DAMAGE TO CANBERRA

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27169, 13 October 1953, Page 10

DAMAGE TO CANBERRA

SERIOUS SITUATION REVEALED LOW FUEL AND CABIN PRESSURE Forty thousand feet above the Tasman cabin pressure in 'the Canberra flown by Squadron Leader P. F. Raw fell to an alarmingly low point. The temperature at times in the cockpit was below freezing point. Soon after the Canberra arrived at Harewood a ground crew member was heard to remark: “If he could get enough fuel out of the kite to fill his cigarette lighter he would be lucky.” These facts were made known to the press yesterday. When he met the press early on Saturday morning Squadron Leader Raw’s modest calm and steady voice gave no hint of the circumstances which could have caused a disaster.

The mishap at Woomera when the nose of the aircraft dropped to the ground (the nose wheel had frozen hard and did not come down),'grinding the forward part of the fuselage, caused leaks in the cabin sealing and damage to radio equipment. Although from the outside the damage to the fuselage appeared to be surface scratches and nothing else, the sealing of the cockpit had been broken, allowing the low altitude air pressure in the cabin and the temperature to decrease to that of the intense cold outside air at 30,000 ft. The damaged radio equipment in the Canberra failed to pick up signals from the ground control approach station and Squadron Leader Raw over flew Christchurch, and it was about 20 minutes before he was located. In this time he used almost all his reserve fuel. At his press conference he casually mentioned that fuel had run low towards the end of the trip, but he gave no indication that the situation was serious. Only routine maintenance was carried out on the. aircraft yesterday. Its future will rest in’ the hands of Wing Commander D. R. Cuming, chief test pilot of the R.A.A.F.