Even the best pilot cannot control a falling brick ... In 1972 my friend Giles was testing a Bucc following overhaul at RNAY Sydenham when it flamed out on downwind leg. Ricky the nav banged-out and landed on a busy Belfast thoroughfare in front of a Morris Minor whose elderly driver was taken to hospital with shock. Giles stayed in the aircraft, aiming for Orangefield Park about a mile further on but ejected when the Bucc's nose pitched upwards and all control was lost. His chute deployed just in time to land him on a sloping roof, whence he slid off to land on his elbow three stories below. A couple of seconds later the Bucc dropped vertically to demolish the front wall of an office block 200 yards further on, its fuselage replacing the wall just eight feet in front of the shocked owner's desk. Fortunately there was no fire because there was no fuel.
Today the Bucc's refuelling probe has place of honour in the office reception area, but Giles' injury ended his flying career.
However, I saw the 'hero pilot' line deployed in 1954 when a Meteor T7 canopy opened on finals for Leuchars and the aircraft spun vertically into a field just across the road from Leuchars mainline station, where the St Andrews train was about to depart. The Daily Mail etc made much of the pilot's bravery in avoiding the station but of course the poor chap had no chance of recovery.