Danny finds Small is Beautiful.
Now my flying is restricted to the Station Harvard and Tiger Moth. The Harvard I'd been flying off and on since I trained on them originally in the States, but the only previous experience I had with the TM had been at Valley, where my initial efforts had not been particularly glorious. Anyway, who wants to fly Tigers when there are Spitfires and Vampires waiting for you on the line ?
Besides getting in as much time as possible on 608's Vampires here, I seem to have been used this first year as a "taxi-driver", picking people up and dropping them off with the Harvard at Newton (several times, as it was 12 Gp HQ), Hawarden, Church Fenton, Ouston and Leconfield. When Dave Brown became C.O., we went to Auxiliary Conferences at West Raynham and Leconfield, and down to Martlesham Heath to spy out the ground for our first Annual Camp.
In my second and third years, when the Harvard and TM were all that I could fly, I started "Air Experience" flights for our troops. Volunteers soon filled the list. We would kit them out, shoe-horn them into the back seat, give them a sick-bag and tell them what to do with it. These were very rarely needed, as I took care to fly S&L with gentle turns all the way. You must remember that, even though they were serving in the RAF or Auxiliaries, the great majority of people then had never been off the ground. It would not be till the mid-sixties that the Great British Public started to grow air-minded to any extent.
One fine afternoon I climbed in for a solo trip in the TM. It was late summer, the gorse and heather would be in bloom over the moors, it was nice and warm, I was looking forward to this. I took it to our grass patch, turned into wind and opened up. Tail up, it seemed rather sluggish. The clock crept round to 40 kts, but then there was no more coming. Not enough to fly.
Puzzled, I stopped, turned round and went back to the start and tried again. Same thing, even though I was getting the correct 2150 (or whatever it was) rpm from the motor. This time I left it ticking-over, climbed out to see what might be the matter - and found myself in foot-long grass ! The poor old thing just couldn't go any faster. There would no more flying till the grass was cut. Disconsolate, I went back to the office.
As most of my trips with Dave were (relatively) "long-haul" in the Harvard, I took it into my head (not being a QFI) to teach him to fly the TM a bit. I see that, at the end, we were doing C&Bs (I was pushing my luck !) I'm sure he was ready to solo, but of course I couldn't authorise it, and the 608 Training Officer certainly wouldn't.
I got my payback in this way. On a cross-country flight in the Harvard, I would carefully trim and settle the the aircraft on Course, Dave would zero his D.I., I would hand over to him and he would fly S&L, hanging on to the D.I. like a leech. So I had a human autopilot, and could devote myself to the navigation. Not that I did much of that, for I navigated Indian fashion -draw a pencil line on the map and follow it. We had heard vague rumours of these new-fangled airways things, but paid no heed. When time-elapsed suggested that we should be in VHF range of the destination, a few steers would take us in. Life was simple in those days.
One day I took the Harvard solo for half-an-hour. We all know that 90% + of a pilot's expertise is deployed in the last 15 seconds of every flight. So I decided to spend the time doing rollers to hone my skills a bit. Ever since my time in the States, I'd put the flaps up on the roll in a Harvard, always using a clenched fist to knock up the flap selector. Second or third time round, I had a premature "Senior Moment". I forgot, used an open hand and (of course) took hold of the u/c handle. I'd pulled it up out of the detent before bells rang and lights flashed in my head, and I realised what I was doing. Luckily I hadn't moved the control a fraction, so I could smartly push it back again. No harm done.
That was close ! Take a hold of yourself, man !. I can remember the horror of that moment to this day.
I Learned about Flying from That (stay awake !)
Goodnight, everybody (beware of Scrumpy),
Danny42C
"Flying is not inherently dangerous, but it is terribly unforgiving of the slightest mistake" (Lord Brabazon, ca 1905)