TD&H
Well if you insist!!
A few more Farnborough recollections.
From Memoirs.
After an overnight at Mallala, Ken and I set off for the long grind from Australia to the UK in an RAF Hastings with overnight stops at Darwin, Nogombo Ceylon, Karachi Pakistan, Habaniya near Bagdad Iraq and terminating at RAF Lyneham. We then caught a train into London to check into the Strand Palace hotel, for a week or so, to await the start of the Test Pilots' Course at Farnborough, Hampshire.
We enjoyed looking around London and got to know the staff of RAAF London, meeting in the process our future course member Fred Cousins. Fred was an aeronautical engineer with limited flying experience and we wondered how he was going to cope with the flying on the course.
In early February 1954, Ken and I caught a train south west from London to Farnborough and found our way to the TPS mess, arriving early evening on a Sunday. After checking in to rooms already assigned, we met again in the bar. Initially, we were the only occupants of the bar and we had a few glasses of the warm English brew. Eventually, an older person wandered into the bar and sat on a bar stool a few removed from us. The newcomer was almost bald and Ken, always very outspoken, soon remarked to me in a voice loud enough to be heard by all present, "Hey Milt, wouldn't you think that they would take off their bone-domes to come into the bar?". Bone-dome was the name given to hard flying helmets. The new arrival downed his drink, glared at Ken and stomped out without saying a word. The next day we formally met the fellow. He was no less than Wg Cdr McDonald, the Chief Test Flying Instructor. He glared at Ken again, who sank lower into his chair, whilst giving me a quick look and a suppressed smile.
We had a week of ground school before flying, during which we got to know the other course members. They were mostly RAF/RN with two USAF, two USN, three RCAF/RCN, two Italian, two French, one Egyptian, one Dutch, one Norwegian, a Swede and we four Australians. A most interesting coming together of some of the world's best pilots.
The school was made up of about 10 experienced test pilot tutors, the Chief Test Flying instructor, the Chief Ground instructor, two non test flying qualified flying instructors, a few flight engineers, the Commandant and a small administrative staff. The messing staff were locally engaged civilians. Aircraft maintenance and servicing was carried out by civilians employed by the Ministry of Supply.
The aircraft fleet consisted of two or three each of the following aircraft. Chipmunk, Provost, Vampire, Meteor 7 and 8, Sea Hawk, Hunter F1, Canberra B2, Devon, Pembroke, Valetta, Varsity, Hiller helicopter and Sycamore helicopter. Additionally, there was a small fleet of gliders for recreation flying. The gliders were one each of a two seat Sedburg, an Olympia and a Sky. The Chipmunks were fitted with aero tow hooks and they were the only method by which the gliders could be launched.
The airfield has history going back to the infancy of British and world aviation. Preserved on the airfield were the stumpy remains of Cody's tree. A branch of this tree was used by the pioneer aviator Cody as a rough measure of the thrust developed by his engine/propeller combinations. He would tie the tail of his aircraft to the branch and the extent of bending of the branch during ground running would be an indication of thrust being developed.
Farnborough had one main runway of about 8000 ft. Two other cross runways of about 5000 ft were rarely used and often were occupied by parked aircraft. The airfield was the home of the Royal Aircraft Establishment which conducted a great variety of research and development flying. The National Gas Turbine Establishment had its premises on the western side of the airfield. TPS mess and ground school occupied a small area on the southern side of the airfield, adjacent to the main road from the town of Farnborough to Farnham. The extensive Aldershot army base was to the south across that road.
The airfield had gently rising ground to the south so that the TPS mess, about 500 yds from the centre of the main runway, was about 100 ft higher on a low ridge line. This emphasised the slight depression of the airfield which was in an area known as Lappins Plains. Approach lights on gantries at each end of the runway followed rising ground. The famous black sheds of the RAE nestled around the north eastern end of the main runway. A busy Civil airfield named Blackbushe had its main runway roughly parallel to Farnborough's about 10 miles to the north west. Radio aids were a VHF direction finder and Precision Search Radar, without any height finder, but which was used in conjunction with target heights at approach ranges as a limited Ground Control Approach facility.
During the war and after for a period of about fifteen years, there was a minimum of control and regulation over qualifications needed before flying an aircraft. This was especially so within the test pilot fraternity although pressures were building from the Central Flying schools and the Training areas to introduce more regulation. At this time in the UK and particularly at ETPS, it was accepted that any would be test pilot would have been carefully chosen by his parent service and should have no trouble in being able to handle any aircraft in the school's fleet, given a set of pilots notes and some brief hints from the tutors.
The two instructors on the course were instructors in the pure sense and were more concerned with instrument flying standards and ratings than in correcting any hazardous flying habits of the students. It was expected however, that each student would have at least one preliminary flight with one of the instructors before being let loose.
I had not flown a Meteor previously so on 10 February I was assigned for a flight with one of the instructors, Flt Lt Jack Hindle, in Meteor 7 No 337. This flight was more an introduction to the area and the air traffic system than to the aircraft which I found easy to manage. The next day I was assigned to fly an area familiarisation flight solo in another Meteor 7. The rest of the month was occupied with first flights in other aircraft and my first instrument rating for jet aircraft. In 10 flights for the month I had flown 8 different types.
By March 1955 I was through with the instructors and well into test flying techniques with another four types in the log book.
One of the flights in March was my introduction to gliding. ETPS had firmly established that gliding experience for test pilots was fundamental to their extended appreciation of the atmosphere and the effects of the atmosphere on aircraft handling and performance. This became very obvious as some gliding experience was accumulated.
For those who had not flown gliders previously it was necessary that one of the instructors conduct a brief conversion. A two seater side by side open cockpit Sedburg served this purpose. So it was on the 31 March that a gliding session was arranged at a small grass airfield not far from Farnborough.
I had a good look over the Sedburg with the assistance of the instructor Flt Lt Hindle and we were soon lined up behind a Chipmunk and attached by a nylon rope about 200 ft long. The rope had a metal ring on each end attached to manual release units. The intention was to be towed to about 2500 ft in a low tow position, release from the tow and take advantage of any thermals which we might find.
Just after take off, we climbed up over a line of trees adjacent to the airfield and I was soon interested in peering over the left side of the cockpit at the houses which filled the local area. The instructor wanted to demonstrate something and not having intercom he meant to get my attention by tapping my right thigh with his gloved left hand. As he reached across to do this he inadvertently had his fingers pick up on a wire cable attached to a ball like knob close to my right knee. This was the tow cable release. I felt the tow cable release at the same time as he prodded my thigh, quickly looked down at his hand and looked at him incredulously as the extent of our predicament was realised.
All previous training insisted that we force-land close to straight ahead. But all there was ahead were more and more back yards of houses. Hindle lost no time in converting excess airspeed into some extra height as we wheeled around in a turn back manoeuvre. As we straightened out at about 200 feet above ground it didn't take long to sense that our descent angle was going to put us into the trees along the edge of the airfield.
I pulled my straps tight and selected a spot on the coaming to support my head just before the impending crash. Of course I was watching Hindle's handling of the situation very closely and doing a continual reassessment of the situation.
As we approached close to and still slightly above those treetops reaching up for us Hindle eased the nose down as though to dive into a backyard garden. The tree tops rose above us and my thoughts were,"What a way to go!".
Just short of the trees now towering above us, Hindle eased up the nose. The top branches clutched loudly at the wheels and rear fuselage as we stalled, descending rapidly to thump hard on the ground on the very edge of the airfield.
That was my conversion to gliders. I refused to fly any more glider flights with an instructor.