Queens Gallantry medal for G-TBRD T33 engineer George Francis

Good to know we still award medals for a truly heroic act rather than riding round in circles on a pushbike.

Congratulations to Kevin, very well deserved:cool:

Thanks for the notification. The AAIB Accident report is catalogued as ‘Lockheed T-33 Silver Star Mk 3, G-TBRD 12-07.pdf’ from here:
http://www.aaib.gov.uk/

A couple of interesting quotes:

The engineer recalled one more cartwheel before
coming to a stop. The cockpit filled with smoke and he
sensed that there was a fire behind him. He could see
that there was fire around the canopy but he was unable
to see outside and could not be certain of the aircraft’s
orientation. Consequently, he elected to use the canopy
knife to break through the canopy glazing, rather than
activate the canopy jettison mechanism. Before doing
so, the engineer removed his helmet because the
visor had been damaged in the crash and was further
impairing his vision. Having difficulty breathing, he
initially wielded the knife with his left hand, which was
nearest to the knife stowage, but shortly transferred it to
his stronger right hand, taking some 20 blows to make
a sufficiently large hole through which he could escape.
Meanwhile the pilot, who had briefly lost consciousness,
was also aware of a fire and recalled trying to turn off
switches in the cockpit and unlatching the canopy lock.
He considered jettisoning the canopy but did not do so
because the engineer was in the process of breaking his
way through it.
Once outside the cockpit, the engineer successfully
activated the external canopy jettison mechanism. The
canopy shot approximately 50 ft into the air before
landing about 10 ft from the forward section of the
fuselage. The engineer then climbed on to the side of the
cockpit to help the pilot, who appeared to be motionless
in the front seat, and released the pilot’s harness. The
pilot came to and was assisted out of the cockpit. They
both retreated about 30 m away from the wreckage to
await assistance.
The Airfield Fire and Rescue Service (AFFS) arrived at
1323 hrs and proceeded to extinguish the fires in various
parts of the wreckage. They also established that the
occupants of the aircraft were clear of the aircraft and
started to render first aid until paramedics arrived. The
pilot, who had received various minor injuries, was taken
to hospital by ambulance and was retained overnight.
The engineer, who was apparently uninjured apart from
a small cut and some bruising, was eventually given a lift
back to his crew room. He was subsequently diagnosed
with a broken rib and suffered mild concussion. The pilot
sustained a lower back injury and mild concussion, in
addition to lacerations to his legs and multiple bruising.

They commented:

The engineer showed remarkable presence of mind
during the accident, and his subsequent recall of events
was a significant help during the investigation.

Not the first guy in the back to pull his pilot from the aircraft at DX, either.

Good passenger to have, a well earned award.

Well said, and i could’nt agree more. On the morning after the accident i saw the wreckage laying scattered in the field, and could’nt believe it when the guy from the TV crew covering the story told me that both crew members were alive and ok.
That was one hell of a prang..

Hear Hear – a well deserved award!