Home News Membership Chapters History Medals Galleries Contact Us
Home News Membership Chapters History Medals Galleries Contact Us

Vanishing Trick (4)

Both of Paul’s landed just short of the truck lined up on the left side and centre. My tanks landed abeam Paul’s but slightly offset to the right; I was in echelon starboard. The left tank was in line with the rear of the vehicle but the right tank was lined up behind it. Consequently, the truck was hit by 300 gallons of water doing the best part of 400 knots - a lot of energy - and it was most comprehensively dismantled. The body was removed completely from the chassis and deposited some 20 or 30 yards away from where it had stood. The rest of the chassis was twisted and bent beyond recognition. That will take some putting back together. It would have been interesting to see how the radar truck would have survived. Somewhat better, I suspect.


The rest of the boys had only the wreck to drop against so, although it all went well, it was not quite as satisfying as it could have been. The only person who lucked out was the warrant officer MTO - not only did he have all of the effort of getting the radar truck into place but he was light by £600. That’s life.


Rod Dean

208 Squadron 1969-71



This article first appeared in the 2018 Newsletter, and has previously been published elsewhere. We gratefully acknowledge the authors’ permission to reproduce it here.


Back to
Hunter Articles

Hunter Articles (8)

The World’s Best Vanishing Trick  Page  1  2  3  4

The World's Best Vanishing Trick (3)