Fly Past

78 FLYPAST May 2018

1918 2018

MANY PEOPLE HAVE ESTABLISHED RECORDS FROM

JOHN O’ GROATS TO LAND’S END USING ALL SORTS OF TRANSPORT. MIKE PUGH

DESCRIBES HOW 43 SQUADRON ACHIEVED IT IN A MATTER OF MINUTES

TRAFFIC JAMSTRAFFIC JAMS

MANY PEOPLE HAVE ESTABLISHED RECORDS FROM

TRAFFIC JAMS

MANY PEOPLE HAVE ESTABLISHED RECORDS FROM

NO

“T

hree, Two, One, now! –

46 minutes, 44 seconds.

Congratulations on a

new record and your tanker is at

12 o’clock five miles”. That was the

voice of the air traffic controller at

London Military Radar. Not only

had he monitored our flight time

but he had set up our VC10 tanker

in the perfect position for us to fall

in quickly behind it to refuel our

thirsty Phantom.

Our aircraft had carried us from

one end of Great Britain to the

other in a record time. The Scottish

Daily Express headline read: “John o’

Groats to Land’s End, 46 minutes...

and no traffic jams.”

Based at Leuchars in Scotland, 43

Squadron was an extremely happy

unit and although very confident

in the Phantom FG.1, the aircraft

was beginning to show its age

after almost 20 years of very active

service.

“I knew that one could claim a world record

between any two signifi cant points and

recalled that a Harrier had set the London to

Edinburgh one, beating a post-war Hurricane

fl ight that had stood for many years”

Right

Presentation of

cheques to trustees

of the Lord Dowding

Sheltered Housing

Trust. VIA AUTHOR

Below

The wheels touch the

runway at Leuchars

after the record-

breaking fl ight. VIA

AUTHOR / D C THOMPSON