Originally Posted by
ORAC
So, student who crashed on take-off from Oakhampton in a Vampire FB5 after engine failure and was subsequently let go for medical or other reasons. As opposed to:
"“I do remember him telling me a horrific story about his days as an RAF jet pilot well before his days in tv…I believe he was stationed in Germany and on war practice manoeuvres when his jet plane developed a problem and he had to bail out. The jet crashed but he landed by parachute in a farmers field in the middle of nowhere. He landed badly and broke both his legs and he told me that, unnoticed, he had to crawl as best he could some way across the field to a farmhouse where he got help from a concerned but kindly farmer and his family. Fortunately there were no other casualties.”
Still, it would have made a good screenplay.....
In fairness, I think that's someone the OP spoke to who might be misremembering what he was told by the Chris Baker in question. I suspect that the short gap between training and a new job might be down either to his being a National Service pilot or thanks to that nice Mr Sandys...
I could swear that I have read somewhere about a pilot crawling to a farmhouse after baling out and being injured, but I'm darned if I can recall where I saw it.