NigG (#125),
...'It’s much better to hit the far fence at taxiing speed than it is to hit the near hedge at flying speed!’...
Another popular version of this good advice; "A low speed crash in the overshoot is preferable to a high-speed crash in the undershoot !"
... He turned to the (part-time) Royal Auxiliary Air Force, but this came to nothing; the RAuxAF was an exclusive organisation and its pilots tended to be rich playboys drawn from Society’s elite...
At Woodvale, 611 (West Lancs) R.Aux.A.F. (Adj) turned me down in 1946 as they were "Full up, old boy", but I had a sneaking suspicion that the same prejudice may have been at work... Like him, the Volunteer Reserve were less fussy and took me in !
...After passing elementary flying (after 6.5 hours)...
Remarkable ! (the wartime average was around 8 hours).
... Arthur was taken by surprise, one beautiful day, having climbed to 21,000’. He didn’t realise that oxygen had to be used at that height. He went very dizzy and vague. He quickly lost height and soon recovered his senses, yet another lesson-learned!...
Should've been told. Luckily he realised the symptoms in time, others did not. Its onset can be quite insidious, as I know from my own experience in the demonstration they gave us (ie
on us)in a decompression chamber at OTU. Don't suppose they dare do such a thing now (H&S and all that).
Ah, those halcyon days before the war, when the RAF was "The Best Flying Club in England" !
Danny.