Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Leach - Tony Cunnane's Afterthoughts

Written on 28 April 2011

The Victor’s 6th seat was an occasional seat that could be installed, as and when required, between the three rear crew member’s positions and the pilots' cockpit; it could be set before flight either facing forwards or rearwards. As a general rule only qualified aircrew were allowed to sit in the seat facing forwards because it complicated the emergency procedures if the aircraft had to be abandoned in flight. With the seat facing rearwards the passenger would be instructed to push his seat backwards, towards the front of the aircraft, and then roll forward to his right and straight out through the door head first - when ordered by the rear crew, one of whom would have already opened the door on my command. That left sufficient space, but only just sufficient, for the rear crew members to follow. With the 6th seat facing forwards however, the person occupying the seat would have to be the last to leave the rear cabin in an emergency otherwise the seat itself would seriously impede the rear crew members’ chances of escape.

Admiral Leach was authorised by ‘higher authority’ to fly in a 6th seat facing forwards so he could watch what my co-pilot and I were doing throughout the flight. This authority was usually granted when flying VIPs but rear crew members and pilots were not entirely happy with the arrangement for safety reasons explained earlier. As captain, I was not entirely happy about it – and my rear crew certainly were not!

I could see that Admiral Leach was rather apprehensive – and who could blame him – but I tried to reassure him that emergencies requiring the aircraft to be abandoned in flight were very few and far between. I'm not at all certain that the Admiral was convinced but he indicated that he understood the procedure.

I instructed my navigator to make sure that the Admiral was safely strapped into his seat and that the seat was pushed as far towards the front of the aircraft as possible. In this position the passenger's knees were very close to the two pilots' shoulders - not a comfortable, or dignified, position. I knew that if I were forced to order an abandonment in flight my three rear crew members could then escape safely, but then the Admiral, the last man in the rear cabin, would need to push his seat rearwards, roll to his left and out through the door. When I could see that the rear cabin was clear I would order the co-pilot to use his ejection seat and once he had gone I would use my own ejection seat.

But what was I to do if the Admiral for any reason failed to push his seat backwards (ie towards the rear of the now empty rear cabin)? He would be unable to escape and I would be left to make a choice. I could order the co-pilot to eject thereby perhaps encouraging the passenger to try harder. If that failed, I could eject and leave him, subsequently explaining to the Board of Enquiry why I had abandoned an admiral to his fate. The only other alternative would be for us to both stay with the aircraft and I would possibly earn a posthumous gallantry award! Before flight I could have asked a senior officer for advice on these matters but since I was a self-authorising captain I'm sure they would have told me to do whatever I considered appropriate. So I didn't ask! Still pondering the question, we eventually took off for the planned sortie.

In the event, the sortie was interesting and uneventful but what happened after landing at Coningsby, where Admiral Leach was to disembark, was far from uneventful. To read what happened click here.

Incidentally, after this flight with the 2-star admiral as passenger, I was the pilot selected to fly VIPs for the rest of my time on Victors.