Originally Posted by
clingon3
Slight thread drift but.....
Minnie Burner referred to a Sea Vixen landing at Valley with a ‘minor control problem’, which was actually an outer section of the right wing missing. The observer in that Sea Vixen was the RAF Exchange Navigator who went on to become the Boss of 25 Sqn when it first equipped with the F3 at Leeming. Apparently they were landing on mother ship in the Irish Sea when our man felt and heard a huge thump. On looking up through his ‘letter box’ window, he was surprised not to see the sky but the ‘island’ whistling by. Landing wingtip first is not an approved technique and the jet came off worse than the ship. I don’t remember the cause of the event, be it technical or environmental but they diverted to Valley and debriefed in the time honoured fashion.
See my previous post: the Vixen didn't hit the deck with the starboard wingtip but was well off-centreline and cleaned up a few (three, ISTR) parked aircraft. The coal hole window would normally give a view of the island and adjacent parked aircraft during a landing: but don't let a few beers get in the way of a good dit
