Mention of VX 275 (Mrs Heppel) was interesting. When it was at Halton, after launch you could hear the wheel vibrating as it wound down; Honey Monster always said it was Mrs Heppel talking!
I had the dubious 'pleasure' of nearly writing her off. One evening I was doing AEG onto what is now runway 02 (unmarked in those days)and found myself with just a bit too much height to get rid of with spoilers AND spot land at the launch point, so I did a 'beat' not taking into account the northerly component of the wind. This 'blew' me south to a point where I realised I would be unable to get over the hangars back to the airfield, so I had to put her down in the small field just south of the main hangar site and in avoiding a herd of cows and a protruding tree stump, I touched a wingtip on the ground and ground looped her.
Apparently there was internal fuselage damage which would normally be Cat 5, but being a presentation aircraft she was sent back to Kirbymoorside and re-built.
Last edited by chevvron; 17th Jul 2009 at 11:50.