Marville France

The Sky Lancers

Tony Hannas

July 31 we did a show at Metz at which RAF Hunters and USAF T-birds participated. Both teams spent Monday night at 2 Wing, and on Monday a make-up aerobatic team was put together with a Hunter leading, two Sabres flying wing, and a T-bird in the slot. They did a couple of loops and rolls over the field and some pictures were taken.

I recall that at Metz my mike failed, so I was not able to give lead-in instructions or directions during manoeuvres. We were working in a confined area, so I had to pull more g than usual. This, coupled with doing the show in silence, made for some extra sweat. The other time we suffered damage was at Dusseldorf. The day was cloudy with drizzle. One of the performances was by a very skilled glider pilot. His show ended in disaster as he smashed into Herbie Graves Sabre just as we were getting ready to fire up. Thus Herbie had to be left behind.

The Sky Lancers was the first team to take off and land in box formation, and we were quite proud of that. Other teams used to take off in formation of four, but No. 4 in an echelon right position off the wing of No. 2, and he slid into the box position after takeoff. Gerry used to sit with his nose just right of my tail, and as soon as the wheels came off the ground he moved over a few inches into truly line astern. On landing, because he was lower than the rest of us, he would touch down first, and when he did, would advise me so I could cut the power and the rest of us could land. This seemed to baffle the other teams more than anything else. They couldn't see how Gerry could control his aircraft directly in the wake from my tailpipe. They couldn't see from a distance that he was slightly off centre on takeoffs and on landing, and only his rudder was in my wake.

You might get the impression that we were a travelling circus, and I suppose we were in a way. Practically every weekend over the summer the aerobatic teams of Canada, the UK, US, France and Italy would meet to put on an air show. We got to know the other teams well, and there was much camaraderie and much discussions of techniques over many wines and beers. There was keen competition to be innovative and produce something new. I think we had a fine team, and we were always in demand and very welcome wherever we went.