1972 -76 I was a rigger on 231 OCU and of course we had our share of comic,tragic and bizarre incidents.Anybody recall this incident...?
Probably a student crew of Pilot and Nav,night flying in a B2 (possibly WJ677?) on finals into Cottesmore and letting down through an icing layer - suffer a double flame out...pilot tries relight but no luck.
He then orders nav to eject (slow ejection sequence on canberras so don't leave it too late !),nav bangs out successfully but pilot then tries another relight and guess what - both engines light up and he lands successfully
Meanwhile nobody has told the line control about the ejection...ground crew marshals a/c into parking bay thinking WTF is that big pole sticking out of the fuselage ???
Also meanwhile navs SARBE fails to operate and he is missing,station call out for troops to try to locate said nav,all get very muddy LOL (I missed that bit - being out with a minidressed young lady
)...I believe the nav was eventually found safe and sound by a USAF chopper.
In the cold light of day - during the ejection sequence the leg restraints had pulled out a large portion of the nav compartment floor
and I believe the a/c was catogarised as Cat 2(assist) although really it was probably effectively Cat 3!
All from memory and happy to be corrected in the likely event of mistakes etc