Royal Air ForcePhotographers

Association

Edition 64Autnum 2016

CommitteeChairman:John Barry, MBEchairman@rafpa.org.uk01480 456 76310 Church RoadBrampton, PE28 4PW

Membership Secretary& Web Site Manager:Gerry Linsteadsecretary@rafpa.org.uk01366 38014375 Grimshoe RoadDownham MarketPE38 9WF

Treasurer:Paul Niletreasurer@rafpa.org.uk16 Canberra CloseManby, LN11 8TU

Regalia:Dave Derrickregalia@rafpa.org.uk07871 762 6303 Sunningdale DriveThornton-Cleveleys, FY5 5AD

Events Coordinator:Chris Twinerevents@rafpa.org.uk01283 299248

Editor:John Lewiseditor@rafpa.org.uk01263 711 5367 Town CloseHolt, NR25 6JN

Royal Air ForcePhotographers

Association(Formerly RAFBEPA)

www.rafpa.org.uk

THE SMALL PRINT – Flashback is published by theRAFPA and is for the benefit of paid-up members ofthe RAFPA. Accreditation for text, images and logoshas been given where appropriate, however theRAFPA cannot be held liable for any omissions orerrors. If such omissions or errors are notified to theEditor they will be published in the next availableedition of Flashback. If any person responds to anadvertisement or commercial supplier named inFlashback they must satisfy themselves of the au-thenticity and honesty of any such advertiser ortrader and the RAFPA cannot be held liable for anyloss, however incurred. Flashback is copyright andrequests to reproduce text, images or logos must bemade to the Editor.

DEADLINEfor contributions for Edition 65

must be received by:30th November 2016

Thank you

Edition 64Autumn 2016

From your editors desk

It is with regret that currently we are not able toinclude a Ladies Scarf in the RAFPA range of cor-porate clothing. Given the likely sales and this canonly be a guesstimate and the production cost itwas not feasible. This issue is being revisited and

will be a subject for discussion at this years AGM. If any Memberhas any likely contacts or ideas please bring them to the attentionof your Committee.

I have nominated this our Italian edition. Having spent a couple ofweeks there in June, seven-days of which I spent on the MotoGiro d'Italia, a sort of legalised road race complete with a Policeescort! I have no idea how they get away with holding it everyyear but the locals in the small towns and villages you passthrough appear to love it, cheering and waving and they eventurn the schools out to watch. Manic but enjoyable.

Held every August, on thenorth Norfolk coast. Soap BoxDerby - End of the Pier Show -Carnival Queen - Fancy Dressand Display of Floats - Red

Arrows - plus much more.

Image - Gordon Gurney

Is there anybody out there who has any knowledge of theHastings crash at Gan in March 1960?

Is anyone planning a visit to Moscow? I have a minor photo-graphic assignment pending at the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery.

Also if you have been to Moscow (that is since 1989!) hasanyone been to the Central Air Force Museum at Monino?

Front Cover

Frecce Tricolori – 313rdAerobatic Training Group of

the Italian Air Force. Nationalaerobatic display team flying

the AerMacchi MB-339A

Regarding museums, Laarbruchhave recently acquired a PR7from Gatwick. WH773 hasserved with a number of Squad-rons (in date order): 540, 80, 82,31 (Laarbruch), 80 (again), 58(Wyton + me!) and 13, plus aspell as one of the Wyton GateGuardians. I think a trip out therewith RyanAir next spring mightbe in order.

It was a shock to hear of the earthquake in Italy this morning(24th August) the epicentre just 30 miles from Terni where theMotoGiro was based, we rode through a couple of the villageswhere there has been considerable damage and loss of life. In

many, many ways we are very fortunate in the UK.

Stand by for broadcast - Iwanted a Tannoy Speaker inthe office at home. I could notfind a wooden box type any-where but eBay came to therescue with a metal jobbie,which I refurbished and fittedwith a quality speaker. Now Idon’t get instructions justworld news via BBC Radio

I found this on the Internet, the caption says:Photographer - Ian Proctor

Any ideas? Looks like a Recce Report!

In the last edition you will recall that I mentioned my visit earlier inthe year to the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshaven, on LakeConstance (Bodensee), Germany, the birthplace of the Zeppelinairship. It was interesting climb aboard the centerpiece of the ex-hibition, a full-scale, partial model of the airship LZ129 Hindenburg, which was reproduced true to the original andauthentically furnished. The original was built in the early 1930’s.

We now move to modern dayairship, the AirLander or shouldI not mention it? A couple ofdays ago at Cardington, Bed-ford – originally RAF Carding-ton (interestingly, I signed upthere in 1961) – disaster befellthe UK’s latest attempt to get

this project ‘up in the air’. Lookingat the landing and the location ofthe cabin space I am not so surethat I want to take a trip on thisone – any offers?

The ‘Rio’ Olympics are now overand those late night viewingswatching our sports hero’s doingso well is now a distant past. Again, the impressive rowing andcycling teams led the gold medal haul and I was not surprised afterthe progress made by these teams in the London Olympics. Whatis impressive is that each of these two disciplines work very closeas a team structure – in the military we are all well aware thatteamwork will always surpass the achievements of the samenumber of individuals working alone. I was therefore delighted that

those standing on the podium were all keen to recognise thebackroom boys, the physio’s, the trainers and coaches, the nutri-tionists, the scientists and the engineers who spent a lot of devel-opment time working with wind tunnels – any of us been there?

I know that there will be a mention further on in these pages but Iwould like to draw your attention to the new ‘Association’ ties andbowties that are now available. Some of you already have themand I hope getting the opportunity to wear them with pride – theyare very striking and have recently become my tie of choice frommy tie rack!

Finally, the Reunion weekend will soon be upon us. We are againgoing back to Stourport Manor but this year our gathering will beheld a little later than usual, on the first weekend in November. Ilook forward to seeing you all there and catching up on your latesthappenings!

The largest aircraft currently flying usesinnovative technology to combine the best char-acteristics of fixed wing aircraft and helicop-ters with lighter-than-air technology to createa new breed of hyper-efficient aircraft. It canstay airborne for up to five days at a time ifmanned, and for over 2 weeks unmanned. It willfulfil a wide range of communication, cargocarrying and survey roles in both the militaryand commercial sectors all with a significantlylower carbon footprint than other forms of airtransport.

MEMBERS NEWS

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SReunion visit to the National Memorial Arboretum

Regretfully, due to limited interest it was not possible toinclude this activity in our Reunion weekend.

RAFPA Neck Tie & Bow TieIncluded with this ‘bumper’ edition of Flashback is an

Order Form for our NEW Neck Tie & Bow Tie - order nowand collect at the Reunion in November, you would not

want to be inappropriately dressed on the Saturdayevening! Also on sale over our weekend will be other

items from the ‘Dave Derrick Collection’, which we hopewill sell well as it will mean he won’t have to pack them up

and take them home! In the Christmas (plan ahead!)edition of Flashback there will be a full colour flyer of the

full RAFPA range of merchandise.

John LaurensonJohn Alan Forbes Laurenson born 6th June 1906, Liver-

pool. Enlisted 4th May 1939, service number 749119,demobbed 4th May 1944. Served; Southampton,

Farnborough, Wyton, Oakington, Stradishall and atsome point with an Australian unit.

If you have any knowledge of this gentlemen, an RAFPhotographer could you contact John Barry our

Chairman – thank you.

It’s still not too late!There is still time to get your entry off to Dave Newham

for this years Joe Oliver Photographic Award.Just a A4 or 10”x 8” print in the post to:

10 Hughes Close, Northway, Tewkesbury, GL20 8SA

Bow Tie Also availableOnly £13.50

The 2016 rafpaAssociation tiehas arrived

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Just £12.50 - stocksAre limited.Pre-order andcollect your tieat the reunion.Order formenclosed

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On the 9th February 1944 Mosquito Mk.IX LR412 of 540 Squad-ron from RAF Benson crashed onto Aran Fawddwy, secondhighest mountain in Wales and near to Snowdon, both crewwere killed.

Both pilot and navigator werevery experienced. The weatherwas reasonable but with somecloud but the crash does seem tohave some mystery as one pro-peller appears not to have beenturning on impact with theground yet a Mosquito could flycomfortably on one engine.

They are buried to-gether at St MaryCemetery, Chessingtonin Surrey.

This aircraft had flown many operations over enemy territo-ry with 540 Squadron operating in the photo reconnaissancerole. Aircraft of 540 carried no squadron markings so not tobe easily identified if shot down over enemy territory.

One of the Rolls Royce Merlin engines from theaircraft was brought down from the mountainsome years ago and erected as a permanent andrespectful memorial to them.

The site can be found off the A494 betweenDolgellau and Bala, then taking the secondon your right, signposted Drws y Na. TheMemorial is on the left after about onemile located by an old school buildingand farm.

Barbara UsherIt is regret that we have been advised of the death of one ofour Members – Barbara Usher. Babs and husband Flight Ser-geant Jim Usher would have been known to many of our Mem-bers, Jim was a senior instructor at the School in the 1970’s,the PPA era. After retirement Barbara and Jim moved to Spainwhere they lived a good life until Jim’s early death, Babsmoved back to the UK and continued as a RAFPA Member inher own right. It is understood that Barbara died after a fall andheart attack, prior to which she had been in rugged goodhealth.

Rob AndersonIn edition 62 I reported the passing of Rob Anderson. Sincethen, courtesy of the Medmenham Association more informa-tion has been forthcoming. Rob joined as a BoyEntrant and passed-out from the School of Pho-tography in 1938. During WW2 he saw activeservice in; North Africa, Palestine and Italy. Hewas demobbed in 1948 with the rank ofSergeant.

The Lysander was designed tooperate closely with the Armyand had a remarkableperformance which allowed it toget into and out of extremelysmall airfields. A radical changein Army co-operation tacticsmeant that its lasting fame isnot in this role but as a SpecialDuties aircraft ferrying Alliedagents in and out of enemyoccupied Europe.

Four Lysander squadrons went to France in 1939. Despite somenotable successes the Army Co-operation units sufferedextremely high casualties, over 170 Lysanders were sent toFrance, only fifty came back. Later Lysanders patrolled thecoastal areas of south and east England at dawn and dusk asan anti-invasion reconnaissance measure. The aircraft alsobegan air-sea rescue duties in the Channel and North Sea.

R9125 was built at Yeovil by Westland Aircraft and enteredRAF service with 5 MU who were based at RAF Kemble in Au-gust 1940.  In September 1940 it was transferred to 225 (ArmyCo-operation) Squadron based at RAF Tilshead, Wiltshire andthen to the Central Gunnery School at RAF Chelveston,Northamptonshire in December 1941.

By June 1942 the aircraft was at 7 (Coastal) OTU based atLimavady for target towing duties and in December it movedto the Central Navigation School based at RAF Cranage,Cheshire.

In October 1944 R9125 was transferred to 161 (Special Duties)Squadron who were based at RAF Tempsford, Bedfordshire.  Itwas made famous by being used in the filming of “Now it canbe told” which was produced by the RAF Film Production Unitfor the British Government and released in February 1947.

Having been allocated to the Air Historical Branch R9125 wasflown to RAF Tempsford in November 1945 and then into stor-age at RAF Stanmore Park and later to RAF Cosford. Duringthe subsequent years R9125 appeared in the 1963 BBC TV se-ries “Moonstrike” about the RAF’s wartime special dutiesSquadrons.  It arrived at the RAF museum at Hendon on theNovember 1971.

R9125 can possibly claim to bethe most photographed Lysanderof all time as it was the aircraftthat lived in the hanger adjoin-ing the then School of Photogra-phy. Probably it was rarelyphotographed in the whole, butparts and sections of it were

popular targets for technical photographic tasks.

Only 34 years ago - who do you remember?

I regret to have to report that my oldchildhood buddy, Allan Johnstone diedon 16th July 2016 after a tough old bat-tle with cancer.

Allan and I were childhood pals in Aber-deen where we both grew up and wentto school together in the late 40’s early50’s. We were inseparable in those ear-ly days and played endlessly with ourDinky cars or the like.

Allan subsequently followed me into the RAF as a photographer,but I'm not sure which entry. Sadly though, as was frequently theway with the Air Force we never got to serve in the same place atthe same time although we both served at Brampton.

I saw him last in 2011 in Canada, where he went to join his moth-er and his sister Stella after he left the service where he pursueda successful career in property management while working forthe Real Estate Council of Ontario. I didn't realise then that thatwould be the last time I'd see him and I'm sad about that ofcourse.

I've enclosed a rather poor quality image of Al-lan taken a good few years ago, but he hadn'tchanged much and I'm sure those who servedwith him will recognise him.

Also attached is a much repaired photo of Allanand I as eight year olds on the beach in Aber-deen. We were typical little boys of the time and

AllanJohnstone

the sharp-eyed amongst the readership may spot the fact that Irarely went out unarmed and I'm carrying my trusty Chad Valleysix-gun in my hand! (I'm the one on the right by the way!!) We'restanding on an old wooden cable drum that had washed up onthe beach and to which we immediately claimed ownership. Thebackground to this picture is interesting, insofar as we had ske-daddled from our homes without asking permission, and had tak-en two trams to get from home to Aberdeen beach. It was a longjourney, so we were pretty resourceful, but then, kids tended tobe in those days and we were used to travelling on Aberdeen'stramcars.

While we were playing on the cable drum, acouple visiting Aberdeen must have identi-fied us as being unaccompanied and tookour photograph. Allan in his naivete gavethe couple his name and address and fewweeks later the photo arrived at Allan'shome and the proverbial promptly hit thefan. Needless to say we both copped apretty severe bollocking!

Just for interest, I attach the original photoso you can see the degree of damage I had

to deal with to repair the childhood photo. Needlessto say that photo is very precious to me now!

In the interests ofInter Service

Cooperation in everyedition of Flashback Ithink it appropriateto include somethingrelevant to our Army

colleagues – worryingisn’t it!

By Royal

Appointment

It was inevitable the great British weather played its part in thisevent, especially as it was mid June! However, this did nothingto diminish the enthusiasm of attendees despite the ruined hair-dos and hats! I was very honoured to have had a personal invitefrom Fields in Trust (formerly the National Playing Fields Associ-ation) in recognition of my work for Telford Town Park includinggaining the Best UK Park award.

The organisation of the event wasbeyond reproach and everythinghappened on time and as expect-ed. It even stopped raining for thebiggest single Royal walkaboutever undertaken by the RoyalFamily.

As the Queen and Prince Philipstarted their drive down The Mall(well you would not expect your 90year old grandmother and 95 yearold grandfather to walk half a milewould you?) they stood up in theback of the immaculate RangeRover and the sun came out to thebiggest cheerI have everheard from a

crowd anywhere! It was even louder thanthe RAF Flight Sergeants voice as he ledthree cheers for the Queen at the end of theevent.

I was fortunate to have seat very nearthe top of The Mall close to the VictoriaMemorial and the Palace and had a su-perb view of all the proceedings. The factthat Her Majesty is Patron to over 600charities and there were representativesfrom every one of them was truly amaz-ing.

The support fromMarks and Spen-cer, Pimms and

Boots was truly incredible, right down tosun block cream, lip salve and even apacket of plasters in everyone's bag. Thehamper was no exception with enoughfood for lunch and tea along with no lessthan 6 ice packs inside to keep it all cool!

I shall be talking about this event forsome time I feel and if you would likesome more insight into the event, I shallbe happy to talk with you at the reunion inNovember! By Royal Appointment ofcourse!

Chris Pettman

MajorNatalya Meklin

Soviet Air Force1941 to 1957

Natalya Meklin was born in 1922 in theUkraine and at 18 years of age joined theglider school at the Kiev Young PioneerPalace. The following year she wasenlisted into the Soviet Air Force andhaving qualified as a pilot joined the

588th Night Bomber Regiment flying the Polikarpov Po-2 lightbomber. By the end of the war Natalya had flown 980 nightmissions and been promoted to the rank of Major. Herdecorations included (left to right): Hero of the Soviet Union,Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner, Order of the Red Star,Order of the Patriotic War, Order of the Badge of Honor .

In 1953 Natalya graduated from the Military Institute of ForeignLanguages and worked as a translator until her retirement. In1956 she married Lt/Gen Yuri Kravtsov, also a pilot. Natalya diedin Moscow in June 2005 aged 82 and is buried at the RussianWar Veterans Troyekurovskoye Cemetery in Moscow.

From 1941 Natalya flew with the 588th Night Bomber Regiment,known later as the 46th "Taman" Guards Night Bomber AviationRegiment of the Soviet Air Forces. Though women were initiallybarred from combat Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin issued an orderto deploy three women's air force units made up entirely offemale volunteers. The 588th flew harassment and precisionbombing missions against the German military from 1942 untilthe end of the war. At its height the Regiment had 40 two-femalecrews. The regiment flew over 30,000 missions and dropped23,000 tons of bombs. It was the most highly decorated all-women unit in the Soviet Air Force, each pilot having flown over800 missions by the end of the war and twenty-three having beenawarded the title - Hero of the Soviet Union. Thirty of its membersdied in combat.

Wehrmacht troops nick-named the Po-2 Näh-maschine (sewingmachine) for its rattlingsound as the Sovietsflew nocturnal missionsat low altitudes. The en-gine had a very peculiarsound which was de-scribed as nerve-wrack-ing. They typicallyattacked by surprise inthe middle of the nightdenying German troopssleep and keeping themon their guard, contributing to the already high stress of combaton the Eastern front, the psychological effect on German troopswas noticeable. The usual tactic involved flying only a few metersabove the ground, rising for the final approach, throttling back theengine and making a gliding bombing run leaving the troops withonly the eerie whistling of the wind in the wings' bracing-wires asan indication of the impending attack. The German soldiersreferred to the pilots as the "Night Witches".

Soviet Air Force officers – Rufina Gashevaand Natalya Meklin on receiving their deco-rations as – Heroes of the Soviet Union. Pic-

tured in front of their Polikarpov Po-2aircraft. Credit: IWM & Olga Shirnina.

As late as June 1953 the KoreanPeople's Air Force were usingthe Po-2 in a similar role duringthe Korean War and inflictingserious damage during nightraids on United Nations bases.UN forces named the Po-2'snighttime appearance Bedcheck

Charlie and had great difficulty in shooting them down — eventhough their night fighters had radar as standard equipment bythen, the wood-and-fabric-construction of the Po-2 gave only aminimal radar echo - stealth!

In June 1953 a USMC Skyraider AD-4 did shoot down a Soviet-built Po-2, the only time a Skyraider scored an air victory inKorea. The Po-2 is also the only biplane with a credited anddocumented jet-kill as one Lockheed F-94 Starfire was lost whileslowing to well below its stall speed – during an intercept in order

With thanks to the Russian Embassy Press Group in Londonfor their assistance in compiling this item

In January 2015 WingCommander Nikki

Thomas took command ofNo.12 Squadron flyingTornados out of RAF

Marham. The first everfemale C/O of a flyingsquadron in the RAF –

see we got thereeventually!

Woodspring Wings

MAC

Woodspring Wings MAC is one of the few model-flying clubs in the UKto own its own site, about 21 acres of flat land in a remote part of theNorth Somerset Levels. Since purchasing the flying field 13 years agothe Club has built a tarmac runway, pits and taxi-ways as well as aclub-house and other facilities.

The flying calendar includes the Woodspring Wings Weekend Show inJuly each year. This has become one of the top events in the UK regu-larly attracting over 6000 visitors from all over the country and main-land Europe. Top pilots get to show the public their skillsand fabulous models in non-stop action, interspersedwith exciting displays byfull-size aircraft.

Club members are active inall areas of radio-controlledaircraft, including helicop-ters, jets, and gliders, aswell as the more usual fixedwing models. Some of thelargest models in the worldhave been built by ourmembers and flown atshows throughout this coun-try and abroad.

Woodspring Wings

MAC

July Show

Image Credits: Red Arrows -Bob Turner. Others -  GeoffHale of the Clevedon News

There were two numbers very muchin evidence at Farnborough, thefirst was 35 and the second 380.

Both were on a massive sales push,for in essence this is a global tradeshow, with civilians helping to pay

for the excesses on the last twodays.

The RAF is currently receiving deliveries of the F-35B shorttakeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the world’s first super-sonic STOVL stealth aircraft. The F-35B STOVL operation ismade possible through the Rolls-Royce patented shaft-drivenLiftFan® propulsion system and an engine that can swivel 90degrees when in short takeoff/vertical landing mode. Because ofthe LiftFan®, the STOVL variant has smaller internal weapon bayand less internal fuel capacity than the A version. The UK hasordered 138 for service with both the RAF and Royal Navy. InFebruary 2015 17 Squadron was re-formed and is currentlybased at Edwards AFB, California.

Rolls Royce LiftFan

But where does the pilot sit?

17Sqdn

Length 238 ft, Height 79 ft, Wing Span261 ft. Range 9400 miles, max fuel capac-ity 70,400 gallons would that be 7.5 GPM,in reality better than a Toyota Prius. En-gines Rolls Royce Trent 900 or ‘another

make’! Maximum number ofpassengers 853.

Emirates, the world’s fourthlargest airline operate 81 ofthese aircraft which wouldmean that Dubai could getjust over 5% of its populationairborne at any time.

The other number is featured in theA380 Airbus, big, bad and ugly butone of the biggest money spinners

In the last 20 years. Airbus havesold 319 and delivered 193

at $432.6 million each.

Stop pressDuring his last morning in the

job, departing PM DavidCameron signed a £2.6 billion

deal for nine Boeing P-8Poseidons to be based at

Lossiemouth.It seems that most of the crews

will be ex-Nimrod personnel.S/L Mark Faulds pilot of a RAF P-8A

Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft

DronesThere were just three drones on external display although I sus-pect on the Trade Days there would have been a lot more insidethe now cleared display marquees.

The most professionalwas the TurkishAerospace IndustriesANKA, developed for theTurkish Armed Forces.TAI started dronedevelopment in 2010 andcurrent devices seemilitary action. Crew:none! Length: 26 ft,Wingspan: 56 ft, Height:11 ft. Powerplant: Two

litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing155 hp (about the same as a top end FordTransit van and of a similar weight), Maximum

speed: 135 mph, Range: 3024 mls, Endurance: up to 24 hours,Service ceiling: 30,000 ft. The two staff on their stand werelooking ‘uneasy’ but given what had happened in their countrythe day before, understandable! What sort of reception are theygoing to receive on their return?

Then there was theFalco EVO, a muchmore modestcreation anddesigned and built inItaly. Length 20 ft,Wingspan 41 ft,Height 8 ft, Weight

650 kg. One feature that did appeal was in-flight managementwhich allowed automatic take-off and landing.

Also on display was the Italian created Piaggio AerospaceP.1HH HammerHead, a mock-up, which in truth looked like

something our local prima-ry school could have built.It’s a big piece of carbonfibre/fibre glass/alloy (orwhatever) but claims im-pressive performance. Op-erational Ceiling: 45,000 ft.Maximum speed: 0.70Mach. Climb to 35.000 ft.in 20 minutes at maximum

weight. Loiters at 135 kts, with a 1 to 3 mile turning radius. Maxi-mum speed up to 395 kts. Endurance: 16 hrs plus. Range: up to4,400 mls. But it did look like a dog’s dinner!

Like it or not drones are the future. We are perhaps, with the in-troduction of the F35B into RAF service seeing the last mannedcombat aircraft – discuss!

WhatAircraft?

Aircrew areGettingyoungerAnd smaller!

It is an internationalShow - you could haveGot the chock the rightWay up!

Don’t leave your kit on theWing sir it might rain -And it Did!

How many ‘brown jobs’Does it take to get aMotorbike on a trailer -Looks as if it is five!

Fantastic shirts andJackets at a veryReasonable price

Wallis WA-116 Agile – LittleNellie. this famous autogyro

built and developed by the lateWing Commander Ken Wallis hasbeen gifted by his family to theShuttleworth collection who

are hoping to restore it toflight

Short skyvan - I workedWith a couple of blokes

Who had flown on thisType while used in the

Light bomber role -hand grenades out of

the Back door!

‘The Tilly Orifice’

Beatrice Shilling OBE PhD MSc CEng

Born in 1909 she was known to her family as simply ‘B’ and inlater life referred to as ‘Tilly’ by her colleagues - in her absence!By the time she was 14 Tilly had acquired a motorbike and afterleaving school worked for an electrical engineering companyinstalling wiring and generators. Her employer encouraged her tostudy electrical engineering and in 1932 she received abachelor's degree and stayed for a further year to get a Master ofScience degree in mechanical engineering from the University ofManchester. In 1936 she joined the Royal Aircraft Establishment(RAE), as a scientific officer where she stayed until her retirementin 1969.

At the start of WW2 RAFpilots discovered aserious problem in fighterplanes with Merlinengines. When the planewent nose-down to begin

a dive, the resulting negative g-force would flood the engine'scarburettor causing the engine to cut-out. German fighters usedfuel injection engines and did not have this problem, so in combata German fighter could evade a pursuing RAF fighter by flying anegative ‘G’ manoeuvre which the RAF plane could not follow.Shilling devised a fix to solve this problem. It was a small metaldisc with a hole in the middle fitted into the engine's carburettor.

The disk limited maximum fuel flow and prevented flooding. ByMarch 1941 she had led a small team on a tour of RAF fighterbases installing the devices in their Merlin engines. The restrictorwas immensely popular with pilots who affectionately named it

'Miss Shilling's Orifice'or simply the 'TillyOrifice.' It continued inuse as a stop-gapuntil the introductionof the pressurecarburettor in 1943.

After the war Shillingworked on a varietyof projects including

investigations into the DeHavilland Comet crashes andBlue Streak missiledevelopment. She was oncedescribed by a fellow scientist

as "a pathfinder of women's lib" and she always rejected anysuggestion that as a woman she might be inferior to a man intechnical and scientific fields. However her brusque manner andcontempt for bureaucracy led to an uneasy relationship withmanagement. She retired in 1969 with the grade of SeniorPrincipal Scientific Officer.

During the 1930’s Tilly raced motorcycles and in 1935 wasawarded a Gold Star for lappingthe Brooklands circuit at over a100 miles per hour, in her caseit was 106 on a Norton. Onlyone other Brooklands Gold starwas ever awarded to a woman.Post-war and into the mid-60’sshe raced cars - owned, tuned,and raced; Austin-Healey

Sebring Sprite, Elva Courier and an Elva Formula Junior single-seat racing car. She also held a pilot’s licence!

Shilling married George Naylor in 1938, who also worked at theRAE. During World War II George was a pilot with No. 625Squadron flying Lancs and reached the rank of Wing Commanderwinning the DFC along the way.

Dennis Lock who married her sister said “When candidates camefor interview she’d ask them to solve the quadratic equation - shedidn’t suffer fools! When I first met her”, adds Dennis, “I couldn’tbelieve that this slightly-built dishevelled lady in plain corduroys,baggy top and no hint of makeup was a person of any distinction.But she was treated with great respect wherever she went. Shespoke in a low drawl, often smiled but rarely laughed, had a wrysense of rumour and occasionally made astute observations withwitty one-liners. She had a taste for good literature and music. ‘B’ lived with mathematician husband George Naylor in a double-fronted Victorian house in Farnborough. One large sitting roomwas transformed into a workshop for her private use, dominatedby a seriously big lathe, various other machine tools and withspanners and hand-tools on wall mounted shadow boards. It wasa precision engineering workshop with cupboards and drawersfull of measuring gauges and carefully maintained tools. Screws,nuts, bolts and rivets were stored in little Sobranie cigarette tinswith their contents cleared labelled, she was a meticulous, hands-on engineer and obviously a heavy smoker, but still lived to theage of 81.

Photographs:Posing with her Norton for a publicity photograph used in the

1935 Norton catalogue, Beatrice tuned the engine to make it oneof the fastest machines in its class - © MOD Crown Copyright.

BMCRC lapel badge with much coveted Gold Star.Austin Healey Sebring Sprite of the era.

Merlin images - Aces Flying High.

During my era RAF Laarbruch received the freedom of Weeze,the weather was grim on the day of the parade. There werethree of us from the Photo Section down at the Town Hall andI won the toss so got the indoor job. With the Parade formedup on the Car Park I was hanging out of a first floor windowwaiting for the fly past with a guy from Air Traffic with aradio next to me. The cloud base was down to about 250 ft andwith the drizzle the visibility was terrible. As Group Cap-tain Knight our Station Commander called out “Parade Atten-tion - General Salute” a small miracle occurred as four jetsroared directly overhead. The German civilians were amazed,we were amazed and as it turned out the aircrew were amazedfor at the Reception in the Officers Mess that evening Iasked one of the pilots about it, he truthfully replied“didn’t see a b***** thing just the wingtip of the guy I wasnext to”.

ItalianAir ForceMuseum

The Italian Air Force Museum is located at the old seaplanestation of Vigna di Valle on the south shore of Lake Braccianosome 30 road miles north west of Rome. In 1904 the first Experi-mental Aviation Yard was established there by the Italian Corpsof Engineers and in 1908 their first Military Airship the N1 wasbuilt and flew fromthere.

Opened as a Muse-um in 1977 the sitewas developed bythe Italian Air Forceas a home for theheritage of Italian

Aviation is housed in thebuildings of the originalseaplane base. It is still anactive military base.

The Museum covers13,000 square metres andis one of the largest mili-tary museums in theworld. Housed in four con-nected hangers with over

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- Air Camera by Lamperti - Garbagnati- Handheld Air Camera type APR 87

- OMI APR 3 camera from Umberto Nobile’s1928 North Pole Mission

sixty aircraft and a vastcollection of engines aswell as mementos dis-playing the history of mili-tary flying in Italy and ofthe men who lived it andshaped it. The museumtour winds through thevarious eras dedicated to;Pioneers, Airships, FirstWorld War, SchneiderTrophy, Second WorldWar and the post-war revival of the Italian Air Force including jetera.

I had the opportunity of visiting the Museum in June this year ona warm day, 38degC outside and a balmy 37.5degC inside, I hadforgotten how hot hangers were even with many doors open.Should you have the opportunity to visit the Museum you will real-ise that the Italian Military were really, really big into seaplanes.The country's land mass is long and relatively thin with a numberof large inland lakes – good decision.

Italian Air Force Museum

Of the 60 plus aircraft displayed in the Museum only one was notoperated by the Italian Air Force – no there is not a prize forguessing which one! The quality and quantity of aircraft on dis-play is astounding, well laid out, progressing through the ages ofItalian military aviation.

Italian Air ForceMuseum

The Schneider Trophy collection is truly fantastic, the aircraftlook very powerful and fragile!

This section includes the Macchi Aeronautica MC-72 which stillholds the world speed record for internal combustion-poweredpropeller-drivenseaplanes set in1934 at 440.7 mph,powered by two Fiatliquid-cooledsupercharged 12-cylinder V-engines,driving contrarotating props anddeveloping a total of2,850 hp.

Italian Air Force Museum

Air Reconnaissance -Seeing service with the IAFfrom 1954 for recce dutiesduring the early part of theCold War was the RepublicThunderflash RF84F animmaculate example isdisplayed, with cameras stillinstalled.

One hanger is dominated by the ubiqitiousFiat G91, an aircraft I remember frequentlyseeing at Luqa. The Fiat G.91Y was areconnaissance version first flown in 1966.

The Y version was a completeredesign of the original 91 amajor difference being its twinengines from a single. A totalof 65 Fiat G.91Y were built andthey stayedin serviceuntil 1994.

Italian Air ForceMuseum

2006