I grew up in Blackpool,during ww2 many radio ops were trained in the town.Above the Burtons tailors shop was a big room used for final tests. I always thought that if they failed then they had gone for a Burton.
It seems there are many other expalnations.

This is the reason for the expression I’ve seen too. I can not find it at the moment, but somewhere in my collection of books I’ve got the autobiography of an RAF wireless operator, and he was trained above that Burtons tailor shop in Blackpool. From memory, he said that those who failed their tests had to go through the tailor shop on the way out and not through the normal exit from the training room. The reason being that it was considered bad for the morale of guys waiting outside the room for their test, to see how many failed! That was the reason this W/O gave for the exression, but like you say scotavia, it seems there are many more.

Hi All,

I’ve now had my PPL (A) for two years. I’ve not flown since the 21se Dec 2005, due to work etc etc.

What dow I have to do to get back in the saddle?

I can’t remember how may ours were in the 1st and 2nd year – but I’m sure I’ve done more than 12.

Any help welcome.

Thanks

The annoying thing is – I just want to go up and fly now :confused:

Your SEP rating is valid for two years. If has already expired (check the date on your licence) you will need to do a skill test with an examiner, no matter how many hours you have flown in the last two years. If your SEP rating is still valid, you can basically go out and fly, even if your last flight was in Dec 2005 (check with your club, they might require some recent experience). If your SEP rating is just about to expire, it would be a good idea to have an instructor along for the ride to extend your rating for another two years, provided of course that you have flown more than 12 hours in the last 12 months of the SEP rating. If you do not make the 12 hours in the last 12 months, then you need to do a skill test with an examiner.

And how fast is a fast roll in a Hawk T1A? 360° a second? 😉 😀

And they DO have Canberras! 😀 😀

In ‘The Nurember Raid’ by Martin Middlebrook, ISBN 0-304-35342-6. On page 247 is reference to this Lancaster. Diverted from Waterbeck to Stradishall ……….‘ but this airfield was also fog-bound and despite serveral attemts…….could not land there’ Diverted again almost out of fuel. Then ………‘the fog cleared an and the pilot promptly put his aircraft down in a Hertfordshire field’

Incidently, Middlebrook says only two men parachuted form the aircraft, and both jumps were below 1000′ 😮

It does sound like it was in open country, not an an airfield.

Did a little more reading 😀 On page 335 of the same book is the following.

Lancaster LL683 (W.O. W.L McGown) 103rd down in crashlanding near Sawbridgeworth, Herts. 1 man injured
The 103rd down refers to it’s number in the shot down/crashing sequence. This being the last aircraft. From the above, I would say it crashed in an open field, not on the airfield.

NOTE: Bold font is a direct quote from the book.

First of all, let me make this clear. I’m not an expert in this field, and I do not have the records form the TNA at Kew.

On the face of it, I’m not going to say it is impossible that the Germans had landing grounds in the UK during WWII. They certainly did have aircraft that could operate from semi-prepared landing grounds. But that’s about all there is to it. If we look at the SOE activities during the war, we can readily see that you need a very good infrasturcture to be able to use farmers fields as landing grounds to drop off/retrive agents. The Resistance on the continent was operting in the ‘open’, that is, the Germans knew they existed and they did operate as an armed force, and they did have a lot of people working for them directly or indirectly. The infrastructure needed for a single landing is huge, you need to decide the field (and communicate your pick to HQ), you need to secure the area before the landing (make sure there are no patrols in the area), you need people to signal the aircraft that landing is save, or otherwise, and you need an armed guard to fend off any possible problem. It will take a lot of people, not just one or two. To suggest that a force, of the magnitude required to secure a landing field for a single drop off/pick up, existed in the UK without ever being exposed (during the war or in the last 60 years), is highly unlikely to say the least! And back to the SOE,they are the ones the did it in real time and there is no reason to think the Germans would have done any differently, it was a huge undertaking by them. And the Germans did indeed expose some of their work, so if the Germans had been flying into the UK on regular basis, someone would have got the wind!

I’m not an expert, but I do think all aircraft not flying with the military or other state agencies (State aircraft) need to be civilian registered. So, a Spitfire/Mustang/Harvard (insert type to your liking) need to be on the civilian register. The exemption to fly in military marks, is just that, an exemption. The aircraft still needs to be civilan registered to fly, even though the markings are not shown. So it is not a case of stacks of cash to spare. For the CAA to give it it’s certificate of airworthiness, it need to be G-something (or N-something, or TF-something) even though the markings are not visible

named Rodney, he’s only had the name a couple of weeks and doesn’t respond
Neal

I don’t think cats ever respond to their names, they are too self-centered to bother 😀 😀 But then again, I’m a dog’s owner. 😉

Tiger seem a very good name for him after seeing his picture.