by Colin Downes
A significant factor in the use of air power in any armed intervention, engagement or hostilities involves the Rules of Engagement. Certainly as far as the British Commonwealth and US armed forces are concerned, ever since the end of the Second World War the most efficient use of air power has been assessed and dictated to by politically inspired rules of engagement, and as a consequence of this the resulting amendments and the restrictions imposed have inhibited and frustrated the most effective use of air power. I witnessed and experienced such constraints in Korea and during the Suez Campaign. However, the most restrictive rules of engagement were experienced by the Americans during the Vietnam War and resulted in the loss of many aircraft and their crews in fighting not only the enemy but the rules of engagement.
My last memorable flight occurred after my second retirement to become a senior citizen. A fascinating drive across Australia from Perth to Sydney made me appreciate the immensity of the continent when I realised that this had been the equivalent to a drive from London to Moscow. This was further emphasised in a flight around Australia in a Cessna 180 owned by Tom Lucas; ex-RAAF fighter pilot on P-40s during the war, valued angling companion and a good and generous friend. It was one of my most enjoyable and unforgettable flying experiences.
In looking back over my flying career, I consider myself fortunate that my squadron flying included the two best and most versatile fighter aircraft in service at the time: the North American P-51 Mustang during the 1940s, and the North American F-86 Sabre Jet during the 1950s. Of course, there have been some regrets and wishes for a second chance, but more importantly, I am lucky to have an abundance of good memories. Any comparison and evaluation of flying and operating differing types of combat aircraft as their design and performance evolved during the twentieth century, becomes a relative process. My flying career involved thousands of flying hours on many different types of high performance aircraft flying at altitudes up to 50,000 feet. Although I flew some supersonic hours in the Concorde while with British Aerospace, the sum total of my supersonic flight time can be measured in minutes rather than hours. But then anyone willing to pay the high cost of a seat could cross the Atlantic in a few hours while seated comfortably at 60,000 feet nibbling on caviar canapés and sipping champagne as the Concorde flew at Mach 2 – twice the speed of sound. Flying a modern jet fighter aircraft, while monitoring highly complex aircraft, navigation and weapons delivery systems is no doubt just as exhilarating and satisfying to the pilots of today as it was to the pilots of years past who had to fly, navigate and fight entirely by means of their own flying skills without reference to modern avionics. However, I doubt if it is as much fun; and for me a service flying career lasting twenty years that included flying in two wars and five campaigns followed by the ensuing years of peace was, apart from a few anxious moments, a lot of fun even if I left no foot prints on the sands of time!
Old men forget: even when
It was fun just to be alive;
To be young was heaven.
Now in trying to revive
Recollections and things,
To brighten up the day;
‘Laughter-silvered wings’
Bring memories that stay.
Colin Bernard Walker Downes
Epilogue
What has been, has been, and I have had my hour.
John Dryden
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more:
It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Macbeth
All is flux, nothing stands still.
The way up is the way down.
Heracleitus
Index
Aberdeen
Aberdeenshire
‘aces’, definition
accidents with engines
Acklington
Aden
Agamemnon, SS
Agmon, Colonel Hugo
Ai-Ho River
Air Aces
Air Council
Air Ministry
Air Vietnam
Airbus Industrie
Airspeed Oxford
Aitken, Group Captain the Hon. Max, DSO DFC
Alestrean House
Alesund Fjord
Algeria
Allied Air Forces Central Europe (AAFCENT)
Alnmouth
Amiens, Battle of
amputees, Fighter Command see also Bader, Group Captain Douglas, DSO DFC
Angkor temples
Anju
Antung
Appleby, John
Arab – Israeli wars
Arkansas, USS
Arkia
Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire jet engine
Armstrong Whitworth Siskin
Armstrong Whitworth Whitley
Atcherley, AVM David
Atcherley, AVM Richard ‘Batchy’
Atlantic Ocean
Attlee, Clement
Auburn 1937 roadster
Auster
Australia
Avro
Anson
Lancaster
Lincoln
Vulcan
Avro Canada Arrow
Bader, Group Captain (later Sir) Douglas, DSO DFC
Balbo, Air Marshal
Baldwin, Wing Commander John, DSO DFC
Barclay, Tony
Barcus, Lieutenant General
Barrett, Lieutenant George F., USAAF
Barthropp, Wing Commander Paddy, DFC AFC
Beamont, Rollie ‘Bee’
Beech C
Bell Aircraft Company X-1
Benares
Bennett, Squadron Leader Harry, AFC
Berlin
Berlin raids
Bernhard, Prince
Bernoulli, Jacob
Bernoulli Effect
Beurling, ‘Buzz/Screwball’
Biak
Bideford
‘Big Wing’ controversy
bird strikes
Bird-Wilson, Squadron Leader, DSO DFC
Birmingham Airport
Blandford Camp
Blankenberg
boarding schools
Boeing
737
B-17
B-29
B-52
Stratocruiser
Bombing System, Low Altitude (LABS)
Bosch, Hieronymous
Boscombe Down, Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment
Boston, Massachusetts
brakes, anti-skid
Brighton
The Grand Hotel
The Metropole Hotel
Bristol Beaufighter
Bristol Beaufighter Mk X
Bristol University
Britain, Battle of
British Aerospacesee also Handley Page; Hawker Siddeley Aviation
Harrier
Hawk
British Aerospace/Aerospatiale Concorde
British Army see also Officer Training Corps
9th (Scottish) Division
15th (Scottish) Division
51st (Highland) Division
Army Group, 21st
Army Parachute School, Watchfield
Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) 9th Battalion 10th Battalion
Commonwealth Division
Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, The
Durham Light Infantry
Eighth Army
First Army
Fourth Army
Gloucestershire Regiment
Home Guard (formerly Local Defence Volunteers)
Hussars
Royal Scots Fusiliers, 6th Battalion
Royal
Tank Corps
Tank Brigade, 1st
British Expeditionary Force
Broadhurst, Air Marshal Sir Harry, DSO DFC
Broadhurst Trophy
Browning, Robert
Burmese Air Force
Burn, Wing Commander Tommy, DFC
Burns, Robby
Caesar, Warrant Officer
Caesarea
Cairo International Airport
Calcutta
Cambodia
Cambrai, Battle of
Cambridge, Peterhouse
Cambridge girlfriend
Cambridge University Air Squadron
Camm, Sir Sidney
Canadian Corps
Carew, Flight Lieutenant Bob, RCAF
Carpenter, Flight Lieutenant ‘Chips’, DFC
Catch-22
Cazeaux air base
Cessna
Cessna L-19
Challe, General Maurice
Chanel, Coco
Channel Airways
Charoux, Siegfried
Chasan dam
Chiang Kai-shek
Chick, John
China
China Airlines
Chinese army
Chinnampo
Chodo Island
Chong-chong River
Chongju
Churchill, Winston (later Sir Winston)
Circuses
Civil Air Transport
Clark, Major Mark
Clausewitz
Clayesmore School
Roll of Honour
Clean Air Act
Clewiston, Florida
Colons
Commonwealth Air Training Schemes
Comper Swift
Cong-chong river
Consolidated B-24
Convair F-102
Convair F-106
Coquet, River
Cowes Week
Cranborne Chase
Critchley, Air Commodore
Cummings (RAF cadet)
Curtin, Captain Clyde
Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk
‘Cuttle, Captain’
Cyprus
Da Nang
Daily Express Air Races
Dallison, Dougal
Dartmouth College
Dassault, Marcel
Dassault Air Company
Mirage
Mystere
Davis, Major George
Day, Lieutenant Jeffery, DSC RNAS
de Gaulle, General
de Havilland, Geoffrey
de Havilland
Devon
DH.108
Dove
Hornet
Hornet Mk
Hornet Moth
Mosquito
Mosquito Mk III
Mosquito Mk VI
Mosquito Mk XVIII ‘Tsetse’
Mosquito Mk XXIV
Sea Vixen
Tiger Moth
Vampire
Vampire V
Vampire NF Mk
Vampire T.11
Venom
de Havilland Canada
Buffalo
Caribou
Chipmunk
Twin Otter
Dead Sea
Death Valley
Deere, Air Commodore Al, DSO DFC
Devine, Andy
Dickens, Charles
Dieppe Raid
dinghy, J-type
dinghy, K-type
dinghy, Lindholme
diving
dogs
Donaldson, Wing Commander Arthur, DSO DFC
Donnet, General Le Baron Michel, DFC
Douglas, Air Marshal Sholto
Douglas Aircraft
A-26
C-47 Dakota
C-124 Globemaster
DC-4
F3D Skynight
Skyraider
Dounside House
Dowding, ACM Sir Hugh
Downes, Bernard Walker (father)
Downes, Colin Walker, mother of
Downes, Colin Walker, uncle of
Drake, Squadron Leader Billy, DSO DFC
Dresden raid
dress code
drop tanks
Duke, Squadron Leader Neville, DSO DFC
Dundas, Group Captain Hugh ‘Cocky’, DSO DFC
East Grinstead, Queen Victoria Hospital
Eden, Anthony
Edgware
Edwards, Captain Chuck
Edwards, Hughie
Egyptian Air Force
Egyptian army
Eilat
Eilat
Eisenhower, General (later President) Dwight
El Al
Elizabeth, HM Queen, The Queen Mother
Embling, Wing Commander John, DSO
Embry, Air Marshal Sir Basil, DSO DFC
Embry Riddle Flying College
Emden raid
English Channel
English Electric
Canberra
Canberra PR.9
Lightning
Lightning Mk
Lightning Mk
Lightning Mk
Lightning Mk
Lightning Mk
EOKA terrorists
Etajima island
Evans, Captain
Everglades, Florida
Fairey Battle
Fairey Firefly
Falkenburg, Jinx
Far Eastern Air Transport Corporation
Farnborough Air Show
Feng Cheng airbase
Fernandez, Captain Pete
Finch, Peter
fire engine, Ahrens-Fox
firing exercises
Fischer, Captain Harold
Fisher, ‘Hawk-Eyes’ (US instructor)
Flanders
Fleet Air Arm
flight, high-speed, compressibility during
flight, theories of
FLN
Florida
Focke-Wulf FW
Focke-Wulf FW/D
Folland (later Hawker Siddeley) Gnat
Folland Midge
Fontaine, Joan
Fontainebleau
Ford, Douglas
formation, ‘Balbo’
Foster, Squadron Leader John, DFC
Fouga Magister
Fox, Uffa
Foxley-Norris, Wing Commander (later ACM) Christopher, DSO
France
French Air Force
French Army
French Foreign Legion
fuel tanks, drop
Gable, Clark
Ganges, River
Garmische-Partenkirchen
Garrison, Major (later Lieutenant Colonel) Vermont
Gaza Strip
Gee navigation system
General Aircraft Hotspur glider
General Dynamics F-111
Geneva Convention
German Army
Fliegerkorps
Panzer force
German Kriegsmarine (navy)
German Werewolves (guerrilla fighters)
Germany
Gidi Pass
Gigli, Beniamino
Gillbert, R. W.
Gloster Aircraft Company
Javelin
Javelin Mk/5/6
Javelin Mk
Javelin Mk/9
Meteor
aerobatics
ejecting from
Meteor FR
Meteor Mk I
Meteor Mk III
Meteor Mk IV
Meteor Mk VII
Meteor Mk VIII
Meteor Mk IX
Meteor NF XII
Meteor NF XIV
Graham, Wing Commander
Grand Canyon
Grant, Cary
Greatest Aces, The
ground attack training sorties
Grumman F7 Tigercat
Grumman F9F Panther
Grumman SA-16
Guinea Pig Club, The
Gulf War, first
‘GUNVAL’ gun evaluation trials
Guynemer, Geo
rges
Guynemer Trophy
Haig, General Douglas
Haile Selassie, Emperor
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Hamel, Battle of
Hamlet
Han River
Handley Page Aircraft Company
Dart Herald
Halifax
Hampden
Hastings
Herald
Hermes
Jetstream
Victor
Hanks, Wing Commander Prosser, DSO DFC
Harris, ACM Sir Arthur
Harrogate
Harvey, Air Commodore Sir Vere, MP
Hawker Aircraft
Dunsfold test site
Hunter
Hunter FGA.Mk
Hunter Mk
Hunter Mk
Hunter Mk
Hunter Mk/5
Hunter Mk
Hunter Mk
Hurricane
P.1083 project
Sea Fury
Tempest
Hawker Siddeley Aviationsee also British Aerospace; Folland Gnat
HS.125
HS.748
Hearn, Squadron Leader Peter, DFC
Heath, Neville
Heller, Joseph
Hemingway, Ernest
Hesselyn, Squadron Leader Ray, DFC DFM
Hibbert, Flight Lieutenant Ron
‘High Flight’
Higson, Max
Hindus
Hindustan Aircraft Company
Hirohito, Emperor
Hiroshima
Hispano Suiza 1927 limousine
Hitler, Adolf
Hodgkinson, Colin
Hokkaido
Hollywood
Brown Derby restaurant
Hong Kong
Honolulu
Waikiki Beach
Honshu
Hue
Hughes, Wing Commander Gordon, DSC DFC
Hulse, Flight Lieutenant Graham
Hwoo, T..
Ilyushin Il-12
Ilyushin Il-28
Imjin River
Inchon
‘In Flanders Fields’
India
Indian Air Force
flight lieutenant
Indonesian Government