Dimron Posted November 26, 2020 Share Posted November 26, 2020 (edited) One of my favourite last memories of Percy was arguing over the TV controller... he knew he had less than 2 months to go and he insisted on winding me up (easily done)... we ended up wrestling on his living room floor arguing about Inspector Morse. Those Bomber Command Boys lived for the wind-up and if you do get the honour of meeting them... beware Edited November 26, 2020 by Dimron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Supporter MickyD Posted November 26, 2020 Site Supporter Share Posted November 26, 2020 30 minutes ago, Good Knee said: One of the old boys I met at Woodhall Spa was Jo Lancaster DFC amazing bloke very unassuming yet what a story he told he was born up in Cumbria and became the first man to test pilot an ejection seat . Just had a look at this on Wiki. It says he was the first to use an ejection seat in an emergency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimron Posted November 26, 2020 Share Posted November 26, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dusan nikolic Posted November 27, 2020 Share Posted November 27, 2020 8 hours ago, Good Knee said: Good stuff mate Woodhall Spa is a great little place packed with bomber history and some good watering holes. All heroes everyone of them . Did you ever venture down the road to the Lincolnshire Aviation heritage centre at East Kirkby ? . About 16 years ago I went on a night time Taxi Run in their Lancaster Bomber , very evocative and humbling experience. Climbing over the Main Spar on the ground was an art form let alone escaping over it from an out of control aircraft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimron Posted November 27, 2020 Share Posted November 27, 2020 Never took ride on Just Jane but I remember seeing 90 yr old Percy spring aboard tackling the main spar like he was back in 1943... someone had offered to help him and he had to show them he still knew his way around! Cocky old bugger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dusan nikolic Posted November 27, 2020 Share Posted November 27, 2020 6 hours ago, Dimron said: Never took ride on Just Jane but I remember seeing 90 yr old Percy spring aboard tackling the main spar like he was back in 1943... someone had offered to help him and he had to show them he still knew his way around! Cocky old bugger. It's a fantastic place isn't it , we used to go a lot years ago. It's funny how sprightly a lot of the veterans are/were , I could listen to their experiences for hours . The Taxi Runs are quite expensive these days ( about £150 when I went) and are usually booked up well in advance but it really is an unforgettable experience, I'm sure they have a Mosquito which they also do Rides in nowadays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimron Posted November 27, 2020 Share Posted November 27, 2020 Didn't know about the Mossie, Percy was very private, probably a result of his experience... I married his daughter knowing he flew in Lancs then one Sunday afternoon he walked in and chucked his log book to me "You might find this interesting" and walked out of the room. He kept it to himself until a TV researcher came and interviewed him and it seemed to unlock something... Mother in Law said she heard things he had never ever mentioned. After that he dedicated himself to educating people about what happened... he told me as a fellow airman (I fly now and again) how they would be trucking along in the dark bomber stream and the sky would suddenly light up and the only comment was "he's got the chop". The night fighters used to home in on the Lancs underside blind spots with upward pointing 20mm cannon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Supporter MickyD Posted November 27, 2020 Site Supporter Share Posted November 27, 2020 14 minutes ago, Dimron said: Didn't know about the Mossie, Percy was very private, probably a result of his experience... I married his daughter knowing he flew in Lancs then one Sunday afternoon he walked in and chucked his log book to me "You might find this interesting" and walked out of the room. He kept it to himself until a TV researcher came and interviewed him and it seemed to unlock something... Mother in Law said she heard things he had never ever mentioned. After that he dedicated himself to educating people about what happened... he told me as a fellow airman (I fly now and again) how they would be trucking along in the dark bomber stream and the sky would suddenly light up and the only comment was "he's got the chop". The night fighters used to home in on the Lancs underside blind spots with upward pointing 20mm cannon. Woah there! You fly? I get that your user name is Normid backwards but it’s also an anagram of Nimrod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimron Posted November 27, 2020 Share Posted November 27, 2020 Just a C172 and gliders at the local airfield. A good friend of mine was on Nimrods and until recently was a captain on Emirates 777s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Supporter Good Knee Posted November 28, 2020 Author Site Supporter Share Posted November 28, 2020 On 26/11/2020 at 20:32, Dimron said: One of my favourite last memories of Percy was arguing over the TV controller... he knew he had less than 2 months to go and he insisted on winding me up (easily done)... we ended up wrestling on his living room floor arguing about Inspector Morse. Those Bomber Command Boys lived for the wind-up and if you do get the honour of meeting them... beware Percy sounds like a real character. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Supporter Good Knee Posted November 28, 2020 Author Site Supporter Share Posted November 28, 2020 On 26/11/2020 at 20:40, MickyD said: Just had a look at this on Wiki. It says he was the first to use an ejection seat in an emergency. Your right mate he did I worded it incorrectly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Supporter Good Knee Posted November 28, 2020 Author Site Supporter Share Posted November 28, 2020 On 27/11/2020 at 01:10, dusan nikolic said: All heroes everyone of them . Did you ever venture down the road to the Lincolnshire Aviation heritage centre at East Kirkby ? . About 16 years ago I went on a night time Taxi Run in their Lancaster Bomber , very evocative and humbling experience. Climbing over the Main Spar on the ground was an art form let alone escaping over it from an out of control aircraft. Nor been there pal on my to do very soon list, done the one near York and visited lots of the old air fields in North Yorkshire, including Linton on Ouse where my dad was stationed with the RCAF.(think its just been closed down ).Also visited the new memorial spire and centre in Lincoln really smart place worth a shufty . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dusan nikolic Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 (edited) 6 hours ago, Good Knee said: Nor been there pal on my to do very soon list, done the one near York and visited lots of the old air fields in North Yorkshire, including Linton on Ouse where my dad was stationed with the RCAF.(think its just been closed down ).Also visited the new memorial spire and centre in Lincoln really smart place worth a shufty . Likewise I visited quite a few airfields around Lincolnshire, they range from small museums to cafeteria in the old control Towers to basically fields virtually reclaimed by nature. The Yorkshire air museum is great , especially with it having an excellent Handley paige Halifax reproduction amongst others. If you get to East Kirkby , I highly recommended the Night time event . This is usually done once a year ( Beginning of November) and it involves a Daylight and Night taxi run coupled with a brilliant Firework display at the end . It really is evocative at the Night time when generally the Bomber Airfields came alive. On a side note the brothers who formed the Museum at East Kirkby lost their brother flying out of Linton on Ouse on the Infamous Nuremberg raid ( Bomber Command lost 95 aircraft iirc) and it inspired them to open the aviation centre. I think their brother was a Flight Engineer in a Canadian crew and they the were shot down on the final sortie of their tour. Edit . Just checked and their brother actually flew from Skipton on Swale. Edited November 28, 2020 by dusan nikolic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Supporter Good Knee Posted November 28, 2020 Author Site Supporter Share Posted November 28, 2020 Very informative mate cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimron Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 The long term plan is to get Just Jane flying again but Covid has hit the finances... hopefully one day we'll see the old bird in the sky. We lost Percy to cancer a few years ago and have placed a memorial plaque to him at the Bomber Command Memorial in Lincoln. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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