Originally Posted by
DaveReidUK
I think your memory is playing tricks on you (or else mine is!) - I don't recall any screwjacks involved.
The tailplane (in the days before we called them horizontal stabilizers) was moved by 3 hydraulic jacks in response to pitch (or a/p) inputs. The "elevator" wasn't really an elevator at all, it was a massive geared tab moved by a simple mechanical linkage to the stab. I suspect what you encountered was a failure of that linkage, which would indeed allow the tab to float freely.
memory Dave..wots that..
We used a wheel to set tailplane incidence which I presumed was linked to a screw jack but you would know better..the flight controls were fully hydraulic except for the addition of the air cylinder for the stick push which acted through the stick to effect the elevator through the hydraulics.
I presume you don't have any manuals but what I do remember was that it was extremely serious that it would have lost control of the aircraft in pitch.
Therefore the incident was likely to be the source of the article referred to earlier of loss of control caused by damage at the rear end..note not being specific as an old f@rt as all of us who flew the gripper then are.