Aeroplane – June 2018

AEROPLANE JULY 2018 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com 45

Woods recounted, “the grapevine from

the British Joint Services Mission

in Washington had alerted us that a

team of USAF Lockheed F-80s were

preparing to beat us across”. Sixteen

F-80As were involved in Operation

‘Fox Able One’, led by Lt Col David

Schilling. “I felt that we were being

too inflexible”, continued Woods, “and

not trying hard enough to explore

other options, and that we had better

do something quickly or the Yanks

would beat us — and that would be

bad news for the RAF. As the F-80s

were armed with a radio compass,

the US team did not require the level

of navigational support which we

needed, and they

could operate their

aircraft at optimum

conditions... The

race would go to the

wire, by the look of it.

“The days dragged

on in idleness... On

the morning of the

12th, however, the

winds relented and

were down to the 50 to 60kt mark.

Hurriedly the aircraft were checked

to be fully topped up with fuel, then

towed to the end of the runway to

save fuel and lined up ready to start.

Having emptied our bladders (the

Vampires were not fitted with ‘pee

tubes’) we climbed in and waited for

the Mosquitos to take off, then started

up. With the Mosquitos running in,

we released brakes and rolled.

“The cloud was stratocumulus,

a rather thickish layer from about

1,500ft to 5,000-6,000ft tops. We

snaked up to penetrate. All seemed

well until we broke through the cloud

tops, looked ahead for Blue Section,

but saw nothing. ‘What the hell?’, I

thought. ‘What’s gone wrong now?’ ‘I

don’t believe it!’, I bellowed inside my

cockpit. Luckily, very luckily, I spotted

them way off course by about two

miles, level at nine o’clock, heading

for mid-Atlantic; they were very small

specks at that range. I vectored them

in to join the convoy, now led by the

Mosquito leader.”

There were no more problems en

route to Keflavík, but after the aircraft

had landed the weather in Iceland

clamped, sea fog rolling in. It persisted

for a day. “We heard that the Schilling

team were now at Goose Bay preparing

their aircraft... We realised that we

could not afford to lose another day.”

On 14 July, things improved.

With a favourable forecast, the RAF

contingent departed for Bluie West

One. Thankfully it proved correct,

for there was no suitable diversion

airfield and the high ground in

Greenland provided a major hazard.

“It was clear blue all the way”, Wood

wrote, “with the awesome Greenland

scenery appearing mid-way. However,

we noticed some stratus at the fjord’s

entrance, which gave us some concern

for the next leg. When we landed, the

forecast for that afternoon mentioned

that the stratus would become fog and

creep up towards the airfield. So we

got out of our flying kit and went off

to sit out the day.

“We had lunch and won some

money from the one-armed bandits,

when we heard the roar of jet

aircraft. Schilling and his F-80s had

arrived from Goose Bay. We went

out to meet them when they had

dismounted; then we all gathered

round a Vampire and an F-80 for an

historic photograph. When the US

flyers went off to eat, we returned to

our respective messes. Shortly, panic

let loose. Transport arrived for us.

‘Get into your flying gear at once’

was the order. We tore down to the

aircraft dispersal, viewing the F-80s

taking off for Keflavík. We had to

go — caution was chucked out the

door; we had to get airborne as soon

as possible, before the stratus became

fog and ruined our chances.

“We got airborne in a snake but did

not climb immediately. The stratus was

fairly low, about 1,000ft if my memory

serves me right, and we were therefore

presented with a tunnel formed by

the sheer sides of the

mountains along the

fjord with the stratus

forming the roof.

The drill was to use

plenty of rpm to get

sufficient speed to

zoom-climb, hoping

to avoid hitting the

sides, and get through

the stratus to pick up

the formation leader’s section — which

had to be, repeat had to be, straight

ahead on the centre of the fjord’s track.

“We formed up speedily enough

and things seemed to settle down to

normal as we climbed to 25,000ft.

We heard on the R/T that the fog

had extended to cover the airfield at

Bluie, so we then knew that there was

only one place on the planet where

we could put down safely — our

destination, Goose Bay, which, at

675nm was positioned at the greatest

distance of any of the legs. The

forecast for the route was that a weak

occluded front was lying across our

path about mid-way, with cloud tops

at 14,000ft, and that there was a

We tore down to the aircraft dispersal,

viewing the F-80s taking off for Keflavík.

We had to go — caution was chucked out

the door; we had to get airborne as soon as

possible, before the stratus became fog

BELOW:

Mosquito

PR34 PF623

from Transport

Command’s No 1

Ferry Unit brought

up the rear of the

Vampire formation.

AEROPLANE

ABOVE:

Taxiing in at

Greenville, South

Carolina, after a

display. Fairchild

C-82s are lined up in

the background.

VIA K ATIE JONES

42-49_AM_No54Vampires Squad_July18_cc C.indd 45 04/06/2018 06:59