Wartime Test Pilots

[IFPS man]

Hi, All:

I have been researching the flying career of a former Vickers test pilot called "Shorty" LONGBOTTOM, who was involved, amongst other things, in the testing of the Upkeep and Highball bouncing bombs.
He flew one of the Lancasters used in those tests and, knowing he was a former PR pilot, was intrigued to find out as to when he "converted" onto multi-engined aircraft. However, when I went through his logbooks I could only find evidence of him having had just one other flight in a Lancaster before flying on the Dambuster trials! He also had flown Fortresses, Halifax's, Liberator's and a Sunderland - none, apparently, after following any Conversion Course.
My question is: Was there any "formal" training undertaken by test pilots on type conversion or was it a case of just getting into another aircraft and flying it??

t.i.a.

IFPS man

[kevmusic]

Hi. You might get a better response in the Aviation History and Nostalgia forum.

[green granite]

My question is: Was there any "formal" training undertaken by test pilots on type conversion or was it a case of just getting into another aircraft and flying it??


Well, there is the famous saying "You will often see a test pilot walk around an aircraft twice, he is not double checking he's looking for a way in." :)

[Genghis the Engineer]

I had the privilege of knowing the late Ann Welch very well, who had been a wartime ATA delivery pilot. She described to me that she received a basic "class" training (training aircraft, fighters, bombers...), and then was given a set of "ferry pilots notes" which contained the basic information to operate the aircraft under the conditions they required.

I have no doubt this was a huge exaggeration (I know what a safety obsessive she was throughout her life), but she did say to me once that having arrived at an an airfield, she'd be looking up how to start the engine as she was driven to the aircraft, how to take-off whilst running up, and how to land during the cruise.

But it does make a point - any TP who is routinely switching aircraft types now will be doing something similarish to what Ann was doing back there - relying upon clear sets of notes carried in the air that give them the information they need to safely operate the aircraft - above and beyond (and probably including) what they've memorised.

I don't know for certain, because I'm much too young and whilst I've met several wartime TPs I've never had that conversation. But, I suspect that a TP of the period would, not dissimilarly to the ATA pilots, have been very reliant upon type-specific notes and self-brief. The big difference is that the TP would most likely have prepaired much of the notes themselves, as they mostly would now.

Now having given a chunk of marginally informed rambling, it does occur to me that if you can get in touch with Eric Brown, he'd be the man to answer this question with considerable authority.

G

[Dudley Henriques]

Now having given a chunk of marginally informed rambling, it does occur to me that if you can get in touch with Eric Brown, he'd be the man to answer this question with considerable authority.


Winkle was alive and well and living in West Sussex when last we wrote to each other in February this year. His mind is a sharp as a tack. He's an amazing fellow.
Dudley Henriques

[Double Zero]

I have read several first hand accounts where wartime Test Pilots were given a dreamers' paradise, flying virtually anything & everything - until one realises they had to do it with no notes !

Hat's off to the ATA for doing similar, although maybe with the odd note...

In particular I seem to remember an early Meteor pilot ( Test or otherwise ) having his instructor lean against the cockpit, point everything out then " off you go ! "

IFPS man, I may have some good gen' for you re. Upkeep / Highball from a seemingly unlikely source; let me check, but if you don't hear within a week kick me with a PM !

[Genghis the Engineer]

If anybody's interested, you can (or could) buy a replica set of ATA ferry pilots notes from the Yorkshire air museum at Elvington.

There's also some interesting reading in Ann Welch's autobiography "Happy to fly" if you come across a copy.

G

[Mechta]

I went to a talk by an ATA pilot a couple of years ago. He said it was not unusual to fly ten different types in one day and that the pilot's notes were whatever the wartime equivalent of a sheet of A4 was, with weights, quantities & limitations on one side and a set of pilot's notes on the other.

Given that he could be going from a Tiger Moth on one flight, to a Stirling on the next, it was quite an achievement.

[opherben]

USN test pilots can be checked out on a maximum of 3 aircraft types at any time.
While some test program phases are very intensive, an average of one experimental or developmental flight in two weeks is reasonable. It often takes time to review test results before continuing, depends on the job at hand.