COMBAT AND COMPETITION.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

COMBAT AND COMPETITION
tab ailerons, felt lighter, giving a higher rate of roll, which made the
whole aircraft feel more agile. There was much less vibration.
Probably because the engine had been moved forward, to accomodate
a fuselage tank, and its bearers no longer picked up directly on the
wing root fittings. Yet, in spite of these major changes and
improvements, there was still that marvellous feeling of rugged
security, so reminiscent of the Typhoon.
It was impossible to resist a few aerobatics en route. These were
further evidence of the improved handling qualities, compared with
its predecessor, and the way in which you could throw the aircraft
around. Then it was time to join the crowded traffic pattern at
Boscombe Down, which required a long straight powered approach all
the way to touch down. It had been a brief and happy introduction to
the Tempest.
Not so my meeting with Willie Wilson. Perhaps he was being
bombarded with applications for places on the next course, or under
pressure from the MAP to keep the numbers down. Maybe ETPS was
suffering serious staff losses from demobilisation. Whatever the reason,
although he was ready to listen, he showed no great enthusiasm for my
case. Eventually he put the situation to me quite bluntly. Although my
application for ETPS had been received the RAF would not nominate
me for the course. If Glosters wanted me that badly they must do it
themselves.
Were the MAP8 trying to get Glosters to make some financial
contribution? - if so it was difficult to believe that they would agree.
I flew back to Lasham rather depressed, attempted a steep curved
approach, and ran out of elevator travel on touchdown making a rather
untidy wheel landing.
Fortunately the Tempest's owner was not around and I went up and
did some stalls and another circuit to sort out the situation. The
Tempest elevator was less effective at low speeds, power off, than the
Typhoon. Or perhaps there was a greater rearward movement of the
centre of pressure, at high angles of attack, with the laminar flow
wing. At all events it required a slightly different technique to the
Typhoon, but one which was not particularly difficult to master.
A quick letter to Frank McKenna gave him the details of my
meeting with Willie Wilson. He replied within days. Glosters had asked
the MAP to accept me as their nominee for the next ETPS course,
starting 1st January 1946, and this had been agreed. A career with
Glosters was on.
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