Originally Posted by
POBJOY
In the old Redhill TC days Ray Hannah would sometimes appear at the club shows (in the Spitfire) and some of his RAF exploits would emerge.
I recall one of these entailed swopping a ride of some jet he was in to get his hands on a TT Tempest. (prob a mk6) (prob Sylt)
His descripton of "climbing up" into this oil covered monster, not being allowed to start the engine himself and seeing the entire engine cowling gyrating around in front of him has never left me,as was his description of the take off.
Whether this event was ever recorded in an article or interview i am not sure, but i got the impression he was quite impressed with his ride !!!
As this thread has resurfaced it is opportune to record that i subsequently spoke to a former Tempest Tug (Sylt) pilot (it was that or a ground tour at the time) who did a reverse swop and did his fist Jet ride in a single seat Vampire. His memory recalled a few items of the event :- The splendid view, the slow acceleration, less noise (and very quiet when he switched on the hood seal) plus not slowing down very quickly on approach. He was amazed how easy it was.