Back about the mid eighties.....
In the crewing area at ADL. About to go out to the a/c to get ready for flt to MEL and in comes one of our senior pilots who commuted to MEL.
He began to tell us that he had found the answer to something that had he had wondered about since the end of the war.
He had just been whiling away some time in the terminal newsagent and had come across a book detailing the history of the Beaufighter and having flown Beaufighters in New Guinea during the war he turned to the section that detailed the history of each aircraft.
He then told us of what interested him.
Seems that at the cessation of hostilities some of the pilots resented being unable to have a last flight. Orders were that all operations to cease forthwith and the only flying that was approved was required test flights.
All aircrew were to be shipped out the following day
He and a fellow pilot convinced the Duty Officer that a certain a/c needed to be test flown. Having got approval for a spurious test flt off they went for a bit of a jolly.
They ,in their exhuberance or whatever paid less attention to their fuel useage than they should have with the upshot that they ran out of fuel on long final and crashed short of the runway.
They then returned to base, collected their gear, said nothing to anyone and boarded their transport back home.
He told us that for years he was in fear of a knock on the front door and to be confronted by the Authorities, but over time gradually forgot about it.
We were then told that according to the info in the book that particular a/c was "reduced to spares".
Wonder what happened to the Duty Officer and how it was explained.
One of many fascinating stories that we, who were priveliged to be their f/o's, heard over the years.
Emeritus