This lovely-looking aircraft held special interest for me because my second cousin, William Petter, had designed it. His father had designed the famous WW II ‘behind the lines’ short-field workhorse, the Lysander, and William followed in his father’s footsteps. He designed a bomber that all the recognised aircraft manufacturers refused to take on. In desperation he eventually approached the English Electric Corporation who had not until then been involved directly in the production of aircraft.
Subject to design modifications to incorporate English Electric in-house technology, William Petter’s bomber was taken on and become Britain’s first jet bomber and a great success for the manufacturer.
As chief design-engineer for the company, William was also instrumental in designing the prototype of the Lightning interceptor. Later he designed a low-cost fighter that became the Folland Gnat.
Not only had the Royal Rhodesian Air Force strike power increased with the addition of Nos 5 and 6 (Canberra) Squadrons, No 3 (Transport) Squadron’s lift capacity was substantially enhanced with the addition of four Canadairs (DC4 M-2 Argonaut) aircraft, each powered by four Merlin engines. The Federation was establishing a fair-sized balanced Air Force and there were rumours that we would be getting Hunter GF9s in the near future. All of this was very exciting for the likes of myself!
The Colin Graves tragedy
AFTER THE FIRST CANBERRAS ARRIVED, No 1 Squadron was preparing a formation aerobatic team to participate at the ‘Elizabethville Air Show’. The reason for the Belgian invitation to our Air Force to participate in their great show at Elizabethville in the Katanga Province of the Congo is lost to me. Nevertheless the Vampires were to put on a formation aerobatics display and the newly acquired Canberras were to give solo and formation demonstrations.
As Squadron Commander Colin Graves led a formation team of four aircraft with Mike Reynolds No 2, Peter McClurg No 3, and Randy du Rand No 4. Norman Walsh was one of two reserve pilots and, though I led him on a couple of pairs formation aerobatic practices, I only recall him flying with the initial team of six on a couple of occasions. Then the team was reduced to four because of Vampire power limitations.
Colin had taken his team out into the flying area for some days before he felt ready to come to the airfield to have his prepared sequence viewed and evaluated. The results were pleasing and we all felt good about having such a team to show off Rhodesian talent. Most Air Forces around the world boasted national aerobatics teams of which the Black Arrows team (Hunters) of the RAF was closest to us by association.
However, there was an enormous gap between handling demands on pilots flying formation aerobatics on Hunters and those doing the same in Vampires. The Vampire’s power margins were really too small and engine response too slow for formation aerobatics, placing unusually high demands on pilots to hold a steady station in all manoeuvres. Typically a jet suited to formation aerobatics would have at least 25% power reserve and rapid response engines. The Vampire at best had 10% reserve with relatively poor thrust response to throttle.
The old Control Tower, soon to be demolished, incorporated an outside balcony that served as a perfect place from which to watch Colin’s team go through its routines. Together with others, I was on this balcony on 6 May 1959 waiting for another in a series of display practices when I happened to notice that Wing Commander Wilson was joining us.
Colin had completed a barrel roll running across our front from east to west before leading the formation in a long sweeping climb to starboard during which the aircraft, all FB9s, changed from finger four to box formation. In this pattern and still in the turn, the formation kept coming around descending to gain speed for a loop directly in front of us.
Before the aircraft reached the top of the loop Randy du Rand, as No 4, had fallen back two aircraft lengths from his correct position. Immediately Wing Commander Wilson crossed the platform at a run and went racing off down the stairway. Most of us saw this out of the corner of the eye but thought nothing of it because our attention was focused on the formation.
In the descent Randy’s aircraft moved forward but overshot slightly, his nose coming under the leader’s tail plane as the formation swept through the bottom of the loop. As the aircraft pitched into the climb Colin’s aircraft dropped in turbulence and his tail plane was removed as it smashed through Randy’s canopy. This created a shower of flashing debris that seemed to stop dead in mid-air with the aircraft passing on. Without its tail plane, Colin’s aircraft pitched down from its shallow climb into a shallow dive then rolled inverted and disappeared from view behind a line of gum trees on Thornhill’s western boundary. A huge angry red fireball enveloped in black smoke rose into view a couple of seconds later.
We were staring in disbelief when I pointed to Wing Commander Wilson’s speeding Staff car. How he had sensed what was coming we could not say but from the start he had been heading directly for the crash site.
That the much-loved and respected Colin Graves was dead there could be no doubt and one was left wondering how the decision not to fit life-saving ejector seats could be justified on the basis of high costs. Compared to the loss of this experienced officer and father of two young children it seemed such a petty issue. But then our attention was drawn from the tragedy to a new situation. Randy, though still flying, was in mortal danger.
The impact with Colin’s tail plane had shattered Randy’s canopy. The thick armoured glass of his windscreen, still encased in its battered frame, had been pushed past the gunsight and lay across Randy’s arms fully exposing his head and upper body to high-speed airflow. This might have been tolerable had the visor on Randy’s helmet not been shattered too. Fortunately his oxygen mask was still in place and prevented Randy from an air drowning.
With blood being driven into his eyes by the airflow, Randy could not see a thing. Fortunately he did not lose consciousness, his mask and earphones continued to function and he could still move throttle and control column. Peter McLurg had seen the collision right next to him but instantly lost Colin’s aircraft when it pitched out of sight. Like Mike Reynolds, Peter moved away slightly but he kept his eye on Randy whose aircraft was climbing.
Peter knew that Colin had ploughed in and, closing his mind to this horror, switched his full attention to Randy who reported that he was blind. Peter moved in and became Randy’s eyes by calling his climb angle and telling him which way to roll to keep wings level. Holding formation on Randy, Peter asked him to start throttling back and continued informing Randy of his flight attitude, speed and engine rpm.
