Isn't amazing how one photo can bring back instant recall of event(s) of over 60 years ago? I'm talking about the pneumatic brake pressure gauge seen in the bottom left of the remains of that Dove instrument panel.
Many British designed aircraft had identical brake pressure gauges such as that one. The big needle read the total remaining compressed air in the brake system and the two smaller gauges display brake air pressure to individual main wheels. The Canberra bomber, Spitfire and Hurricane, Hawker Sea Fury, and Lancaster bomber were many of the types that used compressed air brakes. The brakes in the Lincoln were the same. (photo of Lincoln from photobucket did not turn out, curses)
I had just joined No 10 (Maritime Reconnaissance) Squadron at Townsville to fly Lincolns for the next two years. Having previously flown Tiger Moths which had no wheel brakes but a tail skid that once tore through the Senior Air Traffic Controllers veggie patch under the control tower at Uranquinty NSW which really upset him. His name was Squadron Leader Harry Connolly DFC DFM - a portly chap with a Navigator's wing and a couple of rows of campaign ribbons on his chest and prone to outbursts when excited or upset. While taxing solo in the Moth I was weaving the nose to avoid the last known position of his veggie garden when I found it OK, the tail skid being an effective hoe. Harry called me "that Horrible Pilot Officer Centaurus" after that.
Anyway, I digress. In 1953, Townsville had three runways with runway 07 being awfully short at 4000 feet and the extended centre line being over the suburb of Belgian Gardens. At the time of this event runway 02 was out of action. My CO Wing Commander John Handbury AFC (former wartime Hudson pilot against the Japs) called me to his office and said the Officer Commanding North-Eastern Area Australia was coming in to fly a Lincoln on continuation training that afternoon and I was to be his second dickey (co-pilot). OC NE Area was Group Captain Patrick "Paddy" Heffernan OBE AFC and his HQ was in Townsville.
Paddy walked with a distinct limp caused by one leg being shorter than the other, the result of a mid-air collision at night in a Wellington bomber over England. He was thrown from his Wellington during the impact and landed heavily by parachute into a farmer's field. The rest of the crews of the two bombers did not survive the mid-air. Despite grievous injuries caused by striking the fuselage of his Wellington as it broke apart, Paddy regained his flying status several years later towards the end of the SW Pacific campaign against Japanese forces. At Townsville, we had a Mustang A68-113 for target towing air to air gunnery practice and Paddy would occasionally leave his desk and fly the Mustang as well as the unit Dakota and Lincoln. However with his gammy leg he baulked at flying the unit Wirraway which could be a bugger to land in a crosswind. He was a short pilot as was I, and it soon became obvious the blind was leading the blind when taking off and landing the Mk 31 Long Nose Lincoln.
The pilot's seat in the Lincoln was on a raised pedestal while the occupant of the right hand fold-down dickey seat sat a lot lower. The pilot had a shoulder harness but the right seat man only had a lap strap. As the Lincoln, like the Lancaster, was designed to be flown by one pilot, the right seat could be stowed away against the cockpit wall or used for a passenger, pilot, airman or whoever. After engine start Paddy taxied the Lincoln for take off on runway 07. The long nose prevented a view over the nose and like the Mustang and indeed a Tiger Moth, the pilot was forced to weave left and right to clear the area directly ahead. Night-time taxing was indeed a nightmare. Each weave meant brake use and at idle RPM on the No 3 engine that ran the air compressor, there wasn't enough RPM to effectively charge the lost air pressure. After Paddy had done a few touch and go circuits on 07, he announced that the next landing would be a flapless full stop. I had never seen a flapless in a Lincoln and was therefore taken aback when Paddy said he would don his shoulder straps for this landing.
As there was no shoulder straps for the dickey seat, this looked like a potential Mayday situation to me; especially as I had no idea what speed over the fence would be used. In fact, Paddy used about 125 knots which, as it turned out, was well in excess of what was published in Pilot's Notes Lincoln. The Pilots Notes at page 45 said: Quote: "Flapless Landings. The initial approach should be made at 115 knots IAS. Little power is needed to maintain this speed. The approach is flat with a nose-up attitude but control remains satisfactory. Considerable tail down trim my be needed and care must be exercised if it is necessary to go around again. Aim to cross the airfield boundary at 105-110 knots. Power should not be reduced suddenly as this results in a high rate of sink. The aircraft can be brought to rest within 2000 yards with moderate use of the brakes" Unquote.
2000 yards is about 6000 feet and 07 was only 4000 feet. I don't think Paddy had read his Pilot's Notes. I was only a mere 21 year old sergeant with barely 300 hours and even if I knew about the landing length needed for a flapless - which I didn't - it was not the done thing in those days to offer handling advice to a highly experienced hoary old group captain. We crossed the threshold fast and floated and floated and floated. Being a tail wheel aircraft you could not spike it on the runway otherwise there would be a huge bounce and go-around.
We finally hit the deck in three points with no forward vision and Paddy and I both threw open our respective side windows and shoved our goggled heads way out in the airstream to see where we were going. That was common practice on the Long Nose. In addition, short pilots sometimes loosened their lap strap and stood up with toes on the rudder bars like a jockey riding a horse, in order to get a better view over the nose. Paddy tried that but with one leg shorter than the other it meant he was not getting even braking. He would never have passed even a CASA Class 2 medical nowadays...
With heavy pneumatic braking accompanied by lots of hissing as the brake pressure rapidly depleted, the Lincoln came to a stop right at the end of 07. The brake bags on one wheel were burnt through and we had to be towed somewhat ingloriously for a Group Captain OBE AFC, back to the RAAF tarmac. We were lucky not to have over-run into the outskirts of Belgian Gardens. Now I knew why Paddy Heffernan used his shoulder harness.
So there is the story, brought back to life by seeing the triple needle pneumatic air- pressure gauge in the wreckage of the Dove cockpit.