Aeroplane – June 2018

AEROPLANE JULY 2018 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com 49

hours during their deployment. Wood

mused, “we seemed to have done

the job we set out to do, but in my

opinion the ferrying was a bit of a

‘muddle through’ in places.”

Of course there were lessons to

be learned. Archive fi les reveal how

much displeasure was expressed about

the behaviour of force commander

Wg Cdr Stuart Wilson-MacDonald.

ACM Sir Charles Medhurst,

chairman of the British Joint Services

Mission to Washington, said of him

that he “appeared to have little idea of

the importance of his position or his

responsibilities and duties”, preferring

instead to spend time with his wife,

whom he had arranged to be in New

York at the same time. Wilson-

MacDonald also became ill, Oxspring

taking over many of his functions

without complaint.

The RAF meteorological services

were stung by criticism contained in

some reports, for instance from the

much-maligned Wilson-MacDonald:

“Seldom, if ever, did forecasts compare

with the weather encountered on any

of the sea crossings during the entire

fl ight!”, he said in one; in another,

he opined, “The information gained

by the weather Mosquito was often

useless owing to the time taken in

passing it back to the main force”.

It was pointed out that this was at

odds with the much more favourable

comments made by the navigator of

the leading Mosquito.

The met Mosquito had its

limitations. Using it to transmit

information back down the line

“worked well”, said a report, “until

the Mosquito was beyond W/T

contact with the base of departure”.

On the outbound fl ight, this proved

inadequate, so it was decided to seek

assistance from one of the three No

24 Squadron Avro Yorks that carried

equipment, spares and maintainers.

For each leg of the return sortie,

it took off an hour before the fi rst

Mosquito. “When the weather

Mosquito had overtaken and passed

the York and was getting out of W/T

range with the point of departure, the

York would relay all W/T messages.”

Fundamentally, the whole trans-

Atlantic sortie indicated a need for

much improved communications

between airfi elds on North Atlantic

route. Existing facilities were described

in one offi cial document as “lamentably

poor”. This also came up when No 54

Squadron’s pilots talked to Schilling

and their other American opposite

numbers in Greenland during the

return fl ight. An RAF report pointed

out that while “delays due to adverse

OPERATION ‘FOX ABLE ONE’

T

he US Air Force’s decision to deploy 16

Lockheed F-80As by air across the

Atlantic was not, unlike the RAF Vampire

fl ight, purely a goodwill gesture. It also

demonstrated a capability, something of great

importance in the aftermath of the Soviet Union

starting its Berlin blockade on 24 June — and

the timing in relation to No 54 Squadron’s trip

added an element of friendly competition.

The Shooting Stars hailed from the 56th

Fighter Group at Selfridge Field, Michigan.

Leading them was unit commander Lt Col David

C. Schilling, who had served with the 56th FG as

part of the Eighth Air Force during the Second

World War, notching up 23.5 kills in P-47

Thunderbolts. The route across was the same as

that used by the Vampires: from Selfridge the

F-80s proceeded via Bangor, Maine, to Goose

Bay on 12 July. There bad weather caused a

delay, and an engine change was undertaken.

Departure for Greenland took place on 17 July;

the Shooting Stars carried on to Iceland on the

19th, and Stornoway the following day. They

reached Odiham on 21 July, completing the

4,288-mile mission with a fl ight time of 10 hours

40 minutes. A few days later the F-80s left for

Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany.

The Lockheed jet was rather more suited to

such an undertaking than its de Havilland

counterpart. The radio compass was highly

advantageous, as was the pressurised cockpit.

Nonetheless, like the Vampires, the Shooting

Stars required a great deal of support — it was

provided by two C-54 Skymasters, a C-47

Skytrain, a B-29 Superfortress and an air-sea

rescue SB-17 Flying Fortress.

Interested RAF observers pore over USAF F-80A

44-85330 from the 56th Fighter Group on the

Odiham tarmac. AEROPLANE

Three of the Shooting Stars arrive in formation

over Odiham. On hand to meet them were

dignitaries including the station commander, Wg

Cdr E. T. Smith, and the Vice-Chief of the Air

Staff, Air Marshal Sir James Robb. AEROPLANE

weather conditions were acceptable”

for a goodwill visit, they were not for

a reinforcement mission. If Vampires

were to undertake such a sortie, they

would need more fuel — extra tankage

was suggested by Oxspring — and

detailed planning to ensure suitable

safety margins. In September 1950,

Schilling demonstrated one answer

when he fl ew the Atlantic in a

Republic EF-84E, supported by air-to-

air refuelling. However, it was never

available to the Vampire, and the RAF

needed far longer to introduce this

capability.

Some had advocated cancelling No

54 Squadron’s pioneering fl ight due

to the tensions in Berlin. Thankfully,

other voices prevailed. Its value to

the RAF was priceless. Later in

1948, Bobby Oxspring and Colin

Colquhoun received the Air Force

Cross, and Bill Wood the Air Force

Medal. As Russ Jeffs wrote, “I do not

know of anyone who would not say

that the visit of No 54 Squadron

to the USA was anything but

an unqualifi ed success.”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

With thanks to Katie Jones,

daughter of the late Bill Wood, for

her help and permission to

reproduce some of her father’s

writing. Further recollections of his

career from his unpublished memoir

Only birds and fools fl y... can be

found at http://www.bill-wood.co.uk.

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