Meatbox accidents
I flew in the Middleton-st-George aerobatic team (the "Falcons") at Pershore's B o B Day display on 19 Sep 53. After flying back to Middleton on
21 Sep, I did not fly again until 28 Dec. I do not think the reason for the "gap" was a grounding; I believe I did the OATS course around then, whatever that was - anyway I did not get my oats! Any way, I flew a T7 on 28 Dec "418" with a Flt Lt Farley in the back seat on an air test. Any takers on which Farley?
I spent the evening of 27 Oct in London at 208's 91st reunion dinner, where I was guest speaker. I devoted some of my speech defending the reputation of the Meatbox against some of the malignant and somewhat hysterical abuse that it has attracted recently. Some significant facts are:-
About 3,500 Meatboxes were built and, according to Nick Carter's book, "only" about 25% of them were writen off in accidents.
Ejection seats were introduced with the Mk 8 and later Marks. At Driffield, where I did my conversion, and at Middleton where I was a "creamie" we used F4s for solo work and T7s for instruction. In the former, due to the high tail, bailing out was scarcely an option. In the latter it was an act of desperation because the canopy sometimes did not release cleanly, swivelled on its centre strut and decapitated both pilots. (Or so we were warned).
All Meatboxes had the old economiser oxygen system. The T7 was unpressurised and the F4s' pressurisation was not often serviceable. I am sure many pilots went partially anoxic.
The F4s and the earlier T7s had vacuum-driven instruments with pitifully low gimbal limits and long re-erection times, and these in short-endurance aircraft which had to operate at high altitudes. I am sure many blokes "lost it" carrying out of necessity a "limited panel" QGH/GCA. The Meatbox's descent angle with airbrakes out was steep.
The performance jump from the Harvard to the Meatbox was great.
There was an urgent build-up of the front line due to the Korean war. I believe students were being pushed off solo at the AFSs in conditions which were not acceptable on Flight Safety grounds. But Flight Safety was not the ultimate consideration at that time.
The idiot who tried to do a touch-and-go on one and went through the officers mess was at Middleton - in late 51 I think.
The attitude of the public in those days was "Dogs bark, ducks quack, jets crash". I don't believe there was any mutiny at the FTSs. Everyone wanted to fly the Meatbox because it was still King of the Sky