1966: The Valiant V bombers had just been grounded and scrapped leaving a number of aircrew without a job. Confrontation in Borneo was in full swing so suddenly the RAF had a source of pilots they could send out there. I, in company of several other Valiant co-pilots, were sent to Tern Hill to learn to fly from Zero to 120 knots instead of 120 to Mach 0.9.
Basic flying was done on the Bristol Sycamore. This was an immediate post war helicopter with wooden blades, a nine cylinder radial engine and a control system that defies description. One essential part of it was a tank of water that could be pumped to the end of the tail boom and vise versa to keep the C of G within the capabilities of the cyclic. There was only one collective for both instructor and pupil so during EOLs the supervision could be quite grippy. You had to think a lot to fly it and if you thought about ground resonance it went straight into it.
Night flying. I did my two dual trips one after the other and was then sent off solo. I was now finding it very difficult having trouble making out the local lights and especially the landing Tee. At one stage I was going to fire off the flares, land it in the middle of the airfield and walk away from this helicopter business. I persevered and eventually I had done my three circuits and hover taxied back to dispersal where another trainee was going to take over.
The procedure with the Sycamore was that the RH door would be opened; the incoming pilot would hold the cyclic whilst the outgoing pilot unstrapped, slid over the centre consol into the left hand seat, who would then hold onto the cyclic whilst the incoming strapped himself in.
All done I opened the LH door and stepped outside.
I unbuckled my helmet and rotated it off.
The was a thump on my nose.
It was the visor: A high altitude deep purple visor designed to keep out as much light as possible.
I lifted it up and I could see for ruddy miles!