COMBAT AND COMPETITION.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

CHAPTER SEVEN BALBOS AND BOOZE
things to an earlier batch of Typhoons. Wings and fuselages, stripped
to bare shells, were being lined up in closely packed rows and
bulldozed together, for all the world like a giant scrap bailing press.
Tomorrow, or the day after, our aircraft would be under the hammer.
For my Typhoon there was a brief reprieve - back to Germany -
and another napalm demonstration on Battle of Britain Day. More
urgent, from a personal point of view, was the lack of any response to
my application for a test pilot's course. It was essential to see Frank
McKenna immediately.
I phoned him to make an appointment and obtained a landing
clearance at Brockworth for the following day.
The familiar airfield, which had been such a hive of activity just
before the war - with Gladiators, Henleys and the glamorous F5/34
monoplane fighter - was almost deserted as I taxied in and parked
outside the flight shed. Only a few remaining Typhoons, from the last
production batch, would fly from here. All Meteor testing had been
moved to Morton Valence some miles to the west.
Frank's comfortable, if spartan office, was dominated by a large
scale Meteor IV. A beautiful example of the modelmaker'sart, with its
long nacelles and silver finish, a replica of the aircraft in which Group
Captain Wilson would soon be attacking the World Air Speed Record.
Willie Wilson was the Commandant of ETPS and we decided that I
should get in touch with him in an attempt to break the impasse.
There was only time for a telephone call to Boscombe Down before
I left for Wunsdorf. It was hard going, and I had the distinct
impression that he didn't want to see me, however I managed to fix a
date which fitted in with my next visit to the Typhoon breakers yard.
Back in Germany 123 Wing was down to two squadrons, and these
would shortly be disbanded, but at least I was among friends. Johnny
Baldwin was the CO and Johnny Button his Wing Leader - and for the
first time I met Pinkie Stark who was commanding 609. Short and
balding, even in those days, the vigour of his personality was well
complemented by a handlebar moustache, piercing eyes which missed
nothing at all, and a voice which was deep bass cultivated and warm.
A sterling character.
Before we flew to Volkel, the temporary base for our contribution
to the air display at Ypenburg on the 15th of September, Johnny
Baldwin arranged a highly unofficial discussion group. It revolved
around the presence of an ex Luftwaffe Major who had turned up at
Wunsdorf demanding to see the Commanding Officer. When
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