I was told a fascinating tale but am thoroughly ashamed to say I’ve forgotten more details about it since yesterday than the teller has in the seventy years or so since it happened; anyway…
Apparently the carrier HMS Furious was conducting flying training off Scapa Flow (but the crews were taking a lunch-break so she was not sailing into-wind) when an RAF Miles Magister landed on the flight-deck…
…unfortunately the forward lift (elevator) was in the down position (or half-down – two hangar decks?) and the Magister plummeted down onto the hangar-deck ending up as a pile of splintered wood and a smouldering engine!
The pilot was apparently, relatively, unhurt and went by the rather appropriate name of (Bashly) Ashley!
I would love to know more…..over to you.
By: PeterVerney - 7th March 2011 at 16:44
It would be usual practice for ‘Batchy’ Atcherley, who disregarded most rules to suit himself. Ultimately possibly responsible for his demise.
By: Creaking Door - 7th March 2011 at 12:31
…it appears to have been (later AVM) David ‘Batchey’ Atcherley, flying Magister T9679.
Thanks for that confirmation of the facts.
I’d assumed this incident was an unofficial stunt but it seems that this was not the case but was it usual practice for a Miles Magister to be used for a carrier landing; my instinct says the Magister wasn’t designed for, nor used for, carrier operation? :confused:
By: 12jaguar - 4th March 2011 at 13:51
If the pilot was pretty much unscathed then it was a good landing!:diablo:
By: Arabella-Cox - 4th March 2011 at 13:32
Unless there were two Magister crash landings on HMS Furious, then it appears to have been (later AVM) David ‘Batchey’ Atcherley, flying Magister T9679. There’s a thread over on here:
http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?4441-AVM-David-Francis-William-Atcherley
Which has the following info:
From ‘A Pride of Unicorns’, pp.167-8
One of the units at Castletown, when he was in command, was No.801 Fulmar Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm. These naval pilots were detailed to take part in deck-landing practice on a carrier cruising off Orkney. They had not carried out such an exercise from Castletown before and had not been introduced to the men on the carrier. David, therefore, as Station Commander, decided that it would be a proper social gesture and good for inter-service relationships if he flew on ahead to be at hand when the naval pilots arrived. Moreover, he had never done a deck-landing himself and was curious to have the experience.
He flew off in a Miles Magister, giving himself a good start in order to have time to make his number with the Captain. Unfortunately, he neglected to mention this agreeable thought to those aboard the carrier, and was also unaware of the rather complicated signals procedure entailed in a deck landing. Being the skilled airman that he was, he made his way to the carrier and alighted without much ado; but as he, unannounced, touched down, he hurtled along the deck and disappeared down a lift shaft into the hangar below. The machine was wrecked, but David was more or less unscathed. “Whoever was in charge of the lift,” writes an eye-witness, “Took immediate action to send it with the wreck plus Atcherley to the deck where someone took a photograph.” The wreckage was then swept over the side in time for the arrival of the Fulmars. The photograph appeared on David Atcherley’s Christmas card that year.
Regards
Simon
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March 4, 2011 at 12:36 pm