MY first posting after Halton was to RAF Duxford in Cambridgeshire where after a few weeks on ASF I was transferred to 64 Sqn where they were phasing out their Meteor 14s and replacing them with Javelin Mk 7s. The "Flying Flatiron " was not a particularly successful aircraft but that didn't stop the "powers that be" from upgrading us to the Mk 9 a few years later. The Mk 9 had a partial reheat system which because the reheat was fuelled by the overspill from the main pump caused the aircraft to lose power if it were selected under 10,000 feet, much to the consternation of the crew!

The serviceability of the Javelin was not good but by far the worst was our T3. To say we were not very successful in getting our T3 in the air was putting it mildly! It was quite markedly different to the Mk7 or 9. For a start it was fitted with an earlier version of the Sapphire and the starter system was a pure cartridge affair, and what a cartridge! It was at least three times the size of the ones used on the Canberra or Hunter. Our's was a "hanger queen" and do what we might we had little luck in getting it into the air. On one occasion when it was giving us a "celebration" low run (we had got it up at last) someone remarked that the pilot had inadvertently selected re-heat on one of the engines! We quickly enlightened him to the fact that the T3 doesn't have re-heat and what he was really seeing were turbine blades whistling out of the jet-pipe!!

The problem was that pilots needed the T3 as once a month they needed to fly together to check each other out. To resolve this problem the Squadron Commander borrowed a T3 from Fighter Combat School, as ours was still u/s. The first thing we ground crew knew about it was when it flew in, unannounced, and taxied onto our pan! Later that afternoon it was due to do its first "check" flight and much to our amazement we were not allowed to go near it as they had even brought their own ground crew (such was our reputation). From the grass by the crew-room we watched with some interest at the start up procedure. The aircrew were strapped in and then came the "thumbs up" for start. Suddenly there was a muffled "BOOM" and just aft of the second pilot on the top and the bottom of the fuselage it opened up like a tin can!! We could see the crew making a rapid exit! We fell about laughing, much to the annoyance of our "visitors" Our "jinx" had struck again as we were to find out later the cartridge had ignited an hydraulic mist in the starter-bay. The aircraft was later carried away on the back of a "Queen Mary".

I remember that terrible sound the 'Flatirons' made when slow taxiing ; everything vibrated including the fillings in your teeth! Ed