Sorry for the delay in response and adding the email I received from one of the pilots on this trip. I have been sidelined with the usual medical issues! The pilot is Peter McLeland and these are his responses below.
Replies from Peter McLeland who flew one of the Venoms.
Yes the date was 5th June 1953 (5 days after the Queen’s coronation)…We were twelve venoms of 266 (Rhodesia) Squadron, Royal Air Force and we had flown from Wunstorf, near Hanover in Germany and we were on our way to the Rhodes Centenary celebrations in Salisbury Rhodesia…For the Africa sectors of the “Long Trek” we had split into two sixes in order to ease the load on the small airports for refuelling etc. The Meteor followed along behind us but I never saw it as I was number two in the first of the sixes. The Venoms were the Mark FB1 and had no ejection seats. The Meteor was a T7. We left Salisbury on the 17thJune and arrived back at Wunstorf on the 25th June. It was called Operation Long Trek. You can see some details and photos on my Website here:
http://www.petermcleland.com
Hi Alec…My reference to the fuel down the Nile was to get fuel to Juba in 40 gallon drums…There is a picture of the refuelling there, on my website, using a German pump which sucked with four hoses and delivered out of six hoses. We flew from Juba to Entebbe (290nms) and from there to Tabora (305 nms). From Tabora we flew to Lusaka (668 nms) so we certainly must have refuelled at Tabora for that longest sector of the whole trip…Also our Venoms only had the tip tanks for external fuel as the underwing droptanks were not yet in service for the Venoms. I remember vague stories about fuel to Juba doing the last few miles from the Nile to Juba slung on poles in their 40 gallon drums and carried by natives through the bush! I do not actually remember the Tabora refuelling but it certainly must have happened…I suppose it could have gone down Lake Victoria by boat to Mwanza and the by rail to Tabora, but that is only a supposition on my part by looking at the map…All the logistics were planned by Sqn Ldr Colin Coulthard our Boss and leader. The fuel we used was a jet fuel called AVTAG (Aviation Gasoline) in those days which could also be used for piston engines and was very flammable like petrol…In later years prior to the Suez crisis we were all converted over to a fuel called AVTUR (Aviation Turbine)…This was a less volatile fuel not suitable for piston engines but much safer to handle for jets. The difference between the two fuels was that if you threw a lit cigarette into a pool of fuel on the ground, if it was AVTAG then it would immediately flash and burn…If it were AVTUR then the cigarette would be extinguished.
One little aside on the fuel…My fuel gauge on Venom “Sugar” WE330 read Zero from Germany all the way to Rhodesia, through the air displays and all the way back to Germany…The ground crew tried a few times to fix it but to no avail…It just had to wait to get back to base and fit a new gauge. I just assumed that I had the same amount of fuel as the pilot who checked in with the least!
Sorry, I can’t answer your logistics question more adequately but the Boss toiled over all that stuff in the months before we departed, but he just fired off all the signals making the necessary arrangements but did not bother us with the nitty-gritty details…He did a really great job getting twelve Venoms to Rhodesia and back without loss and he was awarded the Air Force Cross for his splendid efforts. Many people on our sister squadrons at Wunstorf (5 Squadron and 11 Squadron) were amazed that we all made it there and back!
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