On 2 March, 1963, instructions were received to form a Fighter Reconnaissance Flight from the fighter recce trained pilots of 8 Squadron. On 1 May the flight, now named 1417 Flight, separated from and ceased to be administered by 8 Squadron. Flt Lt Peter Lewis assumed command with four officers, Flt Lts John Morris, Jim Dymond, Brian Rimmer and Andy Burns. Aircraft servicing continued to be carried out by tradesmen from 8 Squadron pending the assembly of a permanent 15-strong ground staff and separate accommodation.
The four FR.10s (XE589, XE599, XE614 and XF460) from 8 Squadron and four T.7s from 8, 43 and 208 Squadrons (XL565 (8), XL566 (43), XL597 (208) and XL613 (8)) were re-allocated to the new flight, although the latter were regularly ‘loaned back’ to the squadrons so that they could fulfil their training requirements. A fifth FR.10 (XF436) was with 131 MU (Khormaksar) at this time undergoing repairs following the breaking away of a 230-gallon drop tank during a high-g pullout. Former squadron markings were painted out and new tailcodes applied in light blue; the pilots’ two initials on the FR.10s and W-Z on the two-seaters. A unit flash was subsequently produced and this began to appear on individual aircraft as the year progressed.
There was little time to relax and nine operational sorties were flown. Six of these were Operation Ranji, coastal recces searching for dhows suspected of making illegal landings in the Western Protectorate; the remaining two being recces of the anti-aircraft guns in the Beihan area by Pete Lewis (XE589) and Johnny Morris (XE599). Much of the rest of the month was taken up producing a plan for the training for new pilots up to operational standard and to familiarise them with the area. The main effort was confined to flying the syllabus cross-countries and recce exercises to check their suitability and the photographing of targets and pinpoints on the routes.
The tempo increased in June with fifteen operational sorties being flown, thirteen on Operation Ranji and two recces by ‘the boss’ and Johnny Morris (both in XE589) in the Yemen-Beihan border following unrest in the area. The major bulk of training flying was confined to recces exercises comprising visual and photo recces, line searched, MT convoy recces, sea line searches and in flight reporting. Most of these sorties were planned to gain material for the preparation of set training exercises to bring new pilots up to operational standard.
A total of nineteen operational sorties were flown in July, of which all but two were coastal recces. The two were photographic recces in the protectorate, one to the Am Shaq area and one to Hilyan in Upper Yaffa on the 10th and 11th (both using XF460) and flown by Pete Lewis and Jim Dymond respectively. The mobile photographic processing units did, not take part in either operation as they were not fully serviceable but on future operations they should be in use. The Flight shared the standby commitment with the No. 8 Squadron detachment for the last seven days of the month but was not called on to fly.
With the arrival of Flt Lt Geoff Timms on the Flight the planned training programme to bring .him to an operational standard was commenced and a large proportion of the training effort was directed towards this aim. Other training sorties were flown to provide further information and photos for some incomplete enclosures in the training sortie folders.
The poor standard of aircraft serviceability rarely provided for more than a single aircraft to fly daily but some sorties were flown as pairs on high level battle formation, close formation, in the low level role and one pair flew a practice diversion to Djibouti. The state of all aircraft became such that for the last week of the month all aircraft were unserviceable AOG for spares. The primary cause was the failure of fuel tanks and the subsequent delay in awaiting supply from England of climatically suitable tanks.
The flight did not fly at all in August up to the 17th due to unserviceability; all FR.10s and T.7s being grounded awaiting spares. The opportunity was taken for the crews to set about bringing their accommodation up to scratch, the existing rooms having been used as an armoury and photographic section. Progress was slow in getting the FR.10s serviceable as priority was given to the three T.7s, the all-silver XL566 having returned to the UK for refurbishment. A single FR.10 and one T.7 were available for the last two weeks of the month.
Five coast .recces were flown on most of which it was also required to plot .the position of a Russian fishing fleet. One flag wave was flown by Pete Lewis (XF460) leading an aircraft from No. 43 Squadron to the Hanshabi area three miles from the Yemen border.
Aircraft serviceability for September was an improvement over the previous month. One Hunter FR.l0 was available on most days and for a very short period two were flown. For most of the period, two T.7 Hunters were serviceable and a third was also available for nearly a week. Seventeen operational sorties were this month all of which included a coastal recce. Four of these were also tasked on additional recces, Pete Lewis (XE614) to locate a Russian submarine, Brian Rimmer (XE614x2) for the location of an overdue yacht and Pete Lewis (XE614) again on a radar convoy recce. Sixteen further training sorties were flown on FR training exercises, mainly for the benefit of the two non-operational pilots, Flt Lt Roger Pyrah having arrived from the UK. The intensity of flying was slackened of towards the end of the month in preparation for exercise Biltong.
Two FR.10s, flown by Pete Lewis and Johnny Morris, were detached to Bahrain for the exercise which took place in October. The aircraft were kept serviceable by a very hard working team of airmen detached to Bahrain and some very valuable flying was achieved under near operational conditions, the visual reporting on recces perhaps being the most important message being taken back to Khormaksar.
Many of the maps used in Aden being basic in their content, it came as no surprise when the Flight was given responsibility for photographing all forts and airstrips in a ten-mile band south of the Yemen border.
Unserviceability continued to plague 1417 Flight through November, only one FR.10 being available for 21 days of the month, the remainder being AOG awaiting spares. No.208 Squadron assisted towards the end of the month by loaning an FGA.9 to the Flight when other commitments allowed. As the station open day approached, Pete Lewis and Geoff Timms took turns in practicing the Flight’s party piece but both had to drop out through sickness. Johnny Morris stepped in and, on the day, his task was to fly down the airfield, taking photographs of the display area as he went. The resulting prints were delivered to the VIP area 30 minutes after touchdown, a credit to all involved.
In addition to flying fifteen operational sorties during the month, the Flight continued in its task of plotting and photographing the airfields and airstrips in the Western Protectorate. All but eight of those within 25 miles of the Yemen border had been completed and a good start has been made with the remainder. Once the airfields were completed, attention then focused on forts and police posts.
For most of the final month of the year, and despite having to operate with an average of just one serviceable FR.10, 47 hours were flown. Quite an achievement when the number of detachments for its pilots was greater than normal. Flt Lts Lewis and Timms went with 208 Squadron to Kenya for Independence celebration flypasts over Kenya and Zanzibar. The FR.10 that went with them went unserviceable and had to be left behind. Flt Lt Rimmer flew back to the UK to collect a ‘new’ FR.10 (XF441) from RAF Kemble and was away for a week, while Flt Lt Dymond acted as FAC to a Dhala convoy and shortly after was made President of a Board of Enquiry. On the positive side, 24 hours were flown by the Flight’s pilots using 43 and 208 Squadron aircraft while they had a lack of pilots due to promotion exams.
Of the 23 operational sorties flown in December, thirteen were coastal recces, one by Sqn Ldr Nigel Walpole (XF460) from HQMEC on the 23rd, and ten border patrols, the latter being flown in ‘loaned’ FGA.9s. The Flight’s hundredth operational sortie was achieved on the final day of the year, a feat no doubt celebrated in typical New Year’s Eve fashion. A further sixteen protectorate airstrips remained to be photographed out of a total of 71, information on all those completed having been passed to Joint Intelligence.