Aeroplane – June 2018

ABOVE:

No 54 Squadron’s

new Vampire F3s

lined up at RAF

Odiham, Hampshire,

prior to the trans-

Atlantic fl ight.

AEROPLANE

ABOVE RIGHT:

This pre-deployment

formation shows a

mixture of type B

and type D roundels

and fi n fl ashes on

the Vampires.

VIA K ATIE JONES

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

RAF 100 TRANS-ATLANTIC VAMPIRES

The inside story of how No 54 Squadron’s DH Vampire

F3s became the fi rst jet fi ghters to fl y trans-Atlantic

Pioneers

across

the Pond

T

he place of No 54 Squadron

among the pioneers of the

early jet age is assured. In

1947 it had formed the RAF’s

fi rst jet aerobatic team, a three-ship

of de Havilland Vampire Is led by the

unit’s commanding offi cer, Sqn Ldr

Mike Lyne. Flying with him were

Flt Lt Colin Colquhoun and WO

Bill Wood, their fi rst public display

taking place at Blackpool’s Squires

Gate airport on 2 July. Its precision

and grace set the marker for much that

has followed. During a short season

of six shows an extra aircraft, fl own by

a No 247 Squadron pilot, was added

to provide a solo aerobatic element

between the formation manoeuvres,

while at a Southend event a fourth

member, Flt Lt John Stacey, joined the

main formation. At its end Lyne was

presented with a bar to his Air Force

Cross. For No 54 Squadron, further

notable achievements would follow.

With Lyne, Colquhoun and

Stacey posted away, a new team was

established for 1948. Flt Lt Frank

Woolley and WO Roy Skinner joined

Wood, who retained his number three

position. Work-ups duly began, but

then came a curveball. As Wood later

wrote, “behind the scenes at the Air

Ministry, a letter from the United

States Air Force had hit the desk of

the Chief of the Air Staff, or one of

his offi ce, asking if it was possible to

have a jet fi ghter squadron carry out

the annual goodwill visit of the RAF

to the USA.”

How to achieve this? Transporting

the fi ghters aboard an aircraft carrier

was rejected. Wood recalled, “After

the head-scratching, they called in

Sqn Ldr Bobby Oxspring, the CO

of No 247 Squadron at Odiham, and

asked him how they should go about

WORDS: BEN DUNNELL

42-49_AM_No54Vampires Squad_July18_cc C.indd 42 04/06/2018 06:58