Scary account Peter, I suppose youngsters think of souvenirs first and taking cover second!
my latest unexpected encounter which has just emerged from the memory cells…
I was half way thru my shift in the runway caravan at Linton On Ouse, pretty normal day with Jet Provosts coming and going, scanning them as they lined up checking for any problems, making sure they had gear down on final approach,being very careful about this because sometimes the instructors would then retract the gear and keep descending to check we were paying attention, once below a certain height we fired off a red very flare and they overshot.
My radio was tuned to local tower frequency and a few miles out on approach i saw a strange shape getting larger, the week before I had seen the same shape resting on Lake Windermere, it was Sunderland GBJHS heading back to base down South.No radio call from the Sunderland as he stayed on approach frequency.
It kept on coming and I cursed the lack of camera as the beautiful flying machine whispered over the runway centreline at about 100 feet. The instructor in the Jet Provost which had just landed was not impressed and complained”What the hell was that”
Some people are never happy, I was on cloud nine, the only time I ever saw the Sunderland flying.
Sign In
