A flying story from the past!!!

[John HOLBROOK]

During the Korean War, I was stationed at the Naval Air Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in Utility Squadron 10 (VU-10). I was a Plane Captain on a JD-1 (A26-A) Douglas Invader, which we called Jig Dog.....

One bright sunny morning, we were scheduled to perform a check ride for a new pilot who had little twin engine time. So he climbed into the left seat. The A-26 only had one set of flight controls. Usually I rode in the right jump seat to monitor the engine controls, however today the check pilot occupied the right seat and I rode in a jump seat just behind the two pilots.

Now let me digress, and describe McCalla Field. It consisted of one runway which ran North and South, and was about 5,000 long. This was years before the Navy built Leeward Point which had room for a longer runway to accommodate jets. McCalla Field could not be extended as there was a shear drop off at both ends. The north end dropped about 80' down to the seaplane base. The south end ended with about a 100' drop into the Caribbean.

After a normal pre-flight, startup and taxi out to the runway, we received permission to take off using runway 180, south. We took the runway and after we ran the engines up and checked all engine instruments, we started down the runway. Up to this time everything was normal.

About halfway down the runway, right at the rotation point for liftoff, the check pilot reached up and punched the red feather button for the starboard engine which was located at the top of the windscreen and yelled "that we had just lost an engine". MISTAKE!!!!!! The starboard engine began to unwind and the new pilot panicked , and reach up and punched the FEATHER BUTTON FOR PORT ENGINE. Arrrrrrrrgh!!!!!

It started to get real quiet as both engine began to unwind!! All you could see in the cockpit was a--h-les and elbows as the three of us were trying to un-feather both engines. By this time we had reached the end of the runway. The new pilot kept his head and as we rolled over the overrun at the end of the runway, and then the cliff, he pushed the yoke forward, and we were flying , sort of and headed for the ocean!!!!!!!

At about this time the check pilot and I, managed to get both engines back on line and we managed to keep it in the air!!! We leveled off at about 20' over the ocean and after about 30 minute to settle down and brought the good old Jig Dog back to the field!!

Thank God for those two P&W R2800-27s, the best reciprocating engines of all time. Actually the A26 was a great single engine A/C, however, it WILL NOT FLY ON NO ENGINES!!!!!!

I took this photo of the VU-10 flight line standing in the cockpit of Mallard 25, my plane!!!




The Jid Dog was a great plane to fly in. The USAF flew them until they were literally worn out!!!!!




McCalla Field looking North...

[JohnMOhio]

John, thanks for the story and photos. I always thought this aircraft was "cool." You were fortunate to have flown so many different aircraft. Thank you for your service.

[snakehunter]

One of the big advantages of a recip engine is instant power when you want it. I was on a commercial flight in an old Martin 404 in heavy fog when the pilot blew his approach. By the time he got the gear back up and the engines firewalled we were about 50 ft above the treetops. If we had been in a turbine powered plane we would have been splattered all over Ohio.

[Rick]

I think if I had a check pilot do that to me we would have words at the least.

[John HOLBROOK]

One of the big advantages of a recip engine is instant power when you want it. I was on a commercial flight in an old Martin 404 in heavy fog when the pilot blew his approach. By the time he got the gear back up and the engines firewalled we were about 50 ft above the treetops. If we had been in a turbine powered plane we would have been splattered all over Ohio.

The Martin 404 also had the good old reliable P&W R2800 engines!!!!! They were the best!!!! I was watching an F4U Corsair land at NAS Jacksonville in about 1953. As he approached the runway over the St. John;s River, he threw the coal to the fighter to go around and he snaprolled into the river caused by the torque of the sudden acceleration at near stall speed!! He survived.....

[John HOLBROOK]

I think if I had a check pilot do that to me we would have words at the least.

Yes, I remember the debrief was rather heated!!!!!!!

[UUURah]

Is that the type plane used in the movie "Always"?

[John Sukey]

Probably posted this before, but you know about old farts memories
My shop chief was on a cross country in a C46 at night. The pilot keyed the radio and both props feathered! Short in the radio and on the C46 the prop pitch was electrical instead of hydraulic

[John HOLBROOK]

Yep, the C46 had Curtis Electric propellors, in fact the P47 and the B29 initially had the same props!!! They were prone to go in reverse which could also ruin your whole day!!! The Hamilton Standard Hydromatic prop was the best. It was operated using engine oil pressure...

[John HOLBROOK]

Is that the type plane used in the movie "Always"?

Yep, you are correct. Many A26s were used in fire fighting.... They had good stability at slow airspeed plus plenty of power when needed..... I am a great fan of Douglas aircraft, as I flew in and worked on several different models....

And here are two of my favorites!!!!

[SloopJohnB]

Great story John. Sounds like excellent Crew Resource Management!
I agree with your feelings on the Pratt & Whitney R2800. Had some DC-6 time, and loved those engines.

[Dan Wilson]

One of the great points about the C-130, you push the throttles you have power!!
No spool up time required, but unlike recips the Herk engines run at 100% all the time, the only thing you really do with throttles is increase the blade angle
Only problem with the setup is when a pilot panics, talk about massive over-torque on cold days!!!!

[Dan Wilson]

I dont know about the Navy procedures but in the Air Force it used to be normal for an evaluator to bag an engine during a flight examination.
But with the increase in Simulator Tech, actually feathering a prop during a check ride became a thing of the past.

Now as to the intelligence of shutting down fifty percent of your propulsion on a short runway with no possibility of an overrun just for a checkride...... perhaps the evaluator pilot needs an evaluation of his own.

To many dead people from SLOJ, (Sudden Loss Of Judgment).

[Rick the Librarian]

I remember a story told about a check ride on the old 10-engine B-36 bomber ("six turning, four burning"). The check pilot told the flight engineer to "Feather 6" - to which the F.E. replied, "Which six"?

The R2800 powered a LOT of classic aircraft and is my favorite engine.

John, in your first picture, is that a row of TBMs on the right in the background?

[Shooter5]

Neat story! My dad was up in the Canada in the 60s once on a floatplane going to do some fishing and the single engine sputtered out. He was happy the pilot re-started before they did a tundra crunch.
What aircraft did you fly? How many hours?
Thanks for your service.