The first
time that I flew as a
TTO over the Todendorf ranges, I was
impressed when, after our first turn to
start another run past the guns, to see
our drogue on the end of its 3000ft
cable coming towards us at a closing
speed of twice our airspeed.
One pilot,
who shall be nameless, used read a
newspaper during the runs to relieve the
monotony. On one hot day he had the
cockpit quarter-light open a little and
when his left hand strayed near it, his
paper disappeared through it with a
satisfying whoomp.
I also
remember that the regular TTO's now
and again found billets doux in the
drogues from girls who packed them at
the factory; I do not know if any of
these led to romance.
I was due to
be Best Man at a friend's wedding in the
UK in September 1956, but leave was
cancelled for a NATO exercise, so I
didn't make it. In the event, RAF
Schleswigland was theoretically "nuked"
by the Americans right at the start of
the games, so we were out of it, but it
was too late for me by then. I fulfilled
the commitment by toasting "The Bride
and Groom" exactly 50 years late at
their Golden Wedding Anniversary last
year.
Towards the
end of '56 the "Cold War" was warming up
somewhat (Hungarian Uprising etc) so it
was decided that we should be prepared
to blow up the runway, if we had to
withdraw: it was then discovered that
the holes provided for that purpose were
too small to take the bombs we had. I
don't know if we ever got any of the
right size.
There was no
perimeter fence around the airfield and
some of it was used by a farmer to grow
potatoes, so locals used to come in to
the area sometimes. On more than one
occasion children stood beside the
runway threshold to throw potatoes and
stones at the Mosquitos as they came in
to land; fortunately they seldom allowed
enough deflection to score a hit.
Nowadays I
keep myself out of mischief as a
volunteer at Brooklands Museum; it keeps
my interest in aircraft (and old cars)
alive. The web site is pretty good:
www.brooklandsmuseum.com
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