Danny gets there in the end.
First, a quick query. What was the Edmund's Trainer? I see from my log that it seems to be associated with the Link trainer, and I had two or three sessions on it, but I have absolutely no idea what it was or what it did (tried Google and Wiki, no joy). Does anybody know?
I arrived at Hawarden, was allocated to my Training Flight, and got down to work straight away. I see they put me into a Spitfire nine days after I got there (cautiously they gave me a quick dual check on a Master - which I'd last flown five days before - just to make sure that I hadn't forgotten how). Those nine days were busy. We mugged up Pilot's Notes every spare moment of the day and half the night. They had a "simulator" even more primitive than the Link; it was a scrap fuselage from a crash, the cockpit was intact, controls and instruments did nothing, but we had to memorise the position and function of everything so that we could lay hands on it blindfold. When we weren't blindfold, there was a masterpiece of sophistication - on the wall behind us was a head-on view of a Me 109 at firing range. This was covered by a piece of card hanging on a hook, painted to blend in with the skyscape on the wall. A piece of string was arranged so that the instructor could surreptitiously pull the card away. Woe betide us if we didn't shout out immediately! We quickly learned the value of the mirror. It all helped.
Curiously, I don't remember any formal classroom work, but we eagerly spent every spare moment sitting in the cockpit of any aircraft on the ground and drinking it all in. I think we had about ten pupils on our flight (all Sergeants), and for Instructors we seem to have had an officer, a warrant officer and a sergeant - at least those were the only names which appeared on the (few) Instrument sessions on the Course (flown in the Master). I think we had quite a lot of one-to-one instruction.
Our Spitfires were (like the Hurricanes at Castle Combe) old Mk.Is and Mk.IIs,
reach-me-downs from the squadrons which had managed to survive from the great days (I was told that the Spit was designed for a service life of six months). We didn't like what we saw of the Spit's undercarriage. It was narrow, the tyres were thin and the legs looked a little splayed out. It looked
like trouble. It seemed as if it would be a handful to taxy. In fact, as we later found, the Spit was the exception which proved the rule. I never heard of one ground-looping yet. Taxying was difficult at first, but not because of the undercarriage.
Our great day came. It was high summer, and very warm. This would be problem No. 1. The (liquid) cooling system of the Merlin engine is designed to keep it cool in the air - not on the ground. Once running, the coolant temperature rises until you get airborne. The maximum allowed is 120 (C). If you were still on the ground when you reached that figure, you must pull off onto the grass and shut down to avoid engine damage.
The fact that our Flight's dispersal was on the upwind end of the runway (most days) didn't help. It meant that we had the longest way to taxy. For the first few days there were always one or two stranded aircraft on the grass. No damage was done, it was more of a nuisance than anything. A half-hour's wait, and the engine could be restarted. But you couldn't do it by yourself. The Spit had a direct electric starter, like a car. But the starter load was far more than the battery could handle, and you'd only try it in emergency, with little hope of success if the engine were cold.
Normally power to start was plugged in from a "trolley-acc". A large, heavy battery pack was mounted on a two-wheeled hand trolley. On top of this a small petrol engine (the "chore-horse") drove a generator to keep the battery topped-up. Now this cumbersome kit had to be got out to the stranded aircraft, which might be half a mile away. It was a tractor job and they were scarce (for a few yards to-and-fro in dispersal, erk-power had to do). A lot of time was wasted; you'd done the right thing; but that wouldn't save you from the rough end of your Flight Commander's tongue.
Enough for tonight, (much) more later,
Danny42C
Two-Six!
Last edited by Danny42C; 21st Mar 2012 at 01:07.