Flames in the Sky

by Tony Richardson
(Sydney Australia)

Many years ago as a keen teenager hoping to learn more from the ancient ones, I gazed in awe at a two meter Mig 15 that the Prof had built over many months. Nicknamed the Prof because of his appearance, (it would not have been kind to call him after one of the three Stoogies) The Mig had a small diesel driven fan built inside. Anyway after hanging around for what seemed hours she was started and ready for launching on her maiden flight. Being without u/c it was a hand launch, the Prof with radio in one hand and plane above him in the other galloped down the field trying to reach a suitable airspeed. It quickly became apparent she was underpowered, although it could achieve 8 to 9 feet above ground, which it continued to do quite gracefully, the tell-tale smoke trail was a worry though and her failure to respond to any radio commands was soon explained by the flames now consuming the fuselage. Prof took off after her and began jumping in the air in an effort to bring down his beloved Mig and minimise the damage. But at 5'7" he was just not able to attain the desired altitude and she flew on for a further 200 hundred meters before one of the wings secumbed to the flames and it came down in the long grass. Unfortunatly the grass was very dry that year. While some of our small group were in hysterics, a couple of us joined the Prof in retrieving what remained, which was not a lot. I did learn something though that day, not about power to weight ratios but about retaining a sense of humour in such tragic circumstances, when the Prof quipped on the way back to the cars, "I might as well have built the damn Hindenburg - would have been the same result"