CONVERSION TO CANBERRAS

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28958, 28 July 1959, Page 7

CONVERSION TO CANBERRAS

Pigeon Bay Man On Courses In U.K.

When the first flight of new Canberra bombers of the Royal New Zealand Air Force reaches Ohakea from the United Kingdom later this year one of them will have been flown half-way round the world by a Pigeon Bay man. He is Flight Lieutenant M. F. M. Palmer, who went to England last January to complete a series of Canberra conversion courses at various Royal Air Force stations, says an airforce public relations news release. Flight Lieutenant Palmer is at present completing the last of the courses at the Royal Air Force Station at Gaydon, near Oxford, and will then await the delivery of the first production models of the bomber from the manufacturers, English Electric. On receiving , the aircraft the four pilot-navigator crews will begin a series of shake-down flights in preparation for the 12,000 mile journey to Ohakea. where the Canberras will be stationed. Flight Lieutenant Palmer, aged 30. joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1949. He served in Cyprus in 1952 and in Malaya with No. 14 Squadron when it was a fighter squadron operating with Venoms. He is again with No. 14 Squadron which is re-equipping with the Canberras. Since he arrived in England he has attended a two weeks engine maintenance course at the Rolls-Royce factory at Derby, a Royal Air Force bomber operations technique and procedure course at Up wood, a course on flying safety at Farnborough and a Canberra conversion course at the Royal Air Force station at Bassingbourne.

At Bassingbourne one month was spent with the ground school covering navigation, weapons, meteorology, air frames, engines, fuel and electrical systems, operating techniques and safety drills. Much of this period was spent in the airmanship hall, where there are scale models of six types of Canberras on which aircrews can practice drills and procedures they need to know in the air. Decompression Tests Three decompression runs were done during this stage including an explosive decompression to simulate a cabin pressure failure at an altitude of up to 50,000 feet. This was done by taking the chamber up to 35,000 feet, then very quickly up to 50,000 feet. Flight Lieutenam Palmer said that mist formed everywhere as the air expanded and the moisture condensed. At the same time the gas in his stomach rushed up with such a force that it pushed his oxygen mask away.

The flying conversion began with four dual trips in a Canberra trainer before he was ’‘married-up” with his navigator —Flight Lieutenant A. R. Campbell. of Gore—with whom he will always fly in future. A total of some 80 hours’ flying experience was gained in the Canberras at Bassingbourne, made up of 14 daylight trips and the remainder, on night flying.