CONTACT ! The Newsletter of the former RAF Defford Reunion Association, now merged with the DEFFORD AIRFIELD HERITAGE GROUP in partnership with THE NATIONAL TRUST, CROOME http://deffordairfieldheritagegroup.wordpress.com Editor: Bob Shaw Distribution: Ann Sterry Number 125, March 2019 METEORIC PROGRESS! Meteor WD686 was rolled out of its hangar on January 28th 2019. On 28 March 1958, WD686 was the last ‘plane to fly out of Defford before the airfield closed for flying. The Meteor was rescued from dereliction by DAHG, who obtained funding thanks to the generosity of Vernon Hill, chairman of Metro Bank. DAHG were introduced to Mr Hill by Lord Flight. DAHG arranged for Boscombe Down Aviation Collection to restore the aircraft in their workshops at Old Sarum near Salisbury. The photos come from Ron Fulton, Technical Director of BDAC, who leads the restoration team in the BDAC workshops. (Continued on page 2.) 2, Meteoric Progress – continued from front page: Ron Fulton reports: “The belly was painted while the centre section was vertical and the undercarriage has been fully refurbished. We have made good progress since we brought the cockpit section back from Croome on November 5th having bolted it to the centre section. This assembly is standing on the undercarriage and has the tail and the fuel tank cover restored and in place. It is now ready for painting. This leaves the engine intakes and exhausts, the wings and the belly tank needing attention and still to be fitted. I think we can safely say the end is in sight”. The Meteor when erected for display at Croome with wings attached, will be a large exhibit, measuring 50’ (length) x 43’ (span) x 14’ height to top of the fin. The exact date of when the complete Meteor WD686 returns to Croome has not yet been decided, nor has the length of stay of the Meteor at Croome. But it has been agreed the Meteor can be displayed out of doors and not under cover, so no marquee is required, although security for aircraft on display has to be paramount. The detail of how the Meteor will be displayed has yet to been finalised, but will almost certainly be located immediately adjacent to the Ambulance Garage. This has been agreed between the National Trust (Michael Smith), BDAC and DAHG. The location has to be such that it is within the ‘security pay barrier’ and easy access and back-up for Volunteer Stewards is catered for. Access for Visitors to be via the Museum. The Meteor will be separated into major sections for transit, divided between three specialist vehicles. The aircraft will have to be located for assembly and display in a place offering direct immediate access on the level from the car park for large vehicles. The open air position agreed by the three parties involved (NT, BDAC, and DAHG), as described in ‘Contact!’ no. 122 December 2018, p.2, appears to be the only location which meets all the necessary criteria. Bob Shaw is the project leader, but he is likely to be standing down this year, so DAHG and NT will be seeking new Leaders or Leaders for the Meteor at Croome, liaising with BDAC at Old Sarum, while the Volunteer team will need to be expanded with further recruiting. For further information in the project, especially for anyone who wants be involved, please contact Bob on [email protected] or mobile 07778 733 499 (see Latest News on WD686 on page 10) 3. HANDLEY PAGE HERMES ii In the last issue of ‘Contact!’ (no.124, February 2019), DAHG member Les Eales, while writing about the Valiant crash and his youthful plane spotting experience at RRE Pershore, commented en passant: “Do (you) remember the ‘Tail Dragger Hermes’ that was based at Pershore for many years … the only one ever in RAF markings”? Ever anxious to oblige, see below an account of the elegant and valuable sole Hermes II which as VX234 served RRE Pershore after Defford was closed for RRE flight trials in 1957. Above: Hermes II VX234, formerly G-AGUB, taking off at RRE Pershore. The radome for the Sideways Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR), intended for the TSR2, can be seen under the centre line of the fuselage (Crown copyright) LEFT: Hermes II G-AGUB shortly before the first flight of this, the second prototype Hermes, in September 1947 When the first of two prototypes of the Hermes emerged in 1945, it was envisaged as an airliner for BOAC which offered the potential to be adapted as a military transport and which eventually manifested itself as the Hastings. The first flight of the Hermes I was a disaster, the aircraft seeming to be inherently unstable. It crashed within minutes of take-off, killing the crew and destroying the aircraft. 4. Following this it is not surprising that completion of the second Hermes prototype was delayed for extensive modifications especially to the flying and control surfaces, and it was not until September 1947 that the second prototype, G-AGUB, designated as the Hermes II, took to the air at Radlett for an entirely successful first flight. By the end of February 1948 it had completed 40 hrs of trouble free flying which went on to provide useful information for the production Hermes, the Mark IV which among other developments was fitted with nosewheel undercarriage. Meanwhile flying trials with the sole Hermes II G-AGUB continued to provide information relevant to both the Hermes IV and the military Hastings which in parallel had, through a series of modifications, reached full production standard for the RAF. The one and only Hermes II was retained for BOAC crew training until 1951 when it became used for a number of scientific research projects and trials for various Government departments, from 1953 as VX234. In 1958 it was allotted to the Royal Radar Establishment at Pershore, being used for radar trials, notably being fitted with Sideways Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR) being developed for the TSR2. The work of VX234 continued at Pershore, the Hermes II having logged over 1,000 hrs by when it was finally struck off charge and scrapped at Pershore in 1969, after a long and useful life. ABOVE: Hermes II VX234 at RRE Pershore, after its final flight (Crown copyright) RIGHT: VX234 above the clouds while serving with RRE flying from Pershore (Crown copyright) BELOW: Superb colour image of Hermes II which flew from Pershore on trials for RRE Science Groups 4 and 12 (Crown copyright) 5. HALIFAX V9977 In view of current interest in the tragic crash of Halifax V9977, we are reprinting from ‘Contact!’ for June 2017, this article by DAHG Curator, Dennis Williams The 7th June 2017 is the 75th anniversary of the worst accident, in terms of aircrew casualties, at Defford and indeed, in the history of British military test flying. On the afternoon of Sunday 7th June 1942, a Handley Page Halifax bomber, V9977, took off from RAF Defford in Worcestershire. This aircraft was equipped with an experimental radar, code-named ‘H2S’. During the early years of the war few RAF bombers were finding their targets, so the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) – which occupied Malvern College during World War II – invented the H2S system to provide a bomber navigator with a ‘radar map’ which revealed coastlines and built-up areas. Halifax V9977 was operated by a five-man RAF crew from the Telecommunications Flying Unit, based at Defford. Their captain was Pilot Officer Douglas Berrington, an experienced pilot. Also on board were Geoffrey Hensby (a TRE scientist in the H2S radar team led by Dr Bernard Lovell), two RAF liaison officers attached to TRE, and three engineers from EMI at Hayes, including the distinguished electronics engineer Alan Blumlein. EMI had been granted the production contract for H2S, and Blumlein, who had pioneered stereo sound recording and the 405-line television system used by the BBC, was leading this radar work at the company. The Halifax headed to the Bristol Channel area to provide the EMI engineers with a demonstration of the H2S radar, but at 4.20pm the bomber was seen over the Forest of Dean, trailing smoke from one of its four Merlin engines. A servicing error a few days previously had led to a catastrophic engine failure which resulted in a fire that spread to a fuel tank. Just two minutes later the starboard wing detached and the aircraft crashed in a field north of the River Wye, at Welsh Bicknor, Herefordshire. All 11 on board died instantly. A few days after the accident Dr Lovell was informed personally by the Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, who insisted that H2S radar development had high priority status. H2S went into action with Bomber Command in January 1943 and provided crews, for the first time, with a means of navigating accurately to targets as far afield as Berlin. The sacrifices made in furtherance of radar test flying are commemorated in the stained glass of the Radar Memorial Window in the chapel at Goodrich Castle, close to the crash site of Halifax V9977. This window was dedicated on 7th June 1992, the 50th anniversary of the crash. Defford has its own RAF memorial on the Village Green. This was unveiled in 2002 by Sir Bernard Lovell OBE FRS, Emeritus Professor of Radioastronomy at the University of Manchester. At Hurn, two Handley Page Halifax bombers were fitted with different transmitting sources: a klystron and a resonant cavity magnetron. Flight trials showed that the higher power output of the magnetron yielded a greater radar range, so this version was chosen for H2S production.