RAF strength 1953

[goofer3]

Originally Posted by VictorGolf

The totals I find surprising are for the lighter types such as the Auster, Chipmunk and Proctor. Even the poor old Tiger Moth had 8 accidents. Was there a common cause for these? Possibly there are reasons in the civil world but in a professional Air Force?

Tiger Moths;
1], Drifted on landing and hit pole, nosed over. 2]. Engine failed, crashed in forced landing. 3]. Blown over on take-off. 4]. Engine failed to pick-up, stalled avoiding obstacle and crashed. 5]. Sideslipped into ground during air display. 6]. Sternpost fractured during aerobatics, dived into ground. 7]. Stalled during forced landing in bad visibility. 8]. Undercarriage collapsed on take-off.

[VictorGolf]

Thanks Goofer. So no common cause but probably a reflection of the intensity of the training at the time.

[sandringham1]

The Hastings was similar although control locks seems a common factor.
14-03-1952 TG562 On start up, t/o, lying on belly
16-06-1952 TG603Veered off runway
16-09-1952 WD492Flew into snow bank, whiteout
12-01-1953 TG602 Steep climb on t/o elevators detached
22-06-1953 WJ335 Steep t/o then dived into ground
22-07-1953 TG613 Multiple engine failures, ditched
27-07-1953 TG564 Struck undershoot, fire
09-10-1953 TG559 Landed heavily in fog
02-03-1955 WD484 Stalled on t/o, locks still in!
26-07-1955 WJ341 Undershot, ground looped
13-09-1955 TG584Loss of control during overshoot

[brakedwell]

It was obviously a bad time in the early fifties. My personal experience wasn’t too bad. On the day we arrived at RAF Ternhill at the beginning of January 1956 to start flying training on the Percival Provost there was an accident that killed three of the four pilots, caused by a practice forced landing just after take off climbing into the belly of a Provost that had just taken off. The only other accident was about six months later when a solo student got lost, did a forced landing on sports field near Liverpool and hit the only telegraph pole. On the Vampire course, there were only two Vampire V accidents, both fatal. One was an Iraqi who crashed shortly after take-off, caused by a jammed elevator due to a spanner left in a tail boom. The other fatal crash was due to a loss of control in a dive during a mid altitude tail chase. We didn’t think flying was dangerous at the time, but then we were very young.

[goofer3]

Re Provosts. 11th Jan, 1956. Provost T.1. WV498,[1k] & WV514,[2k]. 6 FTS. 2m ESE of Ternhill.

[Union Jack]

Originally Posted by Asturias56

"which King?
Your usual level of sarcasm, I see! "

Moi????????

Civilian sarcasm, Service banter?

Jack

[Asturias56]

I42 and I go back a verrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy long way - not quite to the Coronation flypast but ...........

[brakedwell]

Originally Posted by Cornish Jack

Brakedwell - re. your #60 - I remember your friend from my time on Bevs. He was, indeed, constantly bemoaning his fate as a Bev 'co-joe'. It was the time before the right-seaters had 'leg-and-leg' privileges and the 'agriculuiral' nose-wheel steering extension. Do you recall his culinary preference ? Processed pea and sugar sandwiches ! Our AQMs raised eyebrows at that !

Despite his strange diet I liked Veg West. Veg and his other West sidekick on Beverleys made a great pair! I had some very hairy tail chases over the Troodos Mountains in the Meatboxes with Veg when we were meant to be waiting for an Egyptian air attack, which never happened..

[Cornish Jack]

brakedwell - Agreed - from memory, a very pleasant character. I had a long-ish chat with him when I was considering cross-over. Your "Unfortunately he was lost over the North Sea and there was no real evidence about what happened." remark 'speaks' to that conversation.

[OUAQUKGF Ops]

Originally Posted by Herod

Does anyone have access to the full list? That link only gives page 1 as far as I can see. I have actually flown with number 44, Hedley Hazelden. Not in a Victor.

I was lucky enough to watch the full rehearsal ( on reflection it might have been the actual event on Wednesday 19th July)) as it flew over Chalfont st Peter (Bucks) - my Mother took me out of school for the day on the pretext of visiting the Dentist. It was a fantastic sight and sound. I've extracted these images which are not very good from a battered copy of the official programme that I have.

[Charlotte Bailey]

I've just spent three weeks working at West Raynham airfield. No Sabre bits left to be seen...

[BEagle]

In the mid-1950s Westlands serviced and tested Sabres at RAF Merryfield. Typically, they got behind in their work and started doing full power engine tests at the weekend....

As we lived less than half a mile from Merryfield, this rather annoyed my late father. After the first weekend's disturbance, he managed to obtain the private phone number of Westlands MD.

So the following weekend, when the racket started again very early in the morning, he rang the MD's number: "Hello, did I wake you up? Well, hard luck - because you woke me up!".

Next weekend, the noise started again. So Westlands' MD got another early morning call: "Hello, it's me again!".

The following weekend, all was peace and quiet....

[Asturias56]

All that overtime gone! You're lucky he wasn't lynched.............