21 Jan 55
1 Wing Maintenance
441 Sqn ceased flying on the 1 December leaving only 439 Sqn Sabre aircraft on strength. The Sqn flew 537:55 hours, an average of 33:40 hrs per a/c.
Maintenance completed four 100 hr and five 50 hr inspections in the period with 2 engine changes on Sabre aircraft.
The Expeditor flew 18:35 hrs and underwent a 100 hr inspection during the month
T-33's flew 62:10 hrs with one 100 hr inspection being performed.
The maintenance workload has decreased consideably and as a consequence personnel can be released to proceed to Marville.
2 Supply
Supply had a routine month with nothing of interest to report.
3 ME Section
The mobile equipment section were busy operating vehicles here and at Marville. A total vehicle mileage of 58,797 was recorded for both stations.
Eleven vehicles of all types were roaded to Marville during the month.
The accident rate was low, considering weather conditions and the festive season, at 4 for the month.
4 Telecommunications
A routine month for this section with the administrative teleprinters handling 1606 incoming and 1210 outgoing messages.
January saw the commencement of the move proper to Marville. Sections began to pack non essential equipment for movement by C-119s of Transport Command. Five C-119s were employed in a very successful operation whereby the large bulk of the technical equipment was moved. 439 Sqn was still operating necessitating full Maintenance operation. Some 500 rockets were fired on the air-ground range providing tactical training for the armament personnel. Mobile Equipment commenced the movement of vehicles and equipment by road.
In February 439 closed down in preparation for the move on the 15th. This enabled the Technical Sections to package and ship the remainder of their equipment. Personnel were transferred to Marville as they became redundant to allow a progressive build up there. The C Tech SO and staff moved to Marville effective 28 Feb 55 to commence operation at Marville eff 1 Mar. Thus the move from 1 (F) Wing North Luffenham to 1 (F) Wing Marville was carried out with a minimum of disruption and time lag.
March saw Marville manned to approximately 75% strength and sections busily unpacking and installing in preparation for the arrival of the first Sabre Vs of 439 Sqn. On arrival these were given thorough acceptance checks by Maintenance and Squadron personnel. In as much as flying was limited to 2 hours per day an impressive total of flying hours could not be established. However Marville was initiated as an operational Air Base of 1 Air Division.
In April with 441 Sqn and 410 Sqn returned, operations were nearly normal. Sections were sufficiently organized to carry on normal maintenance operations. 21 #3 checks and 5 #4 checks were carried out by Maintenance for a total of 796 hours on Sabres. The ME Section amassed an impressive mileage due to the necessity of utilizing road transport.
May saw the movement of the last personnel and equipment from North Luffenham and a difficult and extensive move had been completed. With the squadrons on a restricted flying schedule a total of 1043:50 hrs were amassed. Maintenance performed 8 #2 checks, 9 #3 checks, 2 #4 checks and 1 #5 checks with 3 engine changes. Sections had mostly completed their organizations and were settled in, in preparation for the full scale flying programe scheduled to commence 1 Jun 55.