Hate

How uplifting to hear swarming Labour MPs signalling their virtue by condemning Donald Trump's ill-advised re-tweet? Can these be the same Honourable Members who failed to condemn their own party supporters who called for the Labour Party to "hate again?"

How to Write-Off an Entire Air Force - 3

On 4 May 1975, the three sections of the formation took off independently and made their way to the rendezvous in the airspace known as “Brothers.”  Red Section was the last to arrive and I saw the Wessex of 28 Squadron neatly arranged in the lead followed by the Sioux of 656 AAC (they had fielded their full complement today) in some sort of ragged same-way-same-day formation.  The idea was that the entire formation would come together then the leader would commence a timing racetrack pattern which would lead to a straight run-in for the flypast over the harbour between Kowloon and Hong Kong at exactly the correct time.  However, observing the antics of the Sioux, I decided that I would not put Red Section into the formation flypast position immediately because holding us there, whilst all the timing manoeuvring was going on, would entail too much hard work for my section, particularly as the section ahead seemed to be taking their time in sorting themselves out into decent order.  So, I shadowed the two front sections, sitting slightly high and wide to the right so that, as the final turn for the run in commenced, I would be nicely placed to either cut or extend the corner and slot Red Section into flypast position without exaggerated speed changes.  This tactic worked perfectly and we rolled out on the final run-in in the exact position behind the Army and off we went until ground control suddenly announced, “EAGLE FORAMTION, HOLD AT GREEN ISLAND.”

Presumably, the Royal Barge had been delayed and, hence, the timing of the flypast must be adjusted.  The Wessex in the lead, therefore, commenced a left-hand timing racetrack at Green Island awaiting clearance for the run-in.  Once again, I craftily slipped to the side and climbed a few feet to give myself the flexibility to slot in on the roll out.  And once again, this worked perfectly.  What I did not know, nor could not have known, was that Sioux formation had slipped behind the Wessex in the turn and used all the speed they had available to catch up as the run-in commenced.  I maintained my position behind the Sioux until suddenly the tail end Sioux reared up in front in a frantic attempt to slow down – they had grossly over-cooked their catch-up.  The quick stop technique is highly effective in helicopters and is used to decelerate in normal flight the hover.  I think way it would be done would be to pitch up the nose with backward cyclic and then prevent the subsequent climb by lowering the collective.  All pretty normal for a helicopter but a very alarming manoeuvre if you are sat behind in a fixed wind aircraft with very different aerodynamics!  

I reacted by reducing my speed, as rapidly as I dared, but in the next millisecond the sky was filled with whiling rotor blades and stark terror as Red Section merged with the Sioux ahead.  Nobody said anything.  Fortunately, we were stacked up on the Sioux so, although we almost overtook the formation in front, the small height separation ensured our survival but by this time our two Alouettes and the Musketeer were making their own arrangements.  Presentationally, since the incident occurred just as we were overhead the Royal barge, it must have looked very tight and impressive from the surface.

A few seconds later, with the rest of the formation now in full sight again, we continued as if nothing had happened until the respective sections split and recovered to respective bases.  We signed in operations and made tea.

Still nobody said anything and I was sitting in my office at the RHKAAF HQ when the telephone rang.  It was a Major from Sek Kong (the airfield in the New Territories close to the Chinese Border where the Army were based). The very polite Major understood there had been a little difficulty for us on the run in and he apologised if they had caused us any problems.  I made no comment, thanked him for his call, and rang off.

It was only later, in the Flying Club which we used as an informal Officers’ Mess, and over several glasses of San Miguel, that we began to piece together what had happened.  I’ll leave you, the reader, to point the finger but what I did learn was the wisdom of that order that restricted powers of authorisation for mixed formations.  Mixed formations are inherently risky than homogenous formations because not everybody in the formation is, necessarily, fully familiar with the aerodynamic characteristics and limitations of the other aircraft.  I had nearly found this out the hard way.  Fortunately, I lived to tell the tale but it has taken 42 years for me to get round to telling it.  Some things are better obscured by time.  Indeed, my recollection in the narrative may have missed some detail or nuance.  However, the picture of the Sioux violently slowing down in front of me is still fresh today and I certainly don’t need this photograph to remind me!

How to Write-Off an Entire Air Force - 2

My tour at CFS continued, enjoyably, until the following summer at which point I received posting to exchange duties with the United States Air Force instructing on T-38 aircraft somewhere in Oklahoma.  I had just about completed packing my boxes and was contemplating a round of farewells when I received a telephone call from a chap in “P” staff at Command HQ.  Unfortunately, my dream posting to America was cancelled, he said, and he would have to find somewhere else for me to go.  Apparently, the chap I was due to replace was a bachelor who had enjoyed the social life of the foreign station.  Rather too well, apparently, because our hosts the Americans had insisted that they did not want another bachelor.  Naturally, by the standards of the times, I accepted the bad luck as just one of those things that happen, unpacked my boxes, and awaited further developments.  I did not have to wait long because, within a couple of weeks, another chap from Command phoned me up to ask if I should like to go to Hong Kong as a Loan Service Officer with the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force. I remember asking whether I had to be married but he assured me that marital status was not an issue here.  However, “could I fly helicopters,” he asked.  I told him that I had never flown a helicopter to he immediately arranged for a quick-fire course of instruction at Ternhill, “just in case you need to fly rotary wing in Hong Kong.” So off I went to Ternhill for a couple of weeks and thoroughly enjoyed myself on the Sioux, Whirlwind and Gazelle.  It was terrific fun and very challenging flying!

This time, there were no changes and I landed at Kai Tak by the Fragrant Harbour from the scheduled VC10 on 22 July 1974.  My reception party allowed me a few minutes to dump my case in the Officers' Mess before heading off to Tsim Sha Tsui for a welcoming initiation at the “Bottoms Up Club” on Hankow Road – the one featured in the James Bond Film, The Man With the Golden Gun.  I remember little of the subsequent evening in the land of Suzie Wong until I awoke in my room shivering from cold from the air conditioning.  I turned the air conditioning off but failed to draw around the mosquito net which was equivalent to issuing an open invitation to every insect and creepy-crawly to join me.  The following day I found my bottom sheet heavily stained with the crushed remains of several giant cockroaches which had elected to join me for the night.  I don’t think I ever got used to the heat but I certainly learned, quickly, how to cope with it.  “Just watch the locals,” a colleague said, pointing out a chap with a folded newspaper on his head threading his way unhurriedly along the pavement taking advantage of every patch of shade available.

At the time, The Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force operated a fleet of 3 x Alouette helicopters, a Britten-Norman Islander twin engine light transport and utility aircraft and a pair of Beech Musketeer basic training aircraft.  My responsibility, as a Loan Service Officer, was for the fixed wing element operations and training – no helicopters, as my colleague, the Loan Service helicopter instructor, informed me!  But it was a mixed fleet.

The following April it was decided that there would be a flypast to celebrate the arrival of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on a 4-day State Visit.  The Royal couple were due to cross the harbour from Kowloon to Hong Kong and the idea was that the ferry passage would be overflown by a formation of aircraft from the Royal Air Force, the Army, and the Auxiliary Air Force.  At the time, the RAF operated a Squadron, No 28, of Wessex helicopters whilst the Army had a number of Sioux helicopters in No 656 Squadron Army Air Corps. The RAF, as the senior air element was in charge of the operation and they decided on a 3-element formation comprising 28 Sqn with 7 x Wessex in the lead, followed by 656 with 7 x Sioux with the Auxies in the rear with a mixed formation of four comprising the Islander leading, an Alouette on each wing and a single Musketeer in the “box.”  It was called “Eagle Formation” and the Auxie bit was “Red Section.”

We began practicing on 29 April 1975 but before we set off the hazy memory of that wet morning musing at Little Rissington. It wasn’t clear, in the Auxiliary Air Force rules, who had the authority to legally sanction flying but I sensed, as the professional Loan Service Officer, the auxiliaries were looking to me for advice. I remember pointing out that it was their Air Force and I thought they should be in charge, which they accepted thus allowing me the possible defence, if things went wrong, that I was only obeying orders. Except, was this just my retrospective interpretation?

We flew as a formation of 4 on 5 occasions, practicing manoeuvring to the limits of the designated speed band to the extent that I was confident we could perform our part of the operation perfectly. I assumed that the other 2 elements in the formation would have been as diligent in their preparation.

May 2^nd was designated for a full-scale practice of “Eagle Formation.” Except it wasn’t quite “full scale,” for, whilst the RAF and the Auxies assembled in the required numbers and pleasingly arranged patterns, the AAC had some difficulties with serviceability and could only produce 2 of their required complement. Never mind they said, over the telephone (for there was no face-to-face briefing as I recall), we will space our two aircraft as representing the front and rear of our section and fill in the gaps on the day. Incredibly, this was accepted and the 3 sections met up over the New Territories near 2 islands known as “The Brothers” accordingly. We did not, as I recall fly the actual flypast track since this would have caused too much disruption to routine air traffic – Kai Tak was incredibly busy, even in those days. I think we ran in as a formation as far as Green Island, the usual entry point for the harbour.  Everything went well and the respective sections dispersed.  The actual flypast was scheduled for 4^th May 1975.

This picture was taken as Red Section recovered to Kai Tak:

Hong Kong Island is in the background, Kowloon lying under the wing, the main Kai Tak runway, 13/31 beneath the aircraft and Green Island can just be made out to the right of Hong Kong Island.  (The Islander flaps are at half to give a higher manouvre margin above the stall and ensure a better engine response for the chosen speed).

Anyone for Gun Boat Diplomacy?

The incarceration and, apparently, callous treatment of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe by Iran is thoroughly regrettable.  Naturally, if any of us found ourselves in similar circumstances we would hope and expect that the UK Government would do their utmost on our behalf. Everyone (that I have read) seems convinced that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe is completely innocent. Except, perhaps, the Foreign Secretary who initially said that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was only teaching Iranians journalism.  Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe has both Iranian and UK passports. Happily, we are all on the same page now – Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was only on holiday.  However, the Iranians accused Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe of attempting to topple the Iranian regime and sentenced her to five years in jail.

Apparently, the Prime Minister is considering invoking a 250-year-old legal principle by which her detention is deemed an act of aggression against the UK rather than the individual. This extreme strategy has some inherent diplomatic risks that could easily escalate.  Whilst I am encouraged that the UK Government is doing everything in its power to secure Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release, it is a rather sorry situation that we must rely on some 250-year-old little used diplomatic loophole.

In 1847, by contrast, Don Pacifico, a Portuguese Jew who had been born in Gibraltar (and was, thus, a British Citizen) and had been living in Greece, had his house robbed in an anti-Semitic attack.  The Greek Government refused to compensate Don Pacifico so, in 1850, the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, sent British warships to blockade Greek ports until the Greeks paid up.  Many people at the time thought that the British action was a little over the top but, nevertheless, it was successful with Palmerston asserting: “a British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and the strong arm of England will protect him from injustice and wrong.”

In a week when more cuts to the Royal Navy are contemplated, for example, our mine-sweeping presence in the Gulf (on of the few capabilities in our rapidly declining inventory that are valued by the Americans) reduced by half together with the loss of 2 assault ships, we may probably forget the threat of maritime force.  Neither should we expect any help from our pals in the EU who will have both eyes on the mega trade deal for 118 Airbus airliners and 40 ATR (French Italian manufacture) 72-600s and will have no wish to offend the customer.  However, in a few years’ time, the EU Pesco wheeze may be able to provide a field hospital which might come in handy I suppose.