Flying displays were a sky-high success

Delta Dragon in flight
Jets like this Delta Dragon thrilled the air-show crowds

SONIC bangs apart, one aspect of the airbase was greatly appreciated over a wide area of Essex. This was the annual air show. In 1959 visitors flocked round the static displays of NATO aircraft from America, Canada, Holland, Italy and Germany. After a break to enjoy the RAF Central Band, the Silent Drill Team and the RAF sentry dogs, and a speed trial of a Mercedes Benz 300-SL, the flying began.
It hardly needed a fireworks display to start off a flying programme which included: jet-assisted take-off by a SA-16, a Comet fly-by, a mass fly-by of 16 Super Sabres, a Voodoo and a B-66 Hustler, the Royal Navy Sea Hawk team, a Vampire fly-by, the Italian Air Force Black Lancers in six F-86E Sabre jets, a Hawker Hunter acrobatic display; four Meteors fly-by, a Shackleton fly-by, a Vampire doing aerobatics, the British Army helicopter team and… the thrills went on for two and a Italian Air Force
Black Lancers in six F-86E Sabre jets, a Hawker Hunter acrobatic display; four Meteors fly-by, a Shackleton fly-by, a Vampire doing aerobatics, the British Army helicopter team and… the thrills went on for two and a aircraft took off and performed a fly-by on their way home.
IF the Americans liked their fish and chips and their flying displays to be large they were also very generous to the community. In Operation Christmas Knights, which the Wethersfield Wing carried on for a number of years, some 700 children in 23 charitable homes in Essex were ‘adopted’ by the servicemen.
Christmas presents worth £2,800 were distributed to 2,100 orphans over a three-year period. Special shopping expeditions were organised by the wives of men at the base who also packed and labelled the gifts. For work such as this the Fighter Wing won		 Skyblazers display
The Skyblazers aerobatic team gave a spectacular display
George Washington Ball
At the George Washington Ball it was a night to wear the medals 		the annual American Ambassador’s award for their efforts for the years 1954, 1958, 1963 and 1967.
AT top brass level the English responded with garden parties to which officers and NCOs were invited to meet members of the English Speaking Union and the Anglo-American Community Relations Committee. Col Sir Stuart Mallinson, chairman of the committee, was given a flight in a Super Sabre and went through the sound barrier twice to become a member of the Mach Busters’ Club.
A glittering Anglo American occasion was the annual George Washington Ball attended by 250 British guests many of whom were invited to the homes of American friends for a pre-gala dinner.
On a more parochial note Miss Elizabeth Knapp, as a member of the grandly named Community Ambassador programme of the
Experiment in International Living, came over to Wethersfield to present the local council with a Key of Friendship. Wethersfield Parish Council chairman John Nottage gave Miss Knapp an illuminated scroll in return. The key is 10 inches long and weighs a pound and a half and for 40 years it has been tucked away in the council’s store-cupboard. Not seen around much now, but not forgotten – like the Americans who came to live next door to a tiny English village Miss Knapp and group
Miss Knapp (dark hair with necklace) with local dignitaries at Wethersfield
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