Reflections-Airspeed Oxford

The two radial engines had to be hand cranked while kneeling on the wing between the engine nacelle and the fuselage. This was the task of the student not under immediate instruction and was done by inserting a small cranking lever through a small flap in the nacelle. Many a skinned knuckle resulted.

The brakes were operated by a thumb lever on the left hand side of the spectacle control column, with differential operation through the rudderbar. We had all seen wartime films of bomber pilots taxiing their aircraft using differential engine and of course had a go. The end result was usually much confusion in the cockpit as the revs built up and we found ourselves braking against the engine, though we soon got the hang of it.

The aircraft was sadly underpowered and could not maintain height on one engine, due no doubt to its fixed pitch, non feathering airscrews. Practicing single engined approaches was an exercise in judging the rate of descent to arrive at the apoint to commence the approach proper, combined with constant monitoring of the ‘dead’ engine which was always in mortal danger of stopping. Interestingly, the ‘dead’ engine was occasionally reluctant to stop when the idle cut off lever was operated in dispersal, no doubt due to a mixture imbalance after prolonged idling in the air. In the early stages of our training we operated from the Little River satellite aerodrome near Werribee. Due to the aircraft’s lack of performance, we were taught the time honoured takeoff technique of pulling the aircraft into the air just short of the boundary fence and then flying level to gain proper flying speed.

We were shown how to explore the aircraft’s flight envelope but were warned never to get anywhere near a spin as there was only one recorded case of a successful recovery. This would help to explain why the aircraft was not cleared for the civil register when the RAAF paid them off. I can recall seeing a number of Oxfords at Tocumwal where my father was in the early fifties, and his mentioning that a modification was required to raise the tailplane several inches to clear the aircraft for civil use. Evidently nobody was prepared to take this on as they all went for scrap.

We found the Oxford pleasant and easy to fly and enjoyed the new experience of flying with a fellow trainee on ‘solo’ sorties. We all smoked in those days and really felt macho (a word then unknown!) using the slip stream to take the ash from our cigarettes through the side windows.

I well recall my last navigation flight which was a land-away to Mildura. I flew the outbound leg and then had to navigate back using the airplot technique. We navy trainees had just been given our ‘shots’ prior to our departure for the United Kingdom for operational flying training with the Royal Navy. I managed the outbound leg OK but suffered the agonies of the damned on the way back. My left arm was throbbing, my head was splitting and I didn’t really care whether we eventually got back or not; all I wanted to do was to die. To my great surprise we got back to Pt Cook, our track even taking us smoothly onto the downwind leg.

Should you ever get the opportunity to fly an Oxford, which I think is extremely unlikely, don’t forget to turn the fuel cocks off on completion of the sortie. Failure to do so will guarantee to cover the hangar floor with approximately 70 gallons of fuel; I know, because I once had time to ponder on this fact as I carried out my extra guard duty!