DougGordon
1st Aug 2010, 18:38
I'm trying to check the details of an F-86 crash but am not having much luck on the net and I'm hoping someone will be able to help. The aircraft was an F-86 of the 116th FIS out of RAF Shepherds Grove. I have written below the account of the crash as told me by one of the pilots fellow flyers.
"All was not fun and games however. We had a sad time when Capt Ray Allison (116th Sqdn Flying Safety Officer, Outstanding pilot and friend to all) Flew over to a RAF Station west of Cambridge ( Boscome Down ?) for a static display of the F-86 one weekend.1952. When departing Sunday afternoon he made a high speed pass down the runway ,did a roll and crashed. Really hit all of us hard. It wasn't until Chuck Yaeger 's book published in 1985, stated that Chucks controls locked while on a high speed pass doing a roll. He let off the G's, pushed up the nose and the ailerons unlocked .Seems a bolt on the aileron cylinder was installed upside down during manufacturing. Contrary to instructions on how to insert the bolt. We just couldn't believe that a excellent pilot like Ray would make a "pilot error" mistake that it had to be something else. And there it was ! 33 years later."
It clearly wasn't Boscombe. Any ideas anyone, or perhaps the pilots memory is playing tricks!
"All was not fun and games however. We had a sad time when Capt Ray Allison (116th Sqdn Flying Safety Officer, Outstanding pilot and friend to all) Flew over to a RAF Station west of Cambridge ( Boscome Down ?) for a static display of the F-86 one weekend.1952. When departing Sunday afternoon he made a high speed pass down the runway ,did a roll and crashed. Really hit all of us hard. It wasn't until Chuck Yaeger 's book published in 1985, stated that Chucks controls locked while on a high speed pass doing a roll. He let off the G's, pushed up the nose and the ailerons unlocked .Seems a bolt on the aileron cylinder was installed upside down during manufacturing. Contrary to instructions on how to insert the bolt. We just couldn't believe that a excellent pilot like Ray would make a "pilot error" mistake that it had to be something else. And there it was ! 33 years later."
It clearly wasn't Boscombe. Any ideas anyone, or perhaps the pilots memory is playing tricks!