Tony Back and the Black Arrows

Recollections and research by David Jordan (QM 1983-90)

I remembered that a From All Quarters a few years ago (2016) contained an obituary for Mr Back (Staff 1989-94), who joined the school staff not that long before I left, and who I seem to recall having two dogs who often accompanied him to school and who were left resting in the back of his car (windows wide open). The obit noted that as a result of his RAF service he was awarded an Air Force Cross (as well as an MBE in the mid-1960s), but that 'the full details of this award are not known.' I'd always wondered what the awards were for after spotting them in the Green Book, and thought I must try to find out. The MBE, of course, was for his exploits with the RAF Mountaineering Association, but the AFC's rationale wasn't immediately apparent, as so often with this award.

I finally got round to doing some digging and can report that he was commander of A Flight, 92 Squadron (flying Hawker Hunters) and that one of the unofficial histories of the squadron records that the AFC was awarded 'in recognition of a great year’s work in which he gave many spectacular individual aerobatic displays at various shows throughout the country.' 92 Squadron was stationed at RAF Middleton St George (now Teeside International Airport), so I think it safe to assume that 'the country' was the UK.

He was clearly a decent aerobatic pilot, since he was part of a short-lived team from Number 20 Squadron, RAF, in 1957.

The following may be of interest, referring to 1958 (and the AFC certainly wouldn't have been awarded for what follows).

Some pilots were also to take part in a twenty two aircraft loop with No.111 Squadron so all the Hunter Squadrons Numbers 1, 19, 56, 65, 63 and 92 were in the Cambridge area, which gave the opportunity for a get together. This was achieved by holding a punt race on the River Cam. Somehow 92 managed to maintain six pilots on standby and to enter two complete crews plus Sam, the Squadron dog, for the races. They were unable to supply a judge as they knew (a) that they should win easily and (b) if they didn’t win easily, a judge wouldn’t make any difference anyway.

In the first race ‘B’ Flight provided the first team, consisting of Brian Cox, Al Durward, George Aylett and ‘Smudge’ Smith, which streaked into the lead but when only half a dozen punt lengths from the finish they took a great fancy for the river bank and ended up in second place.

‘A’ Flight team, consisting of ‘Tinkle’ Bell, Dave Ozanne, Jim Edwards and Tony Back. They decided that paddling the punt wasn’t getting them anywhere so they all got out and pushed. They finished third although one of the two teams which beat them was later disqualified by the judges because, although they started off with a crew of four, they somehow managed to acquire another member en route.

After a grand finale in which everyone ended up in the water, they all changed into dry clothes to the accompanying strains of an argument between the judges and the owner of the punts. The latter was demanding up to £100 for the non-existent damage to his punts. It was finally agreed that they should forfeit their deposits (£12 in all) and the owner went away very dissatisfied. Everyone adjourned to The Bridge by the Mill and improved on the record profit by that pub for an evening’s work.

Tony Back didn't, as far as I can ascertain, participate in the famous 22 aircraft loop at the 1958 Farnborough show by the Black Arrows (one of the precursor teams to the Red Arrows), and I suspect that his duties as a Flight Commander would have precluded him from participating in the training for formation aerobatics that was required prior to the Farnborough show. Nevertheless, it seems fairly likely that some 30 years before he was teaching Maths to Marians of various ages, he was zipping about over various airfields at low level and high speed, thrilling a rather different audience.

Farnborough 1958: To the crowd’s amazement, all 22 Hunters, in close formation then pulled up into the sky and completed a full loop. Just to prove this wasn’t luck, and to the audience’s delight, they then completed a second loop. Since that day such a feat has never been performed again by so many aircraft at once.