Go Back  PPRuNe Forums > Aircrew Forums > Military Aviation
Reload this Page >

Gaining An R.A.F Pilots Brevet In WW II

Military Aviation A forum for the professionals who fly military hardware. Also for the backroom boys and girls who support the flying and maintain the equipment, and without whom nothing would ever leave the ground. All armies, navies and air forces of the world equally welcome here.

Gaining An R.A.F Pilots Brevet In WW II

Old 26th Mar 2013, 21:27
  #3641 (permalink)  
Danny42C
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
There's always a Way Round.

BEagle and Smujsmith,

Post-retirement, I had 13 years with HM C & E. While not on the Excise side (I was a dreaded VAT Inspector !), it occurs to me that the trick might have been to designate the Spit a "Bonded Warehouse". The beer could then have been lodged in it without payment of duty.

AFAIK, there was nothing in the law to prevent a Bonded Warehouse flying off to France if it wished (I don't think the eventuality had even been considered), and when it got there, presumably only French law would apply.

There was a good old tale about Bonded Warehouses which involved the miraculous conversion of whisky into water (the reverse of the Gospel story), but I'm afraid it would be too far off thread to relate here.

Thanks for the enthralling details of the "beer - run"..... Sudden thought: why not fill the empty barrels with good vin du pays and return to the UK ? (what the Customs man doesn't see won't hurt him).

Danny.
 
Old 26th Mar 2013, 21:34
  #3642 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 5,222
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes on 3 Posts
why not fill the empty barrels with good vin du pays
Never mix the grain with the grape.
Fareastdriver is offline  
Old 27th Mar 2013, 21:50
  #3643 (permalink)  
Danny42C
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Danny says "Ave atque Vale".

The summer turned to autumn and our time at Valley was coming to an end. There would be no "At Home" day there that year. To show the youngsters of the AFS how it should be done, "Red" Dunningham led a vic of three Spitfires (I was No. 2) in a formation landing. On the 30th August I flew my last run for the Army, and climbed out of TB858. I would never sit in a Spitfire cockpit again in my life. EDIT: Not so- see my Page 313 #6244 !

There was no parting celebration - we just dispersed to the four winds. I'm not sure exactly when I left. The Boss signed my F414(A) on the 14th September. Good old Alex ! I was "High Average" ! (which is meaningless) - he couldn't bring himself to put "Above Average" (which I certainly was not ), but wanted to say something nice. Come to think about it, all the "term-end" 414s I've had had something "funny" about them. Driffield had said that I was "Average - as a u/t Jet Pilot" and my swan song in November '54 ended in "Proficient as a Meteor Pilot" (for I ended my post-war flying career as I'd begun four years before).

My faithful tin box slid nicely into the passenger side of the "Bond", the other bags packed round it. I crossed Telford's elegant Menai suspension bridge for one last time. My joining date at Thornaby must have been around mid-October, for I had a couple of weeks at home in Heswall. Then I set out, Liverpool to Teeside is about 130 miles. I followed the A59 (Preston - Skipton - Harrogate -- the "Blubberhouses" route). There are (or were) some serious gradients on the Lancashire side: the "Bond" overheated and seized at one point, but after a quarter of an hour's rest to cool off it restarted without any damage, and we reached the watershed with no further trouble.

Then it was downhill all the way, on the long straight bits the Bond screamed away happily with the needle against the stops at 40 mph. Four miles short of Harrogate, turn left for Ripon and Thirsk and then enter Thornaby from the south.

There was no trouble finding the place. I passed a well-worn Victorian or Edwardian mansion, then a half-dozen obvious AMQs along the road, then the notice board and the pole barrier across the camp entrance. Before the Duty Corporal got out of the Guardroom and got his cap on, I was in (one of the more useful features of the Bond was that it was so low that you could "limbo dance" under most pole barriers).

I established my bona fides, he directed me back under the pole and down the road to the mansion. As I left the main gate, I saw that directly across the road was the "Oddfellows Arms" (known to all as the "Oddbods"). "The NAAFI will have to look to its laurels", I thought. I parked outside what was called "Thornaby Hall" (which was stretching it a bit) and went in.

All was quiet - it was a bit like the Marie Céleste. There was a small table in the hall, with the In/Out and Visitor's books. I booked-in and left my two Visiting Cards (do we still do this ?). Somewhere I still have the little copper engraving plate for my embossed Cards (only a bounder would use printed ones !)

Hearing some sound from the door on the left, I found myself in a little bar. "Quiet tonight", I said to the steward as he drew me a half-can from the wood (always warm and flat in those days). "The Auxiliaries have all gone home, sir", he said, "and there's only the SDO around at the moment". To prove the point, the chap himself strolled in and we exchanged introductions. Jack Derbyshire was, it seemed, the Station Adjutant (ex-war Flight Engineer).

And what will he have to tell me ?

Till next time,

Danny42C.


J'y suis, j'y reste.

Last edited by Danny42C; 19th Dec 2014 at 22:31. Reason: Add Text.
 
Old 29th Mar 2013, 17:49
  #3644 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Co. Down
Age: 82
Posts: 828
Received 234 Likes on 73 Posts
My goodness, Danny, your journeys by Bond seem to be even more intrepid than your journeys by Spitfire! Today's comfortable, reliable cars are great but I still hanker after those wonderfully traffic-free roads.
Geriaviator is offline  
Old 29th Mar 2013, 20:00
  #3645 (permalink)  
Danny42C
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
All good things come to an end.

Geriaviator,

Well, the roads weren't all that empty ! Do you remember the flocks of sheep, the cows coming in for milking, the crowds of cycling clubs all over the road - and the odd steam-roller every few miles ?

The Bond was more fun than anything I've had before or since. Happy days !

Now we're all agog for the final chapters of youthful villainy, the sad farewell to Abdul, and at last: "They say there's a troopship just leaving Bombay" (no, Aden !)

Don't keep us waiting ! Danny.
 
Old 30th Mar 2013, 04:07
  #3646 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: NSW Australia
Posts: 127
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
More marvelous stuff from Danny, Geriaviator, Chugalug, BEagle(hooray for 20,000 posts) and all. Must try and participate more but my typing finger tends to have a mind of it's own which doesn't help.

Anyway, had Danny had a two seater for his spares run it would have saved him some discomfort. I knew there was a use for it! And the brewers dray with 1000 horses or so up front instead of just two was fun, I need a delivery of the real warm flat stuff out here rather than the ice cold fizzy, though I am getting used to it after twenty odd years here!

More please, and I'll try to follow on a bit in spite of going wildly off thread having not got my wings until '51. But my father got his in '20 or so, so that might count me in!
Tim Mills is offline  
Old 30th Mar 2013, 17:46
  #3647 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Co. Down
Age: 82
Posts: 828
Received 234 Likes on 73 Posts
BLIGHTY BOUND ... but I wish I wasn't


Where are they now? Flying Wing football team, winners of the Cowasjee Dinshaw Cup 1952. Most of these lads were less than a decade older than I was, and they spoiled the Kids rotten. Sadly I can't remember their names.

GOOD NEWS and bad news yesterday ... Dad tells us we’re flying home instead of the boat, and we leave in six weeks’ time. I can hardly sleep with the prospect of flying again and pester Dad for all available info on the Hastings transport; I would have preferred a Lancaster myself, but one must take what Their Airships provide. Just a moment. Did he say SIX weeks? A tiny cloud appears in the sunlit skies above Aden, a cloud which spreads into eight octas as the days fly by.

But before we go, it’s December 1952 and everyone has a part in the Khormaksar Pantomime at the Astra Cinema. Warrant Officer Haden brings the house down as Baron Hangover, LAC John Elliott tap-dances brilliantly as Buttons, the Chorus Line Kids excel with unintended comedy from appalling timing and one (me) always managing to turn the wrong way, and Marcia Trinnick steals the show as Cinderella, in a dress of silk, parachute, white, the property of His Majesty. The creation comprises an awful lot of unclad creamy Marcia atop yards of layered silk, and when she comes on stage the thunderous roar from the appreciative airmen can be heard inside Dad’s hangar half a mile away. Me, I don't know what they're all excited about, it's only Marcia, as I've said before she's a nice girl but she's past it, she turned18 last month.

Afterwards we’re praising the costumes and mum says Marcia looked like a big meringue. Dad says he wouldn’t mind a nibble of that himself and mum kicks him on the shin. To my surprise he doesn’t kick her back as a normal person would but instead they fall on each other, their faces turn red, their eyes start watering ... Oh no, I think, here we go again.

In an instant it’s time to go back to England, and for the first time on a posting I don’t want to go. I walk listlessly around the station saying goodbye to my friends around the hangars, and more than my eyes seem rather moist. Even Abdul the crab seems sad, he stops eating his cockroach while I stroke his shell.

Next day I look down from the departing Hastings at the square of houses that once was home. That little white speck is our school, inside are my friends at their desks and dear Miss Buckle... my last glimpse of Khormaksar is blurred by the tears which stream down my cheeks. To the rumble of four Bristol Hercules I find myself singing the Aden Song from the pantomime finale:

All the little phones go brrr brrr brrr, HQ staff want you ...
Bound to be a panic, flap flap flap,
Last thing on a Saturday, too !
The Vampires go wheeeeeee, the Brigands crash,
Main gate guards shout Aintcher gotcher pass ?
Watching all the troopers, sailing out to sea,
Here we are in Aden, happy as can be !

Footnote, 60 years later: As we now know, the secret was kept and the Russians never succeeded with their cunning plot. The Khormaksar Kids exchanged a few letters but as so often in Service life, we never saw one another again.
At 71 I’ve probably grown up as much as I’m going to, and I haven’t caught VD. But my wife keeps the chequebook because I’m still a menace with figures.
Geriaviator is offline  
Old 30th Mar 2013, 18:05
  #3648 (permalink)  
Danny42C
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Come one, come all !

Tim Mills,

Tim, (guessing that "Tim Mills" isn't a pen name - or is it ?),
Welcome aboard this Prince of Threads! (our fingers are all right, it's just these keyboards that keep jumping about - I too belong to the "Search and Destroy" school of typing).

Our Moderators seem generous and accommodating to a fault, as we must all acknowledge. All of us are entitled to our say in this Virtual Crewroom in cyberspace, so follow on a lot, and start now. As you were ten years behind me, it's not hard to fix your age group. Any remembered tales your Dad told you would be much appreciated, too.

I am in two minds over the two-seat Spits, nice idea, but was it really necessary in a world full of Harvards ?

Congratulations, BEagle ! (I've only 19,500 odd to catch up......Ars longa, vita brevis).

Cheers, Danny.
 
Old 30th Mar 2013, 22:12
  #3649 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: West Sussex
Age: 82
Posts: 4,743
Received 165 Likes on 58 Posts
Geriaviator, the leaving of Aden was clearly a very emotional experience for you. The pangs seem as sharp as ever, despite all the years that have passed. I can appreciate the turmoil, for I remember like you touring the station before my repatriation flight, once of course with a manilla card collecting signatures from accounts section to the bicycle store and once more to take in all that I could of its sights and sounds (rather more scenic I suspect, as it was RAF Changi). The greatest loss though was, as with you, of friends that I would not see again for many years, if ever. That you were then so young made the parting the harder still, never mind being a "mere" dependent. What stayed with you clearly were the memories, so vivid that you have made us all witnesses to the joy that was your boyhood. Would that we could all be so blessed!
Are you sure that the Station Pantomime, the Chorus Line Kids, even the somewhat Geriatric Marcia (well, 18, I mean!), were not all part of some elaborate cover for something more sinister? Was there a roll call the next morning, were all still present? You don't remember any puns about Greek Urns, perchance?

Danny, I too am much impressed by your seemingly robust and dependable Bond Minicar in which you crossed and re-crossed the nation loaded down with all your worldly goods, while lesser mortals such as I merely sent our trunks PLA, ahead of our own journeys by rail. I wouldn't be too surprised to learn of a record breaking run in the Monte Carlo, but there I go again pre-empting future escapades...sorry!

Tim, I can but echo Danny's warm welcome aboard. Kind of you to include me in your list of contributors, but I am a mere spectator, a member of an entranced and enchanted audience.
Gaining your Wings in 1951 puts you well in the running as a contributor, as Danny says. Having a father who gained them in the 20's better still. Between the two you bracket the thread title nicely, I'd say. I'm hoping that we may be treated to both tales!

Last edited by Chugalug2; 30th Mar 2013 at 22:36.
Chugalug2 is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2013, 18:30
  #3650 (permalink)  
Danny42C
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Come one, come all.

Chugalug and Geriaviator,

"The best of friends must part". How true ! - in the context of Service life. I remember my sonnet-writing room mate at Finningley in '49. He wrote one on the subject of how it takes time to make new friends (all I can recall is the last couplet):

"You feel the loss more than the gain
And life appears most cruel"

The Bond was one of the best automotive designs of its time (for its time). It stood in relation to a car as a Lambretta to a Harley-Davidson. It carried three adults abreast, with weather protection (sort of) and you could put it anywhere. A child could push it, any adult could lift the back up and carry it round like a wheelbarrow. Two-up, it climbed all the gradients in the Lakes, albeit slowly. But hey ! - what's the hurry ? you get there in the end (Festina lente). But no, I never entered it for the Monte Carlo (although I'm sure it would have got there - even if only to collect the wooden spoon).

I have high hopes of Tim (many hands make light work). The more, the merrier ! Cheers, Danny.
 
Old 31st Mar 2013, 20:42
  #3651 (permalink)  
Cunning Artificer
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: The spiritual home of DeHavilland
Age: 76
Posts: 3,127
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
All the gradients in the Lakes? Wow! I can't imagine what it would be like driving a Bond up The Struggle and completing the Kirkstone Pass, but you WW2 veterans are in a different class. I have always lived in awe of your generation Danny.
Blacksheep is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2013, 20:58
  #3652 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Wiltshire
Age: 70
Posts: 2,063
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Blimey Danny, did you include Hardknott Pass in your tour of the lakes with your Bond? I remember the late Fred Dibnah doing it with his steam roller, and having lived near for a few years, I used to do it in a 4WD jobby, but the brakes used to get bloody hot going down the other side. You did push that Bond Sir, respect

Last edited by smujsmith; 31st Mar 2013 at 20:59.
smujsmith is offline  
Old 1st Apr 2013, 00:34
  #3653 (permalink)  
Danny42C
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Hardknott Pass

Smujsmith,

Yes, Hardknott too ! In bottom gear (max 10 mph) it would climb up the side of a house. Two-up ? Yes, but the other one was rather petite !

The vehicle itself was very light (just an alloy box, really), and the cable steering was feather-light with about 160 degrees lock to lock, so the hairpins were no trouble - it would whip round on a sixpence.

Lakeland roads were very quiet, too, in those days and the Bond was only about 4 ft wide.

Main trouble was going down, rear brakes were useless, so it was bottom gear all the way, too (Heaven bless Villiers).

Danny.

Last edited by Danny42C; 1st Apr 2013 at 00:38. Reason: Remove possible misunderstanding.
 
Old 1st Apr 2013, 13:55
  #3654 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Co. Down
Age: 82
Posts: 828
Received 234 Likes on 73 Posts
FLIGHT IN THE FIFTIES



Chugalug’s trusty steed, the Handley Page Hastings C.1 which brought us home from Aden. The Hastings was basically a Halifax bomber with transport fuselage. On the right, its civil derivative the pressurised Hermes which staged through Aden three times a week. This one, G-AKFP, spent 1947-1949 with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, 1949-57 with BOAC, and 1957-60 with Airwork. IWM Duxford had a Hermes fuselage last time I visited.

BEFORE the age of mass travel in the 1960s, our overseas postings were considered exciting and glamorous -- even Aden. Most people had never been abroad even to the Continent, and the height of chic was to visit the holiday camps, some of them thinly veiled wartime accommodation.

Flying was a very different experience for those who could afford it. The day before we left in March 1953, every one of the 30 passengers on the homeward flight would report for weighing so the weight and balance calculations could be carried out. Piston aircraft are much less tolerant of weight variations than today’s huge jets, even though people were lighter. A few of today’s tubbies in the tail would give even Chugalug a problem, for the nose comes up and the aeroplane falls out of the sky in a stall. This is a Bad Thing and if it happens on the landing approach it is a VERY Bad Thing.

There were only a couple of steps to the door of the tailwheel Hastings, but inside there was quite a slope from the tail-down attitude. The seats were rear facing, a safety feature adopted by Transport Command after the war and continued to this day with results well proven in the Command’s relatively few accidents.

As we boarded we were given a cardboard box containing sandwiches and a bar of chocolate, this being our inflight meal for the eight-hour flight. Tea was served from a couple of big urns kept in the tail beside the Elsan. My parents were placed amidships, but being only six stone I was delighted to be seated in the tail beside the loadmaster. The downside of this came later, when like thousands of rear gunners I discovered that the tail constantly wags from side to side; this, combined with the ups and downs of turbulence and scoffing my entire packet of Smarties, produced the inevitable result. Fortunately Their Airships had thoughtfully included a waxed paper bag in the lunch pack.

After a few hours there was great excitement when a pencil-filled form was passed row by row from the front. The Flight Report informed us that we were cruising at 180 mph and 8000 feet. Below the Ethiopian scenery was unchanged from two hours ago, a featureless brown plain devoid of vegetation or habitation. I wondered even then how anyone could live in such arid surroundings.

Khartoum offered a hearty breakfast at 6am, being porridge, greasy bacon and eggs ladled from two-foot square metal dishes familiar to Service diners. Boys wore shorts in those days and as we headed north I began to feel an icy blast across my legs. The double doors alongside were battered and I could see through the one-inch gap along the bottom. Dad said the Hastings had been used on the Berlin airlift and like the Dakotas and Yorks had taken a battering.

After a refuelling stop at (I think) Castel Benito we landed at Lyneham that evening, totally exhausted by the thunderous noise of the four Hercules. To communicate one had to shout into the recipient’s ear and to this day I wonder how the Halifax crews withstood it night after night -- and the Merlins were even worse.

For all that I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, and 60 years later I can remember that flight as if it was yesterday. Thanks for listening!
Geriaviator is offline  
Old 1st Apr 2013, 14:35
  #3655 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 5,222
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes on 3 Posts
March 1953 was the same month that I arrived back in the UK with my parents after his overseas tour at Heany, Southern Rhodesia. Him being a Flight Lietenant we came back First Class by courtesy of the Union Castle Line.
There was great excitment in Southampton when we arrived; it was the 5th March 1953 and Joe Stalin had just died.
Fareastdriver is offline  
Old 1st Apr 2013, 18:16
  #3656 (permalink)  
Danny42C
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Homeward Bound

Geriaviator

It sounds like quite a memorable trip - with your "back to the engine", too. And was an Elsan the best they could do for the families ? (hessian screens, I hope !) It was ever thus. I remember when they laid on a truck to move our few belongings from Holland to the Volkspark in Cologne. Its last job had been on coal delivery !

BEA were still using the passenger-weighing routine at the Victoria Air Terminal in early '52 (flying Ambassadors).

Almost all WW2 aircrew had high-tone deafness to some extent, due to the battering from engine noise.

Must put in my next a bit later,

Danny.
 
Old 1st Apr 2013, 19:10
  #3657 (permalink)  
Danny42C
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Danny takes Post.

(follows #3632 p.182)

"You'll be the new chap for the FCU ?".........(I nodded assent)........"We've been waiting for you"........"Why - I'm not due in post till tomorrow ?"..."Yes, I know but (name forgotten) had to go early ten days ago, family trouble of some sort"......"So who's been looking after the place ?........"Well, no one really"........"Who's the C.O.?"...... "Well, of course he's an Auxiliary - but he won't be much use to you - he's in the process of resigning his Commission"........(I perked up - nice juicy scandal, perhaps) .... "No, not that, he's a schoolteacher, a lot of your Auxiliaries are. He's just got a Headship way down South".

"Well, I'll see him tomorrow"...... "No, you won't"......"Why not ?"......."It's the Auxiliary Weekend. You work Wednesday to Sunday, then have Monday and Tuesday off"...... "Does the whole Station do that ?"..........."No, we just work the normal week".

"So, who's in command ?"......."It looks as if you are, at least for the moment".......(pause for reflection, then, brightening)......."Any chance ?"......"Forget it, it's only an Auxiliary S/Ldr post"....... "Have I anybody else ?".... "Yes, you've a Training Officer - very nice chap - Bob Schroder, by name. He's Tech/Radar, not GD"........"Where's he ?"........

"Lives out in Middlesbrough, got a TA Adjutant's Quarter next to a Drill Hall. The Army chap's a bachelor, so he didn't want it"......."And when shall I see this Bob Schroder ?" ......."He'll be in Wednesday morning" (little did I think that he'd be my Best Man in three years' time).

"So what now ?".......... "Well, we'd better get you settled in first. Is all your kit in that thing of yours outside ? Well, I'll walk round to your hut, you follow me - it's only a few yards. Steward here will shut the bar and come round with a batman and lug your stuff into your room".

It was a Seco hut with three (I think) rooms down each side and the bathroom, etc down the end. I'd never seen such a tiny hutch in all my life (I think they were originally NCOs quarters). As a full kit of furniture had been crammed into it, there was just enough room to squeeze me in. There wasn't room to swing a conker - never mind a cat.

The bed occupied all the smaller wall - say 6½ ft. The side of the bed was almost touching the end of my desk, this would be about 4 ft wide. The other desk end was hard up against the wardrobe (say 2 ft for that) which was in turn up against the wall.

So now you have it: allow 3 ft width for the bed plus 4 for the desk plus 2 for the wardrobe and throw in a foot for a bit of clearance, and you've got an area 10 ft by 6½ ft. 65 sq ft to enjoy, less the chest of drawers (say 4 x 1½ ) opposite your desk (say 2 ft wide). You're left with a free space of some 7 ft by 3 ft. Oh, and you've got a chair, and the door opens inward ! I was lucky - my tin box would fit under the bed ! I lived in this monastic cell for three years - for it had central heating !

The old House must have had several bedrooms upstairs, but Jack was the only one living there. I am 90% certain that the only sources of heat in the building were the open fires in the anteroom, bar and dining rooms.. He would be very unlikely to have an open fire upstairs, and I think, kept himself warm with electric fires.

Now I come to think of it. he must have had some, for on one occasion (for which I cannot supply the reason, or possibly imagine one) he was looking after a batch of day-old chicks in his room, as it was the only place where the temperature could be kept up to enable them to survive.

In those days, hardly any domestic houses had central heating. The norm was the single open coal fire in the "lounge" (living room): this would have a "back boiler" which heated (not very effectively) the hot water for baths and washing. In bedrooms and bathrooms you froze. I did not live in a centrally heated house until OMQs in Germany in '60.

"Come down to SHQ with me after breakfast tomorrow - the Old Man'll want to see you "........."And he would be?"....."Malcolm Sewell - it's only a Wing Commander Station"........."What's he like ?"........"Quite nice - doesn't trouble you much if you leave him alone"........."Where does he live ?" .....

"He's got his Quarter at the far end of the garden. It's the only OMQ on the place. All the marrieds have to live out. After you've seen him, you can pick up your keys and SDs (I've got them in my safe), and go and have a look at your place. It's right across the road from SHQ."

And that was about it for my first day. Scrappy dinner, unpack and hit the sack.

What will the morrow bring ?

Danny42C.


It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive.
 
Old 1st Apr 2013, 20:49
  #3658 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: West Sussex
Age: 82
Posts: 4,743
Received 165 Likes on 58 Posts
Geriaviator, the Hastings Mk1 was actually not among my steeds, for it had become the Mk1A by my time with the underwing External Auxiliary Tanks that brought its fuel capacity up to that of the Mk2 that could carry its fuel entirely in the wing tanks.
I'm sorry that you were incommoded by the rear fuselage excursions but you had obviously made whoopee by the distance separating you from your mother's supervision with inevitable results. Yes, being unpressurised and having a combined double freight door and para door on the port side with a second para door starboard allowed for somewhat excessive ventilation and cooling in the rear. It was very comfy right up front though, didn't they allow you a visit?
As to the conveniences Danny, Elsans yes, but in two properly doored toilets at the rear. It was the Hercules that had one Elsan only, stowed halfway up the rear side fuselage that had to be lowered for use and around which could be pulled a glorified shower curtain. We have already discussed the matter of fact attitude to these matters by our transatlantic cousins though so I'll leave it there, other than to say that reading the Times needs appropriate space in which to do so, don't you know? It doesn't seem that your new home even aspired to that, but attitudes were less demanding in those days. My one and only OMQ (at Hullavington) had two fires to tend throughout the winter, one in the summer. The lounge coal fire's back boiler serviced the one radiator in the main bedroom upstairs. The kitchen's coke stove providing hot water for bathroom and kitchen alike. So two bunkers outside for the two fuels, to be ordered and replenished in good time before running out. Nice house though, and handy for the M4 which was then newly built. Worth a bob or two now even in these restrained times.
Chugalug2 is offline  
Old 2nd Apr 2013, 04:48
  #3659 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: NSW Australia
Posts: 127
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Having retrieved the iPad from the grandchildren who commandeered it over the Easter weekend, I must agree with Danny that a Harvard would have done just as well for his uncomfortable spares run, and I was harking back to our non difference of views of the need or reason for the Spit two seater, I can't imagine why it was invented. But I am glad it was, I enjoyed it. I thought I read somewhere that Jeffrey Quill, or someone of his standing wondered why they didn't keep the rear seat and put an extra fuel tank in the front seat position to give extra range for the PR variant. Maybe an urban myth!

I'd better finish off my 'last flight in a Spitfire' story which I referred to before, the one where I brightened BEagles' day by appearing in the circuit at Cranwell. After lunch my accompanying Jet Provost and I leapt off for Coltishall, he had to do all the R/T as all the RAF stations had UHF and my Spit only VHF. After clearance from Colt and thumbs up signs from my friend, and green light from the R/W Caravan, I swept in fast(ish) and low for a run in and break to show the resident Lightning chaps how it should be done!

Past the caravan, tight left climbing turn to short downwind leg, power back in the turn, speed OK down with the wheels, ease on trickle of power round short curved finals, no trickle of power! Only large three blade prop grinding to a halt! Cut downwind even shorter, delay flaps, made runway easily, came to a halt. Now what with trainee Lightnings in the circuit using fuel at alarming rate and seeing defunct Spit on their only runway. Out of the cockpit, start pushing and luckily caravan had seen it all, notified Tower, and in a flash W/Co Flying who I knew of old, was with me and we managed to push my favourit (until then!) Spit out of the way.

My last Spit flight! The ride back to Cranners in the JP was a distinct anti climax!
Tim Mills is offline  
Old 2nd Apr 2013, 11:24
  #3660 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 5,222
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes on 3 Posts
like thousands of rear gunners I discovered that the tail constantly wags from side to side;
Years ago in Hong Kong I bagged a ride in a Cathay aircraft as an observer on a crew training sortie. This was in the days when you actually had to fly an aeroplane to get a rating. During the flight the training captain told us all to go right down the back and see what happens. He then fishtailed the aircraft to demonstrate to his new pilots what it feels like down the back if you are hamfooted with the rudder. It was quite unnerving be pushed about three feet one way to the other.

Later I was flying into Hong Kong when Kai Tak was still in use. My tight fisted company had me down the back in cattle class and being a smoker I was in the last row. The 747 did the normal starboard wingtip festooned with TV ariels approach but had to much drift on final touchdown.

He booted the aircraft straight and the effect in the back was seriously disconcerting for me but terrifying for my fellow passengers. They were screaming and crying all the way down the landing roll. There was a bit of an apology on the PA and the hosties did their best but it was not a pleasant experience.
Fareastdriver is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.