As mentioned in the book Strong Foundations: Driffield's Aerodrome from 1917 to 2000 by Geoff Simmons and Barry Abraham, August 1954 ‘had been a busy social month for RAF Driffield,’ the highlight being a visit by HM The Queen, who flew into the base on 13 August in a Vickers Viking of the Royal Flight.
She was escorted during her visit by the Lord Lieutenant of the East Riding and Station Commander Group Captain A F Shelfoon AFC. A Guard of Honour inspection featured RAF personnel from several stations in the area, with about 2,000 people in attendance in all, including service families. The Queen stayed just up the road at Sledmere House for a few days as a guest of Sir Richard and Lady Sykes.
After this Royal visit, a public air show took place, including a flypast by Gloster Meteors and de Havilland Vampires – plus an air race between a Chipmunk and a Meteor – a classic tortoise and hare encounter.
The display also featured a North American Sabre from RAF Leconfield – flown by Flt Lt Arthur Phillips – diving from 40,000ft to break the sound barrier. Unfortunately, the 10,000+ crowd didn’t get to experience the sonic boom, according to the article from the Hull Daily Mail*, although no doubt a few of the local farmers appreciated it at the time!
Flt Lt Phillips also featured in the Yorkshire Post newspaper around the same time, training local firefighters how to extract injured aircrew from downed jet fighters – RAF Driffield had recently converted from being an Advanced Flying School to become No.8 Flying Training School.
*With thanks to John Brown, son of Flt Lt and later to be Sqn Ldr Arthur Phillips.
After leaving the RAF, Sqn Ldr Phillips had a long and distinguished carrer, flying passenger jets to Hong Kong and finally piloting the legendary Isle of Wight hovercraft. He passed away in Ryde, IoW, in the early 1980s.
Anyone with memories of Sqn Ldr Phillips, or the days of the Flying School and the jets based at RAF Driffield, please do get in touch, it would be nice to hear more about this era.
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