Beauty in the Biplanes
Jim Davis has a passion for instructing. He has been training civil and military pilots, in the air and on the ground for 50 years. His other passion is writing, which he studied at Curtin University in Perth. You can see, and buy, his two pilot text books PPL and Flight Tests at www.jimdavis.com.au
A pilot’s logbook is far more that just a record of dates, times, places and flights; it is also a history of a pilot’s flying career and a chronicle of the lessons learnt that makes them the aviator they are today. Jim Davis takes a look back through his own logbooks, and records the incidents that have shaped his approach to flying.
It’s 1940 and scrawny young Sergeant Pilot Nick Carter can be seen in the rear cockpit of an open biplane. He is huddled down against the bitterly cold wind as he flies at 100 feet over the freezing surface of the North Sea. He skims the bottom of the wispy clouds and has to turn frequently to avoid flying into tendrils of drizzle that reach down to the black and choppy waters.
Nick is extremely busy both inside the cockpit and outside. Inside he tries to keep a running track of his lat. and long. on a damp chart which wants to blow away. Outside, he must avoid flying into either the sea or the cloud while searching for signs of submarines or periscopes.
Desperate measures for desperate times. In January 1940 alone, 42 allied ships were sent to the bottom by German U-boats. Six Tiger Moths scour the waters of the English Channel and the North Atlantic. They patrol in pairs. If they spot a sub one will stay in the area to
