Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 65 continued ... When an aircraft is flying in a vertical position and it stalls and yaws, falling port or starboard, a tailspin occurs. The aircraft rotates, sometimes violently, about the centre of gravity in a downward corkscrew path. After my instructor had instructed me to cause the Fleet to spin and then stop the spinning he said “now advance the throttle”. I did this but there was no response from the engine. He took control and when unable to get engine power he side- slipped the aircraft and made a perfect dead engine forced landing in a very small field alongside a farm house. Afterward we sat on the back step of the house talking with the lady and her daughter who lived there, until help arrived. Subsequently it was discovered that we had run out of gas. The Fleet’s gas gauge was mounted in sight of the pilot on the upper part of the starboard wing. The gauge was a clear water-glass with a floating cork inside which showed the fuel status. The cork had become stuck showing fuel remaining when the tank was actually empty. My instructor and I were “in the clear” because when we had done our preflight check the gauge showed sufficient fuel on board. I was then assigned to a new instructor who taught instrument flying and we flew instrument training exercises which I also practiced in the Link Trainer. I did some solo flying and one day flew over my school in my home town of Kentville showing off a little by performing a loop, a couple of barrel rolls and a tailspin. I was told that the school principal rang the alarm bell and had all the students gather outside to watch. I was lucky that I wasn’t reported because then I would have been in real trouble. After 36 hours and 50 minutes dual instruction and 33 hours 15 minutes solo I was posted to No. 9 Service Flying Training School, Summerside, Prince Edward Island. No. 9 Service Flying Training School, Summerside, Prince Edward Island 28 May 41 The environment at No. 9 SFTS Summerside was quite different from what we had experienced at Stanley. There were no duck walks and corduroy roads. The hangars had concrete floors. As well as attending ground school and receiving flying training we were assigned to hangar duty which was sweeping floors and washing the school’s Harvard Mk II aircraft. The Harvard was powered by a Pratt and Whitney Wasp engine, had a Hamilton Standard variable pitch propeller, a hydraulic system to power the flaps, an inward folding retractable landing gear, and a stressed skin fuselage. In Australia it was called the Wirraway. The instructors were all RCAF personnel. The pilot flying instructors were RCAF Sergeants (Sergeant Pilots). I had only one flying instructor. His name was Sgt. Williamson. After a 35 minute familiarization flight and 5 hours and 40 minutes dual instruction I was sent solo. After a few more hours I was qualified to fly solo formation without an instructor while engaged in formation flying. Next I was qualified as a safety pilot meaning that I would fly with another student as safety pilot while he was under the hood practicing instrument flying. As the ground school and flying training continued emphasis was placed on instrument flying, cross county flying; Summerside to Stanley and return for example, and formation and night flying. My total flying time while at the two flying training schools was 165 hours, 25 minutes. continued ...
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