Injustice Righted.
ACW418,
Truly, a bit too much of a coincidence ! The story your M/P retold to you does sound a bit odd, though.
The chap ran out of fuel between Strubby and Manby, (only 7 miles) and he force-landed it without damage ? Would you try it with a Meteor wheels down in some cabbage patch when you don't know what's underneath ? Nor would I ! And, wheels-up, he must have done some damage, if only minor.
And a "Good Show !" Did your M/P say he'd actually seen it in "Air Clues", or was it just as the chap told it ? It looks as if he'd been gilding the lily a bit.
I prefer the story we heard at the time. In that, the last engine failed on long finals to Manby, he put it down u/c up in the approach lights only a short distance from the threshold.
Given that, and the Court Martial, would the rest of the story hold water ? I reckon it very well could. '64 is 8 years after our incident. A year's penance to build up the seniority to get his crown back, wait another year and he's still got plenty of time to get put up for his Commission. And with everyone in the Command feeling sorry for what had been done to him, he'd be a shoo-in.
D.