Why would a trainee pilot carry a spanner in flight?

[SamCurt]

While going through the Inventory (personal effects) listed in Proceedings of a Committee of Adjustment (Army Form A.2), following the death in flight training of Horace Gregory CLEAVER on 17 March 1918 (possibly FE2b, A5615), I note that in addition to the usual clothing & effects recorded as being taken from his body (cigarette case, Sam Browne, cap, pyjamas, etc.), it also records a spanner.

 

Was it usual for pilots to carry a spanner when going flying? If so, what was it used for?

 

Sam

[quemerford]

Tightening/replacing spark plugs I'd guess. They were often the most troublesome part of early engines.

[SamCurt]

Thanks for the guess, but I'd have expected an engine fitter, or ground engineers, to have done that sort of thing.  Plus, it's hardly an in-flight operation.

 

Sam

[Moonraker]

Perhaps as a lad I read too many "ripping yarns" of intrepid birdmen having to land and sort out a problem themselves (sometimes behind enemy lines) and then taking off, but before the war  early aviators flying from Salisbury Plain did just this, rather than find a telephone (quite a rarity in those days) to get an engineer to drive out, say 50 miles, locate the aeroplane (whose pilot may perhaps have abandoned it to find hospitality nearby) and repair it.

 

(Several decades ago, cars came with a modest tool kit that included spanners.)

 

Moonraker

[squirrel]

Have read somewhere an account of an RFC pilot landing behind the lines after his engine cut out. He found that the fault was a broken fuel pipe union, repaired it and flew back to base.

Doubtless a spanner may have very handy in the circumstances.

[SamCurt]

While I agree with the previous two posts, this was a trainee pilot in the UK.  Granted he appears to have been at various training establishments for about six months - 4 TS, 94 Sqn, 35 TS, 43 TS, 34 TS and 199 (N) TS - but he was still under training.  Newspapers report that the fatal accident happened when he "was flying over an aerodrome in the Midlands."

 

Could have been his "lucky spanner".

 

Sam

[Moonraker]

I can't see that being a trainee pilot would make that much difference to his ability to carry out a straightforward repair on a very basic piece of machinery that was not much more advanced than a motor-bike or motor-car.

 

"About six month's training" seems quite a long period, more than sufficient to have given him a bit of knowledge about how to tighten something that was loose, and far longer than the experience of pre-WWI aviators to whom I refer in post 4.

 

Moonraker

[quemerford]

Well it wasn't a guess but just a way of mild suggestion. Engine work wouldn't be done in the air and there are many examples of trainees on cross-country flights fixing their aircraft. If they didn't need to, they wouldn't wait for an 'experienced mechanic'. It's also why they were taught engine theory at the various Schools of Aeronautics. 

Edited 23 February , 2018 by quemerford

[Moonraker]

I've no idea what nuts and bolts might be accessible from the cockpit when in flight, but I suppose there must have been a few? Perhaps Cleaver wanted to adjust one of them? Perhaps he had been doing some DIY adjustments before take off and had pocketed the spanner?And we don't know what size it was.

 

(In my cycling days I carried a very compact tool kit but occasionally would take along a large spanner if I thought I may have to make an adjustment when on the road - to the headset, say.)

 

Moonraker

[quemerford]

The spanner was for use after a forced landing, i.e. on the ground.

[John(txic)]

Instructors often carried one - but not for tightening nuts...

[Moonraker]

Which raises the question: was it common/routine for a pilot to carry such a spanner?

 

And - I suspect I'm being unrealistic in asking this - what sort of spanner would it have been - adjustable, double-ended? And how would the pilot have employed it after a forced landing: to clear a blocked fuel pipe, perhaps?

 

Moonraker

[Loader]

I think there were many clogged fuel lines due to impurities in the gas. A spanner needed to disconnect the line & clear it out then back in the air. Might be a bit awkward to start the engine if only 1 man in the plane but could be done. Reminds me of the old adage:

Better to have it & not need it than to need it & not have it!

[johnboy]

 recorded as being taken from his body (cigarette case, Sam Browne, cap, pyjamas,

seems the spanner can be explained but what about flying in pyjamas

[NigelS]

41 minutes ago, johnboy said:

 ... but what about flying in pyjamas

 

As with the bitterly cold weather we're experiencing at the moment, perhaps a question of the more layers the better to keep warm at altitude, and flannel - presumably - pyjamas would have been ideal for that purpose.

 

NigelS

[quemerford]

Billy Cotton was flying in pyjamas when he had his career-ending accident. Sidcot suit on top obviously.

[SamCurt]

I think Moonraker hit the nail on the head here, i.e. was it common/routine for a pilot to carry such a spanner?

 

I'm guessing some here will have seen post-crash inventories for other aircrew, and apart from asking why he might have been carrying it, there is also the question of if it was common among trainees.

 

As for the pyjamas, many instances have been recorded of aircrew wearing supplementary clothing, including pyjamas, when flying in their open cockpits.  There was a newspaper article only the other week about pilots flying in their slippers.

 

Sam

[horatio2]

On 23/02/2018 at 18:44, Moonraker said:

And how would the pilot have employed it after a forced landing: to clear a blocked fuel pipe, perhaps?

As reported by Reginald Warneford VC RNAS after destroying his Zeppelin:-

"The joint on my petrol pipe and pump from the back tank was broken and at about 2:40 am I was forced to land in enemy territory to repair my pump. I made preparations to set the machine on fire, but was not observed, so was able to effect a repair of the aircraft and after considerable difficulty in starting my engine single handed, was able to take off and head in a South Westerly direction."

[SamCurt]

I understand that many aircrew on operations did have tools available to carry out repairs, which enabled them to return to their lines, but a trainee?

 

Sam

[Moonraker]

Why shouldn't a trainee have a spanner for use if he'd landed away from base in England? No doubt I'm not alone in having been forced to carry out emergency repairs that involved loosening and tightening. In my case there was changing the wheel on the office car out in the country (long before mobile phones) and tightening connections on leaking pipes. Decades ago, even I was able to replace a faulty fuel pump on my MGB (at home on my drive).

 

To extend the modern motoring analogy, would you call out a roadside assistance service when you could fix the problem yourself with a simple tool?

 

Moonraker

Edited 26 February , 2018 by Moonraker

[Moonraker]

On 21/02/2018 at 15:55, SamCurt said:

... the death in flight training ...

Presumably Cleaver's aircraft crashed. It would be interesting to know what caused the crash. Pilot error or mechanical failure? Perhaps there'd already been a problem with the aircraft and he took along a spanner in case it worsened or recurred.

 

Moonraker

[Buffnut453]

Given the, often quite literal, flogging that training aircraft received, I think it highly probable that trainee pilots would take along a few tools so they could effect simple repairs in the case of an unplanned forced landing.  In an age where aircraft could land and take off from pretty much any reasonably-sized open area, it makes complete sense that a pilot would have the knowledge and take along the necessary tools to perform some basic fixes. 

[SamCurt]

Moonraker,

From his RAF Casualty Cards:

 

"Court of Inquiry No. 20579/1918. 2nd Lt. Cleaver.

 

The Court finds that:–

1. Second Lieutenant Cleaver met his death while on duty, and carrying out orders from a properly authorised officer and

2. The accident was due to an error of judgement on the part of the Pilot."

 

The aircraft may possibly have been FE2b serial number A5615 (ref: Cross & Cockade’s FE2b monograph & 2015 GWF post), although I'm unsure how one would go about finding any mechanical problems on previous flights.

 

In general:

While I quite accept that this gentleman may have been carrying a spanner, perhaps in part, due to experiences gained during his apparently extended period in training (with no references found for periods of hospitalisation or illness), I still find it quite curious that nobody else has posted that a trainee was carrying tools when killed in a flying accident.

 

Sam

 

P.S. Sorry for the delay in this reply... snow, etc.

[quemerford]

People more knowledgeable than I have already answered this above but here goes again. There are known cases and no intimation that a spanner would not be available to a trainee on his first cross-country. All trainee pilots had by then undergone theoretical and practical training on engines at the SoMA, and this training as done specifically so that trainee pilots could fix their aircraft (not restricted to engines either: tightening or fixing flying wires would be another simple and oft-occurring task). ALL of that would have been done prior to first solo.

 

And in any case, it doesn't take a genius of a student to think, "Ah Joe Bloggs had a loose plug which he couldn't fix on his first cross-country so I think I'll carry an adjustable just in case. Far better to get back than spend a night in a field. Doesn't need to be 'official' or 'sanctioned' and easy to see why.

 

I don't think there's much more to explain or discuss.

[Moonraker]

8 hours ago, SamCurt said:

... While I quite accept that this gentleman may have been carrying a spanner, perhaps in part, due to experiences gained during his apparently extended period in training (with no references found for periods of hospitalisation or illness), I still find it quite curious that nobody else has posted that a trainee was carrying tools when killed in a flying accident.

Perhaps Cleaver had the spanner on his person, ie in a pocket, whereas in  other cases it might have been carried with other bits & pieces in the cockpit. How common was  an " Inventory (personal effects)" in cases such as this?

6 hours ago, quemerford said:

... I don't think there's much more to explain or discuss.

I'm inclined to agree.

 

Moonraker