TRAINING 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE
March 2018 FLYPAST 59Left
An engine fi re on
October 18, 1963
necessitated a forced
landing for XP536 of
4 FTS at Sealand, near
Chester. The Gnat hit
an obstruction and
ended up on its belly
on the airfi eld. The
crew escaped. Despite
appearances, XP536
was back in service by
February 1964. KECBelow left
On display at Coltishall
in 1969, Gnat XP506
served at Valley from
December 1962. It
was retired in May
1977 and moved to the
ranges at Spadeadam
in Cumbria to act as a
target. KECBottom
Gnat XP507 of 4 FTS
in the static at an RAF
open day. Delivered
new to Valley in
February 1963, it was
lost in a fatal crash in
the Irish Sea on April
13, 1966. KECnow! Not after we had got this far,
surely?
I had to be very careful with the
brakes which, in the absence of all
hydraulic power, were working off
the pressure of the ground-charged
accumulator. It was essential not to
brake too hard or that pressure might
be rapidly lost through the action of
the anti-skid system.
As it turned out, the brakes failed
totally at about 50kts. With no effect
from the rudder, I had to be content
to allow XP540 to drift gently just off
the right side where it stopped on the
grass with about 200 yards of runway
remaining.
With the adrenalin still at maximum
flow, I called for a quick exit, as there
was a possible risk of brake fire. There
was no fire, so I returned to the aircraft
to confirm all the switches safe before
handing it over to the care of the fire
and rescue services.
Before leaving the scene, I noticed
that the engine was gently windmilling
in the light breeze. So, it couldn’t have
been a seizure after all! What had
happened, and did we do something
wrong?
The first person on the scene after
the fire crew was the resident RAF
medical officer who whisked Mike
and me off to the ATC tower for a cup
of tea. I remember feeling that I could
have done with something distinctly
stronger but, ‘doctor knows best’, so I
didn’t argue.
CHOPPER RIDE HOME
Back at the ranch, Pete and others
had been busy. Nobody there could
have guessed the outcome of our little
adventure any more than Mike and
I could have done. As a precaution,
the search and rescue (SAR) Westland
Wessex of ‘C’ Flight, 22 Squadron,
had been scrambled to head down our
way in case we needed lifting out of
the water or whatever.
We had barely started our cup of tea
before the yellow helicopter hove into
view, flaring for a landing immediately
outside the tower. We ran out from
the tower to clamber aboard for our
unscheduled chopper ride home.
We were delivered safe and sound
less than 20 minutes later outside the
line office at Valley where there was a
very large reception committee. Actualforced landings were pretty rare, and
it seemed that everyone on the station
wanted to hear the tale at firsthand.
I made my apologies to the Station
Commander for leaving one of his
aircraft in reduced circumstances at
another airfield.
That done, I turned my attention to
Gerry, the senior engineering officer.
He guessed immediately that we had
experienced an obscure failure that
caused loss of the fuel and hydraulic
pumps as well as the RPM indicator
and alternator.
The first item led to the engine
flaming out but total loss of the
hydraulics and RPM indications
suggested a seizure. The possibility
of that combined set of symptoms in
the Gnat had never surfaced in any
discussion throughout my years of
flying, although I subsequently heard
there had been one other such failure.
It was certainly not catered for in
any of our publications or procedures,
so it was not surprising that Mike
and I had been a bit baffled by the
combination of some symptoms and
the absence of others. Anyway, the
happy result was a successful forced
landing in difficult circumstances and
all that was left now for me was the
report writing.“...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”