Page 15 - Demo

23tioned such that the navigator under training would detect the other aircraft and then home on to it. My friend, Peter Bedford, had a go flying the target Canberra and the pilot said he could do some gentle evasion. Peter immediately looped his Canberra and came out behind the other one. The poor nav would have just seen the target disappear. Peter%u2019s pilot immediately took control and under flew his partner and pulled up in front so the trainee nav had a target ahead. The pilot said to Peter%u201cHey, keep it gentle, you don%u2019t want to get the nav chopped!%u201d. When I had a go in the Canberra the pilot told me that the service ceiling was 48,000ft but it could go higher. To prove it he went up to 50,000ft which was the highest I have ever been. The meteors were used to train ground-based radar operators. We took off as a pair and as the undercarriage came up while we were in close formation the pilot said %u201cyou have control%u201d. Compared to the JP the Meteor was huge. It also had 2 engines of course. I immediately moved out a bit and then carried on in formation. Once we got high enough, we split and while one aircraft acted as a target the other was homed on to it. We took turns at that and then started to descend to go home. I had never had any problem with sinuses but the previous night the room in the mess was rather stuffy and I had a problem. It is very painful, and my ears really were not clearing. The pilot let down as slowly as he could, but he only had so much fuel. I went and saw the doctor who said the eardrums were not broken but badly strained and so I was grounded. After a day, they felt a bit better and the boss of 85 said he could get me a trip in a Victor. As that was pressurised there should not be a problem. So I got a trip in a Victor. For take-off I sat in the Crew chief%u2019s seat. The cockpit layout was 2 pilots on ejector seats in the front, then a step and normally 3 seats for the rear crew facing backwards. They did not have ejector seats but had to bail out of the door manually. For detachments a 6th seat was positioned between the navs and the pilot for a crew chief and I strapped into that for take-off. Once airborne