roving (#11392),
Thank you for the links, which gave (may I say), a rather "over-egged" description of WWII flying training ! Good fun to watch, though, haven't worked my way through them all yet, treat in store !
..."These skilled pilots areinvariably very reserved".. Lets me out, then - I can "talk the hind leg off a donkey" !
..."I hope they turned off the correct engine''... The 1989 Kegworth disaster, I take it (Wikipedia gives an account of it). Having absolutely no knowledge of the aircraft involved or civil procedures, it seemed to me at the time that the crew would've been much better off without vibration meters on the panel. Then (I would have supposed), they would've cleared the airway, pulled back both to Flight Idle, then advanced the thrust levers one at a time to see which was the "bad" engine.
There were stories (which Wiki does not repeat) that pax saw flames coming out of the (defective) No.1, drew the attention of the cabin staff, but it was not reported to the Flight Deck.
Be that as it may, they mistakenly decided that the No.2 was at fault, closed it down and diverted to Castle Donington. On the descent the No.1 (which would be on much reduced power), behaved itself, and it was only at the very end, when they increased power on it, that it died the death. There was no time to restart the "good" No.2, the Wiki picture shows how close to safety they got - but not close enough. RIP.
I must emphasise that the only twin I've ever flown was the Meteor, and it would be a dumb bunny indeed not to know which one had gone on that!
Hindsight is all too easy: which of us cannot put a hand on heart and say: "There, but for the Grace of God, go I ?"
Yes, your Dad would go much further high up, and the Vampire would glide quite nicely, but whether he would reach Ringway would be in the Lap of the Gods. ..... No "bang seats" for us, as you say. ..... Do not remember any Auxiliary Squadrons being "embodied" in 1951 to allow Regular squadrons to "have a go" in Korea (I was with - but not "on" 608 at the time). ISTR that only RAAF Meteors took part in that, and they were so outclassed by the Mig-15 (powered by reverse-engineered "Nenes" [kindly supplied to Russia by the Attlee Govt, and passed on via China], that they were delegated to Ground Attack).
Lost a plug in a Stearman in training once: the noise and vibration are horrendous ....... Yes, barriers work ! ... Know nowt about helicopters.
Danny.