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A few of the station instructors took part in a tour of Middle East squadrons to give demonstrations to the pilots stationed there and many of the armourers were keen to be selected to accompany them as part of the ground crew as they were visiting a few countries. One armourer was selected and the party flew of to their first destination which was to refuel in the South of France and a visit to a local town had been arranged but one of the Venoms had engine trouble and the ground crew had to spend the whole night replacing the engine. The next stopover was Cyprus but nobody was allowed to leave the airfield as there was a security problem so on they flew to Jordan and, again there was a problem , nobody got to do any sightseeing. So much for foreign travel.

Apart from the flight in the Anson when I was at Padgate, I never flew again during my three years in the RAF. It was possible to request a flight in one of the training aircraft such as the Vampire T11 or the two seater Meteors when they were being tested after a service but I never felt inclined. One of the armourers did get a flight in a Meteor but, when the plane was circling the airfield ready to land, it slid sideways into the ground killing the pilot and the armourer. I don’t know what the subsequent inquiry decided was the cause of the accident but there were a lot of rumours going about. A military funeral was held and the two men were buried in Leconfield cemetery.

Incidently, this was the same armourer who travelled to the Middle East.
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