Danny hits a Snag.
Although I did not know it, my Vampire flying days were nearly at an end (my last flight was on 4th September'52.) It was nothing to do with my inadvertant roller at MSG. Two quite separate factors would play a part. The first started off with what had appeared at first sight to be good news indeed.
I've earlier described my failure to get a full career Permanent Commission, and my acceptance into the humbler "Limited Career" PC in the GD (Air Traffic Control) Branch. This would, of course, mean the end of my flying life. The details had not been worked out, but I imagine that the transfer between Branches would have taken place at the end of my current tour at Thornaby. That they would permit me to serve out the five years left on my SSC had to be a forlorn hope.
But now, two years before my current tour ended, AMO A499/52 appeared, extending the LCPC offer to the GD(Pilot) Branch. Naturally I immediately applied for my LCPC to be switched over to that. And this was approved, too. But (and it proved a very big But), it was conditional on my passing the full aircrew medical board again. I didn't anticipate any problems.
From the very first, in 1940, I'd known that my mother's concern over my "Weak Chest" was not without foundation. But this had been no hindrance to me in any way; I saw no reason to mention it and the medics couldn't find it. On my two previous full Boards (in '40 and '49), I'd "blown up the mercury" for the full 60 seconds: that satisfied the Board that my lungs were good enough. And 35,000 ft in an unpressurised Meteor had been no problem.
Third time unlucky. I went down again to Kelvin House, Old Portland Street - an address I was to learn to know all too well. The radiographer blew the whistle. Just a small spot on one lung. Probably nothing to worry about, thought the Board, but we'd better check it out, we'll put him into Wroughton (RAF Hospital) for investigation.
There the ENT man got in on the act, "reamed-out" my sinuses (ironically on my 31st birthday), kept me in for a fortnight until I was recognisable again, and sent me back to CMB. They turned me loose with a limited category (A2G1) - Fly, but not above 10,000 ft. - How about a pressurised cockpit ? No dice, the pressurisation might fail. From now on, I'm no use to 608 Squadron, but restricted to the Station Harvard and Tiger Moth. And I must come down every three months to Kelvin House for a check-up, to see if there had been any improvement.
Coincidentally, about this time the Air Ministry reversed their policy regarding the maintenance of the flying skills of pilots on ground tours. The accident rate from this source had been creeping up, and the reason was obvious. A little flying, like a little knowledge, is a dangerous thing. Every pilot needs a minimum of regular flying practice to remain safe, especially when he is handling front-line machinery. The current "do it yourself" arrangements were just not good enough. Some people (like myself) had been lucky in having sufficient flying on tap. But others had not been so fortunate, and had become accidents waiting to happen. It was proving expensive, it had to stop.
From now on, a Ground Tour would mean what it said (Harvards and TMs excepted - and, I suppose, Ansons and Oxfords). Once a year you would attend a two-week Refresher Course, and a final full Refresher before return to flying, and that was all. I do not remember the exact date this came into effect, but I did Refreshers in the summers of '53 and '54, and a final full one in Nov'54.
So whichever way you look at it, my Vampire days would have been over - at least for the time being . Meanwhile my position was that my LCPC as GD(Pilot) was on hold, with GD(ATC) as a fallback.
It was a bit of a disappointment, but that's life.
Goodnight once more,
Danny42C.
It's just the way the mop flops.