in a eld. After touchdown,
the aircraft struck a stone
wall and was damaged
beyond repair.
A royal tour to Australia
and New Zealand, was
scheduled for the end of
1948 and a further Viking
was acquired, but the ill-
health of King George VI
caused it to be postponed
inde nitely.
Princess Elizabeth and
the Duke of Edinburgh set
off on January 31,1952 on what was planned
as a ve-month tour of East Africa, Australia
and New Zealand. They were seen off at
London Airport (now Heathrow Airport) by
the King and Queen, but while in Kenya news
reached them that King George VI had died.
The couple returned home on the same
BOAC Argonaut aircraft that had taken them
away, and on June 7, 1952 the new Queen
Elizabeth II disembarked at London to take
her rst steps on British soil as monarch. Her
coronation took place on June 2, 1953, and
the King’s Flight was renamed the Queen’s
Flight.
As 1953 drew to a close, consideration
again turned to acquiring state-of-the-art
aircraft. The Vikings were in excellent condition
and ‘low houred’ by airline standards, but it was
considered bad for the country’s image if the
monarch was seen travelling in anything but
the most up-to-date, British-built aircraft.
Earlier in the year, the postponed tour
had taken place and, while the Queen and
Duke were in New Zealand, they had taken
internal ights in an airline-operated de
Havilland Heron, a type that would in later
years become a familiar sight in Queen’s
Flight livery.
Also in 1953, the Flight acquired its rst
helicopter, a Westland Dragon y HC.4.
However, the rst royal ight in a helicopter
did not come until April 1955, when Queen
Elizabeth, the Queen Mother was taken by
a Westland Whirlwind, from Smith’s Lawn at
Windsor to RAF Biggin Hill.
It was later announced that the Queen’s
Flight would acquire three new helicopters,but for various reasons it was three years
before this came about. At the time, there
were few types to choose from until the S-55/
Whirlwind came along.
In May 1955, DH Heron C.3 XH375 was
detached to RAF Benson for use as the
personal aircraft of the Duke of Edinburgh,
who had gained his pilot’s ‘wings’ in May 1953
after training on Chipmunk, Harvard and
Airspeed Oxford aircraft. On completion of
his type conversion course, the Duke began
to y the Heron on journeys within the UK.
One of the Vikings was sold, but the rest
were kept busy for some years and in March
1958 it was revealed the remaining Vikings
were to be phased out and replaced by two
Heron C.4s. It was in one of these aircraft,
XM295, that the Queen and Duke arrived
at Gatwick on June 9, 1958 to perform the
official opening of the new airport complex.QUEEN MOTHER
In November of the following year, the new
helicopters for the Queen’s Flight were
delivered: two Westland Whirlwind HAS.7s,
modi ed to VVIP con guration as Whirlwind
HCC.8s.
The internal alterations reduced the
seating capacity to four, with two seats for
royal passengers and two for equerries,
whose seats could be adjusted to face fore
or aft. In the coming years, the Queen
Mother would become a regular user of the
Whirlwinds, even ying out to the aircraftcarrier Ark Royal in one.
At the end of the
1950s a review of the
work of the Queen’s
Flight during that decade
was published showed it
carried out around 600
hours of ying each year,
with the bulk during the
summer months.
During the summer of
1961, an additional Heron
C.2, XR391, was taken on
charge, as was Chipmunk
T.10 WP903, which was used over the next
three years to provide ying instruction for
Prince Michael, Prince Richard, and the Duke
of Kent. It was then placed into storage,
but was to return to service in the summer
of 1968, the pilot under instruction this time
being Prince Charles.
In the early 1960s all Queen’s Flight
aircraft were repainted uorescent red overall
with a blue cheatline to improve their visibility
to other air traffic.ANDOVERS
Discussions about eventual replacements for
the Herons began, and in 1964 two HS748
Andovers were taken from a batch of six on
order for the RAF and suitably modi ed for
royal use.
In mid-June 1964 the two piston-engined
Whirlwinds were replaced by a pair of
turbine-powered Whirlwind HC.10s upgraded
to the VVIP HCC.12 standard. The rst
of the Andovers, designated CC.2s, were
delivered in July and August the same year
in a revised Queen’s Flight livery, with the red
nish applied only to the n and rudder. They
would cruise at around 100mph (161km/h)
faster than the Herons, and their Rolls-Royce
Dart turboprops provided a smoother ride
for the royal occupants. The interiors were
recon gured with an executive suite and a
small forward cabin for use by staff.
The Queen’s Flight suffered its rst fatal
accident on December 7, 1967. Whirlwind
XR487 was on a ferry ight from Benson to
the Westland works at Yeovil with a crew of
four. There were no passengers.http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 39One of three Andovers used for royal duties. The rst was taken on Charge in July
1964, and three were eventually operated, replacing Herons. Crown CopyrightOne of the A109Es used by 32 (The Royal)
Squadron over Buckingham Palace. Crown
copyright 200636-40_raf_queens_flightDC.mfDC.indd 39 04/12/2017 13:20