USSR Leningrad - Top Autobiographies

USSR Leningrad - Top Autobiographies

Whilst in the Royal Navy, I had a lot of dangerous experiences. This was one in 1975 whilst on exercise in the Indian Ocean:

An excerpt from the book "Running For Home"

Here I am an aircrew man in the Royal Navy and after some damage to the gearbox of our helicopter, the missile aiming scope was vibrating and I was unable to identify the large and menacing Russian Warship that lurked in the distance:

One day whilst in the air we were asked to identify a large Russian warship that had appeared on the scene. I had previously been trained in warship recognition and as we flew toward this magnificent ship I could not identify it without getting too close unless I used the scope on maximum magnification. Of course the vibration had not miraculously disappeared and on maximum magnification it was all the more exaggerated. I could not identify the ship and by this time we were flying perilously close. Of course, she was bristling with all manner of weapons and I have no doubt that some of them were locked on to us.

We broke off our course without identifying the ship. Many years later I realised that it was the Leningrad, the Flagship of the USSR. It was still the Cold War years and we had been in yet another dangerous situation. Indeed, we must have come close to being shot down in peacetime.

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Running For Home - A brush with Royalty

A brush with Royalty - Top Autobiographies

When I was in the Royal Navy and based at HMS Daedalus in Hampshire, a now redundant airbase, the following incident occurred:

........a large black car with a flag on the bonnet swept into view. The car swiftly pulled up beside me, the driver deftly placing the correct door right in front of me. “Well here goes” I thought as I grasped the door handle and swung it open…

I immediately saluted as the V.I.P exited the car. I nearly dropped dead when I saw who it was. His Royal Highness, Prince Philip. He thrust out his hand and we shook hands warmly, his piercing blue eyes looked right into mine as he said “Good morning” I replied, “Good morning Sir”, trying to look cool and professional, but all I could think of was how I hadn’t had a shave that morning as I passed him over to an  entourage of waiting officers in the control tower.

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Rogue Missile - Top Autobiographies

Rogue Missile - Top Autobiographies

 Here is another excerpt from the book "Running For Home". This is where I was in the Royal Navy training for Aircrew:
We went round again, lined up as before and did all the sequence checks again. Permission to fire granted. This time it was the starboard side missile that was going, right next to the pilot. Once again there was an almighty whoosh but this time it wasn’t as disconcerting. The scalded cat was off again, I decided to change magnification on the scope a bit earlier this time and get control early. It was a big mistake. When I changed to X10 magnification the field of vision was naturally reduced. The missile was nowhere to be seen. Though I quickly changed it back I had already lost control. I caught the damn thing climbing into the sky like some demented rocket. Immediately I pushed the stick forward but it was far too late. The SS11 began its dive into the sea. The control towers comment was “he’s trying to bomb the target!” Then in an instant a great idea came to mind. I declared it to be a ‘rogue’ missile. We were warned that this could, in rare cases happen and the missile would be uncontrollable, in which case the wires were to be cut and the chopper banked as usual. The ‘rogue missile’ call was accepted and no one ever suspected what I had done. The cost of a small house had descended into Portland bay.

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