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Old 22nd Nov 2012, 00:23
  #113 (permalink)  
tom3
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
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From an older post on this very forum,

"On 27 Sep 83, the RAF lost its first Tornado. ZA 586 from IX Sqn crashed at night, some 5nm N of Kings Lynn. Memory slightly faded, but I think the aircraft went out of control following an unexplained total electrics failure. The nav ejected, but the pilot (Sqn Ldr Mike Stevens) went in with the aircraft; at the time, there was concern that he may have been unable to eject due to the airflow pinning his arms outside the cockpit (the canopy having been blown off as the nav ejected). It was decided that the only way to alleviate pilots' understandable fears over this issue was for BAe to remove the canopy from one of its aircraft and fly it minus navigator (for safety reasons), with the pilot stretching his arms into the airflow at slowly increasing airspeeds. This was done successfully, disproving the possibility that, with the loss of the canopy, the pilot would be unable to reach the ejection handle.

Keith Hartley was the pilot, and received an AFC for his efforts. Somewhere, there exists a published photo of the event."
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