...The one thing I would like to ask, but suspect there may be no one around who can really answer it...
That's fighting talk !
Hi Danny,
Probably should have phrased that better - I meant no one around still with first hand experience
I'll go and do some homework and report back - I think there is something interesting there, which predates the training schemes you guys experienced.
Now let's hear about your aviating. What was a Husky, for a start ?
It's very kind of you to show interest, but seriously, I can fit it all in a single post, and I really feel out of place in this of all threads!
This thread should tell you everything you need to know about the Husky - it was the only one operated by the RAF (alongside the more usual UAS/AEF Bulldogs and Chipmunks):
http://www.pprune.org/military-aviat...e-she-now.html
My first ever flight was in this aircraft in 1985/86, and once we were up I was handed control ("You have control", "I have control, Sir") and given a heading to fly us to Duxford. The two guys in the back seat were not amused at this point, knowing it was my first time at the controls of an aircraft! As we approached Duxford our pilot took over for a low level pass along the museum flight line before taking her back up and handing back to me to turn her round and take her back to Marshalls, where he landed her. Pilot may well have been Jonny Blackmore (he definitely flew me in the Chipmunks) who we have always referred to as "W/C Blackmore" although I have no recollection of whether that was his actual rank!
All my other flights (4 or 5 of approx. 30m duration - sadly my 'logbook' is missing in action) were in Chipmunks and usually involved some flying about under instruction or aerobatics, sometimes in the vicinity of my parents house
We were encouraged to have hands on stick and feet on rudder pedals during the aerobatics (and then being complemented on "having flown that last loop rather well" or similar - although impossible to know how far off the controls the pilot's hands/feet were!). Proud to say I never needed the paper bag, but did experience grey-out during some of the aerobatics.
My school was in Cambridge and we would cycle to Marshalls Airport after lunch on the appointed days. After the classic AEF briefing video (how to open Chipmunk canopy and bale out - the infamous "Jump, Johnny, Jump" video), we would then be kitted out with headsets/helmets and parachute - an interesting experience as you were strapped in to it whilst sat on a chair and the straps pulled so tight that you had to walk to the aircraft, climb up on the wing and finally in to the cockpit whilst seemingly bent almost double.
And that, I'm sad to say, is the entirety of my aviation experience (other than pax in airliners) spread over 1985/6/7. But I've never forgotten it, and still occasionally reminisce about it with one of my schoolmates who was also in the RAF section. We could never understand why anyone would choose the Army (lots of yomping around with heavy kit) or Navy (mucking about in a small dinghy on a large pond) sections, when we got to fly for real in the RAF section.
Happy days, but very off-topic now for this thread...