I remember flying with Pete Squire
on a trip that was central
to his obituary in the Times
and we finished the attack and we ended up
clearing the the ridge to the north
by this ridge and over the other side.
And I was flying very low up a gully, a very shallow gully.
But we did fly quite low.
And I also remember
realizing that what I was looking at wasn't sheep it was rabbits
or hares or something in the blur.
Anyway, when we got to the ridge and pushed over, it's the first time I
when you're that close to the ground, you need to be looking out
the quarter lights, not out the front,
because that's the problem.
You're that close to the ground.
So you went over the ridge because we the first time
you got a chance just to look out the front,
push over the ridge and run out to sea and climb.
And I remember the moment that I pushed over the ridge
and looked out the front and
my windscreen had been hit quite formidably.
So and it was spreading
glazing cracks everywhere.
And it was compounded as we climbed because that pressure
differential pressurization in the cockpit and the
the falling ambient pressure as you climbed
meant there was quite a lot of force pushing on the window as well,
although partially balanced by the the
the dynamic energy of the
the airflow, which wasn't that part because it was quite streamlined.
The boundary layer tended to flow, but
I remember thinking
do I depressurize or not?
If I depressurize will increase the likelihood that it'll come inwards.
And if I leave it pressurized, will it continue to damage itself?
So I did the manly thing and did nothing.
I'll leave it and see how it pans out. So
but of course it highlighted an issue I hadn't contemplated,
which was not being able to climb to 35,000 feet or 37,000 feet on the way
back to the fleet because it had an impact on fuel consumption.
The higher I climbed, the more the windscreen started to break up.
So I thought I'd better stop here and see how I get on, you know,
get back to the ship.
But I remember I pushed over the ridge and I'm a quiet voice from
the gentleman boss who said,
All right, motor
it. I said, Yes, Paul,
I think so.
I told him a little bit later on as we climbed what I had got that
I'd like to stop about 20, you know,
which is what we did As it happened, we had enough fuel to get back at 20.