Originally Posted by
TMOliver
substantial "downhill" entry to build up airspeed
correct. Believe they started aroung 10,000 feet
then a straining, groaning climb
apparently it just went over easier than they even expected.
much unsecured gear and a variety of unnecessary parts and components would have littered the overhead
All tied down. This had been thought about in detail in the bar for days !
Then there was recovery, probably easier, but no less thrilling
Just nose down from the 270 degree mark until the airspeed built up again.
your Dad was flying in an era in which aviators, in their own eyes avatars, routinely attempted maneuvers which designers had not intended a/c to undertake. Many were successful, but then, the exposure risk to other perils was pretty high.
Well certainly on their trips to Europe in their
Halifax 4-engined bombers (main aircraft of the squadron, the Anson was just a trainer and hack) they had seen these forced by fighters into barrel rolls and other extreme attitudes, this time without any advanced planning, from which the crew returned to tell the tale.
Incidentally, Pater was a navigator. The whole madcap plan was "the other chap's idea". Of course ! They had parachutes on and had agreed a story between them (that the controls had jammed) if they had to bale out.