BANUPA

I too visited LAP to see the competitors for the England to Australia air race. I remember seeing the Canberra, but always assumed it was an RAF one. There was a Viscount too and I think a Hastings?

I photographed the Viscount too – see below. All the competing aircraft were allocated race numbers as seen on the tail of this Viscount and my earlier photo of the Aussie Canberra.
ISTR there were about four or five Canberras, with an RAF Canberra winning the race. A KLM DC(6?) also took part with a full load of pax for New Zealand I think.

PeterVerney

Re your post #7 above.

Incidentally at Lympne the met assisstant was on duty on the airfield alone at night. One of his duties was to fill a balloon with hydrogen in a little wooden shed, hang a chinese lantern with a birthday cake candle in it. This contraption was then released into the sky to be tracked with a fancy theodolite to obtain winds at height.

Below. As done at RAF Gan in 1958, but not at night. ISTR that on one observation the Met Assistant tracked his balloon to 25,000 ft or thereabouts where I suppose it popped with the reduced air pressure.

I suggest “Over to You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying” by Roald Dahl

Which includes episodes from his own life whilst in the war-time RAF, from the time he learnt to fly in Kenya in 1939, to the time whilst flying with 80 Sqn he crashed his Gloster Gladiator in the Libyan desert almost almost killing himself in the process and to when he flew Hurricanes in Greece at the Battle for Athens in 1941.

Memorably in the story “Death of an Old Old Man” the first words are: “Oh God, how I am frightened” – something we can all relate to. An extract can be read here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Over-You-Stories-Flyers-Flying/dp/0140035745#reader_0140035745

I read “Over to You” after I noticed my grandson was reading it as part of his school course-work – it makes a change from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and many others aimed at children.

A recommended read.

Speaking of the Albatross and the USAF Air Rescue Service

I took this picture at the September 1954 Biggin Hill Battle of Britain display. It shows a Manston based USAF SA-16 Grumman Albatross doing a Rocket Assisted Take-off in front of the crowd. Very noisy ISTR.

Try here for old airline timetables:

http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/complete.htm

As an addendum there’s a splendid account of a trip to the Far East by flyingboat on PPRuNe here.

http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/48484-rma-caledonia.html

A lot earlier than 1968, but interesting nevertheless as it involved night-stops down the route.

Not sure if this helps, but attched photo shows RX 1155 as installed in navigator’s position in a Signals Command Varsity that calibrated the Chenies ROTOR station radar in June 1956. Cheines is near Bovindon and the calibration flight was flow from there.

On this occasion RX is located on a shelf above and alongside other nav kit.

The coronation fly-past on 2nd June 1953 (not 1954) consisted of 168 fighters (144 R.A.F. Meteors and 24 R.C.A.F. Sabres). In those days Buckingham Palace fly-pasts flew from south to north past the palace, rather than as they do now from east to west down the Mall towards the palace.

The route was over the Thames Estuary to Canterbury, the feeding-in point for the the various wings. From Canterbury, south to Dungeness, on to Hastings Pier continuing to Bexhill where the formations turned north towards Biggin Hill and then over south London to fly past the front of the palace.

The feed-in point for the 641 aircraft in the fly-past for the Queen’s Coronation Review at Odiham on 15th July 1953 fed in at Leavsden flying in a south-westerly direction to Odiham and presumably didn’t fly over Southend.

Details of the 15th September 1953 Battle of Britain fly-past can be found here:
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1953/1953%20-%201231.html