Test flying the Winjeel in 1951
With several Winjeels on the Australian civil aircraft register I thought their owners/operators would be interested in reading about the initial spinning trials that took place in 1951 before the aircraft was cleared for RAAF service. Having flown the Winjeel as a RAAF QFI in the 1950's, I have enjoyed reading a fine book "Testing Time" by test pilot John Miles, borrowed from the Civil Aviation Historical Society museum at Essendon. The book was first published in 1979.
Here is an extract:
"We then commenced aerobatic and spinning trials. The only trouble encountered was with spinning. The Winjeel spin was in many respects similar to that of the Meteor 7 which I had some experience with at Farnborough in 1950. The first few turns were like a series of nose down (about 45 degrees) flick rolls. Over a number of flights we gradually increased the number of spin turns. After two or three flights it was decided to allow the aircraft to spin for eight turns. After five turns the aircraft spin became very steep, nose down accompanied with an alternating yaw. Recovery was difficult.
Normal spin recovery is effected by a stick forward movement and centralising of the rudder. With the Winjeel though, the elevator had locked in the up position (the stick back), and some 200 lbs stick force was required to obtain forward movement. Jim Wilson and I between us managed to break the elevator lock and after spinning from 16,000 feet, regained flight at about 1,400 feet. The stick force indicator failed to operate at over 200 lbs forward pressure mark. All other aerobabtic trials were satisfactory; loops, half rolls off the top, half rolls with dive recovery, slow rolls, hesitation rolls with relative high speed 140 knots at entry, etc.
Later spin trials proved that relatively easy recovery from the spinning attitude would be comfortably effected by initial use of anti-spin aileon control. C.A.C. effected modifications to the tail control surfaces. In the end, all rudder and elevator problems were solved and the Winjeel became a very fine training aircraft. It served the RAAF well, being used as its elementary trainer for some 25 years."
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I first flew the Winjeel at RAAF Central Flying School, East Sale on 8 December 1955 with Flight Lieutenant Randy Green, a CFS instructor. That aircraft was A85-404. We did spins, aerobatics and circuits. That same day I flew A85-404 with Flight Sergeant Ron Bastin on mutual practice and the next day two more Winjeel flights this time with Flying Officer Dal Oswald and Flying Officer Bob Baddams. December 1955 was a busy time for me at CFS when I flew the Wirraway, Winjeel, Lincoln, Mustang and single seat Vampire Mk 31. In later years Randy Green became a test pilot and he and I remained friends for many years.after we had both left the RAAF.
Eight turn spins were the norm when training student pilots on the Winjeel. Entry was at 8000 feet with crossed controls - rudder in the desired direction of spin and anti-spin aileron. A stable spin ensued and recovey after eight turns was normal. Failure to use anti-spin aileron at spin entry caused the Winjeel to enter a steep spiral dive instead of a low speed spin.
In October 1956 a Winjeel crashed at Canberra. The instructor was Flying Officer Jack Mcarthy a very popular flying instructor from RAAF No 1 Basic Flying Training School based at Uranquinty NSW. The Court of Inquiry was unable to find the cause of the accident although it was speculated he may have been practicing spin recoveries in cloud with another pilot based at Canberra. There was an aerodrome height difference of some 1200 feet between Canberra and Uranquinty which may have been a contributory factor. An RAF test pilot, Flight Lieutenant Sutherland from the RAAF Aircraft Research & Development Unit (ARDU) at Laverton, flew to Uranquinty to flight test all Winjeels for their spin characteristics in case there was a "rogue" spinner among them. Each Winjeel was spun eight times to the left and eight turns to the right . No abnormal spinning characteristics were found. I accompanied the test pilot on two of these flights. Some student pilots were quite apprehensive of spinning in the Winjeel. This was to be expected as eight turns could cause disorientation. Eventually with more time on type their apprehension soon faded.