ABOVE:
Blue Section in vic
formation: Vampires
VT871, VT868
and VT869, fl own
respectively by
Oxspring, Wright
and Evans.
VIA K ATIE JONES48 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JULY 2018the spectators in place at about 09.45,
our offi cers had still not showed
up. The time ticked on. ‘They were
hitting the gin bottle too hard last
night’, I thought, ‘and are probably
non compos mentis’. ‘Strike a light’
(or similar topical phrase), I shouted
to Evans and Skinner. ‘Get into your
fl ying kit double-quick, we’re going
to have to do this show ourselves’.
We ran to the crewroom where I
asked the other two if they foresaw
any problems if I led the team. They
didn’t. We were dressed and ready
to run to our aircraft when Bobby
Oxspring and company arrived. They
didn’t look too good to me, but Bobby
insisted on performing as usual. They
did quite well, considering.”With Red and Blue Sections
alternating their performances,
displays were given fi rst at Greenville
and then Langley Field, Virginia. The
Greenville visit took in a USAF air
defence exercise, the fi rst of several in
which No 54 Squadron participated
during its Stateside stay. According to
Wood, a squadron of Republic F-84
Thunderjets the RAF jets tried to
formate with “were too speedy for our
Vampires with full drop tanks, and
we had the awful embarrassment of
having to call the Thunderjet leader
on R/T to ask if he would mind
slowing down a bit!” At Langley,
though, a post-mission report related,
an F-80 pilot — one Maj Wood —
fl ew a Vampire and called it, “thefi nest bit of God-damnest machinery
I have ever been in.”
Then came the ‘big one’: the
opening of New York’s Idlewild
Airport (now John F. Kennedy
International), celebrated by a nine-
day International Air Exposition. For
this No 54 Squadron operated from
Mitchell Field. Its aerobatic sequence
began with a diamond-four loop, from
which the soloist broke away into a
roll off the top. Then came a line-
astern roll, a double loop changing
from line-astern to a vic, a roll in vic,
and a fast fl ypast pulling up into what
was dubbed a ‘rocket loop’, still in vic.
Each manoeuvre was interspersed by
the stylings of the soloist.There was apparently some
criticism in the British press that
54’s Idlewild displays, to quote an
RAF report, “lacked showmanship”.
However, it pointed out, the Vampire
pilots “strictly obeyed the safety
regulations as laid down by the Mayor
of New York’s Committee. For this
fact their show was less spectacular
than most other fl ying displays as
many of them entirely disregarded the
regulations”. They were the only jets
to perform throughout the event, one
day’s fl ying at which was called off
due to adverse weather. For Britain
it was a triumph, the RAF Vampire
displays and those by 806 Squadron,
Fleet Air Arm in its Sea Furies,
Sea Hornet and Sea Vampire (see
Aeroplane February 2016) creating a
very positive impression.
Idlewild was the last show of the
tour. The return fl ight was a more
leisurely affair than the trip out, the
aircraft fl ying back to Trenton on
10 August, and leaving Goose Bay
a week later. A few days of rest and
recuperation were spent at Bluie
West One and Kefl avík. Up to now,
Vampire snags had been fairly minor:
fuel pump failures, inaccurate fuel
gauges, poor compasses and gyro
horizons, and the need for one engine
change at Mitchell Field. It was on
the last over-water leg, from Iceland to
the Hebrides, that potentially serious
problems set in. A small electrical fi re
in the cockpit of one aircraft was put
out by the pilot severing the faulty
wires with his hand, and VT863
suffered a partial engine failure during
its circuit to land at Stornoway. The
aircraft was left stranded there — how
fortunate for Sqn Ldr Courtney that it
happened when it did.
The other fi ve aircraft returned to
Odiham on 26 August, the Vampires
having notched up 292.35 fl yingRAF 100 TRANS-ATLANTIC VAMPIRES
42-49_AM_No54Vampires Squad_July18_cc C.indd 48 04/06/2018 08:21