Thorney Island Emsworth
low friction
It was only applied to the touchdown area and was low friction only relative to the normal runway surface, with the weight of Albert there was no problem with traction at low speeds but with the lightweight Gnat I suppose it must have been similar to aquaplaning. I do remember seeing a photo of one of the aircraft with the landing light in a rather modified condition.
I do have ..........somewhere, an original photo of one of our gnats with the pointy end held together with lashings of black tape and was never sure when it happened. Does this ring a bell?
Have tried to line up the brain cells but cannot remember a landing light getting damaged (despite the evidence of a photo!).
We got plenty of pitot tubes bent, must have been a bad design, far too long for close formation flying! But handy as a coat rack.
Out of the country at the moment, but will have a dig for the photo when I get back.
Mike
Have tried to line up the brain cells but cannot remember a landing light getting damaged (despite the evidence of a photo!).
We got plenty of pitot tubes bent, must have been a bad design, far too long for close formation flying! But handy as a coat rack.
Out of the country at the moment, but will have a dig for the photo when I get back.
Mike
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: PO10 7SR
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The truth... i think
Very old forum i know, however the incident Double Zero was referring to, right at the very top, i can confirm did actually occur; a large utility plane came in short or missed the landing strip completely and became, i fear to say, stuck in the mud. I know this because my grandad, who was an engineer on thorney at the time, was involved in the recovery, i have no further details on the specifics as this story was told to me a while ago and not in too much detail, however i do know that they totally bol**cked it up, the first heavy machinery the RAF actually drove over / transported over to the downed plane to recover it started to sink very very quickly, so they had to get more winches to pull that lot out first. Eventually they managed to recover the whole thing in a few pieces i believe.
- A 15 year old.
- A 15 year old.
Steer 020 sir you should be alright
Ancient wing commander visitor to mess. PMC, 'See he gets back to his boat alright'. Escort happily merry officer to 'beach' where we find a dinghy. 'Yachts that way', he points. Needless to say its pitch black and non too warm. Get feet wet pushing him off the 'beach' 'He'll never sodding find it in his state', hisses mate. Wing Commander now 50yards out an pulling hard, he must have had sonic hearing 'Oh yes I will he bellows, I'm not totally stupid. I've got a bloody compass' Observe dinghy lurching into gloom. Express concerns to PMC' Had we done the right thing letting him go? 'Absolutely he does this all the time.........anyone else had dealings?
Always possible that there could be more than one such, but ( mid 60s) we were called to assist (S&R) similar rank stuck on sandbank in Chi harbour. Later identified as a serial noise complainant!! Takes all sorts!!
