Nevil Shute Norway

50th anniversary of Shute’s death

As mentioned today in the Shute Twitter blog (named after his Percival Proctor “Item Willie” http://twitter.com/ItemWillie

Shutists around the world (today) mark the 50th anniversary of the passing of Nevil Shute, who died 12 Jan 1960 a week before his 61st birthday

I read No Highway and On the Beach many years ago and then, I think, both were filmed. I knew little of his background. I must re-read him including some of the other titles mentioned.

It is just faintly possible that somebody, reading and posting today, on this Forum owes his/her life to Neville Shute Norway.
Resmoroh

Nice one Res
posted as long ago as July 2009
this thread appeared recently in google blog alert
I could not immediately reply as it took ages for membership activation
Anyway along with my musical hero Gordon Lighfoot I can justifiably claim that Nevil shute helped save my life in 2000.
in 1999, based in the UK,I had found a Lightfoot chat room and met about 35 keen fans., including a most charming girl from New Jersey.
That year Gordon had a series of concerts in his home city of Toronto in November and most of us in the chat room decided to meet there at a Lightfoot convention
As the time drew near there was some worried chats on the subject that one of us might be an “axe murderer”.
I was getting very close to my NJ friend and in one chat she asked what was my favourite book, and I said Nevil Shute’s “A Town Like Alice”
Sshe went out and bought a copy and later confided that she concluded that if I liked that sort of book no way was I an axe murderer!!
Our meeting in November face to face was most successful. and she intended visiting me in the UK in February. but a few weeks before her visit I had a fairly mild stroke which after some time paralysed my left side (I was left handed) and the following evening not realising why I had trouble with my typing in the chat room. She picked up my by now erratic typing and begged me call a doctor (in the middle of the night in the UK).
We were married 6 months later and I came over to New Jersey where US doctors diagnosed severe artery blockage in my heart that the UK National Health doctors had missed resulting in a quintuple by pass operation.The fact that being in hospital for 3 months led to my quitting a life long tobacco habit helped too. So yes Nevil helped save my life
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk

No Highway

I saw the film ‘No Highway in the Sky’ a couple of times. It was made around 1950 before I became resident at the RAE in ’53 and I believe it was released as ‘No Highway’ in UK and ‘No Highway in the Sky’ elsewhere. Presumably the Hollywood moguls thought that the short title was too subtle for anyone but a Brit!
Interesting piece of info: the arched sign reading Royal Aircraft Establishment over the main gate at RAE was installed by the film makers and was still there many years later.
The plane was similar to the Tudor up front but with a very different and un-aerodynamic rear fuselage. The supposed failure was due to fuselage fatigue, which was a relatively new subject at the time NS wrote it. The fictional tail area fatigue was very different from the pressurisation fatigue suffered by the Comet.

Shute’s aircraft was Proctor 5 G-AKIW ( c/n Ae.131).
He left the UK on 22Sep1948 for Australia, arriving at Darwin on 26November.
He left again on the return flight early in February 1949.
The groundloop accident mentioned above was at Brindisi 14Mar1949, and the Proctor was then shipped back to the UK for repair.
Shute and his family emigrated to Australia in mid-1950, and the aircraft was also shipped out the following year.
After arrival in Australia it became VH-DIW and was sold around 1952.
On 28Nov1958 while landing, the engine mounts came loose due to glue deterioration. The aircraft was then condemned. A common fault in older wooden aircraft, and the reason why so many of them were forcibly retired and scrapped around that time.

Ed Coates collection photo

A couple of other small factoids:
– I found, some years ago, that Shute’s actual flying experience was quite low. In his lifetime he logged (from memory) somewhere around 400hrs in total. Not a lot for someone active in the aviation world for 30-odd years.
– If you chance to call in at the Philip Island motor racing circuit near Melbourne there are some photographs of Shute driving his Jaguar on display there.

Nevil Shute wrote What Happened to the Corbetts before the war when no one knew what aerial bombing would be like. He got it pretty well right.

On the Beach predicted the results of nuclear war, it was really scary at the time. Was he right again???????????

I recall a TV series in the late 60s/ early 70s about the Secret ” war of (I think) Professor Robert Jones. This series described some of the weird and wonderful gizmo’s developed by his team which included NSN. In particular I remember “The Great Panjandrum” which was a giant wheel powered by rocket sppread around the periphery of the drum and was supposed to career up the beach exploding any mines it came across. Another programme was devoted to the German “Knickebein” radio aid for ensuring the Luftwaffe dropped its bombs on the designated target

“Most Secret” is the nearest of his novels depicting his work in this field and concerns an engineer that sets up a flamethrower in a fishing boat and sets out to wreak havoc on the “E boat” escorts to the french fishermen

I think that the only Nevil Shute novel that I have not read is “What happened to the Corbetts”. It is time that I re-read them

Second one was about an airline pilot in Aus who goes to Tasmania to help a friend who has crashed in a remote area,title escapes me here at work but I will get it for those interested!

That’s ‘The Rainbow and the Rose‘.

Sound’s good mate thank’s 😀

now to find it :confused:

A book titled “Flight of Fancy” was written by James Riddell about NS’s flight to Australia. Interesting read.

I must get reading again!

Neville Shute books

I recently found two of his books in the second hand market here in Alex.”Requiem for a wren”,this is really very good and has some references to the fleet air arm at Ford.Second one was about an airline pilot in Aus who goes to Tasmania to help a friend who has crashed in a remote area,title escapes me here at work but I will get it for those interested!Long time since I read any of his books and enjoyed both of them.

It is just faintly possible that somebody, reading and posting today, on this Forum owes his/her life to Neville Shute Norway.
As a very junior meteorologist I learned (I think by reading “Round The Bend”) that the carrying out of a task – however boring, and mundane (like Met obs!) – could be thought of as almost a religious act! I think in that case it was teaching sub-Continent aero-engineers to do locking-wires up properly. I am not religious, but those thoughts stayed with me during my entire meteorological working life. I have to admit that I wasn’t always as good as promised, but the thought was there!
There, I’ve bared my soul! Anybody the same?
Resmoroh

Neville Shute

Indeed it was a Proctor V that he flew to Australia. This would of course been fitted with standard cable actuated drum brakes. These are ok providing they are well adjusted but are prone to brake fade. My father used to comment when operating GTC that braking was her only real vice special attention was required on a cross wind landing which ideally were to be avoided where possible. Now days of course we have disc brakes, these transform braking action compared with drums, the Vega Gull that visited us at Oakley recently has this mod. We are looking into the same conversion for both the Mk V and Mk 3, ok not original specification, but all neatly hidden away inside the spats and a mod that i can see us being thankful for as we operate the Proctors in years to come. I have a good picture of the man himself complete with Trilby just like Mr Percival, and leaning against the wing.
If i can locate it i will post.

Percival Proctor V,
With long range tank’s, Called Item Willie, Ground looped by Nev, when instucted by a bad air controller, to land in a cross wind.
Damaged 11.30am March 14th 1949, undercart US(stuffed mate), Item Willie, shipped back to England, by KLM.

FYI there’s a new twitter blog dedicated to alll things ‘Nevil Shute’ called http://twitter.com/ItemWillie

author Miles Tripp, written while on active service in bomber command. Study of a bomber crew, starts as an innocent adventure and then develops.

Not heard of that one.

“Faith is a Windsock”?

Already got both of those…

Don’t forget “Landfall” from Mr Shute,

….. and then find Hammond Innes “Air Bridge”,

then seek …….