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Back to work again.

I arrived back at Jever on Sunday the 16th of May, unpacked, caught up with the latest news, and prepared myself for work the next morning.
I was scheduled to fly early, and I have to admit that I was nervous, very nervous, for over five weeks had passed since I last sat in a Sabre. Trying hard not to show my concerns, I duly kitted up and walked out to my allotted aircraft. With the pre-flight examination done, I climbed into the cockpit and at once began to feel slightly better. It was not until I had started the engine and begun to taxi for take-off that my confidence returned. The sortie was to allow me further familiarisation on type in not very good weather. It involved 5 minutes IF, ended with a QGH, and lasted an hour and five minutes, far longer than any normal Vampire sortie had done. I had to judge the landing on the 2,000 yard runway very carefully so as to touch down at optimum speed, bang on the threshold, use maximum aerodynamic braking, and then make pretty hard use of the wheel brakes to ensure that I stopped without going into the overshoot. I had been warned to be careful because some of the experienced Sabre delivery pilots hadn't always got it right and new aircraft had had to be towed out by tractor. Fortunately I did get it right and taxied back, much relieved that the sortie was over.
I flew again the same day and climbed through cloud to over 40,000 feet to practise, only for the second time, high altitude handling. It was a sortie of an hour and ten minutes duration.
Two more sorties followed the next day, each of an hour and ten minutes, and each involved the use of the Radio Compass, IF, and ended with QGHs. Then the weather clamped in for several days.
On the 24th of May the weather was still not good. I was briefed for a low flying sortie. This was my first in a Sabre and, Oh Boy, could you cover the ground fast! There was no thinking of dodging under power wires with that high tail fin behind, so ground hugging was no longer an option. I did however spend a few minutes wave hopping over the sea. The skin friction warmed the aircraft to an uncomfortable level and cockpit air-conditioning had to be adjusted accordingly. In spite of the increased fuel consumption near the ground, I still managed a sortie of an hour and five minutes.
My first close formation sortie took place in the afternoon when I flew as No.2. With swept wings, positioning was different to that in a Vampire and a new set of criteria had to be used to line up on the leader. This took a bit of experimentation at first. Engine handling was more delicate than in a Vampire, and with the very sensitive flying controls an extremely light touch was needed. After an hour and a quarter's concentration I was soaked in sweat when I landed.
Next morning gave me the chance to practise medium level battle formation when I flew as No.4 for an hour and 20 minutes. This was much easier than I had thought it would be.
On May 27th I flew two more sorties in very good weather. One was high level aerobatics lasting an hour and a half. The second lasted 45 minutes at low level.
During the aerobatic sortie I flew east to over the Kiel Kanal and, towards its Baltic Sea end, spotted a high railway bridge. Temptation was too great. I dived with 100% power on and flew under it, climbing away nearly vertically into sun to continue with the aerobatics. There is nothing about this in my Log Book! It has remained my secret until now.
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