Gaining An R.A.F Pilots Brevet In WW II

[Danny42C]

Danny goes Off into the Wide Blue Yonder.

The cockpit held no new terrors: the Sperry panel in the middle was the same as ever plus a Machmeter and, IIRC, the only engine instruments we had were the Jet Pipe Temperatures down below and the RPMs very much up top. Curiously, these were not %-calibrated, but two three-needle instruments exactly like an (old style) altimeter. I think we got 14,700 rpm for take-off, 14,550 was climb and 14,100 continuous, Flight Idle 8,000 and Ground Idle 3,500.

The three-needle ALT was a death trap for some new (and old) boys, as you came down at 8,000 ft/min (almost as fast as you went up), and in cloud poor Bloggs could be so concentrated on the hundreds whizzing round, and the thousands no slouches either, that he did not notice that the small 10,000-er had crept from one side of the "1" to the other.

At the bottom were the aforesaid JPTs, u/c indicators, brake pressures and (most importantly) the twin fuel gauges. The normal fill was 2 x 160 galls, this would give you about 45 min safe endurance. You must get back in circuit with 60/60, this would allow for two missed approaches. A ventral plus two tip tanks would add up to a total of 505 gallons, and you could do an hour with that.

There must have been a week of groundschool first, and on 6th Feby I climbed in with P2 Willis. He lined up on the runway, checked that the brakes would hold at 11,000 rpm, then pushed the throttles the rest of the way. The thing accelerated smoothly, no drama, no vibration, not all that much noise inside. Nosewheel off at 85 kts, the rest about 125 (IIRC). I noted with some concern u/c and flap (side by side) flick up as soon as we were clear of the ground. Up to now, we'd always waited 2-300 ft with the flaps in case the aircraft sank a bit, but the Meteor just shrugged it off.

He reduced to 14,550 and held it down till 270 kts, then pulled the nose up and up until I was "sitting on the back of my neck" (like a glider winch launch). "Zoom climb", I thought, "can't keep this up for long", and waited for the speed to drop off. But it didn't. The ASI stuck at 270, the aircraft stayed in this ridiculous attitude and the rate-of-climb was jammed against the top stop. We were punching up through the cloud layers like a rocket.

Its climb was the Meteor's party piece; the initial rate must have been around 10,000 ft/min., and as it went up it didn't seem to slacken much. "Pilot's Notes" told you to maintain 270 up to Mach 0.7, then carry on at that. Of course, the T7 was the fastest climber of the lot, having no armament or armour to carry.

After three minutes or so of this "homesick-angel" act, he levelled off at 30,000; now we're out in the blazing sun, the tops of the winter cloud far below us. Reducing to 13,500, we cruised nicely at 250 kts (Mach 0.65 ?) and he handed over to me. It handled nicely enough, but (I thought) with a strange wooly "dead" feel, far from the razor-sharp responses of a Spitfire. He took back control, throttled one engine to idle, trimmed out the yaw and gave it to me again. I was quite surprised what little difference that made: it handled exactly as before, and didn't lose much speed.

Then we tried teasing the dreaded (in those days) "Sound Barrier". Up there, knots are of little interest, what matters is the Mach number (which had its own clock on the panel). Pushing the power back to 14,500 (on both now, of course), and lowering the nose slightly, we crept slowly up to 0.76 before things ("Compressibility Effects") started to happen.

The first sympton was a curious "snatching" at the controls, as if some mischievous imp were sitting on the wing tip and idly kicking the ailerons. At 0.79, this was followed by the pressure instruments "flicking", and at 0.80 the whole airframe started to vibrate violently, but only in fits and starts. I believe 0.82 was as far as you could get before some nameless disaster would overtake you. (0.80 was reckoned to be "Fast Enough for Married Men").

We now decided discretion might be the better part of valour, having poked a finger in the eye of Providence quite far enough for one day. But before proceeding further with the exercise, we had to call for a "Steer". The limited endurance of the Meteor meant that you dare not stray far from home, so as to be close to overhead when it was time to go down, and every minute would count. A demonstration high-Mach run such as we'd just done might well have taken us 25-30 miles away. Right through all your exercises, you'd call for a "Steer" every few minutes to keep near to Driffield.

So before I describe our descent, which would prove to be as Gadarene as our climb had been rocket-like, I am next time going to bore you stiff with an account of the early days when the CR/DF (later CA/DF - same difference) and the Voice Rotating Beacon (VRB, ask Grandad) stalked the land. For, as a rule, Grandad could not mapread for toffee, and even if he had a Radio Compass (v. rare in singles) would have no idea how to use it, so he needed assistance from his friendly Air Traffic Control Officer (Advt) to guide him home to roost.

Bear with me for the next Instalment,

Danny42C.


Waken up at the back, there ! The End of the World is Nigh !


EDIT: Chugalug,

Thanks for the steer ! (intended to see that programme, things intervened, Short Term Memory Loss took hold - again). Will enjoy at leisure in New Year (DV), seems thing is on tap to 19.12.13.

Yes, I think they would be Aussies. Can you remember the buttons ? What would the badge be, do you suppose (surely not a 'roo !)

EDIT II: Of course ! - Google: "Grants Militaria WWII Air Force Uniforms Australian" tells all. Shows black buttons. These chaps probably wore brass pre-war and still had them in France. Cuff badge was dark bronze eagle & crown ("roo" indeed !)

Danny.