2014 – RNHF Sea Fury incident at Culdrose

Another vote of thanks to Tangmere for his sensible and restrained post,as someone said not one of the Historic Forums finest threads and one which left a nasty taste in the mouth .
I hope the Sea Fury repair is progressing well .

Still not sure why anybody would begrudge ‘Goaty’ the AFC for successfully landing the SF under those circumstances,he handled the situation extremely well – a slight error of judgement could have been horrendous.
A forced landing in a heavy radial engine aircraft is not easy !
He gave us a fast ‘flyby’ on the way back to yeovilton a few weeks before – lovely sound.
One of my earliest Sea Fury memories was when I was working in the cockpit of a Canberra at Cottesmore back in the early 70’s and was intrigued by a sort of whistling sound approaching : ) i jumped out and there was a single seat Fury going fast at low level along the rwy – I had never seen one fly before that – of course the engine is engineering madness like all sleeve valves : )

Little wonder that so many people get fed up with this forum and refuse to share their goings on because of some people’s comments .
Tis a shame .
Back in Feb/March I agreed with others in saying it was a job well done.
In doing so I received the above message !
The reason I didn’t reply to your message “Student Pilot” is because I didn’t see it worthy of a reply.
Simple as that ,

A voice of sanity. Thank you Tangmere.

Not the forum’s greatest thread.

Moggy

+1

Indeed thank you Tangmere1940 and Moggy, hopefully for the silent majority.

Paul

Back to the aeroplane, how is work progressing? Any pictures?

A voice of sanity. Thank you Tangmere.

Arguing that X didn’t get a medal so Y shouldn’t have one either is fatuous. The medal system isn’t perfect and never will be. It’s nice of people to suggest that some acts have gone unrewarded, but I am sure that those pilots would not want for a second the acts of others belittled (often with little real insight) to advance their case.

Not the forum’s greatest thread.

Moggy

Putting things into context, it is important to look at the circumstances under which an AFC might be awarded. Specifically:

‘….for meritorious service on flying duties.’

I don’t think anyone could say other than that Chris Gotke’s airmanship was anything other than ‘meritorious service’ and whatever opinion one might have, generally, of the awards and honours system for Britain and her Commonwealth, then it is clear that his recommendation for award was more than well founded under the required criteria.

Using the argument against such an award that has been put forward then, by using that very same yardstick, one might say that service pilots displaying gallantry on active service, and in the face of the enemy, might be disqualified from the award, say, of VC, DSO or DFC by virtue of the fact that ‘they were simply doing their job.’

Whilst this is a discussion forum where reasonable views might be expressed and debated I, for one, applaud Chris Gotke’s meritorious service and cannot help but deplore the suggestions being made, here, that he was somehow unworthy of such an award.

I think it unfortunate that such a ‘debate’ has arisen at all and would like to assure Chris Gotke, his family and his friends that the view expressed here is surely not that of the overwhelming majority of those who visit the forum, nor of the wider aviation community.

Here you go Keefy, let others judge my intention.
Keefy
I don’t want to get in a pissing contest so hence the PM.
I have been flying Ag and associated low level flying since 1980. In that work all of it is low level and the smallest machine has been 400 hp. 7000 (well under a third of my flying time) hours of that is radial aircraft up to an including Drom’s. Most of my work has been solo flying doing stuff from cotton, fertilising, broadacre spraying, survey, rice, forestry work and firebombing in 802 Air Tractors.
Firebombing is flying 802’s that have 1400 HP and weigh 3 tonne sitting empty, 7 tonne ready for work. Flying very low level in pretty crap conditions. There are hundreds of people the world over fly these things every summer, northern hemisphere and southern. The pilots just get on with a very dangerous job and expect nothing more than a paycheck. And these days miserable operators are cutting the pilot wages while the directors dollars go up. Firebombing is a very rewarding job, you do some good. It is immensely satisfying to help people and animals doing this work, as I said we expect nothing more than being payed and treated decently.
My criticism still stands, I think a gong for a forced landing on a runway might require buying old mate a beer, that’s all.
The reason I call myself Student Pilot is you never stop learning every time you go flying, which is most days for me. I still fly with a passion I got as a kid watching Ag aircraft and such stuff as Battle O Briton.
SP

Your a dipstick Keefy, the reason I sent you a personal massage was NOT to brag, just to give you an insight I have been round a while, done a bit of flying and have an idea what I’m talking about. I was not derogatory or dismissive or personally insulting. I have no idea and don’t really care if you know more than me, if you want a pissing contest go ahead I don’t care.
One of the examples I gave you was of pilots flying aircraft on fires (Bombing, observation and recovery work), a very dangerous and essential job, they want nothing more than being treated fairly and being payed, both of those are a battle if your a fire pilot. A fire pilot in Europe is usually paid less than any other professional. They would laugh if you offered medals for doing what is their job.
Your reply in public here is insulting and indicates you show no respect. You not replying to my personal message shows your mettle, if you like I would be glad to copy my PM to you and post it on this thread. That would show my intention and if I was indeed arrogant, I do admit to some sarcasm. I take offence at your remarks.

I agree totally .
As I said, any pilot who decides to try and land a sea fury ( or any warbird) with a dead engine after displaying at low level deserves a medal.
Just that last time I said he deserved all the praise and recognition, I got sent a very sarcastic and arrogant personal message from a member who went on about how many hours flying he’d done crop spraying and that basically he knew more than me and that giving Chris Gotke a medal was a joke .
( there are some real muppets on here).

Careful what you say, some people don’t approve of warbird pilots getting medals.
Personally, I think he did a great job too, a sea fury with a dead engine at low level can’t be much fun.

Aren’t most warbird pilots professional pilots in their working lives,so good airmanship is regardless surely.

Hi All,
Well if they can award medals to members of the Royal Family for doing feck all (Prince Edward) then why not to someone who actually put his life on the line in saving this historic aircraft ? Come to think of it any action that involves heroism in this calibre no matter what, those who put themselves last
deserve to be recognised or is crying out of the marines after 3months a recognised heroic act ? Ditto Tangmere’s post 199……:applause:

Geoff.

Careful what you say, some people don’t approve of warbird pilots getting medals.
Personally, I think he did a great job too, a sea fury with a dead engine at low level can’t be much fun.

Absolutely. And talk about cool in a crisis, we can now see the reasoning behind the course of action he took.

The ‘gong’ to Chris Gotke surely well deserved.

Accident report is published.
https://www.gov.uk/aaib-reports/aaib-investigation-to-hawker-sea-fury-t-mk-20-g-rnhf

PM box is strangely empty student pilot ?

Try now 😀

PM box is strangely empty student pilot ?

Cutting through the sparring posts for a second, here’s an article about the recovery of the Sea Fury from Culdrose for repair. It seems plenty of ingenuity and cross-section teamwork was used in the process.

http://airsoc.com/articles/view/id/5422da7f31394442458b457a/hawker-sea-fury-t-20-g-rnhf-leaves-culdrose-for-repair

Bumpy and Keefy check your PM’s.