Hornet and Sea Hornet Aircrew and Groundcrew Reunion
DeHavilland Aircraft Heritage Centre (Mosquito Aircraft Museum)
21st May 2005
Thank you to all who attended the re-union. The following photographs try to show all who attended. Appologies for any one who does not appear here. Specially commissioned artwork by Mr.Paul Couper for a Hornet and a Sea Hornet was signed by everyone in attendance, and has now been reproduced in A3 print form if anyone wishes to purchase one to support the project. See prints on this page for details below.
A3 Signed print(s) of the de Havilland Hornet / de Havilland Sea Hornet are available for purchase for £12 unframed, or £20 framed, plus P+P by either contacting Mr. David Collins via this website: dcollins103@hotmail.com, or from the artist Mr. Paul Couper via his website: www.paulcouper.co.uk.
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Hornet Recollections
809 NAS Cruise to Gibraltar 1953
I joined 809 Sqdn at RNAS Culdrose just before Christmas 1952 my first squadron draft, the whole squadron was in turmoil due to the fact that we were due to join HMS Eagle in the new year, this meant packing all the spares and replacement parts in wooden boxes ready for transport by road to Portsmouth. The big day arrived, we were taken in buses to the railway station to join a special train, sounds good but it was to be a 5 hour journey and when we arrived at Portsmouth, would you believe, we had to march to the dockyard carrying kitbags and hammocks. Thank goodness it was January and not July.
Sailing time came and we made an uneventful departure on our “cruise” to Gibraltar, the aircraft joined the ship and our workup started, deck landing practice being the order of the day, the Sea Hornet was quite a large aircraft and not many of the aircrew had deck landing experience especially in a twin engined aircraft. All went well to start with until about the third day, it was lunch time, all the a/c were on the deck, at the time it was not the practice to tie the a/c down during lunchtimes but rather to have all of the sqdn duty watch on deck with one person sitting in the cockpit of each a/c ready to apply the brakes if the chocks moved apart as they were prone to do, I was the duty radio mech and as I had to change a VHF radio control box anyway I drew the short straw on one of the a/c.
All went well to start with, but the chocks started to move apart and the a/c was starting to roll back and forth about 18” to 2’, I applied the brakes and called for another member of the squadron to replace the chocks tight up to the wheels, at this point there was a bang and a puff of black powder from the port brake, the brake bag had burst, so no brakes equals no good reason to stay in the cockpit and I was advised to exit sharply, this I did. It was at this point that the ship started to roll far more than it had been doing, the chocks were being pushed further apart once again but now it was getting dangerous to get under the a/c to replace them so the flight deck party were summoned to strike the a/c down on to the hangar deck, these guys all experts at their jobs refused any help from the squadron duty crew, they fitted the towing arm to the tail wheel, took the chocks away and started to manoeuvre the a/c on to the aft lift.
What happened next? You’ve guessed it, the carrier took a particularly heavy roll to Stbd, and the Hornet took control, trundled across the deck and hit a Sea Hawk. The ship then rolled to Port and the luckless Hornet reversed its direction, but this time there were no other aircraft for it to hit it therefore bounced its main wheels into the walkway at the side of the deck, these snapped off and the a/c took a leisurely dive over the side into Davy Jones' locker.
This was bad enough, but when a squadron muster was called one man was missing, it was thought that he may have been skiving in the rear cockpit of the aircraft and that he had gone down with it, the ship was search from stem to stern, no easy job on a warship especially a carrier, he was eventually found asleep in a store room. To say that he was not popular would be an under statement!
We were subsequently thrown off the carrier to operate from North Front airfield at Gibraltar, with no complaints from squadron personnel we were split up. Some were put into HMS Rook the shore base and some to the Toc H camp at the other end of Gib from the airfield.
We had a pleasant couple of months operating from the RAF run airfield, we then had to pack everything up for shipment back to the UK with the aircraft being flown back direct to Culdrose and then on to Northern Ireland, we never saw our a/c again. Some time later they were chopped up hence there is not a complete Sea Hornet NF 21 in existence. (A small piece of rear fuselage from former 809 Squadron NF.21 VX250 can be seen at the de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre, Salisbury Hall).
Brian Philips, 809 Squadron '52-'53.
703 squadron NAS
During my time in 703 squadron NASWDU/CTU (Naval Air Sea Warfare Development Unit/Carrier Trials Unit) at HMS Daedalus, Lee-on-Solent our C.O. was Lt/Cdr W. R. J. MacWhirter DSC - (Robert to his peers, though not to us lower deck rates you understand!). I was but a sprog mechanic then and to us he was a war hero, although at that stage I had no knowledge of that period in his life. He was 'the boss' therefore (as commanding officers generally are) somewhat remote in that I don't recall having ever spoken to him. However, he certainly had charisma and I never forgot him.
Two reasons - one, in that after calling the squadron to attention at Divisions one day he about turned and nonchalantly 'dribbled' a pebble right across the parade ground en route to reporting to the Captain (!). The Captain showed no sign of registering this neat feat (feet?) but I do know that I wasn't alone in the ranks of the impressed - if only for the reason that he got away with it!
The second reason is the Hornet connection. At that time, in visiting various parts of the UK, when Richard Dimbleby used to present a popular weekly BBC radio programme of interviews with people engaged on their daily round called Down your way, following which they would be asked for their choice of music. One Sunday afternoon whilst aboard and in the messdeck on a duty weekend I must have been wheezed up that our C.O. was to broadcast whilst airborne and I recall him coming over loud and clear on what must surely have been a quite unique occasion.
Once I was drafted from 703 at Ford - to Station Flight - our paths never again crossed but a few years back I chanced across mention of a book titled Rating Pilot RN - 1912 -1954, written by Alan Clifford in 2000, and in contacting him to obtain a copy I told him the story as he too served in 703. It transpired that he had known and been given an opportunity of advancement by Robert, eventually leading to a commission, for which he was ever grateful, and being still in touch he passed on my memories. As a result I was both surprised and delighted to receive a quite unexpected direct response from Robert dated 22 July 2002! He was then a retired Captain RN living at Chichester and couldn't recall the 'dribbling incident ...but', he said ...'I do remember the second. R. Dimbleby and a Sea Hornet. It was a lovely clear morning, sun shining, and from around 10,000 feet the Solent was glittering and the whole I. of Wight was laid out more or less below. Those were the days!! I chose "Woodman, Woodman, spare that tree" which was popular at the time. That was my last "hands on" flying job. I left after we moved to Ford and was presented with a large tankard engraved "From Chiefs, PO's and Ratings of NASWDU/CTU May 1950". Much valued of course and currently full of white roses on the sideboard. 52 years ago, makes you think?'
Peter Dilley, airframe mechanic (Rigger/Woodworker) circa '49.
A Feathered Friend
In 1948 and 49 I was the Station Navigation Officer at RAF Lakenheath when the USAF sent visiting wings of B29 and B50 bombers to do a couple of months detachment there from the USA. Fighter Command laid on a visit of examples of the RAF fighters they would be working with while in England. These 'circuses' usually contained a Vampire, a Meteor and a Hornet.
The fighters would fly over and then each would perform some aerobatics and demonstrate their aircraft before landing at Lakenheatth to be examined by the Americans. The Hornet was always last to perform and each display ended with the Hornet zooming down on the assembled USAF aircrews, pull up and feather one engine before returning to fly low over the crowd before pulling up once more. It would then feather both engines and repeat the manouevre before flying around with both engines still feathered before landing.
Without exception at each visit the Americans could not believe their eyes. After the Hornet had taxied in they would swarm around it looking for the jet engine they thought it must have had. There was some excuse for them because at that time the USAF had (I think) a Ryan fighter which had a radial engine in its nose and a jet in the tail. They could not believe the clean lines of the DH Hornet allowed it to 'glide' so superbly. One up to the Brits!
F. R. Leatherdale, DFC, Sqn Ldr, RAF (ret'd).
A Ditching
The memories of my ditching are still quite clear and are supported by my flying log book and personal diary. I began the diaries in 1941 and events and people are all recorded. Sadly, in the last couple of years my diaries have become increasingly patchy and I begin to wonder whether to call an end to them at the end of this year – after all 64 years is not bad going!
The date was Friday, 16 September 1949, during the second week of the Home Fleet’s Autumn Cruise. 801 Sqdn Sea Hornets and 813 Sqdn Firebrands had embarked in HMS Implacable on 5th Sept. in the English Channel. The ship was the first aircraft carrier to become Fleet flagship.
We had anchored overnight in Cromarty Firth and sailed early in the morning for exercises in the Moray Firth area. The sea was calm, visibility good and there was very little wind. The ship was on an EN Easterly heading and at a good speed to give us some wind over the deck.
My flight leader had taken off in his Hornet and had then made a slight turn to starboard to clear his slipstream from the deck. I was waved off as No. 2 in Sea Hornet TT211. I had taken off using full take-off power, all appeared to be well and I began a slight turn to starboard. At this point I attempted to level my wings but the flying controls appeared to be inoperative and the aircraft was in a slight descent. Full power was still on. In the few seconds before the aircraft hit the water, starboard wing down, I took the only action I could and pulled back hard on the port throttle. The port wing dropped, the aircraft hit the water level, skidded along the surface and came to a stop. As the sea rushed in, I rushed out. I inflated my ‘Mae West’ as the aircraft disappeared below the surface. A few seconds later I was inflating my dinghy and climbed on board. Everything had worked our perfectly just as in dinghy drill. ‘Implacable’ had left me far behind.
Meanwhile, HMS ‘St. Kitts’ out escorting destroyer came racing up and lowered a sea boat from the davits while the ship was slowing. The boat’s crew pulled strongly towards me. A loud-hailer ordered the coxswain to ‘return the pilot to ‘Implacable’’. I was able to climb on board with everything intact.
Whilst in the boat I had changed from my flying overalls into a nice warm blanket. We waited until the flagship hove-to and the boat’s crew pulled alongside. Now I faced a long climb up the rungs of a long ladder built into the ship’s starboard side to one of the weather decks. I shed my blanket in the boat and was now clad in only my under-pants, shoes and socks. Oh! The ignominy! As I met the group on deck – senior officers, padre, medical officer and the ratings who helped me over the side – I realised that my pants were an ugly browny-yellow colour! The flourescein dye from my survival kit had discoloured everything.
I was ordered to bed following a bath, a tot of brandy and a sleeping tablet. I slept for an hour or two then had lunch in bed and got up in the early afternoon. The weekend at Invergarden intervened and I flew again first thing on Monday. Opinion was that the slipstream from the aircraft ahead of me had been the cause. I remember that I thanked God as I climbed into my dinghy.
Lt Eric G Beachinor, RN
