Wem air ace Allan writes his amazing story
Having survived everything the war could throw at him, fighter ace Allan Scott was giving an aerobatic display in a Tiger Moth biplane for the benefit of pupils at a local school when his luck almost – but not quite – ran out.
It came after his little party trick, a vertical sideslip from 1,000ft. Climbing back up to 500ft, something went wrong.
The Tiger Moth started to dive towards the ground and there was nothing he was able to do to stop it. With his fate sealed, he had the presence of mind to turn the engine off to ensure there would be no fire.
The aircraft slammed into the practice area of the golf course just by RAF Turnhouse near Edinburgh. And then he remembered nothing more.
A golf professional was giving a lesson when Mr Scott crashed in front of him. He ran over and dragged him clear, although in fact he had already been ejected from the aircraft by the impact.
It turned out that the stresses of the aerobatics had broken the tail fin in such a way that it jammed the elevators in the "down" position.
His injuries were so bad that his wife Pat, who had become quite accustomed to his prangs, but nothing this serious, recalled afterwards that he had "no face and that face and shoulders were all one".
That crash was in 1953 and the recovery was slow, involving plastic surgery and many operations to rebuild his shattered face. Mr Scott was also blind. Then came a breakthrough. He was able to perceive a light shone in his eyes.
Fox six months he was unable to talk, but before he could do so the crash investigators asked him about his straps, which had been cleanly cut through as if by a knife.
"This had enabled me to be ejected from the seat and had saved my life as the engine had been forced back towards the seat on impact," said Mr Scott, who is 92 and lives in Wem.
"Had I been able to speak, I could not have given an answer to their questions. Later, I could only utter my own amazement to them. It would have been impossible to have cut through that tough harness while hurtling towards the ground. The report described this circumstance as 'supernatural.'"
He was off work for two years.
"At the end of it I made a complete recovery but was to find that certain parts of my life were to become completely erased from my memory, never to return. However, several medicals later, I managed to get a reduced category to fly again, and the very first aircraft I took up was a Tiger Month."
This time it was a Tiger of metal construction – not like the one in which he crashed which was made of wood and had woodworm.
He said: "It was marvellous to be back in the air. I had pulled through. I had survived."
The story of that crash is just part of his newly-published autobiography, called Born To Survive, published locally by Ellingham Press, of Much Wenlock. He was posted to the Battle of Britain airfield of Biggin Hill in 1941 with 124 Squadron, before being sent to Malta, which was under siege with continual raids by the Luftwaffe and the RAF battling against heavy odds. He served there with 603 Squadron, and then when that disbanded with 1435 Squadron at Luqa airfield, before returning to Britain and flying a third tour of operations, switching from his beloved Spitfire to a long-range Mustang fighter. After the finish of this tour he became a test pilot, which brought him to 27 Maintenance Unit, RAF Shawbury, where he met wife Pat.
It was the loss of Pat which prompted Mr Scott to write the book. He said: "She died in May 2012 and as we had been married for 65 years I was a bit lost. Every time I had given a talk to a club everybody said that I should write a book, so I did."
The project took a year and he says he is extremely pleased by how it has turned out, and that his memory of events had been good, aided by reference to his logbook.
Mr Scott, who wrote the book with the help of Alex Madeley, is a fighter ace, having probably shot down 13 aircraft, although he is officially credited with six.
He explained:?"The rest were probables. When you are in a dogfight and shoot one down and it starts to go down, but you don't see it hit the ground, you can't say it was destroyed."
Mr Scott won the Distinguished Flying Medal and reached the rank of Squadron Leader, flying over 80 different types of aircraft in his career. As for flying, he still keeps his hand in at Sleap airfield, near Wem, although he has not flown solo since his 70th birthday.
Allan will be at a book signing at BookShrop, Green End, Whitchurch tomorrow between 11am and 1pm and at Shrewsbury Library between 2.30pm and 4.30pm.
Born to Survive published by Ellingham Press, Much Wenlock, costs £8.50.
