This happened in England in 1938. The nation had awakened and was preparing itself for war. Anti-aircraft gunners were trained, especially for night action. Private pilots were engaged to serve as aiming targets with their flying-club planes.
One of those brave and probably inexperienced pilots was flying around over Portsmouth in his Puss Moth on a dark autumn night. When he returned to land, he found that the airfield was covered with ground fog. Kerosene lamps that had been placed along the runway were nowhere to be seen; however, he could see the big electric sign, "AIRSPEED," on a roof at the edge the airfield, so he aimed at the sign and made a cautious descent through the thin fog. Still he undershot and thumped down with a loud crunch on a soccer ground adjacent to his airfield, clattered onto the landing field with the goal and its net in tow, and stepped out of the battered Moth unharmed.
A pedestrian, who happened by, stopped when he heard all the racket from inside the fog. Greatly puzzled, he gripped the steel wire on top of the airfield fence and listened intently.
At the same time, airfield emergency people, who had also heard the noise, maneuvered their ambulance through the fog trying to locate the wreck. In so doing, they hit the foundation of the soccer goal and caromed into the fence just a few yards from where the pedestrian was hanging on. That innocent bystander was then catapulted by the recoil of the fence "out against Langstone Harbour," breaking his arm on landing. When the ambulance crew got out of their vehicle and heard groaning and curses, they scrambled over the fence to the source, thinking they had found an injured pilot. Despite his protests, they at least had a victim to take to the hospital
One of those brave and probably inexperienced pilots was flying around over Portsmouth in his Puss Moth on a dark autumn night. When he returned to land, he found that the airfield was covered with ground fog. Kerosene lamps that had been placed along the runway were nowhere to be seen; however, he could see the big electric sign, "AIRSPEED," on a roof at the edge the airfield, so he aimed at the sign and made a cautious descent through the thin fog. Still he undershot and thumped down with a loud crunch on a soccer ground adjacent to his airfield, clattered onto the landing field with the goal and its net in tow, and stepped out of the battered Moth unharmed.
A pedestrian, who happened by, stopped when he heard all the racket from inside the fog. Greatly puzzled, he gripped the steel wire on top of the airfield fence and listened intently.
At the same time, airfield emergency people, who had also heard the noise, maneuvered their ambulance through the fog trying to locate the wreck. In so doing, they hit the foundation of the soccer goal and caromed into the fence just a few yards from where the pedestrian was hanging on. That innocent bystander was then catapulted by the recoil of the fence "out against Langstone Harbour," breaking his arm on landing. When the ambulance crew got out of their vehicle and heard groaning and curses, they scrambled over the fence to the source, thinking they had found an injured pilot. Despite his protests, they at least had a victim to take to the hospital