Brian Allen first went to sea as a naval aviation officer cadet
aboard HMS Indefatigable in 1952, bound for Gibraltar. In 1954 he was appointed to Lossiemouth for
fighter training and flew the Vampire T22. In December 1955 Brian joined 737
Squadron where he was attached to the Anti-Submarine Training Course flying the
Fairey Barracuda. On completion he was destined to fly the then new Fairey
Gannet twin turbo prop anti-submarine aircraft. July 1955, and now with 825
Squadron, saw his introduction of the new aircraft, a very different machine to
the Barracuda.
The Squadron joined HMS Albion on 10 January 1956, as she preceded
down Channel in the company of her sister ship HMS Centaur, outwards bound for
the Far East. After this tour was completed 825
Squadron was disbanded and Brian was transferred to 751 Squadron aboard HMS
Warrior, an old WWII carrier with none of the latest facilities of his previous
ship and on its final commission. However, his greatest shock was to discover
that he would not be flying a Gannet, but the rather elderly Grumman Avenger, a
very different aeroplane with a tail wheel and a piston engine. This would
require a great change in take-off and landing technique.
In February 1957 Warrior sailed west for the Panama Canal and thence
into the Pacific where she and her aircraft would assist in Operation Grapple,
the tests of Britain's first atomic bombs. During
this operation Brian's adventures included dislodging the padre's kidney stone
upon a catapult launch, denting the flight deck by a heavy landing and ditching
close to the beach after an engine failure. Having converted to helicopters
Brian was posted to 815 Squadron aboard HMS Albion in 1960 flying the Whirlwind
Mk 7. During this posting he survived another ditching when his helicopter lost
power and sunk. Having returned from a long Far Eastern voyage, Brian was now
posted into The Helicopter Trials and Development Unit and it was whilst
experimenting in a prototype Wasp that an accident, in which his crewman
perished, was to injure him so severely that he was unable to fly again. He
completed his commission as an Air Traffic Control Officer.
Brian is now retired and lives in Cornwall.
