Ah, yes, the 'two Pratts'!! I seem to recall that they were related (cousins??) One of them, Ollie, was the skipper of a Varsity which lost both engines over Dartmoor or Exmoor, on a night X-country.. He ordered everybody out and as he left, he remembered that he had left a toolkit under his seat. The remainder of the crew said they could hear him grumbling about it all
way down! The aircraft did a rather neat arrival in a moorland stream - fuselage lined up straight down the water with the engines on each bank.
The Siggie on that aircraft had an 'interesting' departure. The exit was a panel in the outside skin with a further folding panel in the internal floor. The internal panel was reluctant to move and said Siggie applied extra force which was successful but reaction caused him to fall into the space revealed. He hadn't, at that time, clipped on his chute pack.
Having done so, he then grabbed the 'D' handle which opened the outer panel and, again applied some serious effort and the panel released quite sharply and he exited involuntarily!
Looking in my logbook, I see that I flew with both of them in March '55 - both Sgts and differentiated as Pratt and Pratt E A. Don't know which was which.
... and Silloth Homer!!!!
That voice had an effect on young 'just out of nappies' aircrew which is best not described on an open forum - quite delicious!
