|
THE STORY OF THE
RACE.
By
Webmaster: The late Lieutenant
Commander Brian Davies, the Commanding Officer of the Squadron, has
left on record his account (BD) of these remarkable flights which so
captured the imagination of the Country and gave the Royal Navy such a resounding
victory in the Air Race. Some of his original script has been
adjusted in a very minor way without destroying the impact of his words to
give the story its chronological merit.
One of the planning
group and team, Commander David "Shorty" Hamilton RN (D"S"H)
contributes his memories as does Lieutenant Commander Paul Waterhouse RN
(PW), one of the
contestants, Lieutenant
Commander "Robbie" Roberts RN (RR), the New York co-ordinator and Lieutenant
"Al" Hickling RN (AH) who is the last surviving Phantom Pilot from the Race.
............................................................................................................................................................................................
BD: In June 1968, the
Phantom squadron at the Royal Naval Air Station at Yeovilton,
Somerset, submitted a proposal to enter the Daily Mail Transatlantic Air
Race. The initial plan envisaged 5 in-flight refuellings between New York
and London, giving six supersonic legs at 1100 miles an hour and flight
time of about 4 hours 20 minutes.
During the next six months the plan progressed no
further and very little was heard about it. However, in January of
1969, the project leapt back into life, when the Flag Officer Naval Air
Command directed us to research further the possibilities of entering for
the race and to look into the logistic support requirements. The
participation of the Fleet Air Arm would be used for operational
training.
PW: In reality it was
never strictly an 'Aircraft Race' as such but was to be the time it
took for an individual ('a runner') to travel from the top of the Empire
State Building in New York to the top of the Post office Tower in
London or visa versa but the chosen mode on getting from A to B or B
to A for some competitors had to have an element of air travel in
it. This is where different 'categories' of air travel/aircraft
applied. Later there would be minor disputes about the
actual flight times, broken records and all that, but these were
almost incidental at the end of the day! The winners were 'the
runners' for their personal times from tower top to tower top being
what counted. The categories of aircraft used to transport these
'runners' were supersonic, subsonic, scheduled airliners, single
engine, multi-engined, light aircraft etc.
D"S"H: I had decided to leave the
Service and to emigrate to Australia having returned to the United Kingdom in September
1968 from an exchange appointment out there and as I was not to be
released for about a year I was an ideal odd job man. I was thus one
of the team charged with the overall organisation of the Navy's
participation in the Race.
The Head of the Team was the then Captain
Ray Lygo who was between appointments and he was allocated
the task of overseeing the operation and I was made his
“chief-of-staff” He did the political work and I did the rest
!!
The first matter had already been
decided, which of the Navy's fixed-wing aircraft was to be used,
and that was obvious, MacDonnel Phantoms of 892 squadron, (I had commanded
the squadron when it flew the Sea Vixen). The aircrew were still
working up with the new aircraft so it was a race to get them fully
operational in time.
|
The team was formed:
Front row: Captain Raymond D
Lygo RN
Second row: Lieutenant
Commander Robbie Roberts RN and Commander David M Hamilton
RN
Third row (the
flyers) Lieutenant Paul Waterhouse RN (Observer) and Lieutenant
Commander Doug Borrowman RN (Pilot) (Team 3) - Lieutenant Commander
Peter M Goddard RN (Observer) and Lieutenant Commander Brian Davies
AFC RN (Pilot) (Team 1) - Lieutenant Hugh Drake RN (Observer) and
Lieutenant Al Hickling RN (Pilot) Team 2)
Back row: Lieutenant
Commander D E Fairweather RN (Public Relations Officer)
For the purists the aircraft on
display are those from the Phantom Intensive Flying Trials Unit (700P)
at the Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton which would become
the front-line Naval Air Squadron, 892. All the flight crews
would join 892 Naval Air Squadron |
BD: Between the
time of the proposal and our deployment to New
York on the 24th April, life became hectic. The plan shifted through
several phases and our initial flight profile involving 5 refuellings
became impracticable since it required too much support and there were
disadvantages from a flight safety point of view. After hours of planning
and calculations we decided on 3 air to air refuellings, using Victor
tankers of 55 Squadron from RAF Marham.
|
Practice refuelling with a
Victor tanker. |
BD: Having settled this aspect we now had to refine the profile. Our initial
planning had been based on limited performance figures calculated from
one or two supersonic flights, and from data obtained during our fuel
consumption work carried out for the Phantom trials.
February and
March saw us flying out into the Atlantic to the South of Ireland between
40 and 50,000 feet at speeds well above Mach One to really pin down the
fuel consumption figures and then meeting up with another Phantom to
formulate a technique of accurately rendezvousing with a tanker at these
high speeds.
Fortunately both the Phantom and the Victor have
range and direction finding equipment to assist joining up. In addition we
depended on ground or ship radar to control the aircraft during rendezvous
in the event that the airborne equipment failed.
Two
procedures had to be devised to allow for supersonic and subsonic
rendezvous, and after formulating them, Phantom against Phantom, we found
that the Victor tankers were able to fit perfectly with our ideas. We
eventually got the whole thing down to a fine art and were able to adjust
the tankers holding pattern, and to turn them onto our track to fit in
with the fuel requirements at each rendezvous.
D"S"H: The landing site was the
next big question, how when and where.
There was also some discussion
as to the ground mode of transport and it was generally agreed
that the final phase of the journey to the PO Tower would be riding
pillion on the back of a Royal Marine despatch riders motorbike.
There was a bit of
practicing carried out and the Observers who would be actually running the
Race were unanimous in their agreement that they would choose a night deck
landing as an alternative every time.
Also the Phantoms had to land somewhere
as close as possible to the Post Office Tower and Captain Lygo obtained permission
to use Wisely, a satellite airfield owned by BAE. [and
a name made famous because of the Royal Horticultural Gardens] This had the
advantage that there would be no hold up by other air traffic, and a
straight in approach was possible.
Having had a look around for a
suitable helicopter landing site it became obvious that most were a motor
cycle ride away and one of the nearest, the railway yards at St.Pancras,
was knee deep in coal dust and quite unsuitable.
|
The railway yard at St Pancras
- rejected! |
D"S"H: There was, however a
building site right by the Tower and if we could get permission to use it
and the helicopter pilot said he could do it, all our problems were
solved. I approached the site manager and, luckily he was a
progressive type and said he thought it would be great and would contact
his boss. I suggested that we could arrange some positive
advertising for his Company.
|
The Moss building site
adjacent to the Post Office Tower - chosen! |
|
The actual hover point for
the helicopter, coming in from Wisley, was over a platform specially
built next to the derelict building at top left of
photograph. |
D"S"H: In
the meantime Captain Lygo arranged for the helicopter aspect and
we were allocated the machine
and a pilot Lieutenant John Dines
RN from the Royal Naval Air Station Lee on Solent. He
had operated out of jungle clearings during the Borneo troubles and was a top
notch pilot for the event. He felt the site was
fine so it was agreed that the Phantoms would land at Wisely where the
chopper would be waiting with rotor turning, which would then fly the
Observer direct to the building site. He would jump out, run across
the street and up to the Tower lift. So the end part of the Race
was decided!
THE
FLIGHT PLAN - Teams would fly in reverse order with Team 3 setting
off first.
BD: The profile finally selected would
take us out of New York on a maximum power climb to 33,000 feet,
where we would cruise at 650 mph to Nanlucket Island. Here we were
to accelerate to 1100 mph and climb to 45,000 feet or the first supersonic
leg to our refuelling point 60 miles South of Nova Scotia. Having
refuelled at reduced speed, we then planned to accelerate for our second
supersonic leg to Newfoundland. At this point we were to effect a
subsonic rendezvous with the tanker, top up, climb to 39,000 feet and
settle down to a 650 miles an hour cruise across the 'pond' using the
great circle route to 52° N 20° W and our third
rendezvous. This was to be the longest, most boring and yet, most anxious
leg, since it involved 900 miles of Dead Reckoning navigation and accuracy
depended on the forecast winds.
The
last join up with the Victor tanker was to be made under the surveillance
of HMS NUBIAN'S radar, to enable us to change altitude from 39 to 33,000
feet in the busy North Atlantic airline routes.
|
HMS NUBIAN - the CO of the
ship was Commander Bobby Leathes RN and he was charged
with overseeing the radar controlled rendezvous of the Phantoms and RAF tankers and
would also act as rescue ship in the event of a
disaster. |
BD: From this point onwards we planned to fly
around the South of Eire at up to 1100 mph, decelerating to subsonic
speeds 45 miles West of Lundy Island. From here to Wisley, the terminal
airfield, we would fly at 700 miles an hour, finishing up with a straight
in approach to the runway.
The total still air time for
this profile was calculated at 5 hours one minute. The upper wind forecast
for this route during the second week of May was a 50% chance of a mean
tail wind of 50 knots, which indicated our flight time would be around 4
hours 40 minutes, but more of this later.
BD: Meanwhile, a great
deal of planning was underway by the team headed by Captain Lygo.
RR: I was on my last few months in the Fleet
Air Arm having just relinquished Command of 849 Naval Air
Squadron.
As luck would have it, I was selected to become Team
Manager (New York) for the Phantom entry in the Great Air Race. I
suspect I was chosen by Captain Lygo because I had good knowledge of the
United States, having been on the British Navy Staff some two years
previously.
I arrived in New York and met up with a
great team who were to fly the Tooms across the Atlantic. My first
and most important job was to arrange for unlimited supplies of duty free
from the Embassy in Washington. Easy if you knew how but quite
beyond some of the other non-RN competitors in the Race. Despite
seeking an extension of my Service their Lordships reminded me that I
was due to retire on the 5th April but I
would now be
required to retire two days after the completion of the Air Race.
BD: Suitable helicopter
sites were now also surveyed in New York to determine the optimum
procedures to use between the Empire State Building and NAS Floyd
Bennett. These culminated in the selection of the 30th Street West
Heliport on Manhattan Island.
Motorcycles
were to also be
used from the Empire State Building to the Manhattan Heliport, and the race
runners, the Observer aircrew, underwent a quick PT course for the 85 yard sprint from
the Moss site to the GPO Tower.
FINAL PREPARATIONS
BD: The last ten days prior to our deployment
to Naval Air
Station Floyd Bennett were busy ones. We flew each flight leg profile individually
to double check the performance data. RNAS Yeovilton became used to
seeing the Phantoms diving at the runway, stopping as quickly as possible
and the eager Observer leaping out of the back seat as the aircraft came
to a halt. A final practice of this phase was staged just prior to our
departure for the USA involving the Wessex helicopter we were to use
in London, flown by Lieutenant John Dines.
Thursday 24th April provided us with the suitable
weather to fly the three Phantoms to New York. The flights were more or
less uneventful, and with one refuelling per aircraft, we stopped off at
Argentia, Newfoundland, before carrying on to NAS Floyd Bennett,
NY.
|
The flying teams:
From the
left: Peter Goddard; Paul Waterhouse; Doug Borrowman; Brian
Davies; Al Hickling and Hugh Drake |
In New York we
were welcomed by our small maintenance team, with the Air Engineer
Officer, Lieutenant Commander Alan Ducker, in charge and set about
organising a programme of terminal practices between the Empire State
Building and the airfield. The maintenance team did a superb job on our
aircraft and we were able to fly one last minute check flight each and to
exercise our departure profile with the New York Air Traffic Control
organisation.
|
The Maintenance
Team.
Back Row left to right : Al
Wickes, Ron Bridgeman, Keith Abnett, John Ricketts, Charlie Kunz,
Andy Crouch, Colin Yarwood, Bernie Frankland.
Front Row
left to right : Tony Bridgeland, Tony (Buggsy) Breed, Ralph Wintle,
Nick Carter, Doug Mitchell (DAEO), Graham (Charlie) Probert, George
Barrass, Les Sturgess, Bert Kimber.
|
A point here about
the operation of the race which was controlled by Captain Lygo and his
team at RAF Strike Command Headquarters. Although we were obviously looking for
a favourable wind, the decision to go or not to go basically depended on
the forecast weather in London, Goose Bay (the tanker base) and
at our diversion airfields in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and at
Shannon. We needed 3 miles of visibility and a cloud base of 1500 feet at
all these places.
RACING THE PHANTOM
The decision to go on the
4th May, the first day of the race, was made at 8 pm (New York time) the
night before.
Although there was a slack weather system giving a mean
tail wind of 9 knots, the excellent weather conditions could not be
ignored. At 4 am the 'go' was confirmed and our first crew, Lieutenant
Commander Doug Borrowman and Lieutenant Paul Waterhouse made preparations
to depart. Their main objectives were to get to Wisley adhering to the
basic plan, while at the same time finding out where we might be able to
save time on the subsequent two flights.
Paul Waterhouse
clocked out at 0800 Sunday from the top of the Empire State
Building. Unluckily he slipped up on the marble floored foyer
loosing seconds and on the way to the helipad his BSA motorcycle hit every
red light on 33rd street. Yet he leapt into the cockpit at 0815 and
Phantom 002 roared down the runway, turned left and rapidly disappeared
out of sight.
|
Number one away -
wheels coming up. |
The first section
to Nantucket Island was uneventful. However, the equipment giving the
range between the Phantom and tanker did not lock on at the first rendezvous,
but using bearings and ground control radar, the refuelling was
successfully completed. The leg to Newfoundland ran smoothly and Doug and
Paul managed to pick up 2 minutes on the planned flight time, but again the
rendezvous was hampered by lack of ranges between aircraft. On the
transatlantic leg some time was lost due to cold temperatures and an
inability to maintain the planned true air
speed.
Bearings from HMS NUBIAN were
obtained at about 300 miles and the final rendezvous went well.
It was not
until they set out for the last leg that they hit their first real
problem.
Temperatures at 40 to 45,000 feet were 12° C above standard,
resulting in an inability to fly at 1100 miles an hour while keeping
abreast of the required fuel consumption.
The
arrival at Wisley was
spectacular, as Doug unintentionally
burst both tyres during the landing run trying to
stop quickly.
Yet the flying time beat the existing
world record by 26 minutes and Paul Waterhouse's top to top time of five
and a half hours was certainly not going to be easy to
beat.
| Air race time: 5 hours 3 minutes and 18
seconds |
|
The race to the top by Paul Waterhouse
|
Rightly so,
the First Sea Lord Admiral LeFanu pours the drinks. On the left Flag
Officer Naval Air Command, Vice Admiral Sir Richard Janvrin waits
for his share.
|
BD: We
learned a great deal from the first flight, but in particular it showed us
that to better this time, we would have to look for warmer temperatures on
the subsonic leg across the Atlantic, and colder temperatures on the last
leg to achieve better true air speeds.
On Tuesday the American global weather system was
forecasting a slight improvement in the mean tail wind for the next two
days but also a progressive deterioration in the diversion airfields in
Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Within the light of this information it was
decided to launch the second aircraft on Wednesday with a forecast mean
tail winds of 19 knots.
All went well with the New
York terminal procedures and Hugh Drake, the Observer, managed to
knock one and a half minutes off the time. Alan Hickling, the
pilot, took off in Phantom 003 at 0814. At the first rendezvous, 003
was having radio troubles.
Difficulties arose during the hand over
from the Boston air traffic radar to Moncton Military Radar. This and a
series of other minor difficulties resulted in the refuelling being conducted 4
minutes late. After a somewhat hectic manoeuvre to join up with the tanker, the
rest of the flight went smoothly.
AH: The particular event that I remember most
was the missed tanker connection. After leaving the mainland USA
we accelerated to Mach 1.6 with a designated spot and time
to meet up with the Tanker. The RAF (as it happened
unfortunately) were being particularly helpful by heading our way so they could top
us up earlier. You can imagine my shock when we saw
the Tanker doing say 400 knots passing us two miles abeam while we
proceeded at 1500 kts (or so) up the designated track - this
caused a little bit of a hassle and time getting plugged in - resulting
in less fuel at the destination.
The 1000 miles (more or less) needing Dead
Reckoning over the Atlantic must seem strange now with HF
and GPS, and INS. Apart from DR the only help came
from the sun - we glued a black cotton thread to
the canopy from the starboard canopy rail over to the port rail. And
preplanned that on our heading, when the shadow of the thread
on the starboard side fell over that on the port then we would be
at such-and-such a longitude. On back-tracking after landing we reckoned we were
within 25 nm of our sun shadow estimate - all you need for a
little comfort half-way across the Pond.
BD: Alan and Hugh were able to maintain
a high true air speed in mid Atlantic in warmer temperatures
and they achieved a very fast final leg. Touch down at Wisley was
4 hours 53 minutes after take off. Hugh Drake, saved seconds by
side stepping the Customs man and the Wessex, superbly handled, made the hop to
the GPO Tower in 11 minutes.
|
The second crew: Hugh Drake and Al
Hickling. |
|
The second of the contestants:
The Phantom arrives at Wisley |
|
Phantom stopped and Observer on his
way |
|
The second of the contestants, Hugh Drake, exiting the helicopter in
the bottom picture on to the specially built
platform . |
| Air race time 4 hours 53 minutes and 6
seconds |
. . . AND THE LAST
SHALL BE FIRST
Meanwhile, back at NAS Floyd Bennett,
Peter Goddard and myself were looking rather anxiously at the forecast
weather for Thursday and Friday. A frontal system was approaching the New
York area from South West and was forecast to continue up the East Coast
of U.S.A. and Canada progressively blotting out Nova Scotia and
Newfoundland. Also I was halfway through a head cold. Captain Lygo on the
transatlantic phone call suggested the best way through was for me to turn
in with 3 aspirins, lots of blankets and sweat it out. I was fit to fly by
Friday, but the weather was not! Peter and I began to despair of ever
managing to race the last aircraft at all.
While we were waiting
to go, we digested the information received from the second aircraft. They
had been able to find more favourable temperatures and with the extra tail
wind, they had 'made' fuel throughout the trip, indicating that we would
be able to go faster in the last aircraft.
Needless to say on
Saturday we received the 'go' for Sunday, the last day of the race. The
day dawned rather miserably in New York, but thank goodness the weather
was reasonable elsewhere. Our mean tail wind for the flight was forecast
as 23 knots.
The New
York terminal arrangements were good and Peter Goddard clipped another 2
minutes off Hugh Drake's time. Phantom 001 climbed out as
planned.
 |
The first refuelling went smoothly. We had
expected layered cloud and turbulence but luckily there was no sign of
this, and we completed the refuelling without snags. It was encouraging to
see the enthusiasm of Flight Lieutenant Jock Carroll in the Victor at this
Newfoundland rendezvous. His aircraft had been suitably decorated with a
two foot high dayglo 'FLY NAVY' right across the port side.
The Atlantic crossing went
well although we lost two minutes on the planned time. However, we managed
to push the third rendezvous Eastwards, thus cutting down the refuelling
time. On the last lap, we really made up time. We planned to stay at
40,000 feet to get the most favourable true air speed and with the aid of
a 50 knot tail wind we hoped to stay abreast of the distance gone/fuel
remaining problem. All worked well and with the occasional climb to 45,000
feet to recover from
excessive fuel consumption we averaged 960 knots, true air speed (1100
mph) to Lundy Island.
Finally on towards Wisley
and here again, by remaining lower than planned altitude, we managed to
pick up an extra 80 knots and landed in 4 hours 46 minutes, luckily
without bursting any tyres.
|
|
Slick helicopter
flying and a great effort by Peter gave us a top
to top time of 5 hours 11 minutes.
|
Peter Goddard
rushes on to the winning time - maybe he had heard about the
champagne for the earlier
runs. |
Air race time 4 hours 46 minutes and 57
seconds
New world speed record for the flight: 723.8
mph |
|
The successful teams and the fastest aircraft XT858 -
the Phantom F2 of 892 Naval Air
Squadron |
BD:
Looking back, let me say that without the administration
of Captain Lygo and his team, the
enthusiastic support of our home base Yeovilton, the close co-operation of
the RAF and their Victor tankers, the assistance of the United States Navy
and many other people who helped us, we would not have accomplished
anything.
THE AFTERMATH
The prominent
words - ROYAL NAVY - on all the aircraft did much to emphasise the
Navy's air arm and its capabilities to a very wide audience. The
event was very closely followed by the British
public.
|
All helpers received the thanks of the flyers -
this D"S"H's useful present |
|
Few get to ride on a gun carriage (when alive) |
|
Few get to be interviewed by Cliff
Michelmore. |
|
Few have a Royal Marine band wheeled out to do the
honours.
Brian Davies: Vice Admiral Sir Richard
Janvrin: Peter Goddard |
|
|
Then there was the PR
Special Record Flight Covers, signed by the
aircrew, were flown in each Phantom from New York to
London, and were sold to raise money for charity.
|
|
VICKERS TROPHY GOES TO
THE ROYAL NAVY
Sir Leslie Rowan presented
the Vickers 'Alcock and Brown' trophy and a cheque for £1000 to
Lieutenant Commander Peter M Goddard RN whose time of 5
hr. 11 min. 57 sec. was the fastest overall West-to-East in the Daily Mail
Transatlantic Air Race 1969. The occasion was a celebration dinner at the
Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington on Wednesday, 14th May when trophies and
prizes were awarded to winners in the 21 categories of this Air Race.
HRH Prince Philip was at the Reception beforehand and met
and talked with winners and sponsors. He discussed flight details of
the record Navy Phantom flight with Lieutenant Commander Goddard, Senior Observer of 892
Squadron (which flight also won the Daily Mail £5000 prize).
Mr. Dennis Healey,
Secretary of State for Defence was present and the guest list contained
names of many personalities well known in flying, past and present.
|
The Daily Mail commissioned a painting of the
winning aircraft/team and Jane Allcock (great niece of the pioneer
flyer) presented the picture to Lord Rothermere (the Daily Mail
owner).
| |
