FlyPast 03.2018

58 FLYPAST March 2018

the runway at the right height/range

ratio.

We got the third green light

descending rapidly through 500ft, a

half mile before the runway threshold.

Only then did I feel that we had got

to the point where we would not need

to eject.

STREAM THE ’CHUTE!

From the good position that I had

managed to achieve on finals, it

was then fairly easy – starting the

round-out at about 250ft – to achieve

a smooth, flapless touchdown at

the target 165kts, just in from the

threshold. But our troubles were not

over.

Once the speed had reduced below

160kts, the limit for streaming the

tail-mounted braking parachute, I

called Mike to stream it. He pulled the

operating lever, but no deceleration

was felt. I gave my lever a tug too,

for good measure, but it made no

difference.

Bill had continued to fly beside us at

a few hundred feet above the runway

and was yelling repeatedly at us to

“Stream the ‘chute!” I replied rather

dryly that we had done so several

times. I guessed Bill was beginning to

let out a bit of his pent-up adrenalin.

Mike and I had to wait a little longer

for that.

The ’chute had indeed deployed

from its container, but it had

‘candled’ – failed to open – as it

often did. I was acutely conscious

that we were still hurtling down

the runway at a high rate of knots,

with no help from the light easterly

crosswind, no brake ’chute, no jet

barrier and no way even of raising

the gear to stop the aircraft.

The ejection option – available

down to 90kts minimum now began

to flicker back into my thoughts but

was just as quickly dismissed. Not

about 100 yards away over my right

shoulder, slightly before we entered

cloud at around 5,000ft. Bill chirped

up on the radio with perfect timing

and gave us a more accurate 15°

heading correction for the airfield. I

could spare him no time and not even

a quick glance once we were in cloud,

but I trusted his judgment implicitly.

I knew that he had to be flying as

close as possible to me to maintain

visual contact in the murk, so I tried

to keep my control as smooth as I

could, not easy in manual. Most of all,

with no thrust from my dead engine, I

presented a very difficult reference on

which to fly in close formation!

GEAR DOWN

We soon had a big problem looming.

At 3,000ft, we were still in cloud

with no light from below and closing

rapidly on the airfield at a mile

every 12 seconds. I had to think

seriously of ejection because we were

getting rapidly short of height for

a successful forced landing pattern.

Moreover, I couldn’t know the

precise terrain structure beyond the

airfield – only that there were spot

heights up to 2,500ft at several miles

or so to the east.

Suddenly, we broke cloud at

2,800ft, with a speed of 280kts and

about three miles from the airfield,

clearly in sight to the northeast. I

wanted to go for Runway 18, in case

I landed too far in and couldn’t stop

before the runway end.

It soon became clear that it was not

Right

On take-off from

Valley on January

14, 1965, XR568

suffered a major

engine problem and

a return to base

was attempted; the

aircraft undershot and

came to rest on the

foreshore – both pilots

survived. KEC

The Gnat passed out of RAF service with the

‘Red Arrows’ at the end of 1979. After the

incident related here, Gnat T.1 XP540 was

repaired and served on until October 1978

when it became an instructional airframe

at Halton, Bucks. It was sold off in 1991 and

today is used as a source of spares with the

Heritage Aircraft Flight, custodians of the

Gnat Display Team, at North Weald, Essex.

Roy Gamblin continued fl ying the three

types at Valley until the end of 1978. He

takes up his story: “In 1988, four years after

retiring from the RAF, I returned to Llanbedr

to fl y from there as a trials pilot on the

Hawk, EE Canberra and DH Devon.

“My wife found a nice cottage nearby with a mature garden for us and some land for our

horses. We liked the area and the house so much that we stayed there when I left after a

year to join British Aerospace.

“From my fi rst-fl oor study, I can look towards the airfi eld and see XP540’s point of

touchdown. I feel quite a strong link to this spot and I am very glad to be here, in more ways

than one.”

VIEW FROM THE WINDOW

Roy Gamblin with a Hawk T.1 XX174 of 4 FTS.

VIA AUTHOR

1918 2018

Bill had continued to fly beside us at

a few hundred feet above the runway

a certainty that I could reach even the

minimum recommended low key of

2,500ft for 18, whereas 36 (the other

end) was a certainty, albeit without the

barrier.

So, I manoeuvred hard right into

position for 36 while reducing speed

to get the wheels down using the

standby air system, the next very

important priority. The ‘good book’

said this might take up to 3,000ft of

descent and I had to fly below that to

maintain my view of the airfield.

The book wasn’t far wrong – but

fortunately the error that day was

just in my favour. I selected gear

down as soon as I could, motoring

the tailplane by the necessary 3°

nose-up to counter the large forward

centre of gravity change. There was

an agonisingly long wait for the

gear to lock down during my final

manoeuvring to get lined up with