Spitfire took off with WAAF on tail?

Not thread de-rail at all. These are just the kind of stories I’m trying to collect for my next article.

Unfortunately, I’ve already done a cornfield Bomber piece for Aviation History.

Since the “thread de-rail” is in full chat…

How about the F-106 that landed itself after the pilot banged out… and was repaired and returned to service?

On 2 Feb 1970 a 71st FIS F-106A (S/N 58-0787) entered a flat spin forcing pilot Capt Gary Faust to eject. Un-piloted, the aircraft recovered on its own and miraculously made a gentle belly landing in a snow-covered Montana field.

http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2009/April%202009/0409gary.aspx

http://www.f-106deltadart.com/71fis_PilotlessLanding_580787.htm

Read a story about Hudson or Anson that took off, and soon after a forgotten wrench jammed the yoke. Pilot bailed over bay, but airplane continued on merry way on gentle decent until it just missed a football game and landed softly in field a little further. Fixed and back in air in no time.

Meanwhile the poor ****** who bailed out was still bobbing about in the bay….

(picked up 3 days later).

What about that Ju-88, crew bailed at night over France, the 88 made a wwiiiiddddeee circle and made a soft landing in UK, 1940.

Chris Staniland jumped from the Fairey TSR1, the forerunner of the Swordfish, when it was in a flat spin and ended in the rear cockpit and so jumped again!

Chris Staniland jumped from the Fairey TSR1, the forerunner of the Swordfish, when it was in a flat spin and ended in the rear cockpit and so jumped again!

Thanks, Bager–good one.

Not sure that WAAF is the appropriate term, but there is a perhaps-apocryphal tales of ground crew–a young woman in the case that I’m thinking of–who was sitting on the horizontal stab of a Spitfire to help hold the tail down during taxiing, and the pilot forgot she was there and took off. Feeling a strange tail-heaviness during initial climbout, he came around and landed, and only then discovered the terrified woman still sitting on the tail.

Is this true? Documentable? I’m trying to collect strange-but-true stories for a future magazine article.

Full story with pictures and newspaper articles:
http://www.rocassoc.org/open/items/12/horton.html

Ah, yes, the Cornfield Bomber F-106, in Montana. Already did a piece on that, for Aviation History. But bring ’em on, if you have any others. So far, I have…

Margaret Horton
B-24 that flew empty from Florida to Mexico
F8 Crusader pilot who fell 15,000 feet and survived
Pardo’s Push, plus Risner’s
WWI observer fell out, fell back in
Lancaster chuteless bailout into snowdrift
Various takeoffs with wings still folded
C337 that disintegrated at altitude, passenger lived when cabin fell into tree

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LANSA_Flight_508

LANSA Flight 508 departed Lima’s Jorge Chávez International Airport just before noon on Christmas Eve on its way to Iquitos, Peru, with a scheduled stop at Pucallpa, Peru. The aircraft was flying at Flight Level 210 (about 21,000 ft / 6,400 m above Mean Sea Level) when it encountered an area of thunderstorms and severe turbulence. There was evidence the crew decided to continue the flight despite the hazardous weather ahead, apparently due to pressures related to meeting the holiday schedule.

At about 12:36 p.m. local time, a lightning strike ignited the fuel tank in the right wing, which quickly led to structural failure of the aircraft. As the plane disintegrated, a 17-year-old German Peruvian teenager, Juliane Koepcke, fell down into the Amazon rainforest 2 miles (3 km) below, strapped to her seat. Despite sustaining a broken collar bone, a deep gash to her right arm, a concussion and an eye injury in the fall, she was able to trek through the dense Amazon jungle for 10 days, until she was rescued by local lumbermen, who subsequently took her by canoe back to civilization. It was later discovered that as many as 14 other passengers also survived the initial fall from the disintegrated plane but were unable to seek help and died while awaiting rescue.

A photo I took of the Rapide and the hole in the roof was published in Flight. I don’t remember any others though. The pilot of the Islander was moonlighting from the RAF and was understandably anxious to play the incident down. I suggested that this was a bit like describing the Titanic as a boating accident but we concocted a deadpan report to the CAA and I never heard anything else. I don’t think he did either. Can’t imagine that happening today!

Steve, the Halfpenny Green incident didn’t quite happen like that. A Rapide and an Islander were dropping a total 16 parachutists from 10,000ft to attempt a link up. Somehow, two of the Islander’s occupants dropped onto the Rapide. One bounced off and sustained a broken leg, but managed to open his parachute. The other parachutist went through the Rapide’s roof and lodged inside, suffering broken wrists. How do I know this? I was in the tower at the time!

Thanks for the correction, Atcham. I think a photo of the unfortunate Rapide did the rounds of the aviation press some years ago.

Must say over the years I have met a few women RAF and male RAF where the Spitfire wouldn’t have got airborne due to the weight on the tail!

You should see some of the USAF people I work with …

On page 96 of S*** S*** Vol I we have a photo taken shortly after the incident.

🙂

Must say over the years I have met a few women RAF and male RAF where the Spitfire wouldn’t have got airborne due to the weight on the tail!

Alan -in the JP incident his parachute did deploy so he didn’t exactly fall 3,000 feet !

Going back to the original question, I’m not sure if this is true or a modern myth but I was told that Nick Grace had taken her up in OU-V for a TV programme (possibly Jim’ll fix it!) and had his fatal car accident on the way back. I can’t remember where or who I got this from but it stuck in my mind for some reason. Anyone know if there is any truth in it?

Here: Spitfire!

It was filmed in 1976 and has been shown a few times since. The Interview with Margaret Horton is at 48:20.

martin

Thanks for finding that. Great programme. What you’d expect from the Great Raymond !

I don’t think anyone has mentioned Des Maloney, surviving a 3,000ft fall from his brother’s Jet Provost ?

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/Jet%20Provost%20T3A,%20G-BVEG%2007-94.pdf

Steve, the Halfpenny Green incident didn’t quite happen like that. A Rapide and an Islander were dropping a total 16 parachutists from 10,000ft to attempt a link up. Somehow, two of the Islander’s occupants dropped onto the Rapide. One bounced off and sustained a broken leg, but managed to open his parachute. The other parachutist went through the Rapide’s roof and lodged inside, suffering broken wrists. How do I know this? I was in the tower at the time!

Hmm, which do I take most seriously, GBoR or conspiracy theories in the Daily Wail?

There was also the case of the parachutist who jumped from a Rapide over Halfpenny Green, only to go go through the roof of the same aircraft as it came into land.

Probably not the most orthodox way of getting into an aircraft…