WHEN reading the article (Gentleman of the sky, Oxford Mail, April 6), I was puzzled as to why the flight engineer was handing the pilot a parachute when all RAF pilots used a combined chute and harness.
They then sat on their chutes while in the aircraft. You will see this in many Battle of Britain photographs where pilots are running to their planes.
The answer, almost certainly, is that pilot Ken Knott was on board as a super-numerary to gain experience before taking over his own crew. He was not flying the plane, Lancasters did not have dual control and he would have taken the seat of the flight engineer who normally sat alongside the pilot.
To the best of my belief there are now only two Lancasters still flying and both have been fitted with dual control.
I have seen videos of the cockpit of the Battle of Britain Lancaster and it has been extensively modified to fit in the dual controls.
A book titled Lancaster by Leo McKinstry and published last year contains new information on Bomber Command. This information has recently been made available by the Government.
Sir Arthur Harris, the commander of Bomber Command, was a great believer in the Lancaster and considered it far superior to the Halifax.
To this end he conducted a lengthy campaign with both his superiors and the Air Ministry to have production of the Halifax stopped and replaced instead by production of more Lancasters.
This was not a viable proposition in the middle of a war and this was one battle Sir Arthur failed to win. The writing and exchange of letters, plus meetings etc, must have taken a lot of everyone’s valuable time.
GL RENDELL, Parklands, Freeland
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