Originally Posted by
Shackman
Surely the Mk 16 landing on the cricket ground after engine failure was during the first BoB flypast over London, when an awful lot of Fighter Command was involved. The actual cricket stumps it hit were preserved in Bentley Priory OM when I was there in 1969, together with pictures of the pilot (a Wing Commander?), aircraft and associated other memorabilia of the incident and photographs of the sky apparently full of Spitfires, Hurricanes and others (but no Defiants!)
The 'arrival of SL 574 (After the London fly past) was due to a fuel tank selection mishap (or to be more correct NOT SELECTED) and it bellied in during the lunch time break hence no players involved. The pilot who was an AVM got out and waved to 363 (they were both en route to Biggin Hill). This prompted no Merlins over London for some time. That machine is now in the USA. One of the issues with the MK 16's was that 'some' had a second tank behind the cockpit. This could cause a couple of problems for pilots not used to them. If the rear tank was full and the front less so it increased the chance of a ground loop. For those used to the standard fuel system there was always the chance of a mis selection causing an engine failure..
We had a 'substantial' thread about this some time ago and it cleared a lot of the myths that had grown up around the incident. AVM Maguire went on to head up 11 Group after having originally participated in the BoB, and fighting the Japs in Singapore. He was only captured because he insisted on giving his seat on the last transport out of Singapore to a wounded pilot.
Gets my vote for leadership. I think the record shows that there was only ever one Hurricane in the annual BoB flypast post war (363) (but several Spitfires)
Would love to hear how SV got his Hurricane (North Weald) apparently there were a couple of 'hulks' around there at the time used as a spares grab.
To get back to BV on my Devon visit the burnt remains (with engines) of a Mossie were still on the grass after 633 filming.