Danny gets some New Aircraft to Try.
CDRE decided that they needed something faster than a VV to do some high-speed drops and sprays (to assess the effects on droplet size and area covered, etc.) Everything is faster than a VV, and even though I offered to come down full-bore from 5,000 ft or so (which should enable me to wind it up to 250 mph or so), nothing but a Thunderbolt and a Mosquito would satisfy them. They put in the request to Delhi: - "Certainly, Sir !" - "Right away, Sir ! - anything else you'd like, Sir ?" - Both aircraft duly turned up (only on temporary loan, of course), complete with their own pilots and ground crews.
This set me thinking. Up to then, I'd no reason to doubt the purely peaceful purpose of our efforts in the Defence Research Establishment. But I think they had retaliatory attacks in mind (before the war ended of course): it is often the best form of defence after all, and it would make sense to see how good the two aircraft were at the job, should the need ever arise in future. They were the ground-attack types which would have been used out there had the war continued.
As I remenber, the two aircraft came to us more or less at the same time. The Thunderbolt II was flown in by a South African Army Captain (like the USAAC, they had no unified Air Force then). Capt. Van der ??? came from a Boer farming family and must have dropped straight out of his cradle into a saddle, and stayed there ever since. He gave an impressive demonstration (at least, I'd never seen it before), in which he ran up behind his horse's rump and vaulted clean over it into the saddle. The astounded beast took off like a rocket, but he had no trouble staying on board.
The Mosquito (Mark XVI ?) arrived with a fully qualified (or so he said) veterinary surgeon at the helm (sadly, name forgotten). How on earth he managed to get into the RAF from one of the most Reserved of Reserved Occupations, I do not know, perhaps under that same dispensation whereby my Metropolitan policeman room mate at O.T.U. at Hawarden had wangled it. This vet of ours wasn't very tall, and couldn't see over the Mossie's nose until he got the tail up. Neither could I, for that matter, but he could hardly see even after the tail was up !
Both these aircraft attracted intense interest, of course; we crawled all over them and the question of Having a Go arose at once. Our "airfield" was quite dangerous enough without trying to convert pilots to a new type on it. Moreover, nobody in his right mind would consider flying a Mossie without a proper conversion (and that aircraft did not Suffer Fools Gladly even then, by all accounts). I would authorise only its own pilot to fly it (and it had its own dedicated ground crew as well).
But the Thunderbolt was simpler proposition. All the big American radial singles were known to fly alike; the landing technique was the same in all cases, bring the thing in slow with plenty of power on , get close to the ground, shut off steam. Gravity would do the rest. The Captain showed us round the commodious cockpit and gave us all the "gen". All of us who had relevant experience on big singles tried it, and everybody liked the "Big Fighter". Nobody had any trouble at all with it: the rolling "bulldog gait" of its very wide u/c track attracting favourable comment all round.
I was very impressed. No Spitfire of course, but stable, smooth and comfortable, with wonderful all round visibility - a real "old gentleman's aeroplane", in fact. The Twin Wasp was a much sweeter engine than my Double Cyclone. What charmed me most of all was the power-operated canopy. Until then, I'd had to struggle awkwardly, dragging it closed and pulling it back open, while trussed up in my harness like a turkey. Now press a button, slides open ! Press again, slides closed ! Marvellous !
More about this (and the Mossie) next time.
Time for bed,
Danny42C
What will they think of next ?
.................................................Postscripts :
Union Jack,
Thanks for the congrats ! (Alas, it didn't last long and was to be the apogee of my "career") but it was nice while it lasted !.....D.
pzu,
I suppose that after the Western Desert even Steamer Point (although I never saw Aden) might seem "cushy" to your Dad ! (everything's relative, after all)..... D.
Chugalug,
Yes, those few years when the Colonial Powers vainly thought they could turn the clock back and restore the status quo ended in such a conflict of varied interests, ethnic loyalties and national ambitions that the area has not really settled down yet.
The "mutineers" had some well founded grievances. It was widely believed that priority in repatriation was being given to US forces in the UK and Europe. This was not totally unreasonable. A converted liner carrying (say) 5,000 could do a round trip to the US every 14 days or so, the same operation to Bombay might take 28 or more - the North Atlantic operation was twice as efficient (as a man-mover) in those terms.
And space was at a premium everywhere. The five million people we had in uniform were scattered all over the globe. You had to repatriate the American, Canadian and all the other Dominion and foreign Forces to make room for our returning people in the crowded Britain of '45 and '46. And when you had got them home, then they had to be "parked" somewhere to await the happy (?) day when their Release Group Number came up. The complications were endless......D.
Goodnight, all,
Danny.