Originally Posted by
chopper2004
Al Worden graduated from ETPS when it was at Farnborough in 1965, does anyone know what types he flew during his year here?
From Colonel Worden's autobiography
Falling to Earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut's Journey to the Moon (2011):
At Farnborough, I flew at least thirteen varieties, from a tiny de Havilland Chipmunk propeller airplane all the way up to a Vickers Viscount airliner that could seat around fifty passengers. We flew a wonderful diversity of unique aircraft with intriguing names like Provost, Devon, Scimitar, Canberra, and Sea Hawk. We even flew gliders: it was pilot heaven. The British philosophy was that we were pilots, so we should be able to fly anything. It was quite different from the American mindset of specializing in one kind of fighter jet. Most of the time, we flew Hawker Hunters or Gloster Meteors. The Meteor was the first operational British jet fighter and a potentially deadly airplane—not only for the enemy, but also for the pilot. It was tricky to fly, and in certain flight conditions the Meteor would become unstable and almost uncontrollable. The Hawker Hunter, on the other hand, was one of the best airplanes I ever flew. flew. It was smooth, comfortable, easy to fly, yet very powerful. I loved to spin upside down and watch the world rotate around me. I fell in love with that airplane, and flew as many of my test exercises in it as I could.
At Farnborough we’d start the day with academic sessions, then have lunch, often with a pint of beer, before we suited up and went flying. There were some British flying practices that weren’t necessarily better—in fact, I am sure they don’t do them anymore—and drinking before flying was certainly one of them. But that beer accompanied some of the most wonderful lunches I ever had in the military. I learned to love eating fish while I was in England, and I have never had Dover sole as good as I had at Farnborough. We’d finish up the lunch with a traditional English brandy-soaked trifle dessert with custard, empty our beer glasses, and head down to the operations area to go flying.