Thanks for that C16 and Nigel O. This nostalgia business is getting very emotional ... what an amazing site this is. Bill B gave me my very first flight on 705 in June '63 - just 10 mins famil in the little Hiller 12E.
Couple of random memories: Predannack grew lovely mushrooms ... hovering practice was popular ... Left 3...2 ...1... steady...down10. Open door, lean out, pick m'room. Up 10... forward 10 ....
My most disliked sortie was the height climb. Stagger up to 10000ft, always on a nice day, none of that IMC stuff. Unnatural environment even if you could see from Lands End to Portsmouth. Stagger about nibbling at retreating blade stall for 2 minutes then get back down again. Had the Mk3 on one of those ... just passing 8000ft or thereabouts on the way up when the Cyclone gave a bloody great bang and a twitch - frightened the life out of me but still running fine so went back to Culdrose sharpish. No fault found! Took it up again - same deal, less fright. Turned out to be loose carb buftterfly only apparent when above full throttle height, which only happened once per course.
Here's another. Hiller - Practice engine failure in the hover. Wise laid back instructor now - hand under lever for split second just in case stude drops it instantly, then elbow above lever in case he heaves it up in next instant. Wrong ... elbow now above and THEN he drops it. Real heavy t/d, everything flexed so much that both floors flew open, v noisy but no damage except pride.
Canterbury was a long way from Culdrose for a wedding ....