No 13 Squadron RAF 1976-79
When I joined No 13 Squadron at RAF Luqa as a navigator in August 1976 it was equipped with 12 x Canberra PR Mark 7 aircraft; one aircraft was usually in UK on major deep servicing, and one on minor servicing at Luqa. Of the 10 remaining aircraft our 70 x groundcrew usually ensured that at least eight aircraft were available daily for ops, and often nine, no mean task considering the age of the Canberra - but it still had several useful operational roles, which I will descibe below.
OOps, sorry about the title, No 13 Squadrton!
We were dual-assigned on 13 Squadron, which meant that we were assigned in war: first under NATO CINCSOUTH Naples, through 5 ATAF (Italy - Martina Franca) or 6 ATAF (Turkey - Izmir); and secondly through CENTO (The Central Treaty Organisation, you may recall, was an alliance of Turkey, Iran [still then under the Shah], Pakistan, US and UK) for operations in defence of CENTO interests in the Middle East. Finally of course there were British National tasks routed directly to Malta from the Central Reconnaissance Establishment. All of the above means that there were lots of enjoyable trips to northern and southern Italy, Cyprus, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Kenya, etc!
To meet these tasks the Canberra PR7 was equipped with: 3x F 95 4-inch or 12-inch cine cameras for low level reconnaissance around 250 ft above ground level; a port-facing oblique F52 camera mainly for long range stand-off photography at around 15 miles from the target at 40,000 ft; twin vertical F52 cameras, mainly for high level work, and an F49 6-inch or 12-inch survey camera, mainly to provide the data for map-making purposes. The cameras could operate at variable speeds set by the navigator, and sighted by the pilot, often using chinagraph lines drawn on the cockpit canopy. Typical images are shown below.
The aircraft were also provided with HF, VHF and UHF radios for rapid reporting of intelligence information back to base, IFF equipment, and normal air traffic control communications radios.
The personnel on 13 Squadron from 1976-79 included one Wing Commander Officer Commanding, four Squadron Leader Flight Commanders, twenty-five Flying Officer/Flight Lieutenant pilots and navs, a Flight Lieutenant Engineering Officer, an Admin Warrant Officer, an Engineering Warrant Officer, a Flight Sergeant, 9 Chief Technicians, 11 Sergeants, 20 Corporals, 7 Junior Technicians, 15 SACs and one civilian (Mr Schembri). Thus the total strength of the squadron was about 100 in all (taken from the squadron strength in October 1978).
We were well-supported by photographic interpreters (PIs) and photographers from Ops Wing, who maintained and loaded/unloaded the camera films after each flight, and deployed with us on detachment to work out of ATRELs (Air Transportable Reconnaissance Exploitation Laboratories - well-equipped wheeled military caravans) flown in by C-130 Hercules.
The Canberra PR7 could operate at low level at typically 300 knots cruising speed (420 knots dash to target) for some 3 hours, giving a range of around 900 miles, depending what fuel reserve was kept back for diversion. At high level around 40,000 feet the PR7 could cruise at 0.75 Mach for up to five hours or 2,500 miles, though the Martin Baker ejector seats, freezing cold and oxygen masks had made it pretty uncomfortable by then! But on deployment to, say, Teheran or Mashad in Iran, or Masroor in Pakistan, or Nairobi, Kenya, flights of around four and a half hours were common. Long-range flights involved the fitting of wing tip tanks with extra fuel, used first on the flight.
The pilot stayed strapped in to his bang seat in his 'blister-type' cockpit all the flight; the navigator was in his seat behind the pilot for take-off and landing, but on the PR7 the nav would leave his seat either for mapreading or the operation of cameras lying prone in the transparent plastic nose of the Canberra PR7 - see picture 1 above. Navs also liked to stand beside the pilot at high level and chat, share a yarn or a sandwich. This is unlike the Canberra PR9, where the nav sits in his seat at all times in the solid, hinged nose of the aircraft. The nav viewed the ground below, behind, ahead of the aircraft through an adjustable periscope system. He also had two rather small side windows in the PR9. On the PR9 the pilot flew from a fighter-type cockpit, offset to port.(see PR9 photo below)
Historical Note: No 13 Squadron had earlier been equipped with 8x Canberra PR9s at Akrotiri, Cyprus up to 1966, then in Malta with PR9s, which were then replaced in the early 70s by 12 x PR7s. No 39 Squadron, Luqa, Wyton and Marham retained the splendid PR9s throughout the 60s,70s, 80s,90s up until 2006 at Marham.
Training sorties on No 13 Squadron were usually undertaken at low level in the magnificent, often mountainous low flying areas of Sicily and Calabria, Southern Italy (Capo Spartivento), where we used practice targets set by the photographic interpreters such as bridges, railway stations, electronic installations, airfields, military camps, and harbours. Low level, single pass attacks were made running in from an IP (initial point) on a fixed heading (usually!) and speed, with the pilot filming the target on the F95 camera (port or starboard), and he and the nav also making a visual recce for radioing to base.
We also did low level photo/visual recce of shipping passing Malta, and searched for elements of the Soviet Black Sea fleet - a submarine depot mother ship was often anchored on a sand bank 15 miles off the coast of Tunisia, and a low level over the sea, high speed run from Lampedusa or Linosa would often gain intelligence on two Soviet submarines tied up alongside, with the matelots swimming in the warm med...
Below is a photo of a Soviet Krivak class destroyer at speed, 43 nautical miles NW of Luqa, mean line of advance 269 degrees at 20 knots, taken by our F49 6inch camera. The PIs could tell much from the blown-up detail on this photo about armament, including for instance, the large surface-to-surface SSN anti-shipping missile systems on the foredeck, radar/radio equipment, anti-submarine capability, etc - most interesting to our own and US intelligence.
We had several happy detachments to Verona/Villafranca in northern Italy near Lake Garda; usually 4-6 aircraft, 6-8 aircrews and 30-40 groundcrew, flying every morning from Villafrance up into the beautiful Dolomite mountains, or down the flat Po valley into Liguria to the west or Veneto to the east, hosted by the Italian F-104 recce squadrons. We stayed in hotels in Verona, and enjoyed this lovely city to the full. We simulated war conditions on occasions, and planned our sorties out of the Italian hardened bunker. But when 1300 hours came, everything stopped for lunch. Below is a photo taken in the bunker in May 1977, with, I notice, seven PR7s, five of which are serviceable, on the ops state board(519,779,815,817,537,794 and 821). And to the left is Major Mario Volpecelli of 28 Squadron, Italian Air Force, F104 pilot, tucking into his pasta with a choice of red or white wines in front of him. The Italians were warm and generous hosts, and we loved these trips.
Further east the squadron was detached to Mashad in NE Iran, close to the Soviet border, with obvious benefits.
On other occasions we flew to Masroor, nr Karchi, Pakistan to take part in coordination with US F15 aircraft from Bitburg, Germany in simulated attacks on Pakistan to train their air defence systems aircraft and MIG-21 aircrew. We were warmly welcomed by the PAF, and it was hard to distinguish Masroor from RAF Marham - white-washed stones by the Guardroom, barrier with smart Sergeant in charge, 'do come to the Mess, old boy, and have a drink with us...' in impeccable English - a happy detachment with lots of exciting flying - and some wild country - you wouldn't want to go down in north-west Pakistan. Below is a photo of one of our Canberra PR7s, WH794 at Masroor in April 1978, with USAF F-15s from Bitburg in the background and one of our 13 Squadron groundcrew in shorts, ear defenders and desert boots.
We spent time in Kenya doing survey work on the Tana River irrigation scheme, returning via Khartoum and Cairo, with a second navigator unusually flying on the fold-down rhumbold seat next to the pilot, and also in Cyprus, Gibraltar, and low flying from Laarbruch in Germany hosted by the Jaguar recce boys.
All this was great fun and pretty useful, and it was with sadness that we redeployed to Wyton in October 1978, No 13 (PR) Squadron being the last RAF Squadron to leave Malta, after a history of military aviation on the islands stretching back to 1918 - Sixty glorious years, including the terrible seige of 1940-43, where the RAF at Luqa, Takali and Hal Far, the Royal Navy, the gunners and the people of islands distinguished themselves with heroism. Malta GC indeed.
Im a bit intrigued about 13 0perating PR7s circa 76/79. At Luqa 65/68 13 like 39 operated PR9s. Was it not a retrograde step to go back to PR7s or what was the reasoning behind it?
AL.
Al, I think that you make an interesting point: No 13 Squadron was operating Canberra PR9s throughout the 1960s from Akrotiri and Luqa, and then in the 1970s switched to PR7s, an apparently retrograde step. Why? What follows is purely my personal theory. Others may know better, and it would be interesting to hear from them.
In total 22 Canberra PR9s and one Shorts SC9 trials aircraft were built.. The first half dozen PR9s joined No 58 (PR) Squadron at Wyton in 1960, to be flown alongside the unit's existing PR7s. The PR7 was also in wide use in RAF Germany (14, 17 and 31 Squadrons, for instance), and in Tengah, Singapore (81 Squadron). In the summer of 1961 No 13 Squadron (Akrotiri) was also equipped with PR9s (8 aircraft), as was 39 Squadron (Luqa) in 1962 (12 aircraft) when they took over No 58 Squadron's PR9s topped up with new-build, 58 Sqn reverting to an all-PR7 unit in Nov 1962 .
For the whole of the 60s the PR9s of 13 and 39 Squadrons ranged across the world from their Mediterranean bases. Elements of these squadrons were frequently found on exercises or NATO/national tasks in Gibraltar, Italy, Libya, Greece, Turkey, Iran (before the fall of the Shah), Bahrain, Sharjah, Masirah, Aden, Kenya, Gan, Tengah, Borneo (Labuan and Kuching), and Hong Kong.
When V-bombers were deployed to Akrotiri in the mid-60s, 13 Squadron (8 PR9 aircraft) joined 39 Sqn (12 PR9 aircraft) at Luqa, which many will remember as a happy time (when I was then on PR9s on 39 Sqn 1965-68) of cheeful rivalry and great cameraderie, with 58 Sqn at Wyton continuing with PR7s. As the 60s shaded into the 70s, the PR7s in RAF Germany were gradually replaced by Jaguar fighter recce squadrons, thereby releasing many airframes, and 39 Squadron was withdrawn with its PR9s from Malta to Wyton, leaving a rather small 13 Squadron as the only Canberra Squadron covering the RAF's whole NATO Southern Region, CENTO and residual East-of-Suez commitments. It seemed logical to boost 13 Squadron numbers, centralize PR9 operations at Wyton (later Marham), disband 58 Sqn, and provide 13 Sqn now with a full squadron of PR7s for it's world-wide operations.
A later factor became the offer/transfer of three Canberra PR9 aircraft by UK to Chile around the time of the Falklands conflict, and the re-equippment with a number of Wyton/Marham PR9s with high performance camera and electro-optical reconnaissance systems.
If you are following me so far, you're probably ahead of me!
You probably know, Al, what is was like serving with these splendid Canberra squadron units - in my case with 39Sqn 1965-68, 58 Sqn 1968-70, and 13 Sqn 1976-79, two tours in Malta and one and a bit at Wyton, to where 13 Squadron withdrew when we left Malta as the last RAF Squadron deployed to those splendid islands in October 1978, then disbanded to reform as the first Tornado Recce unit. No 39 Squadron disbanded in summer 2006 at RAF Marham, having operated as a Canberra PR3/PR7/PR9 Recce unit for nearly 50 years since 1958, including in Ruanda, Kosovo and the Gulf/Afghanistan conflicts.
No 39 Squadron then reformed as the RAF's first Predator unit.
Thanks for your patience,Al. Happily, Brian Crook
Brian, Thanks for your resume on 13 sqn it explained everything, I always assumed both thirteen and thirty nine operated PR9s all these years as I saw nothing replacing them and once again paints up the inadequecy of government departments trying to manage the services but with a high degree of Hamfistedness.
You made one small mistake, 14 sqns stint with the Camberra was with BI 8s not photographic, I know this as 14 was my first sqn with Hunters and I always took a big interest in them as the years rolled by. In my time on TASF I handled 14s Camberras on many occasion as they staged through and I can assure you they were BI 8s.
A photo to follow Taken on TASF ramp circa 1967.
Best regards
AL.
Photo uploaded into the Allan Lacey photo group in the Aircraft Photos page. Also pasted below.
Al, you are spot on with your comments on RAFG Canberra PR7 Squadrons; I was wrong - 14 was a bomber unit, of course. I should have said that the RAFG PR7 squadrons were 17, 31 and 80 Squadrons.
I hadn't realised that you were in TASF in Eng Wing at Luqa - you certainly looked after every type of aircraft there! In the programme to mark the official parade for the 'Operational Closure of the Royal Air Force in Malta 1918-1978' are listed the names of all serving personnel in Malta in October 1978. I note a certain FS E A Eagles among this distinguished body of men and women.
Were you there until the end (Mar 1979) just before which one of our 13 Squadron Canberra PR7s (now from Wyton) crashed on take off from Luqa ? The Safeland barrier had by that time been removed. The pilot and nav ejected OK, but the very young and charming third crew member, Pilot Officer Marshall on the rhumbold seat, sadly died.
'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....'
With good wishes, Al, from Brian Crook in sunny Wiltshire.
This purposeful-looking aircraft is almost certainly a visiting Canberra BI Mark 8 from RAF Germany (No. 3, No. 14 or No. 16 Squadron), looked after by Transit Aircraft Servicing Flight at RAF Luqa. Does anyone recognise those nose markings?
Yep, 14 sqn.
AL.
Brian, your question on weather I was at Luqa in 79? The answer is no, I served at Luqa for three and a half years between the years 65 to 68. By 79 I had been demobbed four years.
AL.
Thanks, Al - 1965 to 1968 makes us exact contemporaries at Luqa - I was on No 39 Squadron in the silver nissen huts on the other side of the short runway, gazing across at your big silver palace of a hangar from where, I think I remember (senility), TASF operated, and our Minor Servicing on PR9s/T4 was carried out. We also had a Cat3 PR9 (on 18 Jan 67 - XH 167 - after going into the Safeland barrier on R/W 24), which was repaired in your splendid hangar...
Flight Sergeant (later WO) Taffy Morgan was our line chief on 39 - warm, efficient, friendly, a great chap for the squadron....
When I get a moment I will write a few words about 39 in that part of the Forum.
Best wishes, Al - enjoy the sunshine, as we did in Malta!
Hi there !
Found these photos whilst cleaning out a drawer te other day, thought they may be of interest ! Villafranca was a grand detachment for ground crew, geat old farmhouse as a line hut, watched some good low level flying displays ! Always good scenery ! Masirah was a different kettle of fish !
Ex Ground crew 13 (PR) 1974-1977
Bill Race
