Greatest British (post WW2) miltary pilot
But then, he wasn't a civvy. He was a Flt Lt RAF. He was also UK National aerobatics champion for something like 12 years. I first saw him at a display at Cranfield in 1966.
Neil Williams' book's a treat, though nothing new to a mil pilot. Except you wouldn't be doing a lomkovac (or whatever the name is in a Tornado) I don't think...
Otherwise, that should have been one fun pilot to watch. Titbits that stick to mind from the book are his (alleged) ability to withstand +9 and -6g for meaningful amounts of time (without anti-g of course). The fact that you never get cold in an open cockpit (as your heartbeat goes 180 during aeros) the pint stays in place on the dashboard during a loop and...it took him two years plus, to perfect the slow roll...
Otherwise, that should have been one fun pilot to watch. Titbits that stick to mind from the book are his (alleged) ability to withstand +9 and -6g for meaningful amounts of time (without anti-g of course). The fact that you never get cold in an open cockpit (as your heartbeat goes 180 during aeros) the pint stays in place on the dashboard during a loop and...it took him two years plus, to perfect the slow roll...
Gentleman Aviator
Sorry, civvy at the time of the award I meant. I think he was no longer Flt Lt by then.
Rare, but not unusual; I think there was a QCVSA for a "forced landing" in a biggish jet, but I can't remember and am too idle to Google it!
PS - by one of those amazing coincidences, just after posting the above, happened to read in a Concorde article that John Cochrane got a QCVSA in 1971 for his Concorde test flying...
Rare, but not unusual; I think there was a QCVSA for a "forced landing" in a biggish jet, but I can't remember and am too idle to Google it!
PS - by one of those amazing coincidences, just after posting the above, happened to read in a Concorde article that John Cochrane got a QCVSA in 1971 for his Concorde test flying...
Last edited by teeteringhead; 29th Oct 2003 at 15:32.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Like Neil Williams there are a couple of others who recovered when many others would have crashed.
One, a Master Pilot, flying an Anson had a failure of the undercarriage. One method was to use a hand pump and pump it down. For some reason this was not an option. So he feathered one engine and used the starter motor to rotate the two-bladed prop horizontal. He continued with a single engine approach. Just before touchdown he feathered the other. Again he motored the prop and executed a three-point landing on the protruding main wheels and tail wheel. The aircraft was undamaged.
The other was Sqn Ldr John Elias flying a Shackleton AEW in about 1980. As the aircraft got airborne and he pulled back on the control column the aircraft nosed over. He pushed, it climbed.
He then flew a circuit using the controls in the reverse sense and made a perfect landing saving the aircraft and denying the caterpillar club 6 or 7 new members. AFAIK he did not get an award.
One, a Master Pilot, flying an Anson had a failure of the undercarriage. One method was to use a hand pump and pump it down. For some reason this was not an option. So he feathered one engine and used the starter motor to rotate the two-bladed prop horizontal. He continued with a single engine approach. Just before touchdown he feathered the other. Again he motored the prop and executed a three-point landing on the protruding main wheels and tail wheel. The aircraft was undamaged.
The other was Sqn Ldr John Elias flying a Shackleton AEW in about 1980. As the aircraft got airborne and he pulled back on the control column the aircraft nosed over. He pushed, it climbed.
He then flew a circuit using the controls in the reverse sense and made a perfect landing saving the aircraft and denying the caterpillar club 6 or 7 new members. AFAIK he did not get an award.
