The first RCAF squadron to equip with Sabres was No. 410. It had become Canada's first jet squadron when it began equipping with Vampires under S/L RA "Bob" Kipp in late 1948. The squadron soon gained fame as it toured Canada and the United States putting on spectacular air shows with its Blue Devils demonstration team. In 1950 it was three months on the road with its Vampires on Exercise Sweet Briar, which centered in Alaska and the Yukon.
The squadron diary notes that on April 10, 1951, 410 had one Sabre at its temporary Dorval base. It had been flown over from Canadair by F/L Doyle, but had to go back to the plant the next day on account of mechanical problems. Meanwhile, the squadron had to content itself flying two Harvards as it had relinquished its Vampires to the auxiliary. Finally, on May 19, two Sabres showed up; then three more on the 25th. Soon there was a full complement of Sabres and flying was beginning to build up.
In November 1951, 410 became the first squadron in No. 1 RCAF Air Division and prepared to sail aboard HMCS Magnificent for the UK, where it would be based at North Luffenham. One of the young pilots ready to make the trip was F/O Robin "Red" Morris. He had joined the RCAF in 1949, making his initial flight April 11 at Centralia in a Harvard. In less than a year he was at Chatham where, on April 17, 1951, he made his first Vampire flight. He joined 410 the following month, and took a Sabre (19119) up for the first time on May 29. On September 4, 13 and 18 Red ferried 19151, 19163 and 19150 respectively to Norfolk, Virginia, where the squadron's Sabres were cocooned by the US Navy, then loaded aboard ship (25 above, 11 below decks). After these ferry flights, the 410 pilots took commercial flights back to Dorval. Some were reportedly indignant when refused permission to carry their parachutes aboard the airliners!
Life at North Luffenham was to be exciting, to say the least. It was a fighter pilot's heaven, with intensive flying whenever weather allowed. There were few restrictions, with almost any aircraft in the skies being fair game for the Sabres of 410 (and later 439 and 441). Red Morris was involved in air combat with two RAF Vampire FB5s on August 11, 1952, when the potential for trouble in the fighter game became readily apparent. The Vampires brushed, and Red watched as one (WA189) suddenly turned into little bits of wood and aluminum fluttering earthward. No sign of the pilot. Then, far below, a parachute billowed. The pilot had been flung clear and landed safely in marshland. His memory, it seems, was totally blank regarding the whole incident.
Unfortunately, 1 Wing was to record many accidents during its three years at North Luffenham. The first fatal Category A (write-off) appears to have involved 19177 and 19181 in a mid-air on April 18, 1952, near The Wash. F/O's Kerr and Rayner were killed in the crash. Many another Category A was to follow - aircraft getting hung up in weather and running short of fuel, in-flight fires, short landings, etc. F/O DG Tracey had a fuel crisis December 16, 1953, and had to abandon his Sabre. For some reason he was unable to use his ejection seat, tried to get out on his own, but didn't make it.
One of the earliest Sabre crashes in the RCAF occurred at Dorval on June 20, 1951. F/O Ron Found relates what happened to him that day:
410 (F) Squadron under S/L Larry Hall had moved from St. Hubert to Dorval as runway work was being carried out at St. Hubert. The squadron gave up its mighty Vampires and the pilots their white scarves, leather helmets and goggles. The new Sabres started arriving in May 1951. Dorval, an international civil airport, had long and well-marked runways and our pilots fell into the habit of approaching on the fast side and letting the aircraft float down the runway until it was ready to land. An excellent practice for clearing the runways quickly, but poor training for the type of runways we would soon be using in England.
S/L Larry Hall was not impressed with this habit we were developing and at morning prayers had all pilots rebriefed on correct approach and landing speeds. We were briefed to fly the correct approach and landing speed or to go around.
My accident occurred in late morning. I was on my fifth Sabre mission, had completed all mission items, and was returning to Dorval. Speed, altitude and bank all seemed fine on the final turn, but by the time I hit the fence I was almost 10 Kts fast. As briefed, I commenced an overshoot with the intent of correcting the final approach speed on the next circuit. The initial part of the overshoot seemed normal, however about 1/3 down the runway it was obvious that acceleration was lacking. Thinking this was caused by drag I raised the undercarriage and flaps. No improvement was noted; if fact, airspeed and altitude (10-15 feet) began to slowly decrease. At about 2/3 runway I hit the emergency fuel switch, which resulted in a short, sharp burst of thrust and then nothing. (I later learned that because I put the emergency fuel on with the throttle full open, the power had gone from whatever the engine stable condition was, say 60%, to maximum instantaneously. This resulted in the engine melting out the tailpipe. The tower reported molten metal streaming out the tailpipe onto the runway). I had very little runway left, the ILS shack was straight ahead, and I considered I had insufficient airspeed and altituse to turn safely. I set the aircraft on the ground just before the ILS shack. My expectation of a plywood building with a copper antenna proved untrue - It had a concrete foundation three feet or so above the ground. The good old Sabre went through cleanly, losing its wings in the process and coming to rest 100-200 feet beyond. I shut the aircraft down, took my helmet off and placed it on the windshield. I then heard the fire behind and exited the cockpit in a great hurry. (Interestingly, the canopy was completely destroyed but I didn't try to open it.) When I realized that I had left my hemet on the windshield, I went back for it.
When the firefighters and ambulance arrived, which they did very quickly, I was leaning against a fence 100 yards or so away. The first firefighter out of the truck asked me who I was. I told him, the pilot, but he seemed to doubt. F/L Mike Doyle, my Flight Commander, who arrived with the ambulance had to provide confirmation.
The only injuries sustained were abrasions on my left elbow and over my left eye, both so insignificant that the doctor, besides providing a nice drink of brandy, only put on two bandaids, and those for sympathy.
One sad result of the accident was that the emregency fuel switch which was wired OFF - an atrocious solution when all that was required was more information and training for the pilots. This condition remained for a considerable time, thus we lost a valuable emergency system for no good reason.
The most important and longest-lasting result was the use of the hard hat. 410 pilots were the first issued with protective helmets. They were the US Navy two-piece type. This meant the inner soft nylon mesh helmet could be worn by itself without the hard outer protective shell. Wearing of the shell was not mandatory and we were led to belive that they were probably just a nuisance and would soon be left in our lockers.
Just before impact with the ILS shack, I was leaning well forward to see over the nose. When impact occurred, the harness locked and my head snapped forward and down onto the top of the control column. My helmet took the total blow and had a distinct scar front dead-centre. There is no question in my mind that without the hard hat I would not have survived the accident. The helmet was taken by G/C West, Director of Flight Safety, and was used in safety lectures. It took me six months to get it written off my kit, but I never saw a pilot fly a high performance aircraft without one after, certainly not on 410.
Ron Found
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S/L Douglas "Duke" Warren took command of 410 at North Luffenham in May 1952. Warren was an ex Spitfire pilot. He and his twin, Bruce, had joined the RCAF in 1940 and served togethed from then till war's end. Duke relates some of his early Sabre memories:
I first flew the F-86 at Chatham on April 18, 1952, when it was just being introduced into RCAF inventory. Chatham still had Vampires on strength at the OTU. I already knew a good deal about the F-86, for my brother, Bruce, while a test pilot at Avro Canada, had visited Wright-Patterson AFB where he flew a USAF F-86 on March 1, 1951. Bruce spoke highly of the F-86, telling me how easy it was to go supersonic with a little help from gravity. The comparison between the controls at speed of the CF-100 and the F-86 found the former sadly lacking. (Bruce had been test flying the CF-100s so he knew what he was taling about).
Shortly after Chatham, I was transferred to North Luffenham as OC 410 Squadron. I was delighted with this, as our F-86 Sabres were the best fighters in the UK and Europe at the time. In spite of all the admin and paper work, I managed to fly 22 hours my first month at 410. On August 1, I had the squadron at Soosterburg, Holland for the big airshow at Typenberg Airport, The Hague. Before we created any supersonice booms, I checked with air show organizers regarding all the local greenhouses. Did they really want the booms? I was assured they did, so we did. And as was expected, there was a lot of broken glass, but that was all taken care of by the air show people.
One flypast that gave me great personal pleasure was at Dieppe on August 19. I had flown a Spitfire at the Bttle of Dieppe, shared in destruction of a Do 217, saw many aircraft, both friend and foe, shot down, watched with anzirty the Canadian Army below, and lost several friends with whom I attended school in Alberta. And here I was, leading a squadron of supersonic fighters over the now-peaceful Dieppe shores. It had been only 10 years, and none of my fellow pilots on 165 Squadron that August day in 1942 would have believed that we would be flying overhead in 1952 had I been able to make a prediction.
I spent 13 months at North Luffenham, logging 190 hours, that in spite of admin tasks, standing in as COpsO when the Wingco was away, and shortages of aircraft because of the troublesome (at the time) situation with inverters and gun-plugs. It had been enjoyable, but I was very pleased when notified on July 1, 1953, that I was posted to Korea.
S/L Warren took his squadron to gunnery practice at RAF Acklington during 1953. Nearby there were excellent range facilities, even for the worst of UK weather. Included was excellent radar coverage over the North Sea off the Northumberland coast. Even the smallest vessles could be seen on the radar, and the air-to-air controllers were so experienced that they could simultaneously watch and position drogue and firing aircraft in very limited visibility.
Warren relates: "The squadron flew to Acklington April 28. This was a famous World War II night fighter station, but now was the RAF's main gunnery camp/ I knew several of the senior RAF officers at Acklington, and we got into some lively discussions about armament on the Sabre and the radar ranging gunsight. The RAF chaps were quite scornful of our light .50 guns compared to the much heavier cannon standard on British fighters like the Meteor, Hunter and Swift. I agreed with the effectiveness of the cannons, but pointed out what a fine job aircraft like the Mustang, with its .50s had done against the cannon-armed Fw 190s and other Luftwaffe wartime fighters. Discussions were always very friendly and interesting - just fighter pilots airing their views about combat theory.
"One day a Meteor tow plane from Acklington was struck by a round of .50 calibre. It landed safely, but the canopy rail was damaged, preventing the pilot from getting out of the cockpit for some time. We immediately view the gun camera film from the Sabre involved. What we saw was that the attack had been normal, all angles-off within limits. But by mischance one round glanced off the tow bar and ricocheted forward to strike the Meteor.
"When the Meteor was more closely examined, it was found that after striking the canopy, the round then penetrated the main spar, causing Cat A damage! I now looked forward to meeting again with my RAF friends, and when we were well into it I said, "I know our point fives are not as effective as 20mms, but one of our out-of-date rounds, by only ricocheting off the bar, but the main spar of a Meteor. Imagine if a six-gun Sabre firing armour-piercing and indendiary ammo had unloaded at the Meteor?" Hereafter the controversy subsided considerably, but I must admit I took some great delight in pushing the needle into my RAF friends, quoting their views about our "friendly ineffective point fives".
In the March 1954 issue of Tailpipe, W Hopskins and G Gatro provided in verse a good-natured rapping of 410 pilots' knuckles. One assumes that the poets were among the ranks of the airplane fixers at North Luffenham:
Life Gets Dangerous
The sun gets up and the sun goes down,
410 kites go round and round.
They just get up and it's time to come down,
Drop tank leaking somewhere.
My mask is unplugged but I don't care,
I'm still getting lots of air.
The pins ain't even in my chair,
Life gets dangerous don't it?
The oleo legs get lower and lower,
Aint's been filled for months or more.
I'll probably prany and that's for sure,
Just can't depend on nothing.
The tyres are low and the rudder leans,
The ground is all soaked with kerosene.
They can't even keep my windshield clean.
Just one thing after another.
Just sucked a groupie up the snout,
If I shut down he may get out;
And then I'd be in dutch no doubt
Sure got trouble ain't I?
Corrosion knawing at the nose wheel door,
Been gnawing there for a year or more,
When it wears through they'll sure be sore,,,
Cause someone's got to change it.
Now old Joe Pilot's an awful sight,
Got to bed too late last night.
At twenty thousand he was turning white;
Smokey's must be booming.
The idling's high and the temp's too low
The hole in the flap is starting to grow;
I can't even get a good fuel flow,
Motor bikes are safer.
Flying is through and the day is done,
But we'll be here with the morning sun.
Some ignorant people think it's fun,
But it's just wasted effort.
Updated: May 18, 2003
