Derek Minden Sharp
Nov 9, 2018 23:17:35 GMT
Post by ianmmacdonald on Nov 9, 2018 23:17:35 GMT
Aircraftman Derek Sharp was the protagonist in two press stories within a week while he was training in the United States, January 1942.
The news agency caption reads;
RIDES PLANE TAIL TO SAFE LANDING
Maxwell Field, Ala, R.A.F. Cadet Derek M. Sharp of Yorkshire,England, shows how he rode to a perfect landing after falling from the cockpit of a training plane at the Southeast Air Corps Training Center primary flying school at Tuscaloosa, Ala. Sharp grabbed the fuselage tight and Instructor Jay McCausland landed the little plane safely.
(ACME News Pictures, Atlanta Bureau ATL1717 1/16/42).
... and a few days later;
Caption reads;
R.A.F.Cadet DerekM. Sharp of Yorkshire, England, the cadet who fell out of his plane's cockpit and rode to a landing on its tail last week is shown here holding the result of his second hairbreadth escape within a week. In his latest freak accident, Sharp was in his plane at an auxiliary landing field near one of the Southeast Air Corps Training Center's primary schools at Tuscaloosa, Ala. One of his classmates,Sidney A. Sims,swooped in for a landing, came too low and clipped off a portion of the upper right wing of Sharp's plane, his propellor missing Sharp's head by inches.Sims gave his plane the "gun", circled the field and came back for a perfect landing -- and Sharp crawled from his own wrecked plane with another miraculous escape to his credit.
(Southeast Air Corps Training Center, 1/21/42).
145476 Pilot Officer Derek Minden Sharp, RAFVR, was lost in June 1943 in a 44 Squadron Lancaster. He is commemorated on Panel 133 of the Runnymede Memorial.
1336691 Flight Sergeant Sidney Ashton Sims, RAFVR, was killed ferrying a Mosquito in September 1943 and lies in the Basra War Cemetery.
Ian M Macdonald
3411
The news agency caption reads;
RIDES PLANE TAIL TO SAFE LANDING
Maxwell Field, Ala, R.A.F. Cadet Derek M. Sharp of Yorkshire,England, shows how he rode to a perfect landing after falling from the cockpit of a training plane at the Southeast Air Corps Training Center primary flying school at Tuscaloosa, Ala. Sharp grabbed the fuselage tight and Instructor Jay McCausland landed the little plane safely.
(ACME News Pictures, Atlanta Bureau ATL1717 1/16/42).
... and a few days later;
Caption reads;
R.A.F.Cadet DerekM. Sharp of Yorkshire, England, the cadet who fell out of his plane's cockpit and rode to a landing on its tail last week is shown here holding the result of his second hairbreadth escape within a week. In his latest freak accident, Sharp was in his plane at an auxiliary landing field near one of the Southeast Air Corps Training Center's primary schools at Tuscaloosa, Ala. One of his classmates,Sidney A. Sims,swooped in for a landing, came too low and clipped off a portion of the upper right wing of Sharp's plane, his propellor missing Sharp's head by inches.Sims gave his plane the "gun", circled the field and came back for a perfect landing -- and Sharp crawled from his own wrecked plane with another miraculous escape to his credit.
(Southeast Air Corps Training Center, 1/21/42).
145476 Pilot Officer Derek Minden Sharp, RAFVR, was lost in June 1943 in a 44 Squadron Lancaster. He is commemorated on Panel 133 of the Runnymede Memorial.
1336691 Flight Sergeant Sidney Ashton Sims, RAFVR, was killed ferrying a Mosquito in September 1943 and lies in the Basra War Cemetery.
Ian M Macdonald
3411