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Barnes Wallis, the aircraft was able to take the punishment. Later when attending a jolly party thrown by the balloon crews, Ken has kept two momentous of those near-disasters: a length of balloon cable mounted on a wooden block and the crumpled control column of his crashed Wellington.
On another occasion while returning from a raid, the plane ran out of fuel. At the time the policy was that bombs could only be dropped on identified military targets. Our bombers had to carry their bomb-load back from Frankfurt area for the target was covered in cloud. As a result much more fuel was used carrying the loaded aircraft back even though they dropped their bombs on the invasion barge fleet, a secondary target on the return route. They were flying in fog over Lincolnshire He tried a number of times and had to climb away each time, The fuel gauges indicated NO FUEL. He asked permission on radio for the crew to bail out and with the aircraft flying light she climbed like a bird before both engines stopped, he had no choice but to abandon ship. Ken bailed out at about seven hundred feet, Kenneth had problems with his parachute and no time to sort out such problems, the aircraft came round in a tight circle as he jumped appearing out of the fog and just missing his parachute before it crashed. He did not see the ground until he hit it giving him some spinal injuries. He learnt later that on the night in question a message had been sent recalling our bombers as they were on their way out over the sea but few auircraft received it Of the ten bombers of 103 squadron that went out to Frankfurtt that night 4 were lost Most not so lucky as Ken’s crew.
Kenneth married Peggy Mary Stapley in 1942. Peggy was a former WAAF officer. They had three children: Vicky Mary, born in 1943, David Anthony born in 1945, and Elizabeth Anne born in1949.
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After the war Ken continued his commission with the RAF and became the top armaments expert in the country. Between 1956 and 1958 he took an exchange posting to Strategic Air Command, Offutt. As one of four pilots he was flying the giant RB-36H bombers. When he was in the States he purchased plans of the Benson B-7 Gyroglider and decided to try and develop something better. Returning to Britain, he built his first powered Autogyro. This incorporated a number of modifications to the Benson such as a conventional control column etc. |
| Ken was O.C. Weapons at HQ. Fighter command when he made his first flights with The”Wallis-Bensen B-7/Mc” this was in 1959 and the machine showed potential though there were still a number of shortcomings. However it served its purpose as a “Stepping stone” to a practical and | |