Page 128 - Demo

126MY PERSONAL 9/11During the late eighties and early nineties, I served as a staff weapons instructor on 56 Squadron, the Tornado F3 Operational Conversion Unit and, in my spare time, was privileged to fly the Hurricanes and Spitfires of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF). On 11th September 1991, BBMF deployed to the Channel Islands for a series of fly-pasts and displays, and we were scheduled to take-off at 1400. Consequently, I was committed to a morning of lectures beforehand, followed by a staff critique, which resulted in me missing lunch and having to grab a Mars bar instead. I arrived at BBMF, just in time for briefing, and was allocated Hurricane IIc LF363 to fly which, at that time, was one of only three airworthy anywhere in the World.I took off just behind a Spitfire MkXIX, with the Lancaster following me. Normally, both fighters would have completed an orbit, and then joined up with the Lancaster for the transit but, on this occasion, the Spitfire pilot was required to do a practice display before departing.However with a 37 litre, 2000bhp Rolls Royce Griffon, it would not be long before he caught us up. I therefore joined on the wing of the Lancaster, and we gradually climbed, before being handed over to Wittering Radar and levelling at 3000 feet. I cursed at this because when, you%u2019re flying a 46-year-old aircraft, you really want to be as high as possible in case the engine fails, but I consoled myself with the prospect of getting clearance to climb once we had passed RAF Wittering.We had been airborne for about 10 minutes, and were just north of Stamford, when there was an almighty BANG, and light grey smoke started pouring out of both sets of exhaust stubs. The engine began to run very roughly, giving intermittent bursts of power but not enough to maintain altitude, so I converted speed into height, slowed to the best gliding speed of 90 knots, and transmitted a %u201cMayday%u201d call.I knew that RAF Cottesmore was on my right side and slightly astern,