264 Squadron News
H M Armed Forces We Defy May 2015 We Defy Issue 2/15
Editor: Geoff Faulkner, 8 Rosamond Avenue, Shipton Gorge, Bridport, Dorset DT6 4LN. 01308 897275 Email: [email protected] Reunion: Christmas Cards Well after a chase up, it seems we are on course for an Both the year before last and this last one, and ap other Reunion and hopefully a successful one. It does pauled by Royal Mail’s postal charges, I sent quite a however beg the question whether this will be our last few by electronic means. This way I was able to donate main one. As we get older, then the £15 to the “Help the Heroes” charity which I felt was journeys become more of a prob more deserving than the Royal Mail. lem, especially when it entails long Squadron Honorary Treasurer: distances. I should like to thank Paul Lippett for volunteering to There is no doubt in my mind, that take on the job of Squadron Treasurer. Luckily for us, the Reunions serve a useful pur dear Bob had paid all outstanding invoices before he pose, in that it brings us all together died and luckily I was still an authorised signature, so in the spirit that we enjoyed on the we were not in total panic mode. It’s so nice to get some Squadron all those long years ago. one volunteering as opposed to co opting. Although Bri It must be recognised though, as an Mann did offer to stand in until we found someone, with most of the old military associa so thanks to both. tions, they will eventually fade out and all we are doing is to put off the Passing: Although he was not a member, Alan inevitable. Brackenbury passed away on the 18 12 14 He was on However, the alternative is perhaps to try and get some 264 1955 56 as an instrument mechanic. His service regional ones going, maybe just meeting for a dinner no. Is E4078449 . somewhere, it’s a thought which I will leave with you. Important Please Check: It has been a bad time for our Squadron folk over the last As we are close to the reunion, I thought I aught to 12 months, as in that last year we have lost three mem check all the names of who have said they are coming, bers, which is so sad. (See page 2). I sent out Squadron in case things have changed or your name isn’t on the Sympathy cards in our name to their relatives. list pleas check. Geoff & Joan Faulkner, Marjorie Tacey *, Mike Webster, Tony & Miki Warren *, Peter & Lindsay Wright, Terry Fensome, Brian & Sylvia Mann, Bob & Moyra Downing, Watch it! Brian & Pauline Long, Ian and Sheila Kearl, Clyde & Val
I had an email purporting to come from Sir John Anderson, Jim & Susan Hall, Eric Wright, Liz Olding, Severne, (which it hadn’t) and asking for a loan of Paddy & Anthea Hughes, Alan & Sylvia Cook, Paul Lip money as he had been burgled whilst abroad. Should pett , Bill & Jeanette Griffeths , Colin and Heather Hunter you ever receive an email asking for money similar to Shead this from any member of the Squadron Association; “I Those in Blue are only staying on Sunday. If there is have been robbed and lost my passport and all my any error or omission, please let me know immediately money etc”. Please don’t fall for it and if you are really as you could get charged by hotel if its wrong or not get concerned, phone the real person up to check it out. a room!
Continuing the notes about the Reunion:
We will be ordering a coach to take us from Retford to Newark Air Museum on the Sunday to avoid more driv ing. We are suggesting £10 per person and the rest will be subsidised by the Squadron. I hope this won’t put people off the trip. If there is a problem then just have a quiet word with either the Treasurer or me and we’ll come to some arrangement. Could I also remind you that we would like you to bring a good raffle prize as usual for the Squadron Dinner on the Sunday evening.
1 - G ff
Bob Tacey—264 Squadron Treasurer
Robert was born in Leicester in 1937 and had one younger
brother. He was an active boy, never wanting to sit around for long and always eager to get on with the next activity. School was never very high in his list of priorities and nor was Sunday School: One Sunday when the boys were supposed to go to Sunday School Robert thought that an afternoon in Abbey Park was a much better idea. He thought he’d timed their arrival home perfectly but his mother knew immediately he was lying and of course (quite rightly) Robert got the blame for the esca- pade He always liked things that moved fast and things that made a noise. So it was natural that he should be attracted to aircraft and flying. He joined the ATC and for the next few years the weekly meetings and all their other activities were what he lived for. In the school holidays he and his friends used to cycle to local airfields, eg Wymeswold and Bitteswell, to watch the planes. He was with his friends at Farnborough in 1952 when a plane crashed killing 29 spec- tators. So it’s not surprising that school for him was very much something to be endured and by the time he was 16 had made up his mind to join the RAF as a Boy Entrant. He went on to serve 22 years regular service in the UK, Germany, Malta and Cyprus, as well as short trips to the USA and Denmark. He saw no conflicts and thoroughly enjoyed this period of his life. He met Marjorie at RAF Coltishall in 1960 and they were married at Chapel-le-Dale in North Yorkshire in 1961. They have 2 sons, one born in Norwich the other in Germany, and 2 grandsons. He had to leave the Air Force at age 40 and spent a few years as an engineering quality con- troller before moving on to the Prison Service. His colleagues there were also aware of his avi- ation interest as on retirement presented him with a day’s gliding. He loved adding to the list of aircraft in which he had flown and until it left Bruntingthorpe for Robin Hood Airport worked as a volunteer on the Vulcan to the Sky Project. The highlights of his latter years were the annual reunions of the Boy Entrants Association and 264 Squadron, where he had many friends. Robert was interested in, you might say obsessed with, all things aviation from an early age to the end of his life. He died suddenly and unexpectedly, aged 77, on the 18 th of December 2014 and was buried at Cottesmore in Rutland on the 6 th January 2015. ------
Sadly I also have to inform you of the passing of Bill Bywater who passed away in January. Although he wasn’t an active member of the Squadron Association, because of the ill health of his wife and later of himself He did compose a march for us, and that I am cur rently hoping will be orchestrated and will come to fruition. Bill was a photographer in the Squadron during the latter part of the war. He did manage to pop in to see us all at a Reunion at Cosford several years ago. I’m sorry to make this page such a sad one, but I guess its inevitable at this time. I hope that it it will enable us to reflect on the friends we 2 have met and made because of our Squadron Association. V O W E P ' W O - - fi "G " N R L - O V V - R O WW L x V L V L V x OK ff P ' G WW R x R ff ' x R Q L 9 x W x x Q WW " U K W RE E fi 99 L G - 3 O x ff O WO - R ff R - - W R fi W R R N R L R fi ff ff O ff V " " - G V R N Q x x O x G L ' x N ' R ' Q fi 9 N N P - fi - 8 & N V L G - W é W fi ' G ff x ' G 9 - fi G L x fi O E "G " Y " " R 4 Continuing the memoires of Desmond Hughes from the last Squadron news edition:
“ Tommy “ then gave the C in C detailed account of the problems: Single Channel Short range RT; No direct RT link between scrambled aircraft and Luton; Inaccurate sector fixing; Quite inadequate weather onditions of one mile visibility and low cloud; No RT homer on the airfield; Hills in the vicinity with cloud right down on them, etc etc.
“Stuffy“ listened in silence, his expression growing grimmer all the time. When Tommy had finished, he growled: “ I didn’t come here to listen to a list of complaints Thomas! “ and stumped off to his car.
Though he was never so informed, as a result of his youthful honestly” Tommy “ received an adverse confi dential report From the C in C which stayed on his personal file and badly affected his promotion prospects for some two years therafter. The trouble, I am sure, that are distinguished C in C, Not being in flying practice in modern fighters, Had no idea of the practical problems involved in bringing an aircraft safely back to earth in bad weather at night. I’m afraid the visit did nothing to cheer up 264’s Aircrew frustrated as they already were by their inability to get at the German raiders.
At the end of October we were off on our travels again. The “Night Blitz” on London and other cities had start ed in earnest. One Wing Commander Basil Embry, already well known for his dramatic escape from German hands in France, had been given the task of forming a night fighter Wing based at Rochford; 264 was to be his first Squadron. We duly flew in and found Embry already installed, having taken over the Southend’s flying club’s buildings as his HQ and our dispersal. He had also commandeered a nearby comfortable Country house as our mess, which was a lot better than Luton’s billets. At Rochford too, we had enough elbow room to lay out a decent flare path of more than 1000 yards.
Embry wasted no time in making his presence felt. He got us all together and stressed the vital importance of the Blitz being effectively countered and contained. He wanted to have pilots who would devote themselves 100% to this task and would not continually beef about not being on Day Fighters. Fixing us one after the oth er with his piercing blue eyes, he said: “ If anyone wants to drop out, now’s the time! Those who want to go, come and see me afterwards! “. I seem to remember that only two pilots dared to face him what was the guy who had broken my car hood so I shed no tears as far as he was concerned. By this time, I was sufficiently self confident about my night flying to want to pursue the night fighter game so I was very happy to stay in 264.
The first night we came to readiness we saw Basil Embry at his forthright best. We had all carried out our night flying tests and left our aircraft at their disposal points, parachutes in, all ready to scramble. As dusk fell, somebody noticed that the balloon barrage at Southend Anchorage was still up, Floating at 5000 feet bathed in the last orange glow of Sunset. The nearest of them was only 2 miles from the airfield so Embury was alerted. He got straight on to the sector controller who sympathised but said that he was unlikely to persuade the Navy to haul down there Balloon’s.
Emry’s reply was unprintable. He put down the phone with a bang, picked it up again and said something along the following lines: “ It gives me the Air Ministry ...Air Ministry?...... Give me the Vice Chief of the Air Staff!...... VCAS? Embry here Sir. You sent me down here to Southend to form a night wing to defend Lon don. My first Squadron, 264, is now ready to go. The only snag is that the ships of Southend still have their balloons up at 5000 feet almost In my circuit. VCAS, either those balloons come down at night or 264 doesn’t fly! “
There was a short silence and then, “Thank you VCAS. I shall be waiting for news,, meantime, I shall keep 264 on the ground “. Less than an hour later, the Ops phone rang again the controller to say that the South end balloons were coming down until dawn. “ Right! “ chortled Embry ”I’ll get 264 in the air “. HQ fighter com mand and HQ 11th groupMay have been cross at being by passed but certainly Embry’s career didn’t seem to be blighted as a result of this powerplay You can’t get much higher than Air Chief Marshal!
Another aspect of Embry was seen after midnight some days later. The aircrew were waiting their turn to fly and were lying on their beds, fully clothed but dosing fitfully. Emery was at his desk, writing a report; his face was illuminated by the light of a reading lamp, the only light in the room. A Defiant had just taking off and had just climbed away, when a totally different engine noise and began to swell, steadily approaching .the win dows rattling and the wooden building shaking ..and then the stick was finished, The last bomb having fallen less than 200 yards away and in a direct line for us.. The aircrew began to come out from underneath their beds. Embry were still at his desk writing. “ What’s the matter chaps? “ He said, “ dDd you hear some thing?”. There was no reply to that! 5 We flew on standing patrols steadily, Night after night, with no results until 23 November. That was the night with little moonlight and quite a lot of cloud, broken but with layers up to 10,000 feet or so. I was patrolling at 12,000 feet when again I saw something move across the stars. My reaction were the same as before and soon I was in formation under the ‘armpit’ of our Heinkel 111. Fred opened fire on the port side, de Wilde struck home,there was a small explosion somewhere on the starboard engine . then silence—Apart from blasphemy from Fred which, when interpreted, Meant that the Tarrant was jammed on the beam and some of the guns had stopped.
I swore loudly in turn and then, trying to keep contact with the Heinkel as it took a downward evasive action, I told Fred to try to clear the stoppages and put the firing switch over to me (this would allow me to fire the guns with the button on my control column, But was really intended to use with the guns pointing forward, firing over the propeller). He quickly re cocked the stopped guns and I then tried to slip in under the Heinkel’s wing as it went on with its shallow weaving dive towards the cloud below. I pressed my gun button. The Brownings re sponded and I tried to hit the bomber, rocking the wings to hose the bullets into it.I saw a couple of the de Wild strikes but they were well back on the fuselage ..and then he reached the cloud that he had been diving for, and that was that. I immediately lost sight of him and knew that I would never see him again The Observer Corps plotted him going out over the coast, not very high and sounding as if on one engine. When we landed, they claimed one E/A damaged.
We then investigated the jammed Turret and found that an armourer had failed to secure properly the bags which collected the spent cartridge cases One of these had fallen off around Fred’s feet and the spent cases went cascading onto the floor when he fired, jamming the turning mechanism at the base of the turret. When I got back to the Mess, I found Basil Embry waiting to see me. When I told him why the current had jammed, denying as a “kill“, he exploded with rage and frustration; If the offending armourer had been within reach, I shudder to think what his fate might have been!
That was towards the end of our time at Rochford because, after a month there, someone decided that we would do better at Debden so off we went on the next leg of the tour of the Home Counties. We now had a new CO, Squadron Leader “Scruffy“ Saunders, who was a protégé of Embry. He was a tall gangly man with a twin kling eye and a large moustache. He was a shrewd character with a ready laugh and a good sense of fun; he rapidly gained both our respect and affection.
Debden hadn’t left too much of an impression apart from the comfort of a modern Mess and concrete runways at last. We stayed there for all of our mum before ‘somebody’Decided that we were too comfortable and moved us all again. However, a few new things turned up. First, we got our initial issue of VHF (Very High Frequency) RTsets which were an enormous improvement. In contrast to the old TR 9, Reception was as clear as a bell and the range at height was over 100 miles. Secondly, for the first time I was allotted my own aircraft, N1801, On which I was allowed to have a personal badge The Red Hand of Ulster on a white shield painted on the port side of the engine cowling, a marking which I continue to have on my aircraft for the rest of the war. I retained in 1801 until 264 was re equipped with the more powerful Defiant mark 2 nearly a year later. It was a faithful friend who’s Merlin never so much as coughed at me. Finally, to my surprise, I found myself time promoted to Flying Officer, Being paid the princely sum of 18/3d per day –it seemed to be quite adequate for one’s day to day needs.
I had only one adventure whilst at Debden. An ATA pilot had got himself lost whilst trying to deliver a new air craft to us. He missed us by quite a margin for he put in down in a small stubble field near Colchester, 30 miles away. He rang us up, gave us the map reference and suggested we pick it up from there. He said it was all ready to go if someone put some fuel in it .and he then rang off.
‘ Tommy’ thought this was just up Hughes’s street, so off I went in 1500 cwt truck with a ground crew, followed by a fuel bowser. We found the farmer’s field alright but it was immediately obvious that it was so short and rough that the Defiant hadn’t a chance of getting off from it. However, I noticed the next field was also stubble so, with the help of some farmhands who materialised from nowhere, we uprooted about 15 yards of the dividing hedges, filled in the holes with stones, tramped it down and, ‘Hey presto’, we had our runway.
The Fitter and Rigger did their bit for flight checks, Half filling the fuel tanks to keep the weight down. The Merlin started up nicely and sounding healthy when I rang her up to full power and check the magnetos; I taxied to the downwind end, Swung round to point at the gap in their hedge, set the flaps for short take off and opened the throttle. I bumped along, the tailwheel came off the ground and the rudder was just becoming effectiveWhen there was a loud “pop”, the windscreen was immediately obscured by a plume of white liquid, streaming back from the engine cowling and pouring into the open cockpit. I closed the throttle cut the switches, braked hard and stopped just short of the dividing hedge. The engine fitter it came panting up and shouted “Glycol Leak Sir” 6 “ You’re telling me! “ I replied “ see if you can fix it quickly or be here for the night “.
Off came the Cowling’s and the cause of the trouble was immediately obvious a flexible hose connecting the Gleick or header tank to the cylinder blocks had come adrift because the jubilee clip had not been tightened enough in fitting the engine during manufacture. Examining this hose was not part of the before flight inspec tion, so my cheerful friend, the fitter, was pleased to be in the clear! The jubilee clip was replaced and screwed up properly, the Cowling is put back again and ready for another try.This time all went well I ran nicely through the gap in their hedge and leapt smartly into the air halfway across the second field. I was thankful that the hose came away when it did a few seconds later and it would have been somewhat embarrassing, Facing me with the choice of ploughing into the second hedge or taking off with a madly leaking engine, no forward visibil ity and 30 miles to go to base. Luck of the Irish
On New Year’s Day 1941, We were ordered to Gravesend Back to wooden huts and the sodden green surface. I didn’t see much of it as I was given a weeks leave which almost filled in the 10 days that “somebody“ let 264 stay there. On 11 January we flew into Biggin Hill oddly enough,Not to be controlled by Biggin Hill sector but By Kenley.I believe this was because “ somebody “ thought that the Kenley runway was too short for Defiants by night. Still, we certainly didn’t complain because we had a concrete runway to land on, a famous Mess to live in and a nice quiet dispersed mess– in fact, a fairly large private house to sleep in by day while Spitfires were flying.
Operationally, things were looking up. Not only have we four channel RT and a DF homer on the station to help bring us direct into circuit in poor visibility but some new radars had made an appearance. Originally designed to direct AA guns, these GL(Gun Laying) sets were spread widely in the south east of England, forming a ‘carpet’ which was able to produce more accurate tracks and heights of raids. The accurate heights were partic ularly valuable for there was little point in fighters rushing around in the dark, Looking forward to and to both sides if the bombers were 5000 feet above or below. We flew quite a lot of practice interceptions in daylight and there was no doubt that the control organisation was beginning to get a fighter and target closer together, though they were still a long way to go.
January and February were quiet months. The weather was pretty poor and there were quite a few periods when there was little night flying, either because Biggin Hill was weather bound or because The German bomb ers were themselves grounded by weather or were attacking cities other than London. Early in March, however, drama erupted.
The moon was nearly full, the target was London in a big way and we had been ordered up in force to do what was called ‘Layer patrol’, later known as’ Fighter Night’. In this operation, AA fire was in theory restrictedTwo 12,000 feet and fighters were free to fly over the Inner Artillery Zone (IAZ) above the stated limiting height for the guns.We were given specific heights in which to patrol, 1000 feet apart, so for instance eight fighters would be circling right over the target area at heights from 13,000 to 20,00 feet. Despite often having as background thin layers of cloud, illuminated brightly from above by the moonA or from below by the enormous fires on the ground, The numbers of aircraft intercepted by this method remain pitifully small.
It was after such an operation on 8 March that two of our defiants, flying as usual without navigation lights be cause of the possibility of intruders joining our circuit, somehow managed to collide on the runway, Peter Bow en landing and hitting the taxiing James Melvill. Melvill’s aircraft burst into flame but he and his gunner man aged to escape with fairly superficial burns though James’s face was always scarred thereafter.Bowen’s aircraft cartwheeled and slid along on its back, miraculously come to rest without catching fire. several of us were di verted to Kenley.
An army of 40 mm gun crew bravely extracted both men from the wrecked aircraft hich must have had fuel leaking all over the place. Peter had a nasty scalp wound but in time made a complete recovery. His gunner, the middle aged and somewhat eccentric Steve Hill, also have scalp wound but this was the result of a blow to the head from a soldier’s bayonet as he broke open the turret to rescue him. Astonishingly this was Steve’s only serious injury. The hospital staff was somewhat taken aback by his behaviour in the ward and were beginning to think that the blow from the bayonet had affected his brain.
Before they would discharge him after having stitched up his cut head, ICO had to visit the hospital to assure the surgeon that it was always like that!
The 11th and 12th of March was a night to remember. We were visited by the RAF’s leading eye specialist, Group Capt Livingstone, Who explained that he had been authorised by HQ fighter Command to carry out some experiments with a view to improving our night vision. He appreciated that we were already sitting in a very subdued red light in our room and were wearing dark goggles until we went outside to scramble; this cer tainly speeded up the process of night adaption but he was sure that it was possible to improve night vision dra matically through the use of eye drops. . 7 He didn’t think it wise at this stage to experiment on pilot’s eyes but it had been agreed that it was worth trying out the drops on the Gunners. So that evening, just before we scrambled on an early patrol, he put some drops in Fred’s eyes
As we walked out to then 1801 (Now called ’Cuchulain”After the great Irish hero known as’ the Hound of Ul ster’), Fred explained: “ This is terrific! I can see the letters on that aircraft!” pointing at a Defiant which was only a black shape to me. We took off and, though the conditions were perfect, we saw nothing. Some fog had rolled in at Biggin Hill so, after patrolling for over an hour, we were diverted to Tangmere near Chichester. We were refuelled quickly and came to readiness again Before long we were scrambled and told to patrol at 15,000 feet inland from the coast just north of Worthing.
We hadn’t been on patrol very long when the controller came through: “ I have trade for you. Bandit approach ing coast at Angels 12, steering 010. One orbit port and then vector 280“. I flew one complete circle dropping to 12,000 feet and then rolled out flying west. The controller came on again: “ turn starboard on to 010 you will be very close to the bandit.“ I finished my turn and flew steadily north.
The memoires of Desmond Hughes will be continued in September’s edition
“ G : fi ” R ‘ 9 - % P
The Defiants Man P O R VR 9
He knew what was right, The need to be strong, With nine of his flight to climb up and fight Destroyed in a day o ma er how long He switched to night To rejoin the fray He knew how few Were to face the hordes hausted and ba ered, But joined the queue He stalked with skill With harsh rewards Till the raiders were sca ered And the skies again s ll He knew he could burn Or be drowned in the sea And he knew he’d been right And death he might earn To be counted and strong For us all to be free To climb up and fight With the Few for so long . His training was short He learned to fly As he furiously fought I am indebted to Paddy Hughes for al Through the fran c sky lowing me to re print his Father’s poem.
He took such toll Please note that it has World Copyrights reserved . Paddy Hughes 15th May 1992 With his guns to the back They changed in their role To frontal a ack 8
I am, as usual, indebted to Clyde Anderson, our Archavist for sending me this article and also with acknowledgement to the Aeroplane Magazine for al lowing us to reproduce it.. I apologise for the slight blur ring of the text, but it is a photocopy of a photocopy.
9 Continuing Tery Fensome’s interesting story:
I hired a group of ex Laker ground engineers who were on the dole to carry out the modifications to the air craft in order to change them from the UK registry to the FAA registry. Some major air conditioning system changes and some avionic changes. The lead engineer, Roy Gardener, later joined Virgin Atlantic in its early days eventually becoming the managing director for Virgin Atlantic. He later retired to Florida. Meanwhile my tickets were free between the USA and UK. Thanks to Roy.
The Capitol Air paint scheme was total white with lots of red and blue stars and stripes all over it. This be came a major problem for two reasons: BCAL at that time were the arch enemy so when they submitted a quote to repaint the aircraft I declined it as I wanted to see the Laker aircraft fly again In the Laker livery. I signed a repaint contract with Aviation Traders at Stanstead (which Freddie Laker used to own) and we flew the aircraft to Stanstead.
These were the last flights that the aircraft flew in Skytrain colors. Who was to know that thirteen years later I would fly the next Laker test flight in the USA in the famous racing colours for the new Laker international air line
After all the work was completed and the aircraft were added to Capitol Air certificate they flew to New York with charter revenue passengers on board. Unfortunately Roy and his Crew went back on the dole but not for long. They were the startup crew for the new Virgin Atlantic and as I said, Roy became the managing direc tor.
So for me it was back to Carterton trying to refurbish the house. This was interrupted by another phone call from Mr Batchelor. He wanted me out in Miami to talk to him about the new airline in NY.. He now had two airlines: Capitol Air in New York and Arrow Air in Miami, a cargo airline. I thought it must be important be cause he sent me a first class ticket on Air Florida. I called my friend, the lawyer Humphrey Dawson, who had worked with George Batchelor before. He said it was unwise for me to go alone so he would come with me. I told him they had sent me a first class ticket on Air Florida he said he didn’t care he would get his own and said to meet him in London for a full English breakfast at the Savoy Hotel. Wow. All of the staff there ap peared not to come from the UK. I wondered if they took Sterling.
The trip out was uneventful. The following morning we met with Mr B, as he was known, and he talked about the new airline and asked me if I would go to the headquarters in Smyrna Tennessee, then to the operations at New York, and give him a report on what I found. He was pleased Humph had come along, so we went together. Mr B had told all the new airline management that we were coming. We found Smyrna, the Airline headquarters, consisted of one large ex army barrack block type wooden building on this old army base. We went inside to find there was a meeting going on around a large table. As we stood there by the door won dering what to do they completely ignored us until the chief pilot Ralph Cherry came to the coffee pots and said hello would we like a coffee. We told who we were. He said “oh well, the operation is in New York” and there was nothing in Smyrna apart from the senior management, and it was 11 am and they were leaving for the day.
So we went to New York We didn’t seem to fare any better there. The operations were out of the British Air ways terminal at Kennedy. The scheduling office had one desk held up by three wooden legs and wooden box along with a chalk blackboard. It was a total disaster waiting to happen. We left that night back to Miami, left the report at Mr B’s and went back to our hotel and retired for the night. At 2am I had a call from Mr B. He had read the report and asked me could I come over to his office now to talk about it I said it was 2am to which he agreed. I said I will be there in 30 minutes. After about an hour of discussing it he asked me if I would come and work with him in Florida. He would send me to NY to manage the airline for him I told him that as long as I had his full authority to do whatever I thought then I would but I would only answer to him no one else.We left Miami the next evening back to the UK.
I recounted the story to Meg, returned to Miami a week later, then to NY. Meg flew to NY several times before we found a house on Atlantic beach close to the airport where we both lived for the next year. Now as Mr B already had a reputation in the aviation industry and had just purchased Capitol Air from the Stallings family in Tennessee, the airline staff was not a happy bunch so when I arrived I was not received with open arms as Batchelor’s man from Miami. Fortunately the station manager for Capitol at Kennedy was an Englishman, a real Londoner, who was originally with Pan Am and had been there for 33 years. His name was Charlie Han cock. He became my saviour. What Charlie didn’t know about the operation wasn’t worth knowing so with that and the financial clout I had from Mr B we formed a determined team.
10
The fleet at Capitol was approximately 11 DC8, 2 Boeing B727, and 3 DC10 30 (3 from Laker) 2 DC10 10 (from Western). We opened new routes to Europe with the ex Laker aircraft: Paris, London. Sold a couple of the older DC8’s and set up the same fuel saving program on the DC10 30 as we had at Laker. The line maintenance for these aircraft was carried out by Capitol mechanics that operated from the space on the ramp under the gates, open to all the elements. This was a major gripe from the mechanics, and the summers in NY were usually very hot and the winters very cold. The first task was to fix the ‘open air’ problem, so we built walls all around the gate area on the ramp and installed air conditioners and heaters, windows and doors. The maintenance guys now had a functioning maintenance department ready for the next winter.
The operations room was next. Out went the three legged desk along with its box and the chalk blackboard. Then, with everything newly painted, in came a new wall size magnetic board, 5 new (at the time) computers and printers, new operations desk with 7 positions, concealed lighting and a new self locking door. It looked like something out of Houston. There was about 9 operations staff, all younger guys 20 to 30 yrs old. Company was told that, other than the ops staff, no one was allowed into the ops room at all, including the pi lots. And the ops staff had to wear smart shirt and pants and ties. What a moan went up. New comments like “bloody English guy”. I painted a line across the door threshold on the floor called the Tie Line to make the point that all the staff should come to work with ties in their pockets and put them on at the tie line. Just to prove a point The New Yorkers had a great sense of humor and they were a joy to work with. I still hear from a few of them today. )
The Christmas of 1982 was a particularly bad time for the airline. The work to rule the unions were pursuing was causing havoc with operations. There were 3 unions to deal with: Pilots union was ALPA, flight attend ants AFA, and the maintenance staff and ramp staff were Teamsters. The big problem, along with the weather on Christmas Eve, was that the flight attendants were calling in sick or not answering phones from scheduling. The baggage handlers all went home and flights were delayed arriving due to the pilots using delaying tactics. However, there were full flights going out. So, despite the union problems, and to get the last aircraft out, Char lie and I in our suits were on the ramp with the snow coming down, trying to load bags into the baggage holds of the DC 10. After about 15 minutes all the maintenance guys came out and started to help (teamsters). Thanks to the maintenance guys (who went against the union requests). Eventually the last aircraft left 45 minutes late.
This attitude against Batchelor went for on the three months causing late arrivals, late departures, lack of crews, which was a pity because there were a lot of good people in Capitol. These people: operations staff, maintenance staff, customer service staff, all took the effects of this slow down. After long discussions with Mr Batchelor, I reluctantly expressed my view that this was a situation we could not resolve and we should close Capitol down and transfer everything to Arrow air in Miami, which was a non union cargo airline. We moved the Aircraft and all the equipment and admin pretty much over a weekend, having contract crews fly out the aircraft on the Sunday night as they came in at midnight
1983.Monday morning Capital Air was no more. I left for Miami on the Monday and Meg followed a week later. The situation was not that good at Arrow Air, which was a cargo airline, basically, with no infrastructure in place to handle wide body passenger jets at all. I was given the task of putting these aircraft onto Arrow Air 121 certif icate turning the airline into a passenger and cargo airline, and it had to done in about 12 weeks,. With no one with any experience in the operation of the wide body DC10 I sug gested to Mr Batchelor that the only way it could be done was to recruit some experi enced people. He agreed. I called the UK to find out how many DC10 crews from Laker were still out of work, and managed to recruit 6 crews: Captains, First officers, Flight engi neers, and arranged temporary work visas for them. I briefed them that this was a short peri od in which we had to get the passenger air Wide bodied DC 10 craft integrated into the airline and fully opera tional in 12 weeks, without upsetting the Amer ican crews there who all wanted to fly the DC 10 anyway. Hopefully, more in the next edition. 11 I don’t think I’ve put these words of wisdom in before, but if I have, please forgive me, the “little grey cells” seem to be letting me down more these days.. The only consolation I can draw from this is that I guess most of us will have the same problem, so you may not remember either!
1 The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference . He acquired his size from too much pi.
2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .
3. She was only a gin maker but he loved her still.
4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of maths disruption.
5. No matter how much you push the envelope it'll still be stationery .
6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart .
8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
9. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
11. Atheism is a non prophet organization .
12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, "You stay here. I'll go on a head."
13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said, "Keep off the Grass."
15. The midget fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
16. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
17. A backward poet writes inverse.
18. In a democracy, it's your vote that counts. In feudalism, it's your count that votes.
20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris , you'd be in Seine .
21. A vulture boards an airplane carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, "I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger."
22. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, "I've lost my electron." The other says, "Are you sure?" The first replies, "Yes, I'm positive."
23. A person sent ten puns to friends with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did
Latest News:
Please note that we have had a bit of a hiccough with the change of Accounts to our new Treas urer. Resulting with a lot of messing about with Lloyds Bank, and after I wrote another explanato ry letter, we finally have just received the documents for a new mandate. We are currently having to send it around to all those for authority to sign cheques etc. So please don’t forget to pay your subs, but hold fire a couple more months please so that we have the account set up. Sorry for the delay but as they used to say . “Not me Chief, I’m Airframes!”
Also sorry if there are lots of mistakes in this epistle but the date for sending off to the printers has crept up to me quietly and now I’m panicking to get the Squadron News out in time!
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