Originally Posted by
megan
Ain't that the truth, you're only as good as your last flight. Our company check & trainer was the only one to ever land gear up, highly experienced, P-51, Meteor (Korea war), C-130. Had a second event in an Aero Commander. His gear up on a Willytown beach after a P-51 engine failure doesn't count. Came close myself but the gear warning that operated off airspeed and RADALT saved the day
That would have been Sergeant Lloyd "Bodgie" Knight at No 2 OTU RAAF Williamtown in january 1953. I think it was his first flight in a Mustang. He was knocked out in the prang. He thought the beach looked flat but too late saw it was sand dunes. He woke up covered in fuel but managed to wave at the Mustang that circled over him. The pilot of the Mustang was Flight Lieutenant Peter Middleton DFC who was a fighter combat instructor at Williamtown who in later years became a GA Examiner of Airmen at Moorabbin. Lloyd Knight also later became a helicopter Examiner of Airmen at Moorabbin. I last saw Lloyd circa 2019 when I gave him a few circuits in the Ansett Aviation Training B737-300 simulator. Lloyd died about two years ago