Halestorm

There, coming to light, painted in red, was the unmistakable shape of a small aircraft – a MiG-15! Was it possible that this particular Meteor had shot down a MiG? In Korea, the Americans had denoted their kills by painting such emblems, usually a star but sometimes a MiG shape, on the fuselage of their planes just below the cockpit, but it was not known to be Royal Australian Air Force practice. He had a closer look and made out an additional shape. There was another MiG, this time in green!

The new discoveries set Pierce Dunn on a lengthy trail of investigation. He found out that the Meteor had once carried the serial number A77-851 and it had definitely been flown in the Korean War by 77 Squadron, RAAF. Not only that, he discovered that it had been given a name: ‘HALESTORM

On April 1st, 1952, the Defence Preparations Committee of the Australian Government approved the purchase of 36 Gloster Meteor Mk. 8s from the British Government at a cost of £1. 7m ($3. 4m). This was the third purchase of these aircraft, the original order of 36 having been previously complemented by a second order of 28. This new buy was made so that 77 Squadron would be able to remain operational until mid 1953. Accordingly, in August 1952, the third batch of Meteors arrived in Asian waters on the deck of the aircraft carrier HMS Unicorn. One of the planes sported the British serial number WK683.

The new planes were modified for combat operations at Lwakuni, Japan, which was the home of No. 91 Wing. Modifications included ADF (ARN-6 radio compass) which was an American requirement for all Allied Aircraft operating over Korea and zero-length pods for rocket launching which was an Australian adaptation. WK683 now became A77-851. It finally arrived at Kimpo airfield, Korea, in March

1953, where it was allocated to Sgt George Hale.

George Hale came from Claremont, Tasmania. After attending Hobart High School he worked as an accountant and then, in February 1951, he joined the RAAF as a pilot/navigator trainee. Eighteen months later, after completing training at Point Cook, he graduated as a sargeant pilot and was also awarded the trophy for topping the course. From there, he was posted to No. 4 OTU at Williamtown, where he remained until November 1952, gaining experience on Mustangs and Vampires. Then he was posted to lwakuni for conversion to Meteors and arrived at 77 Squadron in Korea early in December.

At the age of 21 and with less than 250 hours in the air he began flying combat missions. These included area reconnaissance and bomber escort missions. During his third mission, on December 16th, while escorting American B-26s, he saw enemy flak for the first time.

His fourth mission was a road recce up the lmjin Valley next day. He was flying as No. 2 in a section of four Meteors. Bogeys were reported above when their attention was attracted by the glint of sunlight on an aircraft wing. Somewhere up-sun someone was peeling off to attack! Just in time, the Meteors swiftly broke right as a section of four USAF Sabres flashed by with their guns blazing. They had been jumped by friendly fighters! Obviously flak and possible enemy aircraft were not the only hazards . . . As it turned out, except for pride, nobody was hurt but, as if to add further insult, it was realised that the Sabres came from a squadron based at Kimpo! At least it gave the Australians the opportunity, when they had all landed, to let fly with a verbal broadside about the quality of American Aircraft recognition.

In general, the Australian pilots were allocated the use of a certain aircraft but, depending upon serviceability, they did not necessarily just fly the one machine. The plane George Hale began to fly regularly was Meteor A77-510 which he came to name ‘Halestorm and Snow’. This was a play on words referring to the name given to his elder brother and the severity of the Korean winter weather. ‘Snow’ Hale was in the army and also serving in Korea and during the winter he took the opportunity to visit Kimpo. There was plenty of hail and snow at the time and the temperature was minus 32°F.

it was very obvious to the Tasmanian by now that flak was the most lethal enemy, particularly the 37mm variety. On the 24th, one Meteor and its pilot, F/Lt Lawrenson, was lost and, on Christmas Day, George Hale had his first harrowing experience while flying as No. 2 during a road recce when his leader came under heavy and concentrated fire. Communist tactics were to bracket and relentlessly track an aircraft until it was hit or out of range. The leading Meteor was suddenly enveloped in a massive fireworks display so intense that the plane seemed to be completely obliterated by a cone of fire. Believing that his leader had been shot down, Hale instinctively turned for home. But as he turned, he took one last look back and saw to his amazement that the other Meteor had actually escaped unscathed! They joined up and returned safely to Kimpo.

On the following day the Meteors went out on an escort mission. B-26s were to bomb the Sohung Bridge. The Americans seemed to completely ignore the flak as they came over the bridge in perfect formation. Two impressions stayed in George Hale’s mind. Firstly, there was the courage and precision of their flying and, secondly, there was the lack of accuracy of their bombing. They completely missed the bridge and it remained a target that they had to revisit over and over again. The Australians escorted them there on at least five occasions over the next few weeks.

On this particular mission, for the first time in the Tasmanian’s experience, MiG-1Ss were reported in the vicinity, but they were not sighted and did not molest the bombers. Due to the aggressive tactics of the American F-86 Sabre squadrons to the north in ‘MiG Ailey’, the Russian built jets were successfully contained in that area and were therefore rarely a problem in the RAAF’s area of operations. In any case, past experience had shown that the Meteors were outclassed by the MiGs, particularly at higher altitudes. 77 Squadron therefore operated at lower altitudes, usually in ground attack roles – a duty for which the Meteors were well suited.

On January 15th, in the Wonson area, the Australians came across a convoy of trucks. As he swept down to attack behind his leader, George Hale noticed a machine gun position open fire on the Meteor in front of him. He immediately changed course, lined up the enemy position and blasted it with his 20mm cannons. It stopped firing and it is believed that the gunners were killed. -Altogether, 77 Squadron destroyed 13 trucks that day and one· of them was credited to Hale. Newspapers carried reports of the incident the following day.

By the end of February 1953, George Hale was an experienced combat pilot with 64 missions behind him. He was also by now regularly flying in the No. 3 position as a section leader. Meteor A77-510 had long since passed into other hands and he found himself flying various aircraft depending upon availability.

With winter drawing to a close, living conditions at Kimpo became more bearable. Hale shared a tent with three other pilots, all sergeants. They were Ted Jones, Ron Gilmour and Peter Chalmers. Ted Jones was to win the DFM for his exploits, which included solo night interdiction over North Korea. Back in December, Pete Chalmers had flown 77 Squadron’s 11,000th sortie on Meteors and on the very same day Ron Gilmour had flown the Squadron’s 15,000th sortie since the outbreak of the Korean War.

Flak continued to be the main hazard and since the beginning of the year the Australians had lost two pilots, one in January and the other in February. According to statistics, it was beginning to work out that out of every four men in a tent, one would be lost before their tours ended. Like all the others, the men in George Hale’s tent could not help but carry the question in the back of their minds – which one of them would it be? On March 8th, it was almost Hale himself!

He and his leader, F/Lt Michael Whitworth-Jones were carrying out a road recce between Kangdong and Singye when, on the ridge of a hill below, they spotted a single truck. They went down after it, but suddenly found themselves enveloped in a heavy cone of fire coming from all directions. It was a trap. As the target loomed closer, Hale could see that it was actually a stick construction covered with canvas made up to look like a truck. They had been drawn in and now they were bracketed! As they zigzagged, tracer followed and shells hissed past too close for comfort. Any second could be fatal. Whitworth-Jones rolled out to the right but Hale realised that if he rolled out to the left, as was usual in such an attack, he would present himself as a sitting duck! The enemy gunners would be expecting that. There was only one thing to do. He continued downwards, zigzagging and spraying 20mm cannon in all directions. Antiaircraft fire followed him all the way but somehow he was not hit. Then, at last, he had streaked out of range. It had been a close thing and when he arrived home he wrote in his log book “. . . will never know how I got back. ”

Next day he was allocated a new aircraft. It was the latest type of Meteor Mk. 8 with spring-tab ailerons for a greater rate of roll and enlarged bell-mouth air intakes to give greater thrust for takeoff and low level flight. It was the newly arrived A77-851 and he flew it on operations that very day. The name he gave it was ‘Halestorm’, an abbreviated version of the name he had given to his previous aircraft.

George Hale’s first mission in ‘Halestorm’ was a success – he destroyed a truck and placed his rockets accurately into enemy fortifications. The second mission was that afternoon, another road recce and, in spite of vigorous anti-aircraft fire, he destroyed another truck. A fortnight later, statistics caught up with the men in George Hale’s tent. Pete Chalmers was shot down and killed, a victim of flak.

The next day was March 27th. In the morning Hale and ‘Halestorm’ took part in a road recce and straffed camouflaged storage huts found along the Pyongyang-Singosan road. Another road recce was scheduled for the afternoon. Four Meteors were to take part. W/Co John Hubble, 77 Squadron’s CO, would lead the flight with F/Lt Sainy Rees as No. 2. George Hale was No. 3 and his wingman was Sgt David Lrlam.

They flew northward until they reached the road junction at Namch’onjom where the formation parted. Hubble and Rees took the northern road while Hale and lrlam turned westward along the road leading to Sariwon. The idea was to follow the roads in a roughly circular route until the two pairs of Meteors rendezvoused and crossed over on the outskirts of Pyongyang and then traced the roads back to so that each pair completed a full circuit. That was the plan . . .

Hale and Lrlam descended to about 10,000 feet (3,048m) in loose line astern formation. As they flew on, Hale spotted two American RF-80s flying close together and heading in a south-easterly direction. There was another aircraft behind them which he reported as a bogey. He was uncertain what it was until he saw a fourth plane further back. There was a heart stabbing instant of recognition. They both had swept wings and high tails . . .

“S. . . ! They’re MiGs!” he exclaimed into the radio.

He turned in after the last MiG, jettisoning the large ventral tank as he went. As he gave chase, somewhere just south of Sinmak, he realised that he still had two rockets on board. He fired them off and they flashed between the two MiGs causing them to break away in different directions. The one he was chasing turned left and headed north with the Tasmanian hard after it.

Meanwhile, Dave Lrlam, who had been covering George Hale’s tail, suddenly felt his Meteor shudder as it took hits. He was under attack! But from where?

Hale told him to head for the nearest cloud and at the same time he saw the two MiGs attacking from out of the sun. One had attacked Dave lrlam and the other was diving after him. It overshot on the left. The Communist pilot had his speed brakes up to reduce the impetus of his dive and so fail in behind the Australian’s tail. But the Meteor’s speed brakes were far more effective and it was Hale who dropped back and came into position behind. He kicked the rudder and fired. The MiG took the blast from ‘Halestorm’s’ four 20mm cannons in its engine aft of the cockpit. Strips of metal peeled off into space and black smoke belched out. It turned over and dived away leaving a black wake in the sky.

Hale was about to follow it to make sure when he spotted two more MiGs coming down. He ‘S’ turned so they could not come onto his tail and after they sped past he lined them up and gave them a parting shot. Almost at the same time he saw another two MiGs diving onto him. Again he ‘S’ turned to avoid them and again he came around and lined them up for a parting shot. This time he scored a hit! The one on the left suddenly gave off dense white smoke, probably fuel, and together with his wingman, shot up and away like an elevator. In the same instant the Meteor’s cannons stopped firing – the ammunition had been used up.

It was too dangerous to stay around. Hale pushed ‘Halestorm’ over into a screaming left hand dive and left the vicinity at high speed and at low level towards Kimpo. Meanwhile, John Hubble and Sainy Rees, alerted by the radio, had turned westward to join the fight. They saw MiGs coming and engaged them in a head-on attack. With closing speeds of around 1,000 knots the high speed pass was over in seconds. Although he made no claim, Rees believed that he had hit one of them with a few shots.

Eventually, the four Meteors landed safely back at Kimpo. An inspection revealed that Dave lrlam’s plane had collected 112 holes, but against this George Hale could claim the probable destruction of one MiG and damage to another. This fight was to be 77 Squadron’s last clash with MiG-15s over Korea and, in fact, it was, and remains to the time of writing, the RAAF’s last recorded air-to-air combat.

News of the encounter had spread quickly and George Hale was met by a battery of reporters and photographers. Someone, using their finger, had scribed the words ‘MiG Killer’ on the fuselage in between the powder blackened cannon ports. That evening, as he was servicing Halestorm, Crew Chief Bob Cherry painted two little MiGs, one red and one green, on the fuselage just below the emblem. Later, W/Co Hubble ordered that they be removed so he painted over them. These were the two MiGs discovered by Pierce Dunn as he carried out restoration work in Mildura many years later.

The American RF-80 Squadron was also stationed at Kimpo and the two pilots who had been under attack, Charles Abby and Jim Schneider, sought out George Hale in the mess and presented him with a large bottle of bourbon as a token of appreciation. He was also mentioned in Dispatches.

Meanwhile the vacant place in the four man tent was occupied by Sgt Jake Newham, who stayed in the RAAF after Korean service and ultimately became the Chief of Air Staff prior to his retirement in 1987.

On April 7th, during a rocket strike against Chinnampo in poor visibility, George Hale and ‘Halestorm’ had what could have been a nasty experience. For the strike the load was eight napalm rockets. These rockets had been developed by F/Lt J C Smith, 77 Squadron’s Armament Officer, in conjunction with technicians back in Australia. It was a rocket projectile with a napalm head substituted for the explosive charge. On this occasion, during the attack, one of these weapons remained ‘hung up’ on its rail. There was no choice but to fly back to Kimpo with it on board. If it had shaken loose and dropped, or touched the ground warhead first while landing, the result could have been disastrous. Fortunately, he made a safe, but tense, landing.

Next day, Hale and ‘Halestorm’ led a flight of four Meteors, in the No. 1 position, on a rocket strike for the first time. On the 26th they had a busy day. The Tasmanian flew three sorties, two of them in ‘Halestorm’ and the last one brought up his 100th combat mission.

77 Squadron still carried out strip alert duties and on May 4th George Hale and three other pilots spent their time waiting in the cockpits of their planes. They had already flown on a rocket strike earlier that day. The duty was usually filled with boredom, but on this occasion they were scrambled.

Sometimes, especially for warmth in cold weather, the ground crew would huddle in blankets inside the engine nacelles while they waited. If the radio alerted the pilot that he had to scramble, the most efficient way to pass the message to the probably sleeping crewmen was to tap the starter. This would cause the engines to turn over but not catch because they had not been primed. The effect, while not too good for their nerves, was to ensure rapid crew movement into action and it was by making use of this method that the Meteors got started this time.

An American RF-80 had found a Russian built T34 Tank close to the front lines near Chung Bong Mountain somewhere close to Sinhung-Ni village. The Australian flight met the RF-80 near the site and the American led them onto the target. They found it at the side of the road and immediately attacked. George Hale’s rockets hurtled into the target and exploded and the tank was confirmed as destroyed.

A spectacular squadron strength rocket attack took place on the 28th. It was directed against a tool factory at Haeji. Hale and ‘Halestorm’ led the third flight of four Meteors. There was the usual flak. The first four Meteors roared down on the building but they met with little success. The second flight went in but results were the same, all near misses. Hale brought the third flight down. Coming close behind him was his wingman, Jack McCarthy. McCarthy had his camera running as he came in and ‘Halestorm’ was captured on film as its eight rockets flashed away and scored a direct hit on the building. There were vivid explosions and the whole structure collapsed – it was one of 77 Squadron’s most effective attacks and it was George Hale’s 127th combat mission.

On June 2nd, Hale and ‘Halestorm’ were involved in a different sort of mission. The occasion was the celebration of the coronation of the new monarch of England, Queen Elizabeth II. The previous day he had led the whole squadron from Korea to lwakuni, Japan. Now, while a group of officers and men from 77 Squadron took part in the coronation ceremonies at Kure and troops from the Commonwealth forces paraded, ‘Halestorm’ led the Meteors in the flypast over Kure and Hiroshima.

On the 11th the team of Hale and ‘Halestorm’ went out on its last combat mission. It was a rocket strike on the Sarawon marshalling yards. Hale destroyed one locomotive and damaged others, plus inflicting damage onto the locomotive shelter shl3ds. Later in the day he flew ‘Halestorm’ for the last time when he guided a helicopter to the position of a crashed Meteor which had gone down earlier on a training flight.

June 14th was the day he followed his orders – his FIGMO Day – and left for Australia. Altogether he had flown 131 combat missions, forty of them on A77-851. He considered ‘Halestorm’ to be a lucky plane, for although he did collect “one or two holes” in the aircraft he flew, none of them happened in ‘Halestorm’. In fact, the only damage it received was inflicted by George Hale himself! While taxying back to his revetment after a mission, he misjudged his position and bent the pitot.

After his tour in Korea, George Hale transferred to No. 11

Squadron and flew Neptunes. Then, in 1954, he completed an instructors course at East Sale which led him into instructing on Wirraways at Point Cook. He finally left the AMF and joined Qantas in March 1958, ending up as a Senior Check Captain on Boeing 747s prior to his retirement last year.

Meanwhile ‘Halestorm’ stayed in Korea and was flown by other pilots. One of them was Ray Seaver. Seaver had been allocated his own aircraft, A77-860, which he had named ‘Maid of the Mountains’ because at the time he joined the RAAF he was living at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains of NSW. He had graduated from Point Cook in July, 1952, at the same time as George Hale.

Seaver flew ‘Maid of the Mountains’ for the last time on the morning of July 16th. In the afternoon of that day there was a squadron scramble and everyone ran to the nearest aircraft. He was beaten to his plane by S/Ldr McGlinchey. Just after ‘Maid of the Mountains’ was airborne one of its engines failed and it crashed, killing the pilot. As it turned out this was to be 77 Squadron’s last casualty prior to the Cease Fire which was declared on July 27th.

In the interim, Ray Seaver found himself flying ‘Halestorm’ on rocket strikes. Altogether, he flew the plane on five sorties and two combat training exercises.

After a total of 101 combat missions over Korea, Ray Seaver spent 12 months with the Antarctic Expedition iri 1954 and then went to Central Flying School to become an instructor. He left the RAAF in 1955 to join Qantas eventually rising to the position of Flight Operations Line Director in charge of all flying operations, including training. He has since retired.

The war was over . . .

However, it was not until September 14th, 1954, that the announcement was made that 77 Squadron would leave Korea by the end of the year. The Government had been considering sending some fighter aircraft to Malaya as part of the proposed Far East Strategic Reserve. The only planes likely to be available for this before 1956, when the new Avon Sabres would be operational, were 77 Squadron’s Meteors. Also, at this stage, it was the only plane suitable for the Malayan airfields. The suggestion was made that it would perhaps be better for the squadron to be sent directly to Malaya, but after consideration the decision was made to bring it back to Australia.

Accordingly, the squadron’s remaining 41 Meteors were loaded aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Vengeance on December 3rd, 1954. 77 Squadron had not been on home soil since it had been formed during the darker days of the Pacific War. At the end of hostilities, it had been transferred to lwakuni, Japan, as part of the occupational forces and from there, in 1950, to Korea. Altogether during the Korean War, its pilots had flown 18,872 individual sorties in some 4,836 missions for the loss of 42 of their number, 32 of them on Meteors. One the other side of the coin, they had been credited with the destruction of 3,700 buildings, 1,500 vehicles, 16 bridges and 6 aircraft, three of them the formidable MiG-15s, as well as a number of probables. It had remained on standby duty for well over a year after the war before finally leaving for home.

Back in Australia, 77 Squadron was stationed at Williamtown, with Nos. 75 and 76 Squadrons. Together they formed 78 Wing equipped with a mixture of Vampires and the returned Meteors, ‘Halestorm’ among them. In 1955, the Sabre Trials Flight was formed at Williamtown and with the arrival of the Sabres, the days of the Meteors and Vampires as front line fighters were numbered. They were gradually relegated to the training role and some were given to the Citizens Air Force to replace the old Mustangs. Meteors went to No. 22 (City of Sydney) Squadron stationed at Richmond and No. 23 (City of Brisbane) Squadron at Amberley, which ended up with a mixture of both Meteors and Vampires. A77-851, its ‘Halestorm’ emblem had long since been removed, was sent to 23 Squadron at Amberley in September, 1956 and stayed on the squadron’s strength until 1960.

On June 2rid, 1960, both the City of Brisbane Squadron and its Sydney counterpart were changed to non-flying units and their planes were no longer required. Several Meteors went to No. 38 Squadron’s communication flight at Richmond where they were put at the disposal of so-called ‘grounded’ pilots to keep up their hours on jets, but A77-851 was not among them. For this plane, and others like it, there was to be a new role.

The RAAF had found itself with a surplus of Meteor Mk. Bs, one of which was ‘Halestorm’ and it was decided to convert these to U. 21 standard in Australia under the designation U21A. The contract was given to Fairey Aviation, Flight Refuelling Ltd supplied 15 conversion kits to Fairey’s Bankstown factory. Modifications included an extended nose cone to house the automatic pilot and remote control equipment and wing tip nacelles for cameras.

In September, 1962, the converted A77-851 was ferried to Salisbury Field, South Australia, for the installation of the control and engagement equipment. From there it went to Woomera for flight trials in March, 1963.

Converted Meteors continued to serve as unmanned target drones until the early 1970s by which time they were completely replaced by the Australian designed Jindivik. ‘Halestoim’ did not last that long. A77-851 crashed while landing during an unmanned flight trial and was considered to be ‘uneconomically repairable’. Useful components, including the cockpit section, were removed and the remainder of the plane was scrapped. It Was officially written off on January 8th, 1964. Curiously enough, George Hale’s earlier aircraft, A77-51o, had gone through the same conversion procedures. It had outlasted ‘Halestorm’ by nearly 5 years when it was eventually destroyed by a missile on November 12th, 1968.

It was envisaged at one time that the cockpit section taken from ‘Halestorm’ would be used for making up a jet simulator for the Royal Australian Navy but this did not proceed further than the idea stage. A77-851’s remains stayed in a shed at Woomera for years until they were rediscovered by an aircraft restoration enthusiast from Mildura. D

Readers are reminded that the second book in our popular Australian Airpower Collection series – The Meteor, Sabre & Mirage In Australian Service – is now available! You have the slightest interest in Australia’s aeronautical heritage, then you certainly owe it to yourself to check out this excellent value book at your nearest newsagent. For additional information please refer to pages 25/27 of this edition.