CONTACT !

The Newsletter of the former RAF Defford Reunion Association, now merged with the

DEFFORD AIRFIELD HERITAGE GROUP

in partnership with THE NATIONAL TRUST, CROOME http://deffordairfieldheritagegroup.wordpress.com

Editor: Bob Shaw Distribution: Ann Sterry

Number 118, August 2018

METEOR TO RETURN ON AUGUST 28th The date for the return of the restored forward fuselage of Meteor WD686, the last ‘plane to fly out of Defford before the airfield officially closed to flying 60 years ago, is confirmed by our friends at Boscombe Down Aviation Collection, as Tuesday August 28th.

On that day, it is intended to deliver for display the forward fuselage including the nose section and the meticulously restored two-seater cockpit and hinged canopy.

Above: Meteor WD686 forward fuselage mounted on its trailer for a recent showing at Farnborough. This photo shows how it will look when it arrives at Croome. The radome, which houses the AI scanner and forms an extension to the nose, will travel on a separate trailer, to be fitted after arrival at Croome.

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Left: Restored interior of cockpit of Meteor WD686

Above: The canopy has been completely re-glazed by the BDAC restoration team at Old Sarum

The forward fuselage will be displayed for a period of about two months, under canvas in a tent that will form a forward extension to the Ambulance Garage museum annexe, which houses the forward fuselage of Canberra WD956. This position will enable visitors to compare two British jet age aircraft from the early Cold War years. Visitors to the Ambulance Garage will enter via the Meteor tent when the tent is in place. The Meteor and the Canberra will be on display at all hours when the Museum is open – that is 11.00 to 16.30, seven days a week. At the moment the Ambulance Garage is not open in the morning. The return of the Meteor is likely to generate significant public interest and increased in-flow of visitors. The Meteor will need the presence of a keen volunteer by the exhibit, ready to talk to visitors, at all times when the Museum is open This means that ideally we need four volunteer stewards on duty, especially at weekends, on two shifts - mornings (11.00 to 13.30) and afternoons (13.30 to 16.30), with two volunteers on duty in the main Museum, one in the Ambulance Garage, one with the Meteor.

Can you help?

GET INVOLVED WITH THE METEOR!

Your help and commitment, and that of all existing volunteers and DAHG members, is urgently needed. If you are an existing volunteer, can you offer some extra hours for the Meteor display, please? If you are not already a Museum volunteer, you can be swiftly recruited and trained, even if you can only offer a few hours on duty – contact John Sterry (john.sterry76@gmail.com), Rob Amatt (robert.amatt@mypostoffice.co.uk) or Bob Shaw (shaw.bob@btinternet.com) – and get involved in the Meteor project! Meanwhile, work on the whole aircraft continues in the BDAC workshops, in the hope that the whole Meteor, not just the forward fuselage, can be displayed at Croome in 2019. Presentation and cover will be quite a challenge, the aircraft having 50’ wing span and being 50’ in length! But we do have ideas on the subject ...

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DEFFORD AIR DAY AT CROFT FARM

Above: DAHG display stand in a hangar at Defford Air Day at Croft Farm

Members of Defford Airfield Heritage Group had a pleasant and thoroughly enjoyable day at Croft Farm on

July 21st. The annual Defford Air Day is at the grass air strip just beyond the southern boundary of the

former RAF airfield. The event was organised the farmer-owner of the airstrip, DAHG member Clive Porter,

in aid of the Mission Aviation Fellowship. The DAHG display stand attracted a steady stream of visitors

throughout the day. This enabled us to carry out our on-going mission, to tell the story of RAF Defford. We

made many new friends, and found a few potential new members and Museum volunteers. It is surprising

how so many people who were knowledgeable on aviation matters and the RAF, had not heard of the RAF

Defford Museum! The day was blessed by magnificent weather, warm but not too warm. Volunteers who

took turns to man the stand, had the opportunity to view visiting and resident aircraft, and see fascinating

radio-controlled flying displays by the Large Model Aircraft Club. The Lancaster model looked totally

convincing!

Flying scale Lancaster over Croft Farm airstrip P-51 Mustang, in the aircraft park at Croft Farm

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DATE SET FOR WORK TO RESUME ON SERGEANT’S & ORDERLIES’ QUARTERS AND LATRINES

Above: Marking the completion of Phase One in the restoration of the Sergeant’s & Orderlies’ Quarters,

funded by Severn Waste Services. Left to right: Matt Davies (Croft Building & Conservation contractors);

Kate Stott (Severn Waste); Bill Richardson (Severn Waste); Bob Shaw (DAHG); Amy Forster-Smith (National

Trust Croome); Dennis Williams (DAHG). Photo credit Peter Young

To meet the cost of Phase Two, the National Trust / DAHG Partnership team, have just secured for the

National Trust an award from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) of £60,000, to add to around £80,000

funding already assured from other sources for Phase Two.

This is the news for which we had been waiting. It means all funding for Phase Two of the project is now in

place, to enable Croft Contractors to resume work and complete on the two former RAF buildings

(Sergeant’s & Orderlies’ Quarters and Latrines) to be restored and preserved, to form the ‘Learning

Centre’ which will complement the RAF Defford Museum (already funded by HLF in 2014).

All being well, work will resume on Monday August 20th, with completion in 12 weeks, which takes us to

mid-November. Volunteer help with decorating is likely to be needed in October.

There is though, one potential fly in the ointment, or small black cloud in the blue sky, whichever metaphor

you prefer. This concerns essential services to the buildings to enable them to be opened and operate for

general use – water, drainage and especially, electricity. Electricity is essential to the two buildings for

heating, lighting and energy for operational equipment. Provision of services for the two restored buildings

and across the former RAF site at Croome, is subject to an essential on-going (and expensive) project by

the National Trust to overcome current shortfalls and severe limitations at Croome. The date when all

services are in place and connected remains uncertain at the time of writing.

‘WHAT’S THE GEN?’ The latest edition of the news and chat bulletin for RAF Defford Museum

Volunteers, edited by Rob Amatt, is now out – if you have not had a copy, contact Rob or Ann Sterry.

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Wartime Autogiros at Defford?

During the Second World War, significant use was made of Cierva autogiros on radar calibration duties.

The prototype Cierva C30 flew in 1933. It represented the successful culmination of years of trials and research by Juan de la Cierva, mostly in Britain. The two seater Cierva C30, was perhaps the first proven and practical Cierva autogiro. The C30A was the production version, and Avro at their Manchester factory built 78 under licence. Of these, 12 were built for the RAF under specification 16/35 as the Avro Type 671 Rota I.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, all Cierva C30A autogiro machines in the UK, together with any spares available, were impressed into RAF service. All were referred to as Rotas.

The autogiro was the only aircraft at the time that had the ability to stay nearly stationary in the air. Radar calibration involved determining range and definition of signal. The technique was for the autogiro to fly in a tight figure of eight and use this ability to calibrate the Home Chain radar, primarily along the South Coast. By flying out over the Channel at a specific height and position, the operators of ground

based radar could then calibrate their equipment.

Flying over the Channel was a dangerous business, and autogiros on such duties usually had a fighter escort. On the face of it, the autogiro presented an unmissable target for intruding German fighters, but in practice the ability of the autogiro to fly very slowly and come virtually to a stop in the air, made them elusive for the enemy to shoot at - and also represented a difficult task to loosely formate, for the escorting fighter – usually a Gladiator, sometimes a Skua, occasionally a Hurricane!

It seems likely that the unique ability of autogiros to stay virtually still in the air over the sea as a radar target was used by scientists of TRE at Worth Matravers. A photo in the Douglas Fisher collection (above) shows a C30A type in the air, possibly over Worth Matravers or Christchurch.

In his investigation and compilation of ‘Item Numbers’ through study of TFU Progress Meetings and other documents, Mike Dean has identified Item Number 190, a project entitled ‘Propagation Tests’, dated 1944. The flying involved an autogiro, Avro Rota (Cierva C30A) BV999, together with Walrus X9527, Tiger Moth R4901, and two Oxfords, PH173 and MN599, collectively flying 73 hours from RAF Valley in the period 15th July to 14th September 1944, evidently in a study of radar propagation, that is quantifying range, definition and other properties.

Recent research by Mike Dean indicates that Item 190 was but a small part of a large inter-service trials programme on K-, X- and S-band radar equipment, with ground equipment based on the Great Orme headland at Llandudno on the coast of North Wales, with flying from RAF Valley on the SW coast of Anglesey. The studies were no doubt given urgency in 1944 by the threat of wide spread use of ‘schnorkel’ equipment on German U-boats. Notable sources which Mike Dean has accessed at MRATHS and the National Archives include TRE reports T1770 ‘KXS Trials Llandudno 1944’ and T1865 ‘KXS Llandudno trials summer 1944’.

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The autogiro used in these trials was BV999, from 529 Squadron (formerly 1448 Flight) which acted as the home base for the RAF Rotas, issued on detachment for radar calibration and other duties, as

required. The autogiro was used specifically to determine the vertical structure of the field strength. Unfortunately, report T1770 relates, the nature of the radio equipment with which BV999 was fitted did not allow operations to be carried out more than 10 miles from land, which limited its use.

Left: A Cierva C30A Rota I of 529 Squadron It is not clear whether 529 Squadron provided a pilot for BV999 or whether a TFU pilot was required to learn the art of flying an autogiro. In any event (unless anyone can tell us otherwise), BV999 did not

appear at Defford. As Mike Dean points out we can be confident that the smaller aircraft involved would have had to operate out of RAF Valley, not Defford, because of range limitations. A lengthy trials programme would have required careful coordination and briefing of the aircrews involved. This would have been facilitated at Valley with face to face contact, short flight times to reach the trials area and so on. Regarding the other aircraft listed as involved in Item 190, Report T1770 states that the Walrus, Tiger Moth and the two Oxfords were used for taking meteorological soundings, fitted with Met Office strut psychrometers mark V. Also, incidentally, a Hornet Moth and a Swordfish were similarly employed on this work in the course of the extended trials at Valley. TFU however did supply from Defford target aircraft, notably a Lancaster, a Beaufighter and a Hurricane. The autogiro involved in these trials was the former civil Cierva C.30A G-ACXW, impressed on Jan 1st 1941 as BV999. On Feb 1st 1941 it went to 1448 Flight which became 529 Squadron on 15th of June 1943. After the war it was restored as G-ACXW but withdrawn from use at White Waltham in 1947, being donated to an ATC squadron at Twickenham in 1951.

Left: An anonymous Cierva C30A Rota I of 529 Squadron, shows how BV999 almost certainly looked when it appeared at RAF Valley on behalf of TFU in 1944.

Handley Page Harrow K7005, December 17th, 1943

DAHG member Ian Woodford writes:

Dear Ann – Thank you for the July edition of ‘Contact!’ I was amazed to see a photograph of Handley Page Harrow K7005 in there. I know it wasn't related to Defford in any way but it has particular personal significance for me because it is the aircraft that my Great Uncle was killed in during the war. And I have searched everywhere for a photo of the actual aircraft and never yet managed to find one! Can you please tell me where that particular photo came from? Please feel free to follow this link:http://www.ww2irishaviation.com/harrowk7005.htm to find out more about the crash. I was personally involved in researching the crash because so little of it was known to my family. I'm sure it would make an interesting read for our other members too. There is much more to the story than you can see in the link because I have visited the crash site and spoken to some of those that were there, as well as the pilot who survived the crash. Kind regards, Ian.

Editor’s note. The photo of Harrow K7005 in the July 2018 edition was included to illustrate the brief note about Harrow K7021 which was used as a target simulating an enemy bomber, in early airborne radar research circa 1938. As far as we know no photo of K7021 exists, but I felt the nice photo of sister aircraft K7005 would serve to illustrate the general appearance of an RAF Harrow in 1938.

Ian is to be congratulated on his diligent approach and initiation of this research.

An extract from the account in the WW2 Irish Aviation web page follows:

“… The afternoon of December 14th 1943 would see the death of four young airmen of the Royal Air Force on a bleak hillside on the Innishowen peninsula in County Donegal.

Research begun by Ian Woodford, the great-nephew of Albert Edward James, one of the men on the aircraft resulted in the tracking down of families of all four airmen who died and also contacting the sole survivor of the terrible crash.

The airmen were flying at the time with 271 Squadron which was based at RAF Doncaster. The squadron

operated both Handley Page HP54 Harrow and Douglas Dakota transports. The Handley Page Harrow was

a rather old twin engine, high wing aircraft, a former bomber design. The first prototype had flown in

October 1936 and the aircraft was largely outdated by the time the war started. It served in small numbers

as a transport during the war…”

Editor’s note: By the end of 1939, Harrows ceased to be regarded (even nominally) as heavy bombers, and

were converted to a transport role for the rest of the War, mainly with 271 squadron based at Doncaster.

Many had their nose and tail turrets replaced with a conical structure, in which form they were unofficially

referred to as the ‘Sparrow’. It may be this is how

K7005 looked at the time of the fatal crash in

December 1943.

Left: A ‘Sparrow’ of 271 squadron based at Doncaster

ANOTHER SURVIVING FORMER DEFFORD CANBERRA DAHG member Peter Colwill writes: Hi Bob, Probably well known to you but thought you might be interested in photos of the nose of Canberra B.2 WG789 on show at the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum at Flixton bordering what was Bungay Airfield. WG789 was ordered as a replacement for WD940 which became famous as one of two Canberras sent to the US to act as trials and pattern aircraft for the Martin built B-57, a much modified licence built Canberra. The other was WG788 also with Defford history. Canberra WG789 was completed on 29th August 1952 and delivered to the Air Ministry on 4th September for initial use by 231 OCU. After a period in storage it was handed over to the Ministry of Supply on 6th February 1956 for conversion by Boulton Paul at their Defford facility, for use as a radar test bed. The radome fitted was shorter than that fitted by RRE on their conversions (W.H. Sleigh, ‘Aircraft for Airborne Radar Development’, 1986, page 64) Most sources seem to indicate it was used initially at Defford by Boulton Paul for computer trials associated with AI 18 and the ill-fated Red Dean air to air missile. The computer was intended to deliver collision course attack. W.H. Sleigh though tells us it was used for AI 18R research for the Red Top missile system in the forthcoming Sea Vixen FAW.2, another collision course weapon. WJ646 is usually associated with this work. Anybody know the truth? Boulton Paul were allowed to continue flying WG789 out of Defford until December 1957 although RRE had already left in September. This was presumably the result of work still being in progress to lengthen and resurface the runway at BP’s new base at Seighford in Staffordshire; the good citizens of Wolverhampton having declined expansion of their original base at Wolverhampton. In 1959, WG789 was returned to Pershore and went on to a very long career there and at Bedford. One more claim to fame was its alleged use in the Concorde chase programme at Fairford, although I can’t find any evidence of that so maybe WG789 was just used as a back-up or for spares. Finally, anoraks on, the Flixton Museum and some more modern sources use the term B.2/6 for WG789. Again this doesn’t seem to be a term used at the time (?) or an official Canberra mark number so maybe the result of modern authors leaving elephant traps for the future. Sleigh again though says that the nose of WG788, the partner of WG789, was grafted on to the front of B.6 XH568…….presumably the whole aeroplane? He also comments on RRE using Canberras as a “kit of parts” and it seems standardisation was achieved by settling on the wings of the B.6 with outboard leading edge extra fuel, more powerful Avons and heated inlet guide vanes on the engines making the aeroplane all-weather which the B.2 was not. Which aeroplanes were grafted on to B.6 airframes or made up from spares (?) we will presumably never know, as demonstrated by the research needed to identify the Croome nose. Equally WG789 has continued to morph even after “preservation”, having fallen off its trolley in a storm

incurring severe damage and a new canopy in the process. Nothing is totally original it seems - particularly with Canberras! The Flixton Museum as well as having a collection of airframes, has an absolute treasure trove of “bits” and memorabilia all correctly labelled. The only problem is that you have to become selective to get round as there is so much of interest. Brilliant volunteers as well… if you are in the area give it a look! Peter. Left: Forward fuselage of Canberra WG789 preserved at Flixton