Fly Past

F LYPOST
FlyPast, PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 1XQ, UK
email: [email protected]

82 FLYPAST April 2018

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A more civilised time

I was interested in the photos in

the Glory Days spread of early

jet liners at Heathrow (FlyPast,

March), and it reminded me of

a dawn landing that brought a

friend and myself back from RAF

service in Cyprus in January

1 9 5 7.

No jet was involved, but we joined

a lovely Vickers Viscount at Athens,

off a Middle East Airlines Dakota

from Nicosia. As the photo shows,

passenger movement was basically

‘shanks’ pony’. We walked across

the puddled concrete apron in

the rain, into the reception area. I

cannot remember any details of the

customs, baggage, immigration,

passport control systems... perhaps

there were none, or they were very

casual and passenger-friendly. What

is notable to me is the emptiness

of the place; the lack of security

lights, cameras, personnel and so

on, and the general air of civilised

behaviour. It was a time when

life was generally less hectic and

more enjoyable.

NICK RIDLEY

BANBURY

Stirling thoughts
Congratulations on the February
issue of FlyPast, which I found not
only interesting but personally
relevant.
Two of my grandmother’s
brothers, Richard and John Kerry

• my great-uncles – flew and died
  under Bomber Command during
  WW2 (Richard with 214 Squadron,
  while John never made it to an
  operational unit).
  Both were air gunners on
  Stirlings, and, as you stated in
  your editorial, it is important that
  we record the actions of these

men. Although I was close to my

grandmother, it was many years

after she passed away that I

learned of her brothers’ exploits.

(I still find it remarkable that I

know so much more today about

their respective roles and fates

than she could ever have known at

the time.)

Two images in the magazine

are particularly relevant to a

personal project: the photograph

of RAF Swinderby in January

1944 – from where, on the night of

January 26-27, 1944, John Kerry

took off in Stirling EH933 on an

ultimately fatal training exercise

with 1660 Heavy Conversion Unit.

Andy Hay’s artwork in the issue

portrays Stirling EH993, which

would have been very close in

appearance to the aircraft in

which John died when it crashed

just after midnight.

Bill Chorley’s Bomber Command

Losses (Volume 8) records the

fate of EH933 as having crashed

into a hill at Exton, Devon. My own

research over the past couple

of years has shown the aircraft

came down some 30 miles north

of this location, close to Exton

in Somerset – a conclusion with

which Bill Chorley was kind

enough to concur.

I am now working with people

local to the area to erect a

memorial to the eight airmen who

lost their lives that night and am

documenting as much as I am able

regarding the relatively short time

the Kerry brothers spent with the

RAF (and, indeed, the exploits of

a third brother, Joseph, who was

killed in Italy serving with the

Royal Artillery).

BOB BROWN

BURTON LATIMER

Viscount G-AMOO at Heathrow in January 1957. The airliner later joined British Eagle Airways,

where – because of its registration – it was colloquially known as the ‘fl ying cow’.

(Editor’s note – sharp-eyed readers may have noted the lack of advertised Viscounts or

Vanguards in the ‘Glory Days’ feature published in our last issue. As a bonus here’s a lovely

view of BEA’s Vanguard G-APEF, and Viscount G-APJU on the right).

Quirks of a Gnat

Roy Gamblin’s fascinating

story, It All Went Quiet (FlyPast

March), recalled all the quirks

of the Folland Gnat’s backup

control systems. On the first

Gnat course at RAF Valley in

1963, student Iain Christie-

Miller also demonstrated fine

judgement after a fire above 8/8

cloud in Gnat XP536 when he

landed at RAF Sealand, only to

hit a ground obstacle. We were

all shocked by his severe leg

injuries.

One of my ‘quiet’ moments

was as an RAF solo Gnat display

pilot on August 22, 1968, the

only occasion my family watched

me fly. I’d given them a sequence

board for my six-minute display.

A minute in, flying Gnat XP530,

while rolling inverted at 500

feet along the active runway,

“it all went quiet”. I had airfield

and runways aplenty, but 200

knots in excess of landing speed.

Instinct took over, and a maximum

rate 270 degree turn while

dragging off speed, dropping the

undercarriage and working like

a Trojan, got me to the threshold

of the main runway with a barrier

that was not needed. Back in the

crew room I made my report and

sat down to a well-earned coffee;

that’s when I recalled my family

and made my excuses to drive to

the rented farm above the airfield.

Their calmness impressed me,

then a brother-in-law said [about

the display]: “We’d thought it

would be longer”. That brought

me back to earth.

Later that year, on a stormy

November 14 night, I put my hand-

up to a double-ejection from Gnat

XP510 into the Irish Sea. I had

led ex-Hunter senior instructors

in a five-ship tail-chase above

a 5,000 foot cloud layer and

forced a fly-through before hitting

slipstream creating an oscillatory

spin. I ordered an ejection, lost

my dinghy, but landed beside the

‘pancaked’ Gnat in no immersion

suit, having swallowed fuel while

knowing gales had grounded

RAF Valley’s Search and Rescue

(SAR) helicopters.

Luck was on our side, we

were found by a volunteer SAR

Whirlwind crew piloted by Fg Off

Malcolm Ridyard. Subsequently,

the AOC gave me a 96-gun

broadside with a reproof, “never

let me see you again!”. But,

minutes later, I was recalled into

the presence, the AOC stood

with hand out to congratulate

me on a ‘good show’. It was a

lesson in man-management I

never forgot, a rare skill few

commanders possessed. 

KEITH PIGGOTT

ST LEONARDS-ON-SEA