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BRABAZON AND ON (Part 3)
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An entry in my log book recalls an exciting flight in Brigand RH798. Incidentally, when acting as test observer we received “danger money” from the Company at the rate of half-a-crown for each take-off and five shillings for each completed hour in the air. Brigand flights used to finish tantalisingly after about fifty or fifty-five minutes! Also of interest were the call-signs used by the test pilots, namely “Mannock 1” for the Chief Pilot, “Mannock 2” for his deputy and so on down the scale. Mannock of course was one of the most famous fighter aces of the Royal Flying Corps in World War 1. I can still hear the electrifying voice of Bill Pegg on the intercom: “Mannock 1 calling Filton Tower, Mannock 1 calling Filton Tower.” On the particular flight in question my pilot was Ronnie Ellison, a senior and very competent pilot who would surely have been well in line for the chief Test Pilot were it not for the fact that he was plagued by a terrible stutter in his speech. The duties of a chief pilot go way beyond merely flying aeroplanes of course and I think this impediment would seriously affect public relations and similar activities. On this occasion we were continuing some tests on the aircraft’s hydraulic system. The retraction and lowering times of the gear were exceeding the design requirements and high oil temperatures were also causing concern. These needed improvement to meet conditions, in which the aircraft was in use against the terrorists. The system had been well instrumented and a small Automatic Observer Panel (AOP) using a Leica Camera was mounted in the rear fuselage. Normally, T-pieces were introduced into the hydraulic lines as receptacles for thermometer bulbs, but it was thought that they themselves may create areas of stagnation leading to artificially high temperature readings. My boss, A.J. Randell, decided to introduce a tiny copper Constantin thermocouple directly into one of the high pressure pipes, this being used in a circuit employing as the usual “cold junction” for reference, a thermos flask of ice. The lowering and retraction tests were carried out over Salisbury Plain and we were soon heading back to Filton by way of Bath, just a few minutes out from landing. However, on calling the Tower, my pilot was allocated about fourth or fifth place in the landing queue! (Filton was a very busy aerodrome in those days.) He announced that we would have to hold for a while. Now it so happened that I had a girl friend who worked as a window dresser in a shop not far from Bath Abbey. I suggested that we do a couple of circuits in the hope that it might improve my image a bit! We were soon roaring round the centre of Bath, a bit lower than we should have been maybe, with vortices streaming off the wing tips in the steeply banked turns. As we straightened up and continued our return I was to receive a nasty shock. Glancing at the AOP. I realised that several of the pressure gauges had returned to zero. I reported the details to the pilot at once, hoping that it was just a blown fuse. He instructed me to go further into the rear fuselage to examine the contents of the hydraulic tank. This tank was constructed with a clear Perspex panel in the side, a wide horizontal white bank on this indicating the required oil level. Unfortunately in the very poor light and with the band being so wide it was quite impossible to see whether the oil level coincided with it! I asked the pilot to alter the altitude of the aircraft in the hope that the change in angle might reveal the oil level. A few dives and climbs showed nothing, but suddenly he drew my attention to the starboard engine. The whole of the rear of the nacelle was covered in oil, and this was accompanied by a trail of hazy blue smoke streaming away over the tail-plane. He shut the engine down immediately and declared an emergency. As this was happening we passed directly over the Filton Works and as it was just after 5pm traffic was streaming out through the gates. I thought “My God, they’re all going home and leaving us up here!” The next requirement was to lower the landing gear as quickly as possible using the emergency hand pump. The operating handle for this, a tube about two feet long, was mounted at the side of the pilot’s seat and I was able to release this from its stowage and pass it to him. However the emergency pump into which it had to be inserted was located much further forward, and as the whole of the cross-section of the cockpit was effectively blocked by the armour-plate on the back of the pilot’s seat I could be of no further assistance. We climbed to about 10,000 feet and in the ensuing dive and pull-out the pilot vigorously rocked the hand pump, his other hand involuntarily rocking the control column and the aircraft in sympathy. At the top of the climb I thought it high time to don my parachute (we wore harnesses, with a clip-on ’chute mounted in a stowage) but as we descended to sea-level I thought it would be better used as padding between me and the main spar, the place I had decided would be the best place to occupy in the event of a crash landing. This procedure was repeated two or three times and after intense effort by the pilot the port leg only was lowered and locked. This situation did not improve the pilot’s stutter at all! The starboard undercarriage doors had barely opened and nothing the pilot could do produced any further progress. This configuration was of course much worse than having no wheels at all! Fortunately a further emergency system had recently been fitted, this being operated by an explosive charge (cordite). As low fuel level warnings were beginning to show it was time to use this system for the first time in the air! With a tremendous bang the starboard leg flew down and locked, shaking the whole of the airframe. We were just off the pier at Weston-Super-Mare at this stage and Ellison immediately turned and called Filton tower for a down-wind landing from the west. Without landing-flaps we ran the whole length of the long Brabazon runway, the by now smoking pneumatic brakes finally bringing us to rest quite near the turning circle. I was met by a very agitated and white-faced A.J. who instructed me to say nothing about the new thermocouple which had been installed. However he need not have worried, the loss of oil turning out to have been caused by the fracture of a small AGS pipe collar about the size of a wedding-ring. The activation of the emergency cordite system required much of the hydraulic system to be stripped and meticulously cleaned. This took several days and just as it was complete, with the aircraft having completed final retraction tests on jacks before its next flight, the system was accidentally fired again! At the time people seemed to be swarming all over the aircraft carrying out final calibrations and inspections but miraculously not a single person was injured. Incidentally my girl friend never did see us over Bath! The late Tony Wilkey |
