York v Lanc
Re #10682 – Sorry Danny, my 800-odd hours on the York during 1949-50 were largely passed in plodding uneventfully between UK, Singapore and (occasionally) Aden so no excitements – which is, after all, how I preferred my flying! Despite its later indifferent safety record in the civilian world, I had only one engine shut-down and that was for a glycol leak.
Re 10691 – The York was of course necessarily operated at less than Group A standards and thus, like all large (and rather underpowered) aircraft of that period having the third wheel at the wrong end, suffered from a 'safety gap' between some unspecified speed during the take-off roll and attainment of 3-engine safety speed after airborne – usually about 25k above unstick speed. Thus, loss of an engine during that gap was an almost sure guarantee of disaster (indeed, at higher weights and/or temperature a dead cert).
Re 10638 – Apologies Geriavator I never flew the Lanc so can make no comparison, though I would imagine given its boxy, slab-sided fuselage the York handled less pleasantly than its progenitor. I recall it flew quite neutrally with no vices, although never seemed to warrant the praise I heard lavished on the Lanc. One minor feature that always annoyed me was the poor design of the spectacle-mounted brake lever, almost sure to cause a blistered left index finger if a long taxy had to be undertaken on a windy day.
Although obviously encountering ice from time to time over the years, I don't recall ever having had any problems; guess I was just lucky, although to balance the picture lightning gave me the odd jolt now & then!