M.52. Deep down, I wasreally preparing myself for that, to be the firstman to break the sound barrier. What Iwanted was experience of the sensation ofrocket-like acceleration that the Whittleengine in the M.52 would give us.

“I was due to fly the M.52 in October 1946,and I was, shall we say, disappointed to berobbed of that. I was sitting at Farnboroughwhen the head of Aero Flight Section MorienMorgan came in and said, ‘I’ve just had a callfrom Miles to say the M.52’s been cancelled.’I absolutely blew my top, I charged off to seeSir Ben Lockspeiser, who lived around thecorner from me and was chairman of theSupersonic Committee which had cancelledit. In his official statement he’s said ‘in viewof the unknown hazards near the speed ofsound it is considered unwise to proceedwith the full scale experiments.’ He knew me,and he received me, but I didn’t get anychange out of him. He just said, ‘Maybe it’sfor the better’. I was so furious with him thatI signed his son David into the RAF, becauseBen was prevaricating.”

“The Americans will not admit that theflying tail which was on the M.52 was whatlet the Bell X1 break the sound barrier,” CaptBrown says. “Chuck Yeager had run intosevere compressibility trouble at Mach .94.In fact, General Albert Boyd, head of the

Flight Test Division at Wright Patterson AFB,had said, well fellers, this is the end of theroad. Then three days later Bell camecharging down with this all-flying tail,designed by a guy who had been to Woodleyand had seen the tail on the M.52. He’d donesome work on it, but basically it was theM.52’s tail, which he admitted more or lesson his deathbed. They popped it straightonto the X1 there and then, and it did thetrick.”

The sound barrier aside, Capt Brown’s soleregret is not having flown the X 15, whichreached a speed of 4,500 mph and an altitudeof 67 miles, qualifying pilot Joe Walker forastronaut wings.

The X 15 was based on a design by WalterDornberger, one of Wernher von Braun’s V2team, many of whom Capt Brown met in1945. “The Americans captured von Braun,who was the most self-confident man I’veever met,” he says. “We had him tointerrogate and his attitude was, aren’t theAmericans just the lucky ones to get me!Britain, in contrast, wouldn’t accept the FW190 designer Kurt Tank. Of all the designers,Tank impressed me most. I didn’t interrogatehim, rather he interrogated me. He wanted toknow what I thought of every one of hisaeroplanes that I’d flown. Not only was heFocke Wulf’s chief designer, he was theirassistant chief test pilot. I think when youhave that, you’re away out front.

“We brought 26 aerodynamicists andengineers back to Farnborough but authorityrefused to have Tank or Dr Heinkel to stay inthis country. We kept those 26 until 1947,then we offered a certain number permanentjobs as civil servants at Farnborough and thebest two accepted, and stayed until theydied. One was in fact the catalyst forConcorde, Dr Dietrich Küchemann.

“A meeting was called by Morien Morgan in1947 – just five people, Morien, his deputyP.A. Hufton, Küchemann, Dr Karl Doetschand me. Morien asked me for a report on theflying characteristic of the five tailless typesof aircraft I had flown. ‘We’re thinking of asupersonic transport,’ he said. I did my partypiece, then we started a discussion of whatshape it would be. Küchemann said nothinguntil right at the end. ‘I’ve done a lot of workin the wind tunnels at Välkenrode and in myopinion the way we should go is the slenderdelta wing,’ he said. ‘But I have a reservation– the war ended before I could work on theslow speed side of the delta wing, I can’tvouch for that.’

“A few years later, Morien Morgan, as headof the Supersonic Transport AircraftCommittee, raised a contract with HandleyPage for the HP115 to test the slender delta’sslow speed flying characteristics. They relieda huge amount on Küchemann at thebeginning – and he also did all thepioneering work on fly by wire. We pickedup an absolute gem there.

“Of the others, Willy Messerschmitt I foundto be arrogant. He refused to give any creditto Alexander Lippisch, who designed the Me163. I taxed him with being short ofstructural integrity in his aircraft. Look atyour Me 109, I said, the wings kept comingoff in combat. I reckon you were paring

down the structural strength of the wings.And he admitted it; he said that if youwanted to get the performance the pilotsdemanded, you had to make savingssomewhere. Messerschmitt had the ear of theNazi party and that’s why he got the contractfor the 109 – it should have gone for theHeinkel 112, which was a better aircraft,according to the test flight centre at Rechlin.

“I had the greatest respect for the Germanfighter pilots – they had to be good to survivethe war. I went on a lecture tour of Irelandwith Adolf Galland, and I got an insight intohim from my interrogation of Goering, whenI asked Goering why he’d fallen out withGalland. He said because he wasinsubordinate, and anyway he never wantedhim to be General der Flieger – the man hewanted was Werner Mölders, but he waskilled in a Heinkel 111 going to Udet’s funeralin 1941. He felt Galland didn’t have theintellect of Mölders, nor his tactical ability.

“Erich Hartmann was interesting – he wasthe Luftwaffe’s top scorer with 352 victories.I quizzed him on how he got them and hewas very open. The tactical naivete of theRussians was unbelievable, he said. ‘Wewere mainly operating against the Ilyushin 2,the Sturmovik,’ he said. ‘They would getthemselves into huge formations, like theB17s, and they thought they defendthemselves – but the B17 had hugefirepower, ten guns on every ship. TheSturmovik had one .3 peashooter in theback. I didn’t mind them firing at mebecause the .3 did nothing against the 109. Iwaited until the aircraft filled my windscreen– not my gunsight, my windscreen – and Icould get five or six in a sortie. They nevereven took evasive action, and half the pilotswere women.’

“I asked him how he thought he’d have faredon the western front. ‘I know how I’d havefared, because I was sent there for a month,’he said. ‘I was scared out of my wits and Inever had a single kill.’”

After a term as Naval Attache in Bonn CaptBrown commanded RNAS Lossiemouthbefore leaving the service in 1970 to becomeChief Executive of the British HelicopterAdvisory Board and the European HelicopterAssociation – he had the distinction ofhaving flown his first helicopter, the SikorskyR4, without benefit of lessons. He gave upflying in 1992. “I had to accept that I wasgetting older, that my reactions were notwhat they’d once been,” he says.

“I missed it desperately for about a year; itwas like withdrawal from a drug ofaddiction, but the feeling slowly wore off andI’ve long ago come to terms with it. But Ithink it’s a wonderful time to be just startingout in naval aviation today, because the F35and the new carriers offer a very brightfuture.” jPat Malone

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Letter to the Editor

ACKNOWLEDGED BY THE COURT 14 MAY 2009REGRADETo LiveryRobert Christopher MOORE (AUS)Ken PETERSRev Dr Peter MULLENPeter Nigel OWENRt Rev Bishop Anthony Francis BernersHALL-MATTHEWS (AUS)Air Chief Marshal Sir Brian BURRIDGE

DECEASEDPeter Dennis John DICKINSONChristopher John FREEMAN (AUS)John Henry WILDDavid WINTER

RESIGNATIONSAnn Loretta BARBARICH (NZ)Wing Commander Roger Aston CLARK (HK)General Sir Richard DANNATTCaptain Peter Sean Trueman GIRARDJames Michael Edward GRAY (HK)Emma Nevena HAMILTON (NZ)Philip John HARDIMAN (OS)John Donald KENDRICKCaptain Alan Frederick LANE (AUS)Neil Douglas McTAGGARTFlight Lieutenant Douglas Stuart SIMPSON (AUS)Kenneth Barry SMITH (NZ)Gary SMITHRegan Andrew WILSON (AUS)

FORFEIT ALL BENEFITSPaul CARTER (NZ)Simon COLLINS

GazetteA P P ROV E D BY T H E C O U RT

O N 1 4 t h M AY 20 0 9

ADMISSIONSAs Upper FreemanCaptain Paul ATKINSONCaptain John Robert William BARNES (CAN)Captain Roderick David Webster BOATHWayne L CAVE (CAN)Lieutenant Commander Anthony JamesEAGLESCaptain Christopher John GREENWilfred August Theodore JOHL (OS)Brigadier David Michael JURKOWSKI (CAN)Captain Steve LINTHWAITE (CAN)Brian John LOUGHLIN (CAN)John McCORMICK (AUS)Captain Paul John McKEOWN (AUS)Captain Victor PEIRCEBrigadier General Eldren Brett THUEN (CAN)

As FreemanJonathan Mark BATCHELOR (GYM)John Sinclair ELLIOTT (CAN)David Cyril FOX (CAN)Nicholas J LIPCZYNSKIPaul NEWMAN

As AssociateJoshua Maydanyk BARNES (CAN) (GYM)Marcel Julian BISTER (CAN) (GYM)Peter BRASSER (CAN) (GYM)Stuart Douglas BROWN (GYM)Kudzanai CHIKOHORA (GYM)Cody Jared CORCORAN (CAN) (GYM)Kevin DHALIWAL (CAN) (GYM)Jonathon DUKE (CAN) (GYM)William Thomas Henry EELES (GYM)David FIELD (CAN) (GYM)Garrett GILMAR (CAN) (GYM)Bryan GIRJAK (CAN) (GYM)Adam GROPP (CAN) (GYM)Jameson KROEKER (CAN) (GYM)Curtis Tin Yan LAM (CAN) (GYM)Ian Hei On LAM (CAN) (GYM)Nastasha Lynn NICOLS (CAN) (GYM)Daniel PRASAD (CAN) (GYM)Kurt SIEMENS (CAN) (GYM)Steven ST AMAND (CAN) (GYM)Andrew Robert STUART (GYM)Thomas William THORNE (CAN) (GYM)Sarah Ann WHITE (CAN)Keilly Drew YUZYK (CAN) (GYM)

REGRADETo Upper FreemanJames Sky WHEELER (NZ)

REINSTATEMENTAs Upper FreemanCaptain Richard Adrian BICKFORDMervin Arthur FOWLER (AUS)

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The 2009 Guild Livery Dinner wasagain held in the magnificentsurroundings of the Drapers' Hall

on May 27th. This year's event had adistinctly legal flavour, with the Guest ofHonour being His Honour Judge JeffBlackett, Judge Advocate General of theArmed Forces, and the speakerwelcoming the guests being Warden HisHonour Judge Tudor Owen. In his speechthe Master, Rear Admiral Colin Cooke-Priest, outlined some of the conclusionsof the recently completed StrategicReview, which had found that the Guildwas in a robustly healthy position andthat what the Guild does, and and how itdoes it, needed no significant change. TheReview team's view was that in order toremain relevant in an aviationenvironment that is changing at an everincreasing pace, the Guild needed toadapt some practices and methods andshould capitalise on its strengths todevelop, both nationally andinternationally, as the pre-eminentorganisation representing the interests ofaviators.

Before the formal dinner the Masterpresided at an open meeting of the Court,where ten new Liverymen were clothedand three Master Air Pilot Certificateswere presented. After congratulating therecipients the Master met many of the 235Guild members and their guests at thepost-Court reception in the ante rooms ofthe Drapers' Hall. The present Drapers'Hall occupies the site, which was oncepart of an Augustine Priory, on whichThomas Cromwell built his palace in the1530s. After his execution the propertywas purchased by the Guild of Drapers in1543. Rebuilt after the great fire of 1666 itwas partially destroyed, again by fire, in1772, rebuilt, and later altered in the 19th

century. The formal dinner was served inthe Livery Hall, one of the largest andmost impressive Livery Halls in the Cityof London. The room is dominated by theCompany's collection of royal portraitsand adorned from above by magnificentceiling paintings by Herbert Draperdepicting scenes from Shakespeareanplays.

After a sung Grace and the Ceremony ofthe Loving Cup, Admiral of the Fleet SirBenjamin Bathurst, Liveryman, presentedthe Master with a superb solid silvermodel of a Wessex HAS 1 helicopter inthe markings of HMS London flight, a giftto the Guild from a small team of navalLiverymen to mark the centenerary ofnaval aviation, which was gratefullyaccepted . It the fell to junior Warden HisHonour Judge Tudor Owen to welcomethe guests, who included Professor JohnSalter, Master Fan Maker, CaptainMalcolm Parrott, Master Master Mariner,Mr Chris Price, Master Engineer, DrMichael Steeden, President RoyalAeronautical Society, Mr MichaelMarshall, Chairman Marshall ofCambridge, Commander Mark Deller,Commander Air HMS Illustrious(Affiliated Unit) and Wing CommanderSylvie Silver, Officer CommandingLondon Wing Air Training Corps. Whenwelcoming the representatives of HMSIllustrious, Warden Owen commendedmembers of all three Armed Servicesupon their outstanding achievements inoperational theatres and invited allpresent to show the respect in whichthose who risk their lives in the service oftheir country are held; this was greetedwith acclaim. He also quoted Air ChiefMarshal Sir Brian Burridge, one of thenew Liverymen, who, at the height of the2003 Gulf War, was exasperated by theBritish media's constant sniping. Pointing

out that Service personnel were at thevery edge of the performance envelope,he told them 'The UK media has lost theplot. You stand for nothing, you supportnothing, you criticise, you drip! It's aspectator sport to criticise anybody oranything. That may sound harsh, butthat's the way it feels from where I sit.'This was greeted by prolonged applause.In his concluding remarks, Warden Owenurged professional pilots to be proud ofthe qualification they had worked so hardto achieve, and never to say that theywere 'only a pilot'. Such modesty playedinto the hands of those who, for theirown reasons, sought to diminish thestatus of professional pilots. 'You aremembers of a highly skilled profession.You are entitled to be proud of that, andyou should be proud of it.'

In his after dinner speech the Masterwelcomed the Guest of Honour, HisHonour Judge Jeff Blackett. The Judgehad joined the Royal Navy in 1976 as a'Pusser' and was soon selected to read forthe Bar at Gray's Inn. Throughout hiscareer he prosecuted, defended and sat asJudge Advocate at naval Courts Martial,finally becoming Chief Naval JudgeAdvocate and Director of Naval LegalServices. A keen sportsman, he was ajudicial officer for the Rugby World Cupsin 2003 and 2007. He was appointedJudge Advocate General of the ArmedForces in 2004. In addition to his remarkson the Strategic Review, the Master alsoreiterated the importance ofcommunication to the Guild, which hefirmly believed should be the first port ofcall for informed comment or advice onalmost any conceivable aviation matter.He said that the Guild needed'spokesmen' – he avoided the word'expert' – X, the unknown factor, spurt,the drip under pressure, - properly trained

THE 2009LIVERY DINNERA ConfidentFutureLIVERYMAN TOM EELES.

The diners enjoy the superb surroundingsof the Drapers' Livery Hall.

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and ready to respond, covering all majoraviation activities, both civil and military.His aim was to establish a 'NonsenseWatch', that would react to any piece ofarrant nonsense or half-baked drivel aboutaviation in the media and report it to theGuild, which would react to put the recordstraight. This had recently happened inrespect of an inaccurate statement aboutthe Red Arrows. He concluded by givingGuild members and the guests the Toast to'A Confident Future'.

Responding on behalf of the guests, HisHonour Judge Jeff Blackett gave anamusing speech describing life first as aNaval 'Pusser', including his experience asa Flight Deck Officer on HMS London,when the Wessex helicopter was christened'The Chinese Takeaway' after theunfortunate demise of one of the Chinesemembers of the ship's company, whosebody was then taken ashore by the Wessex.He compared military judicial work withdisciplining the Rugby world, where he wasfaced with many similarities ofmisdemeanour. Despite having to reviewevery Service Court Martial he describedhis role as Judge Advocate General as 'afun job'. He concluded by hoping that therecent judgement by the European Courtconcerning the human rights of Servicepersonnel on active operations wouldultimately force the government of the dayto provide sufficient, up to date andadequate equipment for Her Majesty'sArmed Forces, in whatever theatre theywere serving, and proposed the Toast to'The Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators ofLondon, may it flourish root and branch forever.' jPhotographs taken at the Livery Dinner canbe viewed and ordered on line atwww.sharpphoto.co.uk. Further details onpage 2.

Gary Lui, Hong Kong Region, receives his Livery Badgefrom the Master.

Sqn Ldr Richard Head receives his Master Air PilotCertificate from the Master.

The newly clothed Liverymen with the Master. From left, John Pym, MilesStapleton, Frank Wilson-Clark, Patrick Welply, Carol Cooper, Ken Peters,Sir Brian Burridge, Peter Owen, Gary Lui and Michael Davidson.

The Master Air Pilot Certificate recipients, Sqn Ldrs StuartReid and Richard Head, and Neil Lee, with the Master.

A Test Pilot's conference. PastMaster Duncan Simpson andDavid Bywater enjoy thechampagne reception.

The Master and Immediate PastMaster greet the Guest of Honour,His Honour Judge Jeff Blackett,Judge Advocate General.

An inter-Service debate?Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Squirein discussion with Admiral SirAdrian Johns.

RIGHT: The RAF moveinto the Livery Hall.Liveryman DavidWilby shows AirCommodore IanStewart and LiverymanTom Eeles the way.

LEFT: The Beadle,Mr Ted Prior, leadsin the Master andhis senior guests.

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Formed in 1982, 4624 (County ofOxford) Movements Squadron RoyalAuxiliary Air Force is the largest of theAuxiliary Squadrons and the only oneof its type. It supports the regularMovements Trade and forms 23% ofthe RAF’s Movements manpower.

Trained to the same standard as theirregular colleagues, members of 4624Squadron commit to one weekendtraining per month plus two weeksper year continuous training. Forthose qualified, the two week periodis normally working as part of amovements team at an RAF base inthe UK or overseas. The Squadron hasprovided support for all majoroperations since its formation,working at locations in UK andoverseas and significantly the firstGulf War in 1991. In 1998, asignificant proportion of the Squadronwere mobilised in support ofOperations in the Balkans. In 2002elements of the Squadron weremobilised in support of the UK forces’contribution to the InternationalSecurity Assistance Force inAfghanistan and in February 2003 thewhole Squadron was mobilised insupport of Operation TELIC, most for8 months, deploying to UK bases,

Cyprus, Al Udied and Basra and toother locations affected by reducedmanpower.Throughout its history, 4624Squadron has provided trainedpersonnel to conduct a number ofmonthly operational air mobilemovement tasks in support of No2

Group and NATO.These are typically 3to 5 man teams thatfly with the aircraft todeal with loading andunloading of pass-engers and freight atu n s u p p o r t e dlocations around theworld.

In addition to itstrade commitments,4624 Squadron has a

proud history of Ceremonial and hasprovided Colour Parties on manyoccasions, including for specialparades at Buckingham Palace,Westminster Abbey, St ClementDanes, The Guildhall, RAF Fairford,(50th Anniversary of NATO) RAFCCranwell and other RAF locations.Squadron members are active inadventure training, militarycompetitions and many other sports.4624 Squadron also hosts the Veteransof the Wartime 624 (SD) Squadronand arrange their reunion annually, atRAF Brize Norton.The Squadron has been continuouslydeploying significant numbers of itspersonnel for over 10 years, a uniquerecord within the UK ReserveForces.j

The Guild’s New Affiliated Unit4624 Movements SquadronRoyal Auxiliary Air Force

The Pooleys with Squadron Commander No 4624 Sqn RAuxAF. PastMaster Pooley is the Guild liasion contact for 4624 Sqn.

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The BAe 146 gained approval tooperate services from London CityAirport in December 1991 against abackground which could only bedescribed as nervous. The airport wasseen as the domain of the Stol twin-turboprop types and few would haveforeseen the extent to which the four-jet 146 and its successor, the Avro RJ,have dominated the schedules foralmost 20 years. A successor wasbound to arrive eventually and inMarch the twin-engined Embraer 190regional jet undertook a week of noisemeasurements and steep approachesto validate data already obtained inBrazil.

The trials followed British Airways’decision in December, 2008, to placean order for six Embraer 170s and five190s for its City Flyer division fordelivery starting in September.Technology advances result in the newtype offering a markedly reduced fuelburn, which is expected to lower the

carbon emissions of the airline’s fleetby 33,000 tonnes per annum. A furtherfactor in the decision to replace thefour-jet fleet was the sharply risingmaintenance costs and reducedavailability of spare parts for anaircraft type no longer in production.

To meet the steep-approach criteria forLondon City (5.5 degrees) Embraer hasadopted a simple solution byextending the roll spoilers to a high-drag position. This is achieved by thesimple selection of one panel-mountedbutton on the instrument panel.

British Airways, which plans to startEmbraer services in October, will notmake use of the type’s full capability.The definitive version to be certificatedfor use at LCY is the Type 190SRwhich will have an operational radiusof 800n.m. (the standard aircraftreaches 2,300n.m.). In addition theairline will be operating within thelimitations of a scope clause, reducing

the seating from 106 to 98. (A similarreduction had been agreed for the AvroRJs, further adversely affecting theiroperating economics.).

The fleet upgrade is only one majorstep for British Airways at LondonCity. The airline has ordered twoAirbus 318s with which it is tointroduce transatlantic services fromthe city airport for the first time. Theseare due to enter service in October andwill operate with a refuelling stop atShannon to cater for the reducedweight necessary to make use of theairport’s 1,200m runway. j

Embraer 190 gains London City approvalPAST MASTER HUGH FIELD

Photos courtesy of Embraer