The Royal Air Force at Home: The History of RAF Air Displays from 1920

By Ian Watson

"Military public relations endeavors ultimately seek to build a sense of common interests and aims, and so generally foster good relations with the people they defend, and there in ensure a stable society. The armed forces when engaging on any public relations exercise, have traditionally sought to provide an entertaining spectacle. For years this has been typified by parades, bands, mock battles, drill displays and other relevant feats of military prowess which have captured the imagination of the public and inspired potential recruits. The 20th Century brought a new dimension to the field of warfare and subsequently added a new strand to the fabric of public ceremony and displays by the armed forces. That new dimension was the arrival of powered flight.Display flying began within five years of the Wright Brothers making their milestone first flight. The first events staged in Britain which centered on demonstrations by flying machines, were organized by the town councils of Blackpool and Doncaster and were held within days of each other in October 1909. 1920 was the year that the first of the famed and legendary Hendon Air Pageants was staged, and this is where military air shows traditionally began. The Hendon Displays were organized and staged by the still fledging Royal Air Force and it was probably due in no small part to the prestige and spectacle of this fresh new dimension of military pageantry, together with other like events held at RAF airfields through the next two decades, that the very existence of the RAF was saved from the threat of abolition. The history of the RAF's commitment (one that compares almost uniquely with other air forces) toward display flying through the years after World War II has now come of age. This account of their record in this often overlooked but then again traditional field of military customs, describes and illustrates the major public RAF events since 1920."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jun 19, 2010
• ISBN: 9781783031399

Ian Watson

Ian Watson is Senior Lecturer in Intelligent Systems at the University of Salford in the United Kingdom, and one of the world's most active researchers in CBR. He became interested in CBR after realizing its promise for industrial applications and its comparative ease of implementation. He is a member of the Research Centre for the Built and Human Environment (BUHU), where he continues his investigations of intelligent-systems methodologies and object-oriented programming and maintains AI-CBR, the center for CBR information on the World Wide Web.

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First published in Great Britain in 2010 by

Pen & Sword Aviation

an imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

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Copyright © Ian Smith Watson 2010

9781783031399

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Hendon, Pageantry in the Air

Chapter 2 - War and Peace

Chapter 3 - Battle of Britain ‘At Home’ Day

Chapter 4 - A Good Reason for an Air Display?

Chapter 5 - Days of Thunder

Chapter 6 - Organising the ‘At Home’

Chapter 7 - Something Special

Chapter 8 - Less is More?

Chapter 9 - End of an Era

Chapter 10 - Aircraft ‘At Home’

Appendices

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

In writing this book I’ve set out to present a historical view of the Royal Air Force from a different angle than that which is more usual. Not that the subject of the RAF’s commitment and policy to air shows and public displays generally has not been touched upon before, but when so, it has usually been an occasional reference, indeed, an acknowledgement along the way.

This time I trust I’ve struck a cord with those who enjoy what has come to be described as the UK’s second-largest spectator sport. To those who can remember perhaps attending one of the once many RAF stations, for many now quite some years ago, perhaps on the occasion of the annual Battle of Britain displays which figure so prominently in this book, then you may find some sense of nostalgia herein.

As I write this passage to thank those who have contributed so much, whether photographs, specific details or transcriptions from Air Council meetings minutes, a sense that an end of an era is upon us has never been more keenly felt than now; as descendants of the few become fewer, so does the contribution to the annual list of air shows which in themselves now are predominantly civilian-organised, a reverse state of affairs from the early post-war years.

Before I digress any further then, I’ll get to the point and say thank you to the following: John Wharam, John Fisher, Peter March, Alex Christie, Steve Williams, Robin Williams, Mick Jennings and Keith Butcher, all of whom provided a generous selection from which many of the pictures were drawn and are individually acknowledged. Other photographs from more formal sources have been provided by The Air Historical Branch; in particular I’m indebted to Squadron Leader Peter Singleton and Bill Hunt, who were particularly helpful in researching photographs. Other sources who have contributed are Warwickshire County Records Office, who provided some rare shots taken at Gaydon in the sixties and I’m especially grateful to the Royal Netherlands Air Force Historical Branch for their contribution. The National Archives have also proved an indispensable source not only for photographs but also for allowing transcriptions of Air Council minutes concerning early policy regarding the staging of service-organised air shows, for which I would like to say thank you in particular to Tim Padstow and Paul Johnson of the National Archives crown copyright department. The detailed participation lists and timetables of previous Battle of Britain ‘At Home’ Days, which make up the extensive appendices, appear also in no small part thanks to the National Archive, John Halley of Air Britain Historians, Midland Counties Publications, Merv Hambling of the Norfolk Aviation Society and the Royal Air Force Museum archive office at Hendon, all of whom have also proved most helpful here. Furthermore, I must thank the publishers of Aeroplane Monthly and Aviation News for their kind assistance with the reviews and quotes from 1920-21 editions of The Aeroplane and September 1963 edition of Air Pictorial,which helped research regarding the Hendon Air Pageants and organisation of the Battle of Britain Displays. Furthermore, thanks to Group Captain Nicky Loveday and Squadron Leader Roger Steele, who have given crucial advice regarding the training of display crews. Finally, I’m honoured to have received the assistance of Tim Prince, Director of RIAT and Air Vice Marshal Peter Latham, who as Leader of the Black Arrows set the standards of formation aerobatics which we see today in The Red Arrows and other premier military display teams.

There are others, I’m sure, that I have forgotten to mention. I can only apologise to those who contributed in some way but are not listed here. However, their efforts are deeply appreciated just the same.

Introduction

The armed forces of many countries have in modern times given much consideration to their relationship with the Public they serve. In Great Britain much store has traditionally been placed on the philosophy of promoting such good harmony. Like any Government service, the armed forces’ success is likely only through the support and agreement of the great majority.

Military public relations endeavours therefore ultimately seek to build a sense of common interests and aims, and so generally foster good relations with the people they defend, and thereby ensure a stable society. The armed forces, when engaging on any public relations exercise, have traditionally sought to provide an entertaining spectacle. For years this has been typified by parades, bands, mock battles, drill displays and other relevant feats of military prowess which have captured the imagination of the public and inspired potential recruits.

Britain in particular is world famous for the pomp and pageantry surrounding its institutionalised forces. There exists a precedent for a number of regular events, for example; the Edinburgh Tattoo, the Royal Tournament (although the last of this event in its original format was held in 1999), Trooping the Colour, the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance and other similar events. Many of these events, in particular the festival of remembrance, have their origins in or simply exist to commemorate those who have fallen in battle, and serve to remind the public conscience of the debt we owe, lest we forget.

The 20th century brought a new dimension to the field of warfare and subsequently added a new strand to the fabric of public ceremony and displays by the armed forces. That new dimension was the arrival of powered flight.

The first powered aeroplane flew in 1903 and consisted of a partly fabric-covered wooden framework with an original engine, existing piston engines being too heavy. The engine was designed by Charlie Taylor, who worked for the Wrights. The technology borrowed from the bicycle sprocket and chain process. The four-cylinder engine drove two chains which rotated two propellers which were designed to counter-rotate. This helped maintain the Flyer’s stability when airborne. Apart from the positioning of the propeller spinners, the engine had to be offset on the surface of the fuselage in order to make room for the pilot, who lay face down and guided the Flyer with the movement of his hips. These had to be attached to the wings via a framework and wire attachment, which enabled the position of each wing to be manoeuvred and so control direction in flight. The source of power was two rear-facing propellers driven by bicycle chains and the sole occupant lay face down on the centre of the lower section controlling everything with wooden levers. It looked complex, and given advances in aviation technology since, primitive. Named the Wright Flyer, it flew a distance of 120 feet in 12 seconds and so, on 17th December 1903 at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright soared into history as the inventors of the aeroplane. The first aeroplane flight in the United Kingdom took place on 16th October 1908 at Farnborough, although at the controls of British Army Plane No.1, a Wright Flyer look-alike, was also an American, Samuel Cody from Texas; what’s more, it stalled and crashed. Nevertheless, the invention of the aeroplane opened a new era of scientific endeavour, of technical achievement and, inevitably enough, of military prowess. Shortly before the First World War, the military possibilities of the aeroplane were investigated and established in 1912 with the birth of the Royal Flying Corps. The application of aviation to military purposes was initially afforded very little scope.

In the early stages of the First World War, so little use of air power was made, that the first squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps were tasked with nothing more than unarmed reconnaissance flights, which while hazardous did not employ aircraft directly in a combat role, as the potential of military air power was scarcely yet recognised. The situation was, however, soon to change, as pilots and their observers on both sides of the conflict felt the need to carry a pistol aloft if only for reassurance. Matters developed towards a direct combat role gradually as the natural consequence of carrying firearms was that both sides started shooting at one another and thereby engaging in the first dogfights. By 1916 the first purpose-built fighter aircraft, fitted with machine guns, became available to the air forces on both sides; the age of air warfare had truly begun. Ever since, air power has developed and diversified in countless directions. The means of application, both military and commercial, have brought about many new possibilities, not least that of public demonstration and entertainment.

Indeed, display flying began within five years of the Wright brothers making their milestone first flight. The first events staged in Britain, which centred on demonstrations by flying machines, were organised by the town councils of Blackpool and Doncaster and were held within days of each other in October 1909. At the time, the participants were typically entrepreneurs in the brave new world of aviation, there being little scope for aeroplanes in military circles at the time. Furthermore, rather than feats of sheer flying skill, aerobatics and the like, the demands of display flying at the time strayed little further than the ability of the pilot and occupants to stay with the aircraft throughout the flight and round off the sequence by making a controlled return to terra firma without sustaining any substantial damage.

The First World War halted flying displays for its duration, while at the same time, the rapid development of aviation technology for military means began its long and eventful progress. Increases in engine performance and improvement in airframe design were pursued in the quest to outmanoeuvre, outdistance and outfly the opposition. Among the more notable military innovations during the first war period were the introduction of fitted machine guns combined with engine propeller interrupter gear to allow machine guns fitted in the engine cowling to be fired through the path of the blades, and the introduction of underwing and fuselage attachments for carrying freefall bombs.

Towards the end of the war, the relevance of air power had so developed that the respective air arms of the two services, the Army’s Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service, which had hitherto vied with each other to provide the principal air arm of the British people, were combined to form the world’s first independent air force, on 1st April 1918.

Following the armistice on 11th November that same year, production of military aircraft was naturally, in line with the production of other military assets, cut back considerably. However, although slowed down and suffering from an ever increasing lack of Government investment, aircraft design and performance continued to improve. So great was the growing attraction of aviation that, following the period of abstention from display flying during the war years and given the leaps and bounds forward in development of powered aircraft, it wasn’t long after the war’s end that display flying was re-introduced. The first of the famed and legendary Hendon Air Pageants was staged in 1920, and this is where military air shows traditionally began. The Hendon Displays were organised and staged by the still-fledging Royal Air Force and it was probably due in no small part to the prestige and spectacle of this fresh new dimension of military pageantry, together with other similar events held at RAF airfields through the next two decades, that the very existence of the RAF was saved from the threat of abolition or at least from absorption back into the other services, where the role of the aeroplane would most probably have been limited to nothing more than direct support of whichever service operation, maritime or land, was called for. Certainly British air power would have been in no fit state to mount the crucial but successful campaign against Germany’s own independent air arm, which loomed in the coming years. That campaign, the Battle of Britain, and the history of its subsequent celebration and commemoration, are central to the subject of this book.

The history of the RAF’s commitment (a commitment almost unique among other air forces) to display flying through the years after the war, has now, I believe, come of age and I have sought here to put together a brief account and reflection of the RAF’s record in this relatively recent addition to the traditional field of military customs and endeavours away from the field of conflict.

Chapter 1

Hendon, Pageantry in the Air

The precedent for military air displays began, arguably, with the RAF Hendon Air Pageant, the first being held on 3rd July 1920. The air pageant was the creation of Lord Trenchard, the first Marshal of the Royal Air Force and Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), who as controller of the then RAF Memorial Fund thought this a most imaginative and attractive way of raising funds and improving perception of the RAF by the public which in these early post-war years was being led to believe the service’s role was now little more than superfluous, or in any case that its continued existence as an independent service was difficult to justify. The minute sheet to the Secretary of State for Air from Lord Trenchard when requesting permission for the 1921 pageant, referred to the grounds for approval for the 1920 event stating that approval was based on the fact that this display was entirely analogous to Naval and Military assaults at arms, Regattas, Regimental sports and the like and was a necessary and important part of the training of the RAF. Therefore, presenting the case for the pageant became an annual event.

Apart from training being the most important, a subsidiary consideration in favour of holding the pageant was that the RAF were precluded from taking any but a very minor part indeed in the Royal Tournament owing to the total unsuitability of Olympia for any essentially Air Force display.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, what has become the air show industry of today grew, with both civil and military (predominantly RAF) air display organisers striving to introduce original and ever more spectacular demonstrations. Aerobatics, time over distance, height-and-speed judging competitions, and from the military side in particular, set battle scenes, mock dogfights, precision flour bombing or attacking a small fort were standard fare for the period. But the real test of skill of airmanship determining the discipline and co-ordination which has always been essential to display flying, and which would face the application of increasingly stringent regulations in later years, is aerobatics.

Either in formation, by pair or solo, aerobatics is today, as it was in 1920, the key aspect of display flying. With everything constantly changing (and often hair-raisingly close to the ground) while an aircraft is being put through its aerobatic paces, speed, height, attitude, engine throttle and the amount of g force acting against the aircraft’s surface, the demands on the pilot’s ability to control any aircraft under such circumstances and yet present a polished performance before an audience have never been in doubt. However, the amount of responsibility and trust in the individual pilot has changed beyond comparison over the years and most dramatically so during the last forty.

e9781783031399_i0002.jpg

Bristol FB2s of 24 Squadron, formation rehearsal for the second Hendon Air Pageant in 1921. (Air Historical Branch)

In 1920 safety regulations were in place but were like nothing in comparison with those to come. The first Hendon pageant also bore no social resemblance to the RAF air shows of more recent years, although even more recently, corporate-style influence has gently turned the clock back a little. Tickets were sold at £2.10s for a six-seat box and 5s to park a car on the aerodrome; by comparison with the prices one would expect to pay now, this was expensive to say the least. Nevertheless 40,000 people jammed the roads leading towards the airfield. A list of dignitaries were present at this, the first official RAF air display, they included HRH Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, who watched the day’s flying from the Royal Box. Also present was Winston Churchill MP who would in years to come find immortal words to praise the endeavours of the RAF during the Battle of Britain.

The aircraft contributing to the 12-item flying programme included what was billed as ‘trick flying’ by a Royal Aircraft Factory SE5b, making its first public appearance and flown by a Flight Lieutenant Noakes, AFC, MM; a formation drill demonstration by five Bristol F2B fighters; a formation of five Sopwith Snipes and an air race by Avro 504Ks, which took off overhead the crowd line. Even for those far less constrained times, this item provoked a less than praiseworthy observation in one of the few aviation journals available at the time. The Aeroplane, if not the only, then perhaps the leading aviation journal, was reasonably impressed, commenting, ‘The most striking feature of the whole performance was the military precision with which the events were run.’

However, the magazine’s review of this first official Royal Air Force Display went on to list five separate grouses, the first of which was to helpfully suggest that the event should ‘move to Croydon as it is a more pleasant airfield and easier reached by rail and tram, and expects to have an electric railway to its gates in less than a year.’

The biggest grouse, however, if not the first in the list, was concern over ‘machines’ being allowed to take off towards the crowd. Again not unlike today’s commentators the review was at pains to ensure that it would not be misunderstood and made the point of praising ‘the wonderful RAF mechanics’. The main thrust of concern was over the likelihood of an engine failing ‘just when it was coming up to the crowd, either it would have to land in the middle of the people, or do a flat spin and crash itself.’ There was also concern in the article about the emotional effect on those watching from just a few feet below: ‘Only the uninitiated or the foolhardy are completely unmoved.’

Furthermore, concern at the wisdom of allowing a young lady parachutist, who was also described as an amateur, to participate. This referred to Miss Sylvia Boyden, who jumped from a Handley Page V/1500. The article claimed,

If a parachute drop had to be done it should have been done by a RAF officer or airman. At the Naval and Military Tournament one does not witness the sight of a young Beauteous Lady pirouetting gracefully on the fat back of a cavalry charger as it canters round Olympia.

As far as maintaining the published programme was concerned, only two items were missed, these being airships R.34 and NS.7, cause for one more grouse from The Aeroplane, which was calling the event a ‘pageant’ instead of a ‘tournament’.

Financially the pageant was successful, the money raised coming to £7,267.19s.2d, which was donated to the then RAF Memorial Fund, the forerunner of what became the RAF Benevolent Fund and is today the RAF Charitable Trust.

The following year, the event was held on Saturday, 2nd July, with the gates opening to the public at 11.00am. Again the entry prices were high, ranging from two shillings to ten shillings. Once again an impressive line-up of RAF current types was made available, this time solo aerobatics by a Sopwith Camel, formation flying by five Sopwith Snipes, nine Bristol fighters and a BAT Bantam, a rare machine. A number of set-piece items were billed, including a dogfight between five Snipes and three Handley Page V/1500s, from one of which, Miss Sylvia Boyden descended again; the destruction of a balloon followed by a dummy observer parachuting to the ground; a handycap air race involving a Vickers Vimy, Bristol Fighter and DH9a, and a relay race event, involving different RAF units equipped with thirteen aircraft each of the following types, Avro 504, Bristol Fighter and Sopwith Snipe. Each event was introduced by a trumpet call, and as many as four bands would be on parade to provide music through out the day. That year The Aeroplane reviewed the pageant again, but contented itself with just one grouse, that cars were parked at right angles to, rather than facing, the crowd line. This was fair comment as was further observed; those arriving early did so to no advantage, finding themselves stuck at the end furthermost from the action while the late-comers found themselves along the crowd line, albeit facing the wrong way.

One of the first and shortest-lived commercial ventures which the RAF made available at the 1921 and 1922 pageants was the opportunity for members of the public to purchase a jump-seat ride in the air races and formation flying. The tariff was £3.3s to fly in a multi-engined aircraft and £5.5s for a single.

Without being provoked by any tragic turn of events, the idea of allowing paying customers to participate as passengers in the flying display was discontinued from the 1923 event onwards, and can be regarded as an early indication that regulation and even the fear of possible litigation was already starting to cast a shadow in the direction of display flying. Since the end of the First World War, the RAF had encouraged and was now officially sanctioning aerobatics teams. Naturally the fighter squadrons were turned to for the provision of the services’ representative aerobatics teams. The principal display team type at the 1920 and 1921 Hendons was the Sopwith Snipe, in 1922 and 1923 it was the SE5a and it was back to Snipes again in 1924. Other display teams used the more recent front-line types of the day including the Gloster Grebe, Armstrong-Whitworth Siskin and Gloster Gamecock.

There came a break with tradition in 1927 which in a sense prophesied the future with regard to the role of the aircraft type chosen as an aerobatics team mount. The service fielded a team of five DH60 Moths. The Moth was only a light training aircraft; indeed, it was not even in regular service with the Royal Air Force, its application being as a civil trainer. I make the point that this was in some way a premonition of the future, as military display teams from the mid-1960s largely moved from using current front-line types to lighter, less awesome training aircraft. However, the choice of the de Havilland Moths powered by Armstrong-Siddeley Genet 5-cylinder radial engines for the Central Flying School (CFS) team proved to be worthwhile, much the same, one may think, of the choice in the 1960s to select aircraft such as the Folland Gnat and the Jet Provost in place of the operational Lightnings and Hunters. Through the years the annual Hendon Pageant drew many notable VIPs among its spectators, the appearance of royalty each year set a precedent that made Hendon a fashion highlight of the social calendar. King George V in 1925 was invited to give control orders over the wireless to a squadron of Grebes. A number of pilots whose names would in time become legends in RAF history were, in this era of peace across Europe, making names for themselves as aerobatics entrepreneurs at Hendon. They included Douglas Bader and Jeffrey Quill, whose name became synonymous with test-flying the Spitfire.

As the twenties gave way to the thirties a new generation of fighter aircraft were being delivered to the squadrons. Among these was the Hawker Fury, widely regarded as the finest fighter of its generation. Like the new fighters built at the turn of the 1930s it was fitted with an inline Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine and sported a nose cone to complete the bullet-shaped forward fuselage. From 1931, the Hawker Fury was the RAF’s principal interceptor and became the most prestigious aircraft to equip any of the services aerobatics teams during the 1930s. No. 43 Squadron flew a team of three Furies at the 1931 Hendon pageant, providing one of the most scintillating displays yet. It may have been the appearance of its sleek inline engine providing a bullet-like nose (state-of-the-art for 1931) or the comparative step forward in power, but either way, the Fury remained the preferred mount of RAF operational aerobatics teams, for the remainder of the Hendon pageants, at least. During this period, among the civilian-organised air pageants were the air circuses and pageants at Doncaster, the scene of one of the first air displays. The air pageants here included a night-flying display at the Doncaster race course, which included a Vickers Virginia taking off decorated with hundreds of light bulbs, as if it were an airborne adornment to the Blackpool or Las Vegas illuminations. The post-First-World-War Doncaster shows ran from 1932 until 1st July 1936.

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Early Aerobatics team in about 1933. (Air Historical Branch)

In 1937 No. 1 Squadron, then the sister squadron of 43, at RAF Tangmere, was selected to field its display team of four Furies at that year’s Hendon display. The team, led by Flight Lieutenant Teddy Donaldson, flew a sequence of loops, rolls and stall turns in close formation. Later that year they took part in the international aerobatics competition at Zurich in Switzerland. The No. 1 Squadron team astonished the Swiss, French, Italians and Germans by taking to the air in dismally poor weather conditions, which forced the other teams to stay on the ground, and fly their full display sequence while the cloud base remained at 200 feet. Elsewhere overseas, at Villacoublay in France, 87 Squadron flew Gloster Gladiators, which despite their radial engines represented a step forward in performance over the Fury once again, tied, or rather connected, with rope from wingtip to wingtip. This last imaginative airborne stunt has relatively recently been reprised by the Moroccan Air Force’s premier display team, Green March, flying Cap 230s and, again, connected wingtip to wingtip.

The pageant held on 26th June 1937 marked the last of the annual Hendon pageants. The following year the Air Ministry announced, on 30th January, the end of the display, as the airfield was too small for the latest type of aircraft. Over the years since the first one in 1920, it is claimed that more than 4,000,000 spectators had visited the display and more than £150,000 had been raised for the RAF charities. The last event attracted 186,000 visitors, of which 70,000 were admitted free and