Dr. Gordon Jackson

My first flight was at age 14, as a passenger in an RAF Chipmunk, which was flown out of RAF Manston, in Kent, England. The Canadian de Havilland Chipmunk was a training plane used by the Royal Air Force between 1950 and the mid 1990's (Royal). About two years later, I was a passenger when the pilot performed aerobatics similar to what is shown in the video below (G4WTV).

The video brought back memories of hanging upside down, and looking through a glass canopy at the horizon in four directions underneath me. After about four more military flights, I flew on a commercial plane, which was far less exciting.     →

During an Easter school break, I participated in a cadet force camp at RAF Kinloss, which is located near Inverness in Scotland. The area surrounding the base is the setting for William Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. However, the play is a "confusing mix of fact and fiction (Johnson)." At the time I attended camp, Shackleton aircraft flew out of RAF Kinloss and performed maritime surveillance operations, which were considered to be vital during the cold war period (Forces TV). The video below documents the history of RAF Kinloss, before, during and after the time I was there for an enjoyable, but extremely cold week. When I attended camp, the canteen offered chips (a/k/a French Fries), a welcome change form school, where the only "choice" available for seven years, was mashed potatoes.     →

The next video (maxcockatoo) helped me relive the experience of going to RAF West Malling in order to prepare to obtain an A & B Solo glider license from the British Glider Association. The gliders were pulled along the ground by a winch cable, which gave the gliders lift. When you reached about one thousand feet, and the winch started to pull you towards the ground, you released the cable, and applied forward pressure on the joystick to ensure that you kept the nose of the glider pointing slightly downwards. You then circled around the field, trying to avoid putting the glider into a stall. The ground crew then drove the Land Rover over to your landing position, and towed you back to the launching point. One of the ground crew had to sit in a chair at the back of the Land Rover, and hold onto the support near one wing to stop it from scraping on the ground. The driver often drove at speed over the bumpy field, so it was very difficult to keep holding on. If you let go, the glider was likely to be damaged. After you had completed three solo flights, and were still alive, you received your A & B License.     →

If you would like to see the tasks which the ground crew performed, you can view this historical newsreel taken at RAF Hawkinge: Air Training Corps Gliding School 1956

For training purposes, the RAF section of the Emanuel CCF was entrusted with a primary glider, which looked like the Grasshopper shown in the photograph below. That picture was taken at the King's School in Grantham, which included the caption, "Note the glider anchor - a lad with a garden fork" (Aircraft Enthusiasts' Group).

Several times I was one of the cadet party who carried the parts from the shed to the school field, where we assembled the glider. A few times, I was the pilot who was strapped in. Then the bungee cord, which was like a strong elastic band, was stretched out in a V configuration until the required tension was reached. Then I released my tethering to the ground. The recent video below shows a primary glider being launched with a bungee cord under much more favorable conditions than we had at Emanuel (Vasconcellos).

After the pilot was no longer anchored, the gliding party would face a writhing bungee, because it just had its tension released. Any flight usually only reached about a maximum of one foot off the ground. At the end of the day, the glider had to be disassembled and taken back to its shed. The author of the article "The Bungee - A Contraction Contraption Offering Fun and Fear" put it this way "It took a long time and a lot of effort by many people ... it says much for the dedication of the instructors and the sustained effort and patience of the cadets" (Aircraft Enthusiasts' Group).

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