HALIFAX CREWS ROUTINELY RISKED THEIR LIVES TO ACQUIRE VITAL WEATHER INFORMATION. KEN ELLIS DESCRIBES THE WORK OF GIBRALTAR’S LAST ‘MET SHIPS’
It was exacting work, maintaining an accurate flight profile, and then at regular intervals collecting and transmiting vital data. Sorties were staged in all conditions, day and night, regular as clockwork. The information gathered could be crucial for operations and exercises, but more than that, it might save lives.
Until the advent in the 1960s of balloons with telemetry and highflying commercial jetliners providing updates and later still satellites, the RAF, Royal Navy and civilian agencies relied on meteorological flights to bring back the statistics upon which weather forecasts were based. The aircrew carrying out these sorties have always been unsung; yet they risked their lives routinely.
The weather was a perpetual enemy, but during World War Two, so was the Luftwaffe. The importance of the job, and the hazards encountered, meant ‘cloud hunting’ was a frontline duty.
Among the many roles undertaken by the Handley Page Halifax, ‘met’ reconnaissance is probably the least well known. From the summer of 1943 the Halifax took on the role and the versatile bo…
