Freddie who? (Part 2)

This man never learned his lesson. I assume it was the same man. Surely there wasn’t a whole store full of these idiots hidden away somewhere in the dark recesses of the RAF infrastructure.

Some more but brief memories of this “Commissioned Death Wish”.

The Grader Driver’s Nightmare.

One of the more impressive pieces of plant equipment on the Island was the Grader. ( see photo ). To me, this lump of machinery defied both logic and gravity. However, during my time there, the driver was an RE Plant Op named Rod Dawes.

Rod, if I recall, was a really nice bloke who wanted nothing more than to do his job. The last thing he wanted was aggro from above.

Sadly, Freddie had other ideas. If it moved it was fair game, and if it moved with someone on board so much the better.

Occasionally, the Grader was required in out of the way locations such as the Plantation and other “jungle” like areas. The un-surfaced roads in these places required the odd manicure to ensure they were still passable without too much difficulty. Hence Rod’s presence in the outback.

The usual route to these areas was via the “A1”, the main route covering the most important locations. It was a “metalled” road constructed originally by the RE’s.

During one of his sorties to the outback Rod was buzzed by Freddie. Nothing really out of the ordinary. However, maybe Rod had had a bad night the evening before. Maybe he wasn’t feeling up to much. Anyway, it was his day for the undivided attention of our manic pilot.

Two or three times during his steady but slow journey along the A1 he was the target of Freddie’s humour. At least Freddie must have seen the funny side of it. Rod didn’t, and after two or three low level passes involving the release of medium quantities of Flit, Rod lost the plot and started directing visual abuse at our intrepid flier.

Maybe Freddie was having a bad day as well and didn’t appreciate the “Finger”, “Two fingers”, and whatever else Rod could come up with. So with the skill of a Red Arrow he banked the plane and came in low along the length of the road. At no more than 10 –15 feet above ground zero he pulled some type of emergency switch or lever which in turn released the entire contents of his tank in one go.

Had this man been one of the Dam Busters? Had he had specialist training in precision bombing? Who knows? Albeit to say, his aim was impeccable. Rod copped the lot.

I don’t think the Auster was capable of a victory roll, but I’m sure that if it had he’d have performed one.

©: P.B.Chatfield 22 Jul. 01