Reading through the Court of Inquiry file, I noticed that it was SOP for the flight engineer to reduce the power to what was termed "Rated" power of 2500RPM and +8 boost as soon as the aircraft reached safety speed of 125 knots.
In fact on this occasion, the captain had just called 125 knots (the signal for the F/E to reduce power after take off) when shortly afterwards three of the engines displayed power loss. The co-pilot said in his witness statement "The captain raised the undercarriage and the aircraft proceeded to climb away. The captain called "Safety Speed" and at just about that time we struck a bird or birds with a loud report. We would be at this time approximately 100 ft"
How things have changed since those days. It would be most unusual nowadays for a pilot to reduce take off power at 100 ft to rated or climb power. Even in my day on all types of aircraft including Rolls Royce Merlins and Pratt & Whitneys, the usual height to reduce to climb power was never below 500 ft AGL. I wonder why the haste to reduce power so soon after lift-off in the case of the Hastings? Was it an engine manufacturer recommended procedure or was it just a squadron SOP? Either way, it certainly would be a very critical time (125 knots or 100 ft AGL) for a flight engineer to start fiddling with pitch and throttle levers when there may have been no operational necessity to do so.
I vaguely recall reading an article written by a highly respected engine handling guru (maybe it was John Deakin in his excellent series of articles called "The Penguin's Perch") where he maintained that his research had found that if an engine failure after take off was going to happen in piston-engine aircraft, it was most likely at the first point of power reduction from take off power.
While the reason for the mysterious engines power loss on the Hastings was never determined with certainty, the wisdom of changing power at safety speed of 125 knots which would occur around 100 - 200 ft AGL, would seem questionable in light of todays engine handling procedures on piston engine types. Hind-sight is a wonderful thing.
