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Metal Legs.

Old 14th Sep 2006, 16:10
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Question Metal Legs.

In November 1957 I was posted to RAF Feltwell for a few weeks, until my scheduled CFS course was due to start. It also allowed me to convert to the Provost - which I would be flying there for the first half of the course.
Amongst other tasks, Feltwell was a unit at which pilots on Ground tours could opt to do their annual flying requirement (of around 20 ?? hours) in order to qualify for Flying Pay. Very Important.!! Amongst others, pilots from Air Ministry came.
One day the Flight Commander asked me to be Safety Pilot to a Wing Commander Colville from Air Ministry who came each year to Feltwell, apparently he had been Prime Minister Anthony Edenīs Air Advisor during the Suez Crisis. I wouldnīt need to touch the controls, he said, heīs perfectly competent - he just hasnīt got any legs (Real ones that is !!).
The WingCo was a charming New Zealander(I think.). At the end of the (Grass) runway whilst doing the checks, he told me that he had lost his legs at This airfield & This
very take off direction one night during the war in a Fully loaded Wellington ( & so this was his annual rendezvous to face his "demons" !!).
He explained that he lost an engine as he became airborne & he knew he was going to crash. Feltwell village lay straight ahead where he had many friends - as he used to play darts there in the pub when he was off duty. His only hope was to just scrape over the roofs of the village & crash in the fields on the far side. The crater should be still there,he thought.
There was no local circuit traffic so we flew a few orbits around this large crater - with water & bushes in the bottom - whist he pointed out the different places various parts had finally come to rest after the bombload had exploded. He was the only survivor - in part of the cockpit. His legs,from the knee down,were in the nose some distance away - still in the rudder bar !!
Now the most interesting bit !!
Later, back in the crew room, he told me that somehow he was left with two empty "sleeves of skin" below his knees - the bones of the lower leg & flesh having departed with the rudder bar !! Surgeons, at that, time took the opportunity to experiment if an opportunity presented itself. Apparently they wrapped these "sleeves" around some metal legs which they permanently fitted to him. He then pulled his trousers up away from his socks, about 18 inches, & showed me the result.
Undoubtedly it was a covering of skin over metal - we both knocked the leg & I heard the metallic sound. The skin looked a bit lifeless & dry - but it was skin alright !! (No flesh underneath it ).
I often get people looking sideways at me when I tell this story. I wish I had thought to ask how far the skin went down beneath the level of the top of his sock. Did it go all around his foot completely ??
One of Lifes Little Mysteries !!























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Old 14th Sep 2006, 17:32
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Cannot match it to any Feltwell losses - Lost Bombers. But, dear god, 8 pages of losses from just one base and 2/3 squadrons.....

ps, look at the home page of the Lost Bombers site. He seems a hell of a guy. Maybe someone from Boulmer or Leeming could get in touch.

Last edited by ORAC; 14th Sep 2006 at 17:54.
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Old 14th Sep 2006, 17:36
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Sounds utterly unlikely to me - how can the skin survive with no underlying flesh or capillary systems to provide a blood supply? That just isn't possible (admittedly my knowledge of such things ends with A-level Biology)!
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Old 14th Sep 2006, 17:51
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The skin would have necrotised (died) after a few days in that environment. The blood vessels are deep in the leg, so would have been lost during the trauma.

I've seen heavy smokers have toes amputated due to early-stage gangrene caused by the vessels becoming blocked, so I can't see the skin living like that for long.
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Old 14th Sep 2006, 17:56
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IIRC, any available skin is used to form a pad over the amputation site to cushion the prothesis from the bone.
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Old 15th Sep 2006, 10:56
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75 SQN (NZ) Wellington Z1616 on mission to Bremen crashed shortly after takeoff on 29/6/42. Some of those killed lie in Feltwell war cemetery. Could this be the aircraft?
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Old 15th Sep 2006, 11:02
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See the link in my post for Lost Bombers...

Z1616 was one of two No.75 Sqdn Wellingtons lost on this operation. See:X3539.
Airborne from Feltwell,outbound, crashed 2328 29Jun42 near Red House Farm at Methwold, and burst into flames. Eye witnesses report the Wellington as being on fire in the air, and after circling, dived into the ground.

P/O R.Bertram KIA
Sgt J.G.Quinn KIA
Sgt R.J.Grenfell RNZAF KIA
Sgt N.Mitchell RNZAF KIA
Sgt G.W.M.Archer KIA "
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Old 15th Sep 2006, 11:36
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Strewth, my Dad's mob, 158 Sqn, lost 17 Wellingtons plus 142 Halifaxes in their two years of operations......
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Old 15th Sep 2006, 12:08
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11321 Bombers listed.
Thats a lot of good men and a lot of good airframes.
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Old 15th Sep 2006, 13:15
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Interestingly, ORAC's casulty list contains only 5 names, Wellington's had a crew of 6....
Seems likely Z1616 may well have been Wing Commander Colville's aircraft.
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Old 15th Sep 2006, 13:46
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'Fraid it can't be that one, at least according to 'For Your Tomorrow' Vol 1 (NZ'ers who died in RNZAF and Allied air services).

(Z1616 AA.D) Took off at about 2330 captained by Plt Off R Bertram, RAF but crashed and caught fire five minutes later near Red House Farm at Methwold, 3 miles NE of the base. The five crew died, all but the captain and navigator being buried at Feltwell.
Of the two RNZAF on board, Mitchell was 25 and this was his 4th op, Grenfell was 22 and on his 14th.

JT
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Old 15th Sep 2006, 13:58
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Perhaps this one?

28.02.42, 75 Sqn, SRL X3355, AA-Y, RAF Feltwell
Crew:
Sgt Colville
Sgt H W Woodham RNZAF
Cpl K J Howes
AC2 Godwin
AC2 W Pownall

Crashed near Brandon SUFFOLK on Air Test
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Old 15th Sep 2006, 17:46
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Metal Legs.


As a newcomer to PPRuNe Forume , I am very impressed with the Help & Advice already received on site & by Email. Thankyou !!
A few replies have now been neutralised by other replies. ( Methwold - not Feltwell: Air Test: Brandon. ). At least the New Zealander & Wellington seems to add up.
Anyway, itīs the medical part of the story that has always intrigued me for nearly 50 years, hence my starting this thread.
Thereīs no point in saying that the skin is unlikely to have survived over 10 years, because I touched it !!
However, I will concede the following :-
I asked him how the skin had lasted so long . He said that nobody knew.
Obviously there might have been some bits of flesh etc remaining with the skin & Iīm sure the "sleeve" was not neat, tidy & undamaged. Was this enough to sustain "life" ??
Where we "tapped" his leg was on his metal "shin" (which wouldnīt have much flesh anyway ). Maybe there was more (flesh/veins etc) at the rear of his legs ??? I donīt know.
Incidentally, he only just made it over the roofs of Feltwell. The crater was very close to the village.
" Life is something that happens when you had other things planned". (My current favourite saying !!).











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Old 15th Sep 2006, 21:01
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Thumbs up Metal Legs

Iīve just been sent details of the Feltwell Website. !!It includes some GOOD RAF details & photographs. I havent had time to really study it yet but I donīt think it covers the crash in question ?. However DO have a look !!!
I tried to send a query to the website organiser - unfortunately it was not deliverable ? Anyone any ideas ??
http://www.feltwell.org/raffeltwell/rafindex.htm
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Old 16th Sep 2006, 01:54
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It worked for Arnie in 'Terminator'.
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Old 16th Sep 2006, 03:35
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On the subject of the amputation and the fitting of the prosthetics I don't understand - wouldn't there have been a great chance of infection? Wouldn't the scar tissue have tried to grow around the prosthetic? It sounds a bit strange.
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Old 16th Sep 2006, 07:35
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Posted the accident details over on the RAF Commands board and got this response

From my 'For Your Tomorrow - A record of New Zealanders who have died while serving with the RNZAF and Allied Air Services since 1915' (Volume One: Fates 1915-1942):

"Sat 28 Feb 1942
Bomber Command
Air test
75 (NZ) Squadron, RAF (Feltwell, Norfolk - 3 Group)
Wellington III X3355/Y - took off shortly before 1600 captained by Sgt R A Colville, RNZAF. Immediately afterwards the starboard engine cut and on attempting a return to the airfield the port engine began to splutter. On approaching for a forced landing, X3355 stalled, crashed and caught fire near Lime Kiln Farm at Brandon Fields, 3― miles ESE of Brandon, Suffolk. The two pilots were injured; the 2nd pilot died the same day in the RAF Hospital at Ely, Cambridgeshire, and is buried at Feltwell. Four ground crew were also on board, two of whom were killed, the others being injured."

Robert Arthur Colville was a member of the RNZAF from 1940 until 1947, when he joined the RAF in the rank of squadron leader. He was promoted to wing commander in 1954 (he had been an acting wing commander at the time of leaving the RNZAF). He disappears from the Air Force Lists between Jan 57 and Jul 62 and does not appear in the Retired List of 1975. Anyone know what became of him?

Errol

errol.martyn AT xtra.co.nz
Haltonbrat got the right one
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Old 16th Sep 2006, 08:33
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Perhaps the pilot had more than one crash in Wellingtons? The crash above occurred in daytime on an air test, presumably would not have a bomb load aboard. The crash originally referred to happened at night and left a large crater when the bombs exploded. How close to Feltwell is Brandon? The mystery deepens!
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Old 16th Sep 2006, 09:52
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Luffers re:e-mail address. Did you remember to modify the e-mail address on the site and remove "REMOVE" in the e-mail address?. If that still does not work try: [email protected], it's the e-mail address of the people who registered the address (infor from WHOIS).
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Old 16th Sep 2006, 11:24
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Night After Night by Max Lambert says the following.

Flight Sergeant Marshall, the mid upper gunner, lost both his legs above the knee when his Stirling crashed on 15th Sept 1942.
On 6th Jan 1945 he walked down the aisle on artificial limbs, to be married in St. Ethelreda's church, Ely.

His best man was fellow New Zealander Squadron Leader Arthur Colville, who had been badly injured when his Wellington crashed during an air test in Feb 1942.
Colville survived by the slimmest margin..... feet almost wrenched off, 14 breaks in one leg, 4 in the other, back broken in 2 places, skull fractured, and severe facial injuries.

He and Marshall became firm friends in Ely hospital.
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