Bright Llights in a Gloomy Day

[Kip Powick]

It is a rather gloomy and dull weekend out here in Smallville and as such Scuba02 has deserted me in favour of a prowl through a shopping mall, thus I have been left to fend for myself.

Perusing and proofing more airlines pilots bios felt like a good thing to do so turned on the magic voodoo machine and started sifting through the hundreds of pages. Some of our fellow airline pilots, who have retired, make many of us look like "pikers" when it comes to a flying career. This is a brief excerpt from one fellows bio...I thought it was worth sharing.

The Japanese attacked on Easter Sunday, April 5, 1942. Xxx Xxxxxx did not fancy himself as a crack shot, but he figured he damaged a couple of the bombers and was doing well until two Zeros got on his tail. They shot him up thoroughly ....there were 72 bullet holes in his tail section and a cannon shell had shattered on his armor plating just about the level of his kidneys. Still under attack the head gasket on this engine blew, he lost all his glycol, and force landed in a rice paddy. With the Japanese still gunning him he got out of the aircraft quickly and, leaving the scene, scratched himself on a barbwire fence. That was his only war wound.

Granted, there are not many individuals left in any airline in Canada that have had any experience close to that above but perhaps the next time one of you young fellows share the flight deck with someone you deem as an "ole fart" you might ask a few questions about their start in the business......stories..stories...so enjoyable, so enlightening.

(((PS..this pilot was medically grounded for his last 3 years, his last aircraft was the 747 and when he was grounded his total flying time was in excess of 27,000hrs.)))

[Kip Powick]

So you think MOT "Check" pilots are unforgiving????? From another retirees bio..

Ooooooo said the company could not afford more free flying and took the two of them to Edmonton to get a DOT checkout. They did it at night when the aircraft was free. Xxxxxxx went first and did his approach on Jasper Avenue instead of the airport. But that was forgiven. They both got their licences endorsed and then they went to work for TCA.

[Kip Powick]

From another pioneer of Air Canada.......

He has two memories from this tour. He took the first load of beer in to Mandalay after it had been recaptured. And it all got there. Of course, he says, they had an armed guard or two on board to make sure the crew or the cargo handlers did not pirate some of it.

The only Japanese he saw were three prisoners, an officer and two men that they transported out from the Sittang River valley near the eastern boundary of Burma. They had two Indian sepoys on board to guard them. One of these retired to make use of the toilet facilities on the aircraft, and the other was so interested in what was going on in the cockpit that he was not paying Attention. One of the enlisted prisoners decided this was an opportunity to die in glory for the Emperor by destroying an aircraft and its crew.

There were two engine covers stored near the tail of the aircraft, and he set one of them on fire. Fortunately, they were at 16,500 feet, and the oil soaked cover did not flare up in the rarefied atmosphere as it would have at a lower level. The First Officer, an Australian name XXXXXXX, was the first to notice the smoke. He bolted out of the cockpit, grabbed the Japanese, and threw him and the burning engine cover out the open parachute door. In the transport squadrons in Burma the door paratroopers used was open all the time.

When they got back to Hatazari they reported to their flight commander that they had boarded three prisoners and were delivering two. This brought a startled look from the Squadron Leader, who asked for more details. When he heard the story there was nothing more said.

[Kip Powick]

Another Canadian airline Captain who was a pioneer .....

They were on their target run through the searchlights and the flak, everything normal. Some of the searchlights had a more intense, bluish light, and they figured that these were probably hooked up to radar-sighted guns. One of them flicked across them, but as they were on the bombing run they could do nothing about it. All of a sudden all hell broke loose. The control wheel snapped forward to the instrument panel and Willy could not budge it. Air started coming in from all over the place. Flames shot up from underneath and Willy yelled at his crew to bailout. He saw the navigator and bomb aimer trying to open the escape hatch, and then he felt himself being swooshed out of his seat. The aircraft blew up.

He was the only member of his crew to live through the explosion, and he survived because of two practises he had adopted. There were two types of parachutes, seat packs that were uncomfortable on long flights, and chest packs where the chute is stowed near by and on the harness if needed. Most pilots wore chest packs, but Willy felt the seat packs were better if needed in a hurry and this is what he used. Therefore when he was blown out of the airplane he had his parachute on. It was also his rule to unbuckle his seat belt every time they started a run over the target, feeling that at such times of hazard he should be as free to move as possible. So he left the aircraft with no physical damage other than a severe crack on the head, sufficient to knock him out for a while. When he (came to he was falling. He could see Wurms on fire, the searchlights, and the gun flashes, and as he was tumbling it seemed to him that he would fall one hundred feet and then come back up fifty feet. He was so intrigued with this that he almost forgot to pull the rip cord, and when he did the parachute opened and immediately after he hit the ground. He had free fallen almost 20,000 feet.

He landed in a recently plowed field, and could hear German voices talking nearby. Willy stretched his parachute out in a furrow, kicked earth over it to conceal it, and made for the woods away from the road.

[wrench]

you should hear the stories that AME tells. Truely an "Old Fart".