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Old 27th Sep 2002, 09:28
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angels

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Slightly off topic

But anyway.

My old maths master was a meteorologist in WW2 and was based at an aerodrome near Bristol.

One day (in 1941 I think) someone was watching a plane on its finals and realised it was Heinkel bomber (a 111?). Everyone rushed around assuming it was going to go bomb and strafe them.

It didn't. It landed.

The lewis gunners (who hadn't been at their stations) proceeded to shoot the plane up killing one of the crew. The plane burst into flames and was destroyed, much to the chagrin of the more shadowy elements of the RAF, who wouldn't have minded getting their hands on a German bomber.

The crew had got lost in cloud and thought they were landing in northern France.

My maths master often used to tell us this story to show us the importance of vectoring (I think).

I can't really believe that a Bae146 crew would make the same mistake nowadays although I do recall the poor chap who put a (737?) onto a disused airstrip near Belfast during the 80s.
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