THE DECCA LEGACY - Wootton Bridge Historical

CHAPTER 15
THE FAIREY FLIGHT
(Michael Cowlard)
Prior to the installation of the AWS1 at Mynydd Rhiw and the DASR1 at Llanbedr I was required to go
and meet Colin Spraggs of RAE Aberporth. The arrangement had been made by HID. I was given
precise instructions, for the journey and the rendezvous by Peter Skelton. I was to fly from Farnborough
to Aberporth on the morning ferry (a Devon aircraft). At Aberporth Colin was to join the aircraft and
then we would fly to Llanbedr for the meeting. All seemed very straightforward but, like many good
plans it went wrong. Colin did not join the aircraft so I ended up at Llanbedr on my own.
I was taken to meet the Officer charge, who, after a few pleasantries checked with Aberporth to find out
where the meeting was to be held. No surprise now to learn that it was at Aberporth. He said he could
arrange for me to go back to Aberporth, providing I was willing to fly in their “Fairey Firefly” aircraft. I
said yes without being too sure of what the Firefly was. Anyhow, I was handed a headset and then
strapped in the rear cockpit of the aircraft. Start up, take-off, low level flight to Aberporth, about 40
miles or so. Two attempts at landing, pilot did not like the first approach (because of severe tail wobble),
the second one was OK. Then on to the RAE site for the meeting. The return journey to Farnborough
was uneventful.
The Fairey Firefly was a naval aircraft designed in the early 1940s. It was a carrier based fighter with a
crew of two. The first version went into service in 1943. The one at Llanbedr was a much later mark and
had been used as either a target tug or, as a remote controlled pilot-less vehicle for use on the Aberporth
guided missile range. It was replaced by the Australian designed “Jindivik” pilot-less target. This
particular Firefly aircraft was the last survivor at Llanbedr and had been restored so it could be used as
an occasional communication aircraft.
Whilst we were trialling the radars, Meteor 7s were being used to shepherd the Jindiviks.
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