Special Edition Volume 13, No

COMMEMORATIVE AIR FORCE / Swiss Wing

Special Edition Volume 13, No. 50 CAF Swiss Wing Newsletter August 2008 CAF Swiss Wing in Duxford

On Saturday July 12th 2008 thirty enthusiastic participants among which twelve CAF members met early The fl ight line morning at the Zurich airport. Travel guide Walter Fürst of Cosmos got his group together for the Swiss fl ight to London Heathrow. Passport control was easy, baggage delivery took some- what longer but soon we were on our way by bus to Duxford airport. rods, three B-17 Flying Fortresses, two We had the whole day to check out the Douglas C-47/C-53 Skytrain/Dakota. fl ight line and chat with the pilots and Two Piper L-4, one Ju52 in oldie Luft- crew. The impressive line-up included hansa colors, two Messerschmitt Me- – just to mention a few – eleven Super 109 and Bf-108, a Corsair FG-1D, a Know to uusese this Marine Spitfi res (nine different types), P-39 Airacobra, a Focke-Wulf 190, one Supermarine Seafi re, two Hawker one Skyraider, one B25J-20 Mitchell, EnglishEnglish version Hurricanes, six P-51 Mustangs and one A-26B Invader, a Hawker Hind two Gloster Gladiators. Three Grum- K5414, a Swordfi sh I, one Bücker 1stst: Go to thethe German ppartart ooff tthehe man (FM2-Wildcat, F6F-5K Hellcat, Jungmann, a Lockheed Electra, fi ve homepagehomepage anandd print out tthehe Ger- F8F-2P Bearcat, three Curtiss Hawk Stearman Caydet of the Guinot team man Version of the ContactContact (75, P-40B and P40-N Warhawk), two with wing walkers. One HA-1112 Yak fi ghters (3UA and 9UM) fl own by -M1L Buchon, three DH 89A De 2ndnd: FollowFollow tthehe papagesges anandd reareadd tthehe German pilot Vogelsang, two Nim- Havilland Dragon Rapides plus a top GGerman/Englisherman/English titltitlee oldie Thulin/Bleriot XI. rd Table of Contens 3 : Not allall Pictures llegendsegends anandd articles are translated in full length Duxford Page 1 With our golden pass we had free 4th: Have ffunun anandd enenjoyjoy tthehe ConCon-- Max Page 4 access to the fl ight line and the private tact Full-Reuenthal Page 5 tent and free entry to the museums. The Russians Page 7 The uninterrupted program on both ColCol Werner MeierMeier Courtelary / Ecuvillens Page 9 days lasted 3-1/2 hours and the air was Col Jost Schneeberger News / Veranstaltungen Page 11 fi lled with the sound of aircraft engines. The fl y past grouped the same CAF Swiss Wing August 2008 Page 2 vintage aircraft together such as the a last visit to the RAF Hendon muse- Battle of Britain Memorial fl ight. um was scheduled on the way to Hea- throw airport. The fl y-pasts were absolutely fi rst class. The demonstration fl ights appeared RAF Museum Hendon close to dangerous with the simulated attacks, low passes and aerobatics. The Unfortunately the three hours were sound of engines at times drowned out too short to do the exhibits justice. the excellent speaker who commented In fi ve separate hangars «Milestones each action and aircraft. The whole of Flight» are presented to name just show was a treat for the Swiss visitors a few: Mustang, Mosquito, Kawasaki as such shows would be unimaginable Ki 100, Bf 109G, Me 262, Hawker in Switzerland with its strict rules. Tempest, Gipsy Moth, Bleriot Xi, Si- korsky Hoverfl y, Harrier, Euro fi ghter For those who looked for other high- Typhoon. lights there were many tents and shops offering all sorts of attractions and In the bomber hall: Lancaster, Wel- presentations referring to the histo- lington, Handley Page Halifax, Avro ry of Duxford, a major base during Vulcan, and Buccaneer. Further ex- WW II for the RAF and the US Air hibits show the Force. In four large hangars exhibits dam buster raid cover the American Air Museum, a fi eld control Hangar No. 2 is dedicated to WW II tower and 3-D US and RAF aircraft, Hangar No.3 Cinema. covers marine operations and in No.4 the role of Duxford in the «Battle of The historic Britain» is documented. In a fi fth han- hangars which gar conservation and restoration work date from WWII is in progress. contain fi ve separate themes: The American Air Museum exhibit «Whirling Ro- includes the SR71 Blackbird a U-2, tors» covers he- a B-24 Liberator, F86 Sabre among licopter displays others. Unfortunately the museum is such as Westland so crowded that it was diffi cult to get Wessex, Avro good pictures. Rota and Bristol Belvedere. The The Land Warfare Hall realistically «Wings over Wa- presents ground based situations of the ter» theme inclu- Burma, North Africa and Normandy des a Supermarine campaigns. Southampton fl ying boat of A further building houses British and WW1 vintage, a Common Wealth aircraft thru the Bristol Beaufi gh- ages from the earliest days of aviation ter and emergen- ending with the Lancaster, Sunder- cy gear for over land, Vulcan and Concorde. All in all water operations. the Duxford visit was very good value and all participants had a great time. The «Fighter» section includes two Wing walkers.. Spitfi res, the only remaining Hawker B-17 and a P-51 After the two days in Duxford and our Typhoon, Gloster Meteor, F-4 Phan- A new Twin-Airplane...? stay at the Crown Plaza in Cambridge tom, Tornado. Insight into the respec- CAF Swiss Wing August 2008 Page 3 tive weapon systems is presented as well. The «RAF Overseas » exhibit includes a WW1 Bristol Fighter, a Curtiss P40 Kittyhawk, a P-47 Thunderbolt and a Hawker Hart among others. A further theme «Jets» includes the Jet Pro- vost, Hunter FGA9, English Electric Three swiss Lightning, Venom and their respective visitors.. a weapon systems and ejection seats. The real «Oldiesv» are grouped in the «Grahame-White Factory» to list just a few: Sopwith Pup and Triplane, Vi- ckers F.B.5, Bleriot, Caudron GIII, Vickers Vimy, Hanriot HD1, SE5a, Sopwith 1.1/2 Strutter…

Finally in the «Battle of Britain» hall in which this historic feat is documented in great detail. English and Ger- man aircraft involved in this battle are exhibited in excellent condition: Spitfi re, Hurricane, Defi ant, Bf-109, Bf-110, Ju-88, He-111, Fiat CR42 Falco and the giant Sunderland fl ying boat of the Coastal command. Several dioramas and a 15 minute fi lm vividly document this period of WWII.

After three days of aviation museums Six Spitﬁ res and a and air shows we happily boarded Yak with rain bow Swiss International Airline ﬂ ight to Zürich.

Col Hansjörg Engler

three Dragon Rapides CAF Swiss Wing August 2008 Page 4 report

Elected to the Committee: Max Schönenberger

At the general meeting 2008 Max was elected as a member of the Swiss Wing CAF committee.

Born on February 26th 1941 in Zü- rich he went to school in Oerlikon 737 crews to DC-9/MD-80 lasted 4 and absolved an electro-mechanical months. After return to Switzerland apprenticeship followed by study in a further job offer to fl y for Odette, electrical engineering at the Winter- later Helvetic airline came along but thur Technology Institute. Military after four months his third and fi nal service in the artillery followed by retirement from commercial fl ying in jobs with Bührle and Contraves gave 2004 became reality. him an entry in the Air Force and anti-aircraft unit with responsibility for Even after retirement Max is still ac- the 35 mm anti aircraft cannon and tive in a joint owner group fl ying a its electronic control. Cirrus SR20 and a Piper Arrow and of course also the CAF Stinson. Ha- In 1964 he started his fl ight training ving joined the CAF committee he and until 2004 he would pursue his plans to handle the Flight Ops and is career as a pilot. The stages in short: looking forward to this new task. Co-pilot with Globe Air on Dart He- ralds on European routes, Captain with Balair, integration into Swissair in 1970 initially on DC-9 and DC-10 as co-pilot on international routes.

In 1985 follows promotion to captain on MD-81 and later on to B-747 Jumbo Jets. Retirement in 1997 but six months later recall as training captain on the MD-80 ﬂ eet taken over from Crossair. After the demise of Swissair continued service with Swiss International Airline on MD-80 until second retirement in 2001.

In 2003 while on a safari in Namibia he was contacted by a South-African and former captain with Crossair to help in training of MD-80 crews of the low cost South African carrier «Kulula». The transition training of CAF Swiss Wing August 2008 Page 5 report Summer Part in Full-Reuenthal

The traditional summer party of the Swiss military museum took place on the ﬁ rst July weekend. The CAF was present with members of the committee and the yellow promotional tent was pitched on the grounds of Full- Reuenthal.

After a cloudy Friday followed a sunny Saturday and large crowd gathered early to witness the show and visit the museum. There were opportunities to take rides in armored cars and troop transports. New and old tanks and tra- cked vehicles were demonstrated on the training grounds.

On the hour the great surprise of the day was the aerial show. Our Stinson fl own by Werni Meier and alterna- tively Max Schönenberger demonstrated the use of identifi cation lights «IFF» identifi cation friend or foe or Henry Saladin as commentator of the Stinson show... CAF Swiss Wing August 2008 Page 6 the dropping of a message bag which promptly was picked up by motorcy- cle driver on an old Harley 1942! An impressive go-around (no landing site) demonstrated the maneuverability of the L-5. The identifi cation lights had recently been installed to further con- tribute to the authentic appearance of this aircraft.

The afternoon program included a classic parade of cavalry, mobile inf- antry on bicycles and armored vehicles. With noise, steam and whistles a huge steam locomotive with some carriages for VIP’s arrived and was sta- tioned for all to see. Sunday morning the weather continued sunny and our Stinson could again perform but later heavy rain forced all the ground troops to move inside where the party continued.

We thank the organizers and the crews for a job well done. A pity for those who stayed home.

Col Henry Saladin

Cavalry

The CAF Swiss Wing tent

Messenger on the bike CAF Swiss Wing August 2008 Page 7

report Ɋɭɫɫɤɢɟ ɩɪɢɛɵɜɚɸɬ - ɥɨɡɭɧɝ ɩɹɬɢɞɟɫɹɬɵɯ What do we know about the early de- ɢ ɲɟɫɬɢɞɟɫɹɬɵɯ ɝɨɞɨɜ velopments of Russian aviation? Ger- man and Allied aviation history is well Die Russen kommen - Ein Schlagwort der 50ziger- und documented and widely known. The 60ziger-Jahren diffi culties encountered by the Swiss aviation pioneers are well known facts. The Russians are coming: A slogan of the fi fties and sixties Of the state of the Soviet aviation in- dustry on the eve of WW II we are not 1913 on May 13th the fi rst 4-engined so well informed. aircraft, Sikorsky «LaGrande» takes to the air with constructor Igor Sikorsky Did you know that in 1940 more than at the controls. 1300 aviation factories were relocated over more than 1000 miles behind the 1916 fi rst Russian aero engine built by Ural Mountains and that production Mikulin and Stetchkin. Igor Iwanowitsch Sikorski resumed within a very short time? «La Grand» 4 engine aircraft With the following article I would like 1918 Nikolai Jegorovich Shukovsky to offer an insight into the Russian is founder of the Central Aerohyd- It is the fi rst all metal cantilever wing Aviation. rodynamic Institute (ZAGI) In the aircraft. following years the fundamentals of Col Werner Meier aerodynamics are researched, several 1934 on June 17th the 8-engine Tu- inventions and aircraft types are desig- polev ANT-20 fl ies for the fi rst time. ned and built. Some of the well known With a wingspan of 63 meters and a A short chronology: builders are connected with this insti- take-off weight of 42’000 kg it is at tute. that time the heaviest land based air- August 19th 1828 fi rst fl ight by a wo- craft. man in a hot air balloon. 1923 on February 9th a Soviet-Ger- man Company initially named «Deru- 1937 on June 18th a Tupolev ANT- 1902 First wind channel built by Ni- luft» later renamed Aerofl ot is found- 25 crosses the North Pole for the fi rst kolai Jegorowich Shukovsky. ed. The fi rst service Moscow- Nishni time on a long distance fl ight to the Nowgorod is inaugurated. USA. The pilots Tchakalov, Baidukov 1909 fi rst fl ight of Russian aircraft, Gakkel-III and Kudaschew-1, inde- 1933 August 17th the fi rst Soviet ro- pendently of each other. cket GIRD-09 with liquid propellant is launched. 1910 Boris Rossinsky completes fl ight training on a Blériot in France and is 1926 November 26th the Tupolev fi rst Russian pilot. ANT-4 takes off on its maiden fl ight. GIRD-09 rocket

ANT-4, ﬁ rst multi-engine all metal cantilever wing aircraft ANT-20 eight engine aircraft CAF Swiss Wing August 2008 Page 8 and Beljakov cover a distance of 9130 kilometers. In the same year this record is broken with 10148 km by Gromov also with an ANT-25.

1940 on February 28th fi rst fl ight by a USSR rocket propelled aircraft RP- 318-I designed by Viktor Fjodorovic Bolkovitinov. In the same year the fi rst Soviet jet engine with an axial com- pressor is ready for service.

1948 on December 26th ﬁ rst Soviet aircraft, the Lavotchnik La-176 achieves supersonic ﬂ ight.

1959 on October 31st. For the fi rst time a Soviet aircraft breaks the abso- Tupolev ANT-25 Non-stop fl ight Moscow to Portland (USA) in 63 hours and lute speed record with a MIG-21 at 25 minutes 2388 km/h. Igor Ivanovic Sikorsky ny which was later taken over by United 1960 fi rst turbo-fan jet engine Solov- Aircraft. Meanwhile both companies are jov D-20P is in service. Sikorsky was instrumental in developing part of United Technology. The company the fi rst four-engine air transports. How- developed the S-42 Flying Boats which 1968 on December 31st fi rst super- ever he is better known for his involve- became famous as the Pan-Am Clip- sonic passenger aircraft Tu-144 takes ment in the design and construction of pers. However the name remains tied off. helicopters. He was born on May 25th to helicopters. During his Russian times 1889 in Kiev. He studied at the ma- Sikorsky already experimented with he- rine institute of St Petersburg. As chief licopters. On May 13th 1940 he under- engineer he developed the « La Grande» took the fi rst free fl ight with the VS-300 which he piloted himself on May 13th which had a main rotor and a tail rotor. 1913. This design remains the principal confi - guration of helicopters to this date. In WW I Sikorsky aircraft were already used as bomber. In 1919 Igor emigrates Col Werner Meier to the US at the age of 30. He founds Rocket propelled aircraft RP-318-I the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Compa-

Lavotchnik La-176 achieves supersonic ﬂ ight, December 26, 1948 (Prototyp F-86 on April 26, 1948) CAF Swiss Wing August 2008 Page 9 report Visiting: Courtelary und Ecuvillens

Tradition has it that the pilots from Bi- enne represent the CAF at meetings in western Switzerland. Since we missed the Raron and Reichenbach events it was a must to mark presence at the an- nual «Aerotique» event in Ecuvillens where oldtimers of all kinds namely planes, cars and motorcycles gather in June.

Henry Saladin and I met at Birrfeld early morning on June 28th and since the coffee shop was still closed we pre- Downwind RWY 06, Courtelary grass-strip , 500 Meter long. ﬂ ight our Stinson promptly and were on our way shortly before nine. On a westerly course we climbed out of the morning haze to follow the Jura ridges which are typical for the north-west part of Switzerland.

The engine performed well after the cylinder overhaul. Soon I had adjusted the power settings and mixture to give a reassuring feeling. The morning sun already had its effect and we easily gai- ned height with early thermals to cross the ridge near Grenchen. Steady de- scent into the valley of Saint Imier and shortly the grass strip of Courtelary elevation 2372 ft came into sight. We touched down and enjoyed our ﬁ rst coffee under the birch trees in front of the small club house of the glider club. The pilots were all busy prepa- The Queen - «De Havilland DH. 104 Dove» in Ecuvillens

ring their gliders and we took off again Erlebnisreisen für Fliegereibegeisterte! Für Kenner von Spezialisten mit Herzblut zusammengestellt. before their activity began. Crossing the Chasseral at 5000 ft we set course Acapa Tours GmbH, Geschäftsstelle Aarberg: for Ecuvillens were we enjoyed the fri- endly welcome of our French speaking

hosts. Close to thirty old timers had Cosmos Tours, Mühlaudamm 6, 3270 Aarberg, Tel. 032 392 75 80 / Fax 032 392 75 81 already arrived and we were pushed E-Mail: [email protected] / www.cosmos-tours.ch into our parking spot by an efﬁ cient

CAF Swiss Wing August 2008 Page 10 ground crew. Queen of the arrivals was a De Havilland Dove from Germany. The car park also ﬁ lled up with vintage MG’s, Triumphs, Fiats and Alfa Romeos cars and motor cycles.

In the early afternoon we enjoyed the Patrouille Suisse aerobatic demonstration which was training for their next show at the Euro 08 soccer champi- onship.

Soon the time came for the return ﬂ ight and with a brief stop at Biel-Kappelen Oldie cars and motorbikes at Ecuvillens we headed for our home base Birrfeld.

Col Jost Schneeberger

Duxford 2008 CAF Swiss Wing August 2008 Seite 11 news 2008 Veranstaltungen / Reisen Grosse Ereignisse werfen ihre Schatten 9. August 50 Jahre Hunter / St. Stephan CAF SW / FO voraus. Dass sich der Vorstand, wie aus 23.-24. August Flugplatzfest Biel CAF SW / FO dem nebenstehenden Veranstaltungs- 6.-7. September Fly-In in Hittnau Flight OPS kalender ersichlich ist, bereits mit dem 20.-21. September CAF Airshow Midland CAF SW Programm für 2009 befasst entspringt 22. Oktober Besuch der Pilatuswerke in Stans CAF SW dem Umstand, dass sich die angekün- 22. November Jahresend-Anlass CAF SW digte Reise vom 5.-8.Juni 2009 zum Besuch der D-Day-Feierlichkeiten 14. März 2009 Generalversammlung CAF SW (mit Stinsy) bereits in Planung beﬁ n- 5.-8. Juni 2009 D-Day Normandie CAF SW / FO det. Ganz grob sieht das Programm etwa wie folgt aus: Freitag, 5.Juni: Fahrt mit Bus nach Cherbourg mit Lunchhalt an einem gediegenen Ort. Samstag, 6. Juni D-Day-Feier- lichkeiten Sonntag, 7. Juni: Diverse Besichtigun- gen im Invasionsgebiet und schliesslich Montag, 8.Juni: Rückfahrt in die Schweiz. Reserviert das Datum, - es wäre schön, eine stattliche Reisegruppe aus dem CAF Swiss Wing rekrutieren zu kön- nen. Sobald Genaueres zum Pro- gramm und über die Kosten bekannt ist, werden wir Euch selbstverständlich informieren.

Mitfl iegen in unserem Warbird «Stinsy» CAF Swiss Wing - Shop Koordinator: Henry Saladin 044 853 0533 tinsy-Wein Rotwein , Cabernet Sauvignon, California Piloten: S Weisswein, Chardonnay , France Roger Burri 056 667 3843 Geniessen Sie diesen Stinsy-Wein an einem lauen Sommerabend Werner Meier 056 633 6181 und denken Sie daran: Mit jedem Schluck unterstützen sie den Jost Schneeberger 031 911 8177 CAF Swiss Wing. Info über den Wein und Bestellformulare fi n- Max Schönenberger 044 858 2051 den sie auf unserer Homepage oder rufen Sie mich einfach an. Diese 0.5 Liter Flasche eignet sich auch sehr gut als Geschenk für Flieger-Fans. Minimum-Bestellung 6 Flaschen. CAF Swiss Wing Werner Meier, Itenhard 47, 5620 Bremgarten www.caf-swisswing.ch [email protected] Viele weitere Artikel fi nden Sie auf unserer Homepage: www.caf-swisswing.ch Präsident: CAF Col Thomas Lutz Brunnenwies 53, 8132 Egg Cumulus AG Aviationbooks Postfach 95 Editor: CAF Col Werner Meier www.fliegerbuecher.ch CH–5042 Hirschthal Itenhard 47, 5620 Bremgarten Büro/Shop: Hügelistrasse 3 CH–5040 Schöftland Ladenöffnungszeiten: «Contact» ist das Publikations- Mo bis Fr 8.00 – 12.00 / organ des Swiss Wing der CAF 13.15 – 17.00 Uhr Telefon 062 721 35 62 in Midland TX, USA Fax 062 721 02 68 [email protected] Druck: Knapp AG, 8918 Unterlunkhofen Riesige Auswahl, auch für den Modellbauer. Schnell bestellt, schnell geliefert, mit Rechnung. 21‘000 Fliegerbücher – umfangsreichste Datenbank!