COMBAT AND COMPETITION.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

CHAPTER THREE PRELUDE TO BATTLE
war, but it went down rather badly with our chaps.
In contrast to this brash American scene I was singularly fortunate,
once more, in the matter of instructors. Ossie Ossulton had almost
never been known to raise his voice in anger and his easy manner
concealed a highly professional approach. He had remarkable way with
him - which pushed and encouraged his pupils and yet, almost
paradoxically, exercised a powerful restraint on their youthful
exuberance.
We set out to master the Harvard's complexities - variable pitch
propeller, retractable undercarriage and flaps - sitting in the cockpit
and running through the drills until we knew them by heart. First solo
came up in less than five hours and we were soon well into the new
training programme.
The Harvard had a tailwheel with a very small positive castor angle
and a rudimentary form of steering. The makers, North American
Aviation, obviously approved of this arrangement because it appeared
on the Mustang in a slightly different form. Described in the Pilot's
Notes thus:
Steerable tailwheel, this springs into engagement with the rudder so
that, when taxying or in gradual turns it can be used for steering. If a
sharp turn is made, the tailwheel can spring out of engagement, this will
occur more easily if the stick is not held back.
What they did not explain was that if a swing started on landing
and this was corrected by differential braking - which in turn caused
the pilot to apply an unintentionally large rudder angle - the tailwheel
could unlock and precipitate a ground loop! It sounds worse than it
really was. But for all that it was a feature which I did not like. In
other ways the Harvard was pleasant and easy to fly. Our Mk II
version was said to have a more docile stall than the Mk I. It still spun
very positively and would do splendid flick rolls.
Shortly after going solo in the Harvard I visited the largest store in
town. To my surprise they could supply sun glasses made up to your
own prescription. Better still, one of the frames on offer looked almost
identical to the standard service issue. I had solved the problem of
flying in spectacles without being found out.
As the course progressed some of the flying took place from
Airdrie about a dozen miles north of Calgary. A dry featureless sort
place where you could sunbathe between flights, and take photographs
round the airfield, which would have been out of the question back at
base. After a night flying session it was customary to sleep there and
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