Page 126 - Demo

124MAKING YOUR MARKIt was a warm summer%u2019s evening as the Shackleton took off from RAF Kinloss, to cross the Scottish Highlands and carry out an exercise to the west of Arran. Climbing high to avoid the hills, the crew were just settling down for the transit to Arran when No 4 engine fire light illuminated. The crew carried out the fire drill, but the extinguisher failed to douse the growing flames, so the captain pointed the aircraft%u2019s nose at the ground, and used most of the available 10,000 feet of altitude to try and blow the fire out, but to no avail. He therefore called the crew to their brace positions and, by the light of the now blazing engine, performed an immaculate crash landing on the northern side of Culloden Moor. The Shackleton%u2019s fuselage offered a number of escape routes, including a hatch above each pilot%u2019s seat, so the normal procedure was that the captain went through the left one, followed by the radio operator, and the co-pilot used the right, followed by the flight engineer. The rest of the crew piled out of the hatch nearest to them, and they all gathered in a group upwind of the flames.The first thing to do was a head count. One, two.....eight, nine.NINE? Hang on a minute, let%u2019s do this again. One, two.....eight, nine.DEFINITELY NINE! Ok, let%u2019s do it by a process of elimination %u2013two pilots, two navigators, one air electronics operator, four signallers.....where%u2019s the flight engineer? The captain asked the co-pilot if the %u2018eng%u2019 had followed him through the hatch, but the co-pilot couldn%u2019t recall, as he had other things on his mind at the time. By this time, the aircraft was well alight and, if the flight engineer was still on board, there was nothing that the rest of the crew could do to help him. With heavy hearts, they set off across the moor in the direction of the nearest lights.As they approached the village, the unmistakeable sounds of a Ceilidh came floating on the breeze and, as they entered the bar, an elderly gentleman approached them smiling broadly. %u201cCome in, come in%u201d, he