N.Z. host to ‘hunt the sub’ contest

Press, 21 October 1978, Page 9

N.Z. host to ‘hunt the sub’ contest

The waters off New Zealand’s north-eastern coast to become the arena for one of the most demanding submarine hunts seen in this country. Four Commonwealth air forces will assemble in Auckland early next month and pit their best maritime aircrews against one another in in a competition to find the Commonwealth’s supreme hunter. At stake is the Fincastle Trophy—an ornate silver tray—and the reputation of those involved in the prq- ( fessional skills of antisubmarine warfare. Since 1961, the maritime air forces of New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom have put forward their best maritime aircrews in pursuit of the trophy. New Zealand has won it once in these 17 years of competition—in 1964 when a venerable Sunderland flyingboat from No. 5 Squadron triumphantly headed off the other nations flying more modern aircraft. Four years ago the competition took place for the first time in New Zealand and the trophy left this

country ,in the custody of the crew of a Royal Air Force Nimrod maritime aircraft. On November 6 the 1978 competition will get under way off the Bay of Plenty coast. Current holders, the R.A.F., will be competing with a pure-jet Nimrod—a maritime version of the Comet. Australia will be represented by an Orion and the Canadians by a pistonengined Argus. New Zealand’s entry is an Orion of No. 5 Squadron from R.N.Z.A.F. Base, Auckland.

The quarry in the competition will be the Australian submarine H.M.A.S. Otway whose underwater evasiveness should be honed to near perfection after the fournation maritime exercise Longex off the coast this month.

The competition, based on two exercises to be flown by each crew, one by day and ffie other by night, provides "an opportunity for Commonwealth Air Forces to compete with one another in demonstrating their ability, using all the sensors available to them, to detect, classify, localise and attack an evading submarine.” The night exercise is rela-

tively simple. The aircraft has only to detect, home to, illuminate, attack and photograph the submarine which must be snorkelling throughout the exercise.

The difficulty is that the submarine can be anywhere within a 5760 square kilometre area of ocean and that the aircraft has only two hours in which to find it. No allowances are made for aircraft unserviceabilities or delayed take-offs. The exercise is a race against the clock.

The more difficult day exercise involves “no holds barred” free play over a period of four hours. The aircrew may use any means to find and “destroy” the submarine which, in turn, is free to take all possible action to avoid being caught.

The R.N.Z.A.F. Orion in pursuit of the trophv will be captained by Squadron Leader R. J. Carran of Whenuapai.

The Fincastle Trophy was presented in 1960 by the parents of Sergeant 'Naim Aird Whyte who was killed in action in 1943 while serving as an air gunner in R.A.F. Coastal Command.