It takes some real fancy flying to do what this guy did, let me tell ya. Pretty gutsy move on his part, I'd say!
Brocklesby Midair Collision
Photo credit: ozatwar.com
On September 29, 1940, two Royal Australian Air Force Avro Anson airplanes on a training exercise collided in midair above Brocklesby, New South Wales, Australia. The pilot and reconnaissance officer in the lower airplane immediately bailed out, along with the reconnaissance officer of the upper airplane.
This left only Leading Aircraftman Leonard Fuller, the pilot of the upper plane, aboard. Both airplanes did not enter a steep dive and crash as expected. Instead, they remained airborne and locked together, with one above the other.
The engines of the upper airplane controlled by Fuller had stopped working, but the airplane was kept airborne by the engines of the lower airplane. Fuller soon discovered that he could control the lower engines by simply controlling his airplane.
So he flew both airplanes 8 kilometers (5 mi) before landing in Brocklesby. The lower airplane was written off after the landing, but the upper airplane was repaired and returned to service.
Sounds to me like this pilot doesn't need any more training to fly his plane, except maybe a little to learn not to collide with another aircraft. I found this article over at Listverse...so thanks to them!
Coffee out on the patio this morning. Maybe we'll get some shade this early.
