Metal Legs.
In November 1957 I was posted to RAF Feltwell for a few weeks, until my scheduled CFS course was due to start. It also allowed me to convert to the Provost - which I would be flying there for the first half of the course.
Amongst other tasks, Feltwell was a unit at which pilots on Ground tours could opt to do their annual flying requirement (of around 20 ?? hours) in order to qualify for Flying Pay. Very Important.!! Amongst others, pilots from Air Ministry came.
One day the Flight Commander asked me to be Safety Pilot to a Wing Commander Colville from Air Ministry who came each year to Feltwell, apparently he had been Prime Minister Anthony Edenīs Air Advisor during the Suez Crisis. I wouldnīt need to touch the controls, he said, heīs perfectly competent - he just hasnīt got any legs (Real ones that is !!).
The WingCo was a charming New Zealander(I think.). At the end of the (Grass) runway whilst doing the checks, he told me that he had lost his legs at This airfield & This
very take off direction one night during the war in a Fully loaded Wellington ( & so this was his annual rendezvous to face his "demons" !!).
He explained that he lost an engine as he became airborne & he knew he was going to crash. Feltwell village lay straight ahead where he had many friends - as he used to play darts there in the pub when he was off duty. His only hope was to just scrape over the roofs of the village & crash in the fields on the far side. The crater should be still there,he thought.
There was no local circuit traffic so we flew a few orbits around this large crater - with water & bushes in the bottom - whist he pointed out the different places various parts had finally come to rest after the bombload had exploded. He was the only survivor - in part of the cockpit. His legs,from the knee down,were in the nose some distance away - still in the rudder bar !!
Now the most interesting bit !!
Later, back in the crew room, he told me that somehow he was left with two empty "sleeves of skin" below his knees - the bones of the lower leg & flesh having departed with the rudder bar !! Surgeons, at that, time took the opportunity to experiment if an opportunity presented itself. Apparently they wrapped these "sleeves" around some metal legs which they permanently fitted to him. He then pulled his trousers up away from his socks, about 18 inches, & showed me the result.
Undoubtedly it was a covering of skin over metal - we both knocked the leg & I heard the metallic sound. The skin looked a bit lifeless & dry - but it was skin alright !! (No flesh underneath it ).
I often get people looking sideways at me when I tell this story. I wish I had thought to ask how far the skin went down beneath the level of the top of his sock. Did it go all around his foot completely ??
One of Lifes Little Mysteries !!