Originally Posted by
Consulman
Chevvron
Re the 'killing' of a sheep at Gaydon - it did not occur but a sheep was hit and had some wool taken off its back! This was the result of a keen young instructor concentrating too much on patter and not enough on positioning - had to scrape back and land in a partitioned field next to the runway, with the sheep jumping into the air between the struts!. This happened around 1974. I was the instructor and it was the start of a long career with the Air Cadets.
Incidentally I later became adjutant after the move to Little Rissington and kept records of courses. I seem to remember that we averaged 60-70 solos per year almost exclusively on the Mk III.
At least that's clarified then; twas the instructor who supplied the minibus for the '91 summer course who told me and I remember him saying the sheep jumped into the path of the aircraft hitting the bracing wires; I was guest admin officer for that course and used that minibus to drive to Brize every day to collect evening fodder.