Trim ...
That sounds very plausible, but it's quite difficult to judge to what extend the fin leading edge may have been so modified from the pics. Shame WE173 is just a cockpit section now. You never know ... someone may come up with more info
Kaitakbowler ...
In November 1950 MRF suffered a tragic loss. Flt Lt K.L.Howard DFM, a member of the MRF aircrew, died in the Cambridge Military Hospital in Aldershot, as a result of "decompression collapse". This followed a flight to 30000ft in Hastings TG618 during an experiment to investigate the tropopause.
There doesn't seem to be very much info on this tragic event readily available on-line. Given the Hastings "normal" service ceiling was published at 26,500 feet it would be interesting to understand what mods were made to the aircraft and what the crew life support arrangements were ... some form of partial pressure jerkin and pressure helmet perhaps ? Certainly the Taylor Helmet and PPJ, as used by Lightning pilots, was a later 60's technology.
Coff.