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Old 12th Jan 2004, 09:58
  #200 (permalink)  
Samuel
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Age: 84
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Isn't there one of those Avro's in the RAAF Museum at Point Cook? I forget why, but it's there!

I watched the demise of the Victor at Cottesmore in 1961/2, and recall it was significant because all five crew got out. There was some problem with fuel transfer or fuses or something while on final approach and, as an avid observer of anything flying, I saw the first of the back-seaters leave before I took off to hitch a ride on the first crash vehicle to turn up! I wasn't actually on duty, but wasn't about to miss this one! So I ran, flat stick, and grabbed a passing crash vehicle. My eternally observant Warrant Officer Cockerton noted that as I was so keen, I could spend the night there! A lovely man nonetheless.

On approach, the Tower would tell you what the pilot's intentions were; landing, rolling, streaming etc, and at about three miles the Victor had a very distinctive nose-on appearance with the leading edge flaps down and those deep intakes. After the three crew had left, the aircraft took a turn for the worse with no power at all, and both pilots ejected.

It arrived in a paddock more or less three miles from touchdown at Stretton which is not far from the Ram Jam Inn, and of course the crash crew didn't know the pilots had gone, so made a brand new entrance through a hedge into the paddock with the MK6, leaving a hole through which everything else followed! Very determined lot!
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