Originally Posted by
Wwyvern
Here is a Hastings story told me by a friend who was a captain on the type. I was holidaying with him and his wife in Singapore, 1966/67-ish. I have no idea if it is true. I assume the Hastings were operated out of Changi, but I could be wrong.
This was in the days before CRM. His colleague, also a Hastings captain, was returning from a task and joined very long finals for a Changi runway. As they neared the airfield, the captain, who was the handling pilot, called for whatever degrees of flap. The co-pilot replied on the lines of, "Very well, but I think you are a bit early for that." The captain made no reply but continued and landed.
After landing, the captain taxied his aircraft to the far end of the runway, stopped, and said to his crew, "The co-pilot is getting out now" and left the co-pilot to walk back to the office. The aircraft was then taxied back to dispersal.
I think the Captain was a chap called George Luckings. The story was quite well known although I heard it all took place at Colerne where I was based from 1964 to 1967 before we changed over to the C130.