Gear down, or rather up!

摘要

It was july 6, 2002. As I circled Ronaldsway Airport on the Isle of Man in Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) Supermarine Spitfire PR.XIX PS915, the chances of having to make a wheels-up landing looked high. I had taken off from RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, just over an hour earlier and, after conducting two individual flypasts, joined up with a BBMF Hurricane and the Douglas Dakota for a display at the old Jurby Airfield. I had just led the Hurricane into the Ronaldsway circuit and, as I moved the Spitfire's undercarriage lever to the down position, it refused to move past halfway. The undercarriage remained firmly locked up. A reselection produced the same result and I could actually feel the cable stretching as I tried to force the lever rearwards towards the "DOWN" gate.