ON this day, June 1, in 1918 fighter aircraft (replica pictured) from HMA ships Sydney and Melbourne were launched from platforms rigged over the guns to fight off two German scout planes. Nineteen year old RFC/RAF Flight Lieutenant Albert Cyril Sharwood shot at both German aircraft and one was seen to lose height. He was recovered from the sea where he landed by HMS Canterbury. He later described the normal means for ditching an aircraft safely near to a ship:
“The aircraft was brought down to five feet above the wave tops until it stalled, then the fun began. The safety belt had been released and when the wheels and fixed undercarriage struck the water at perhaps 45 knots the tail went up like greased lightning and the nose of the machine plunged down into the sea. Just before the cockpit submerged the pilot was flicked out as the tail went up. If he had done all this nicely he went over the top wing through a semi circular cutaway and went into the sea head first with life vest inflated and leather flying coat on about 20 yards ahead of the aircraft.”
On this day Sharwood survived this landing evolution and survived the war.
