It was, and will continue to be a VERY demanding aeroplane. Neil Williams, we will surely agree, was the best of the best, and had experience coming out of his ears, yet even he was nearly caught out, even with some considerable time on type. His full account is in the book ‘Airborne’
In summary-
”After the film was made, one of the Mosquitoes involved was resident at Wycombe Air Park (Booker) for some time. It was there for major maintenance by Personal Plane Services. When it was ready for its test flight, the (late) Neil Williams flew it. He very nearly became the earlier/late Neil Williams that day because, having completed the flight, he returned to Booker for a landing on 25, which is a mite short for a Mossie.
Williams wasn’t quite satisfied with the approach, so he opened up for a go-around and promptly suffered the dreaded “Rich Mixture Cut” from one of the engines. Trailing black smoke, he staggered across the airfield towards what seemed like the inevitable site of the crash. Indeed watching this was flying instructor Miss Joan Hughes, who had a fair few hours on Mossies herself, having been a WW2 ATA pilot. She was heard to murmer in that refined accent: “Oh lor! He’s dead my dears, I fear he’s dead …”
Somehow, Williams made it across the airfield and vanished into the valley beyond, leaving the trail of smoke. Everyone expected the fireball to rise but amazingly, the screaming of the one good Merlin kept going, getting fainter and fainter. Eventually, what seemed miles away – and probably was – the aircraft was seen to claw its way into the sky and everyone heaved a sigh of relief. NW quite rightly decided he’d had enough excitement for one day and landed at nearby RAF Benson. He subsequently ferried it back to Booker after Doug Bianchi (the boss of PPS) and his boys did some adjustments on the engine.”
Georgeablelovehowindia (PPRuNe )
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