One of those Days

Time flies. Forty years ago, three squadrons of the RAN Fleet Air Arm were heavily engaged in operations over Korea, operating from the Light fleet carrier, HMAS Sydney.

As a young pilot in one of those squadrons, I think sufficient water has now gone under the keel to be able to relate a tale of a day I would rather have done without.

In the days of straight deck carriers it was essential to maintain pilots in deck landing practice, otherwise after a week or so of no flying, the whole airgroup would have to disembark and requalify in dummy deck landings ashore. This might seem a little draconian but without the advantages of the angle deck, there was no room for error and your skills had to be keenly honed. As a consequence of this, it was decided that we would fly en route to Korea so that we would be ready to commence operations as soon as we arrived.

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