Danny,
I'll leave it to others to explain the hoar frost query, other than to conjecture that with a very fast descent through such a warmer and wetter air, the air inside the cockpit might still remain dry enough long enough to delay its formation and hence prevent it? My query is not with the aircraft so much as with yourself. With a non pressurised cockpit your body, and in particular the ear drums and Eustachian tubes, was experiencing directly the effects of "off the clock" climb and descent rates. Any hint of a cold would surely have led to burst ear drums. Were there any such cases? Was the "Can't clear your ears, can't fly" rule rigidly enforced or was that yet to be learnt the hard way?
Do you remember the BBC series "War in the Air" (all 405 lines of course, so even if recorded not good enough for transmission these days). The opening sequence showed a flight of Meteors getting airborne and being held down just as you describe to attain the required climb speed in order to zoom heavenward.
Last edited by Chugalug2; 22nd Dec 2012 at 11:11.