Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 28, 2024 10:07:46 GMT 12
This is very interesting, from The Press on 8th of November 1956:
N.Z. PILOT OVER EGYPT
Ashburton Officer Flies Venoms
(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.)
NICOSIA. November 6.
A New Zealander, Flight Lieutenant Douglas Dallison, of Ashburton, son of Mrs C. B. Dallison, of Christchurch, who is attached to a squadron of low flying rocket firing Venoms of the Middle East Air Force, has been making daily strikes against Egyptian targets since the British-French operation started.
He was based in Jordan for the last two years, but came to Nicosia shortly before the present emergency. Flight Lieutenant Dallison and pilots of the squadron to which he is attached were in the opening and follow-up phase of the British air attack on Port Said Airfield.
They went in with rockets shortly after dawn and strafed military installations there and any military vehicles they could see “which were not many.”
It was possible, although difficult to confirm, that the squadron’s Venoms were responsible for knocking out five tanks reported near the airfield on the day the British and French airborne forces landed.
Planes Attacked on Ground
The squadron in other strikes had accounted for dozens of aircraft on the ground and Flight Lieutenant Dallison himself had a field day by bagging five of them.
There had also been a sortie against a hangar where it was reported MIGs were concealed. It appeared destroyed by the time a stream of Venoms had swept over it. They also “had a go” successfully against MIGs dispersed in another field.
“We did not see any Egyptians about at all, let alone Egyptian aircraft,” said Flight Lieutenant Dallison.
“The only opposition we encountered was from well camouflaged flak positions which caused some minor damage to our aircraft.
“The Egyptians seemed to have bolted down their burrows. They might have knocked some of us for six if there had been anything organised from the ground.”
N.Z. PILOT OVER EGYPT
Ashburton Officer Flies Venoms
(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.)
NICOSIA. November 6.
A New Zealander, Flight Lieutenant Douglas Dallison, of Ashburton, son of Mrs C. B. Dallison, of Christchurch, who is attached to a squadron of low flying rocket firing Venoms of the Middle East Air Force, has been making daily strikes against Egyptian targets since the British-French operation started.
He was based in Jordan for the last two years, but came to Nicosia shortly before the present emergency. Flight Lieutenant Dallison and pilots of the squadron to which he is attached were in the opening and follow-up phase of the British air attack on Port Said Airfield.
They went in with rockets shortly after dawn and strafed military installations there and any military vehicles they could see “which were not many.”
It was possible, although difficult to confirm, that the squadron’s Venoms were responsible for knocking out five tanks reported near the airfield on the day the British and French airborne forces landed.
Planes Attacked on Ground
The squadron in other strikes had accounted for dozens of aircraft on the ground and Flight Lieutenant Dallison himself had a field day by bagging five of them.
There had also been a sortie against a hangar where it was reported MIGs were concealed. It appeared destroyed by the time a stream of Venoms had swept over it. They also “had a go” successfully against MIGs dispersed in another field.
“We did not see any Egyptians about at all, let alone Egyptian aircraft,” said Flight Lieutenant Dallison.
“The only opposition we encountered was from well camouflaged flak positions which caused some minor damage to our aircraft.
“The Egyptians seemed to have bolted down their burrows. They might have knocked some of us for six if there had been anything organised from the ground.”
