"There I was minding my own business, when I heard Dewdrop One and Two calling Mayday, no fuel, engine gone, pulling up, bailing out - just like that - dead nonchalant, hotly followed by Three. Four(Kurt Curtis) just made it into Tangers. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse I heard the photographic Meteor NF14 followed by a photographic Vamp T11(Pat Swaffer I believe) - doing the same thing!! They'd got caugt out by weather at Odiham after a photo session."
Spoke to Pat Swoffer yesterday at Phil Phillips (ex Staish Kemble) memorial do. He confirmed it was him. Following a number of injury generating attempted bailouts from non Martin Baker Vampire T11, he had worked out his own procedure - trim full forward, roll inverted, jettison canopy, release harness and let go of stick. He said it worked a treat for both sides - 'like a cork from a bottle'.