The RAF at Los Angeles

SMathersRW55201v10023.jpg

Title

The RAF at Los Angeles

Description

Item 1 is a newspaper cutting of two airmen. Wing Commander Allan Craig is shaking the hand of Colonel KC McGregor as he dismounts from a Lancaster.
Item 2 is a newspaper cutting with the weather.
Item 3 is a newspaper cutting 'RAF Planes Here for Fete'. 15 Lancasters arrive at Long Beach.
Item 4 is a newspaper cutting of Air Commodore Frank Whittle and two women.The page is captioned '28th July - 3rd August 1946'.

Date

1946-07
1946-08

Temporal Coverage

Language

Type

Format

Four newspaper cuttings on a scrapbook

Rights

This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.

Contributor

Identifier

SMathersRW55201v10023

Transcription

[blank page]

LOS ANGELES

[inserted] [underlined] 28th JULY – 3rd AUG. [/inserted] [/underlined]

[photograph]
WELCOMED – Wing Commander Allan J.C. Craig of Lancaster squadron is welcomed as he leaves plane by Col. K.C. McGregor, commandant of Army Air Base.

The Weather
United States Weather Bureau forecast: Generally sunny today and tomorrow, but with some high clouds. Not much change in temperature. Highest temperature yesterday, 86, lowest, 62.

[underlined][missing letters] WS – EDITORIAL – SOCIETY [/underlined]

R.A.F. Planes Here for Fete

Lancasters and 220 Airmen to Take Part in A.A.F. Observance

Fifteen giant Lancaster bombers of the Royal Air Force roared over the Southland yesterday and landed at Long Beach Army Air Base after a six-hour flight from Denver on the last leg of “Operation Goodwill.”
The 220 British airmen, here to participate in Army Air Forces Day observances Thursday, are touring U.S. bases on invitation of Gen. Carl Spatz, repaying in token the visit to Britain made by thousands of U.S. Air Forces personnel during the war years.

Squadron Chief only 23
Chosen for “Operation Goodwill” as one of the outstanding Pathfinder squadrons which led 1000-plane night missions over Germany was R.A.F. Squadron 35, commanded by Wing Comdr. Allan J.C. Craig, at 23 the youngest officer of that rank which corresponds to our lieutenant-colonel.
Flying through a cloudless blue sky in close, perfect formation, the Lancasters made combat peel-offs and all landed in less than 20 minutes before a crowd of spectators which included members of the local British colony.

Smart on Parade
Drawn up in ranks before their aircraft, the visitors then demonstrated that, although the war is over, R.A.F. personnel still stamp their feet smartly on parade. They were welcomed by Col. K.C. McGregor, base commandant; former Mayor Clarence E. Wagner of Long Beach, and British Consul General J.E.M. Carvell and Sir Aubrey Smith represented the British film colony.
Air Marshal Sir Norman Bottomley, commander-in-chief of R.A.F. Bomber Command, who preceded the formation here, spoke briefly.
The snub-nosed Lancasters, painted for tropical flying with white, heat-reflecting tops and black underbellies, are similar in size and speed to the U.S. B-24 Liberator, which it somewhat resembles in flight, but can carry a bomb load equal to that of a B-29 Superfortress, although it lacks the B-29's long range.

Notables on Hand
Among the Hollywood notables on hand were British Actors Nigel Bruce, his daughter Pauline, Richard Greene, Peter Lawford and Sir Aubrey Smith who, air-minded at 83, flew to the event from San Fernando in a plane piloted by his niece, Mrs. Diana Tisdall.
The British airmen, 80 per cent of them combat flight veterans, are the first foreign squadron to visit the United States since Marshal Balbo lent his Italian flyers to the Chicago Fair in 1933. They will be billeted at the Long Beach base until Saturday when they are scheduled to leave for San Antonio, Tex, on the first leg of their return flight.

[photograph]
FRIENDS – Air Commodore Frank Whittle receives greetings from Miss Pauline Bruce, center, daughter of Actor Nigel Bruce, and Miss Joan Hodson of the British Information Service. The Bruces were among many notables of British colony here to meet flyers.

Citation

“The RAF at Los Angeles,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 25, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/9627.

Item Relations

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