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Back during my flight instructing years, I recall reinforcing to students that, when considering, then selecting, a particular flap setting, that it is a rather sensible idea to, not only note the selector position and the flap position indicator, but to take a look at both wings to see if the extension looked 'sensible' and that both flaps were the same. Pretty basic really! I'll warrant that several of the seasoned, but doomed passengers towards the rear of the cabin noted that the flaps were not extended; maybe even a cabin crew member. Pity there was no effective method of warning the pilots. And it is a bizarre irony that a simple CCTV camera was not mounted up on the fin so that pilots can take a glance at their aircraft's configuration....cost and weight saving perhaps? Strange though that car makers can easily fit them!!!!!!
Shortly after the Spanair horror, I sent an email to all my chums who are flying airline aircraft all over the globe. It was pretty simple and detailed a no-cost fix. I suggested that they use a piece of cardboard, a rubber band and a red felt-tip marker pen. So I offer it again to the world's Chief Pilots and CAAs. On the cardboard, print "FLAPS"...are they extended? Why not take a look? The card is simply hung on the power levers in such a manner that it has to be removed prior to advancing the levers...anyway troops; just a thought from an ex.airline pilot, airline Safety Manager and air accident investigator. Call me old-fashioned if you dare...I don't care. All I can imagine is those passengers dying in a most horrible way. And why oh why did the pilots not lower the nose and accelerate at low alpha to a zero-flap airspeed...to hell with what the book might have said about rotate attitude...back to basic AIRMANSHIP!
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This was written a few years ago for my Email chums; many of whom are British. Even the poor aeroplane designs usually have at least one redeeming feature, but with the Botha, despite extensive research, I was quite unable to find even a single reference to that effect. I even received feedback from a few WWII veterans who recalled the Botha as being truly 'orrible!
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Few will know of this important piece of aviation history. But the invention detailed had a profound effect on the course of WWII. Indeed, Winston Churchill and Arthur ('Bomber') Harris were also secretly involved. I feel sure my revelation will astonish many readers.
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Every year on June 6th, I think of a chap who worked for the same aerial agricultural aviation company as I did back in the early 1960s; Thames Aerial Topdressing Co. (TATCO). We flew overloaded Fletcher FU-24s off small hill-country airstrips in New Zealand's North Island. The FU-24 was a rather different machine to the agile Spitfire Mk.IXs that 485 Squadron operated during the summer of 1944. During his second patrol over the Normandy beaches on "D" Day, John destroyed a Junkers Ju-88, which, to the best of my knowledge, was the first Luftwaffe aircraft downed during the invasion of Europe. Flying with John was a great chum of John and myself, the late Frank Transom. The attached photograph shows John (on right) enjoying a jovial ale with our boss Fred Sawyer, the founder of TATCO. Fred was RNZAF and got onto Mosquitos in Canada but did not make it to the UK as WWII ended in Europe. John and Fred and Frank have gone now, but I think of them often as they were great chaps.....I hope there may be still someone in Merrie England who remembers John and Frank?