Having been familiarized with the aircraft we then progressed to do circuits and bumps, as we called them, but our instructors referred to them as landings and arrivals This to me was the most difficult of all the exercises to perfect, and even more difficult at night.
At night we only had a "Christmas tree" and goose neck flares to land by , and although the A.T 6s were fitted with landing lights we were not allowed to use them.
The Christmas tree consisted of a box emitting a red , green, and yellow beam. If you could see the yellow beam you were too high. the green beam just right and the red beam Our father which art ****.
The goose necks were positioned about fifty feet apart ( alright then fifteen meters, ) They appeared further apart when we were higher up and almost in line when on the ground, This was the only method we could use to judge our height.
The approach to the airfield , and the circuit were demonstrated by Mr Dux, and also explained in the classroom a diagram of this hopefully will appear below.
One of the problems of following the instructions was that when we reached the cross wind leg we had to judge at what point we throttled back, so that we could glide to the touch down point just over the boundary of the field. However , after a few attempts and overshoots this was soon mastered. The next problem was bringing the aircraft down to within a few feet of the ground before pulling the stick back and "stalling out" again soon mastered, but only after a few arrivals.
A point of interest. Although most circuits both in the U.K and U.S.A ran anticlockwise, some of the circuits in the U.K ran clockwise when two airfields were close together. In Lincolnshire, (Lancasters) and Yorkshire (Halifaxes) some were very close together.
Take off was "a piece of cake". Just open the throttle, hold the stick back and build up speed, ease forward until the tail came up, , and then ease the stick back. Night or day, no problem.
More Latin.
Flight mechs motto. Ubendum we mendum.
