RAAF 'Magpie 228' takes a fatal hit

The aircraft which is the subject of this painting is “Magpie 228”, one of the two Canberras of No 2 Sqdn RAAF which were lost in the Vietnam conflict. The squadron was on attachment to the USAF Fighter Bomber Wing at Phan Rang Air Base for four years. On March 14th, 1971, “Magpie 228” was struck by a North Vietnamese Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) while on a radar-controlled high-altitude mission known as a “combat sky spot”.

Navigator Flt Lt Alan Pinches, who briefed Marshall on the event, is shown blasting out of the small hatch aft of the main cockpit as the aircraft began breaking up. At the top of his ejection trajectory, Alan looked down and was relieved to see his pilot, Wg Cdr John Downing ejecting through the main canopy. The pair spent a nerve-wracking night in Viet Cong-occupied territory, a situation made more unpleasant by Dowling having fractured his knee-cap and Pinches suffering from four crushed vertebrae. However, unlike the hapless crew of a 2 Sqdn Canberra lost shot down some months before, both crewmen were saved. The following day a USAF search and rescue helicopter lifted them to safety. In their operations in the Vietnam War, No 2 Sqdn RAAF carried out close to 12,000 missions with the loss of only two aircraft. A magnificent achievement.

Australia took delivery of the first of its 48 Canberras in 1953. Several design changes had been introduced; the wing was modified to include integral fuel tanks, electrical systems were changed and, the most obvious being the Australian model was crewed by two rather than three, as in the British version. The Australian Canberra was known as the Mk 20 and, of the total order for 48, the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation near Melbourne manufactured 28. The English Electric Canberra formed the RAAF’s main strike bomber from 1953 until 1982, though in a reduced role from the end of the Vietnam conflict. The remarkable Canberra twin-jet bomber made its first public appearance at the 1949 Farnborough Air Show in England when it amazed thousands of spectators with its ‘unbomberly’ aerobatic manoeuvres.

The vast English Electric Company was an unlikely manufacturer to be selected to develop Britain’s first jet bomber as its area of design and manufacture was that of heavy electrical equipment for power stations, rail locomotives, marine diesel engines, to say nothing of heavy machinery for the steel, oil and petrochemical industries. However, during World War 2 Britain’s aircraft production facilities had to expand rapidly to meet wartime demand, so English Electric was called on to manufacture Handley Page Hampdens and Halifax bombers. The efficiency of its production methods impressed the British Air Ministry and, as a result, English Electric was later given the opportunity to design the jet bomber. To head up the new design team, the brilliant and innovative W.E.W. Petter was head-hunted from Westland. He had been responsible for the impressively advanced WW2 fighters the “Whirlwind” and the “Welkin”. Subsequent to the Canberra design he conceived the brilliant English Electric “Lightning”.

All up, 1,357 Canberras were produced, 403 of them by the Martin Company in the USA. This model, known as the B57 F was given a massive new wing in order to reach its operational reconnaissance altitude of 70,000ft.

The Canberra was a good earner for Britain; it was taken up by India, Venezuela, Peru, Rhodesia, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, France, the USA and of course Australia. Also, during its long and useful life, Petter’s famous Canberra created several aviation records.

Above: Designed by W. Petter and first flown in 1938 the “Whirlwind”, was powered by two 885hp Rolls Royce Peregrine V 12 liquid-cooled engines. With a 40ft high-aspect ratio wing, the high-performing fighter had a top speed of 360 mph. Engine problems constricted its production but the few that were produced performed well. Note Petter’s cockpit-canopy design; in effect a ‘tear-drop’ concept later adopted by top-line fighters.

Above: Petter’s Westland “Welkin” of 1942 was fast and highly sophisticated – it featured a bullet-resistant, automatically pressurized cockpit ‘capsule’. A threat of high-altitude bombing from the Luftwaffe never materialised, so this 70ft wingspan monster fighter was never used operationally.