The Third Royal Rhodesian Air Force
Provost Ferry
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The Third Royal Rhodesian Air Force Provost Ferry By Bill Jelley
The Third Royal Rhodesian Air Force Provost Ferry took place in December 1955. Jerry Dunn and I were still on No 6 Short Service Course at the time, so we were very fortunate to have been selected to join the regular force pilots for this ferry.
This was much to the chagrin of other regular force pilots not included. Our conversion was done in Salisbury with instructors and aircraft from the earlier ferry flights.
The Ferry, led by John Moss, comprised 8 aircraft, a supporting Dakota and ground crew. The Dak, crewed by Dad Cunnison and Don Macaskill, (Don was the reserve Provost pilot), was already in the UK. From memory I recall that the pilots were John Moss, Ferry Commander, Bob Blair, Sandy Mutch, Mike Saunders, Alan Bradnick, Jerry Dunn, Bill "Shorty' Dowden and myself. The technical support team, comprising Jimmy Pringle, Harry Marshall, Jock Howie and Geoff Proudfoot to name a few.
The pilots were flown over on a Central African Airways, CAA, Zambezi Viking Service to London. This was luxury compared to flying over in the good old 'Gooney Bird' which was the norm. We stopped over in Nairobi, Wadi Halfa, slept on a river steamer tied up on the Nile and in Malta, we stayed in the famous Phoenicia Hotel.
On arrival in the UK we remained in London, a first visit to England for some of us, for a day or so, checking in with Rhodesia House, before moving on to RAF Benson in Oxfordshire. We settled into our respective messes and prepared for the flight home. Some of the aircraft were still in Carlisle, had to be collected by us and flown down to Benson. Departure was delayed for a few days due to weather on both sides of the channel and we finally took off on 16 December.
There were two sections of four aircraft, Jerry and I were both flying solo as No 4, with him in the first and me in the second section.
The route flown was: Benson, Dijon (Night/Stop), Istres, Ajaccio in Corsica (N/S), Cagliary in Sardinia, across the Med to Idris (N/S).
Sandy Mutch was concerned that his fuel consumption was excessively high on this leg, and he kept comparing fuel remaining with other aircraft, and finally realised that he had selected hot and not ram air to the engine. Happily he had just enough fuel to reach Idris. Marble Arch was next, a rough strip on the coast, with a magnificent Arch nearby straddling the road in the middle of nowhere. Fuelling here was by drum on a rickety cart with a couple of donkeys, a hand pump and two Arabs, a real archaic process. This took a while to refuel the aircraft.
On to El Adam (N/S), where the Dak went unserviceable with an engine driven pump failure. This delayed the flight for one day while Jimmy the One and his team sorted out the problem.
The remainder of the trip went as planned, though Don Macaskill had to fly a Provost for a couple of days due to pilot medical problems.
We continued along North Africa to Cairo, down the Nile to Luxor (N/S), a fascinating and historical place, on to Wadi Halfa, Khartoum (N/S), Malakal and Juba (N/S). Then Entebbe, Tabora, Kasama and Ndola (N/S), a long day, 8 + hours.
The final leg was to Salisbury arriving on Christmas Day, December 1955. It was a wonderful flying experience and a lifetime memory for Jerry and I with our 370 odd hours total flight time. It took ten days and 44 hours flying for us to complete the Provost delivery flight programme.
I was flying Provost No 149. This aircraft was destroyed in a fatal accident in 1956 (6th July) when sadly a student crashed during unauthorised low flying from Thornhill.
Words and photographs supplied by Bill Jelley, via ORAFS
Web Masters note:
My very first flight ever in the Air Force was with Bill Jelley. He took me straight into the low flying area on my air experience flight for some ultra low flying. I have been hooked ever since, and am still flying 41 years later!
