XP413 105 flying boat Squadron
Khormaksar March 1964, XP413 sat down in the water on approach into K/Sar, I was sat on the taxi way waiting for it to get on board for a trip to Djibouti, strangely it never made it instead raising a slight splash on finals becoming water borne.
The official line as to why differs from the actual (a heavily ballasted Argosy doesn't fly well with 2 engines out on the same side) so perhaps we could have the real story behind the gentle descent into the bay explained on here, with full anonimity for the crew of course ( I could tell the tale but do slander & libel laws work on here ?) E**** W***** the Loadie was most upset at getting his new "bondou boots" destroyed having to paddle about the freight bay before climbing the ladder to exit onto the fuselage top to be rescued only to be dragged through the oggin by the Whirlwind rescue crew. There is a very good picture of 413 sat in the water on the Ardet site, I was involved in the recovery & subsequent dragging of 413 onto the Marine Craft Section slipway & preparation for shipping back to the UK as deck freight on the P & O Oriana, would add an awful lot of equipment was written off having been "lost at sea" during the recovery.
PH, zetec2.