GENERAL INTEREST
Fighter Pilot in the 1950’s Although this record is written as a personal history, the main objective is to record the lifestyle and flying freedom of pilots which applied in the early 1950s. by Graham Plumbe Flt Lt (ret)
I
chose a 4 year short term commission in preference to National Service - for the simple reason that it gave 2 years real flying on a squadron and not 2 years training and no more. The status distinction was manifested in my start date; I was asked to attend on 1 Jan 1952, but I declined to do so on New Year’s Day and chose to delay it by one week. That would not have been permitted under National Service. I reported to the Reception Unit at Cardington followed by Transfer Units at Driffeld and Cranwell. Air Force life really started on 27 May 1952 at No. 5 Initial Training School, Cosford for 4 months of square bashing. We had been given Officer Cadet status with NCOs instructed to call us ‘Sir’. I shall always remember their derisive tone as to ‘Sirrrr’! I think it was from Cosford that I was given a visit to Middle Wallop, whence the Army Air Corps flew helicopters, to see how they operated. We visited the training areas on Salisbury Plain and I was then asked where I wanted to go next. I opted for Corfe Castle, then Swanage where my parents were on holiday. We flew past their hotel at cliff top height, and I could see my father sitting in a deck chair in the garden. I waved but got no response. Later my father said he had wondered who the idiot was who was waving at him. On 5 Aug 1952 a delightfully pompous certificate was issued saying: Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND AND OF HER OTHER REALMS AND TERRITORIES QUEEN, HEAD OF THE COMMONWEALTH, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, To Our Trusty and well-beloved Philip Graham Plumbe Greeting: WE, reposing especial Trust and Confidence in your Loyalty, Courage, and good Conduct, do by these Presents Constitute and Appoint you to be an Officer in Our Royal Force from the Fourth day of June 10 | Helicon
Graham Plumbe
was the only one on the course that wasn’t airsick. This helped me win the course aerobatic trophy in Feb 1953.
Part 1 of 3
We enjoyed a summer camp when we flew from a different area. Low flying at about 10 ft was all part of the Low Flying Chipmunk fun. (see photo) I then moved on to training on Harvards. They were notorious for doing ‘ground loops’ given the torque from the radial engine. Memories of Harvards are extensive, I once took off and found I had no airspeed indicated which was due to ice in the pitot head; it was necessary to send up a rescue pilot to lead me in at landing speed until I touched So, I was given officer status (the down. On another occasion a illustrious rank of Acting Pilot chum flew a navigation trip with Officer!) immediately after going his undercarriage down and pulled to Southern Rhodesia on 14 June it up to land! Not a pretty sight. 1952. Another chum recorded his plane as unserviceable because his Heany, S Rhodesia engine oil temperature was far too Next posting (14.6.52) was to 4FTS high. It was pointed out to him (Flying Training School) at Heany, that his oil cooler shutters were just outside Bulawayo in what was then S Rhodesia. Venomous snakes blocked with vegetation from low flying. Yet another chum came back were a hazard, and a Harvard with an electricity cable threaded fuselage had to be dismantled through his starboard wing. My to remove a cobra. Of course, Phase 1 training was conducted in own contribution to low flying was on a navigation trip when pilots Chipmunks, in which I went solo were sent off round the course at after just 11 hours. Memories of this time include a student stalling set intervals. Finding a car on a country track was very inviting for on his first solo and bouncing him to be buzzed from behind. To over another plane in dispersal. Although he was unhurt, he lost his avoid my number being taken, I pulled the plane sharply up. I was nerve and was removed from the course for Lack of Moral Fibre (LMF). unaware that the next chap on the circuit was catching me up and saw I also remember flying solo with a serious hangover, with no desire to the incident. It was only when we comply with specified exercises and were back in the crew room that he was able to tell me that the buzzed choosing instead to see if I could car had disappeared in a cloud of establish a height record. I think it dust. was in the region of 15,000 ft, and when the powers that be heard of On another occasion it was fun it, we were all instructed to keep racing a Vampire on take-off given to no more than 10,000 ft as we a runway for the Vampire and the had no oxygen. We were taught Harvard on the grass. First part to Instrument Flying, when by use of Harvard; second part to Vampire complementary colours through - by a long way. Technology windscreen covers and goggles, we could see the instrument panel was developing fast, and Heany acquired a direction beacon but not the world outside. That telling pilots the course to steer meant total disorientation, and I 1952. You are therefore carefully and diligently to discharge your Duty as such in the Rank of Acting Pilot Officer ………’ Given at Our Court, at Saint James’s the Fifth day of August 1952, in the First Year of Our Reign By Her Majesty’s Command [signed]
to get back to base. The problem was that it gave the same answer even when the pilot had passed overhead, thus sending the plane away from home. The crowning moment of my Harvard training was however when I bumped into a friend of mine in mid-air. The friend - Alan K - with hands off the controls was photographing me as I attempted to fly alongside him. I was too busy looking at the camera to watch where I was going. The result was that my propellor chewed deeply into his aircraft while his propellor chewed my tail off. To bail out of an aircraft of that sort it is normally necessary to undo all connections (e.g., headset), unfasten harness and climb over the wing to avoid the tail as you jump. Alan undid harness and headset (and with that any chance of speaking to base) and started to climb out but lost his nerve (so I believe) and put himself back in the pilot’s seat. He then flew home - his maximum flying speed and his stalling speed being very nearly the same. On landing, the ground crew informed him that his aircraft was incapable of flying. As for me, I had no choice. My tail had disappeared totally, so the plane was pitching violently. Having undone my harness, I didn’t have to climb out; I was pitched out. That meant that I would have been sliced in two had my tailfin been in place - but no, it had gone. The rest was predictable; I pulled the ripcord which I found to my surprise came away completely, leading me to think ‘f**k, it’s broken’. It had however deployed the drogue chute which pulled out the main parachute after a short period
