Ahead lay the tiny sleepy township of Brocklesbury - he was spot on course. The day was one of glory with an azure sky and unlimited visibility. Yet, disaster lay but a heart beat away! Above him another Anson, commanded by LAC Leonard "Lenny" Fuller, gradually reduced height to his assigned altitude of 3000 feet. With Jack's Anson in his blind-spot he pancaked onto the lower plane and stuck fast.When Jack felt the collision he applied full-power, locked the controls with a spare harness, then he gave the order to abandon aircraft. LAC Hugh Frazer, a crew member, managed to push a parachute through the squashed flight deck entrance before he jumped. Jack struggled into the parachute then, in a daze, smashed the fractured Perspex that obstructed his escape and after what seemed an eternity thrust his way out of his doomed plane. He crawled past the screeching over-boosting port Cheetah 1X engine and slid along the buckled wing. As he fell away Jack breathed a sigh of relief he was still some 900 feet above the ground and had ample space for his chute to open. Then his exaltation turned to dismay as he realised in the confinement of his battered cockpit he had incorrectly buckled the chute harness. Hurling towards the ground he calmly sorted it out and pulled the ripcord. Left with a bare 100 feet of altitude the chute only partly opened - he struck the ground with sickening force.

Meanwhile, Lenny, realising that Jack's remarkably perceptive action of selecting full power had compensated for the weight of his colleague's plane, had quickly regained control. Gradually he reduced power to descend at 200 feet/minute. At 500 feet the over boosted engines of the Jack's plane seized and the locked planes hurled towards the ground. As Lenny slammed open his throttles he saw his rate-of-descent was above 2000 feet/minute. Just as they were about to hit the screeching tortured engines, assisted by ground-effect, returned the rate-of-descend to zero - Lenny slowly pulled back the throttles and turned off the fuel. He found himself hoping there would be no explosion or fire. The plane touched down like a feather. He had performed a remarkable feat of airmanship that became known as the piggyback (pickaback) Ansons.

Jack spent the next five months in hospital where his broken back gradually mended - he resumed flight duties at the beginning of March 1941. With a little over 300 hours he was sent to the Instructors Course at the CFS at Camden, then on to 10 EFTS at Temora as a flying instructor - much to his disgust. He remained at Temora until the end of August 1942 when he was posted to 1 SFTS instructing on Oxfords. He finished the war as a C-47 captain with 38 Squadron.

This WW11 veteran was born on August 11, 1921. He gained his 'A' Flying Licence at Newcastle Aero Club on July 27, 1939 and was accepted into the RAAF on April 29, 1940. He began his RAAF flying training under Allan Clancy on April 30 at Mascot with 4 EFTS flying DH-60s. When he left the RAAF in February 1946 he had logged a total of 2,473 hours.

Jack Inglis Hewson died in a motor accident on March 26, 1963 and the light went out for his beloved wife Peg, and sons Allan and John.

(I am indebted to the Hewson Family for the splendid photographs. Especially, I thank John for his comprehensive outline of the event and again later for his suggestions to enhance the story. Chic Eather ©)