大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by a London CSV volunteer on behalf of Horace Hartley and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

The 239 Squadron was at that time equipped with Lysanders and the American Tomahawk fighters, but somehow we had a De Havilland Gipsy Moth in one of the hangers. This was a basic trainer plane, a biplane, having just a tail skid and no brakes, and had to be started by swinging the propeller, a somewhat dangerous practice.

One day one of our pilots asked for it to be prepared for him to fly, so an engine fitter and a rigger were assigned for the job. The rigger鈥檚 job was to inspect the fuselage and wheels etc, whilst the fitter checked the fuel, oil and warmed up the engine.

With such a light plane, the usual method of moving it was to lift the tail and put it on one鈥檚 shoulder, then walk with it in tow to a suitable spot. There, it should have had chocks placed in front of its wheels, but on this occasion it was not done.

The procedure for starting the engine was for the engine fitter to occupy the cockpit, whilst the rigger swung the propeller to suck in the petrol. This with the magnet switches OFF. Then with the switches ON the rigger should give the prop a good swing when the engine should start. However it didn鈥檛, so after several goes the fitter suggested changing places. With the rigger in the cockpit, the fitter swung the propeller, and the engine roared into life, alas with too much throttle. The plane moved forward and attempts to stop it failed, so it headed across the grass towards the hanger it had just left. The tail lifted into flying position, with the rigger protecting his face with his hands until the plane hit the perimeter track where it lifted clear of the ground and flew into the hanger, crashed and broke up. Happily no one was injured, but the rigger jumped out and ran panicked across the aerodrome, shouting: 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 me, it was Carson!鈥� (the fitter).

Sadly both were charted with the loss of the plane and were sentenced to six months in the Glasshouse, the military prison. I can鈥檛 recall the rigger鈥檚 name, but he was afterwards known as 鈥楶ile it where鈥�.

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