I can understand why the WWII fighter pilots loved the MG's and Morgans. Before flight training they had never flown before and once they had experienced that view over the front of the planes fuselage from the cockpit, coupled with the way it feels in flight they were hooked. I can remember the first time I drove the Morgan and how it drove, so reminiscent of flying older light aircraft.
When I joined the Army and eventually got to Middle Wallop, the first time I had ever sat in an aircraft let alone taken off came flooding back to me on that first drive in my Morgan.
The trainers were D.H. Chipmunk's. The instructors were from Westland helicopters. After we had been flying for a while... oh yes, including the full aerobatics demonstration as well, We were talking and it transpired they were all ex spitfire pilots from the war. I asked him what it was like to fly a Spitfire and after a slight pause he said, well you can tell me as the Chipmunk is almost identical only slower and you have just been flying it!
I can't remember who said it, but he was a renowned pilot during the war and when asked what he liked about the Morgan he had said It's the closest you can get to flying on the ground..... strangely it is! Some years later and flying for a company operating out of Shoreham in jet ranger 206 B aircraft I was very lucky to spend a week flying on a job with a chap named Johnny Johnson, no not the bomber command man, but Johnny was a spitfire ace of huge renowned. At about 35-6 I'd asked who this old bloke was they had given me to fly with and the CFO explained adding Oh and he's one of the CAA test pilots who can actually fly anything.
Apart from some of the scary moments of my flying time, that was the most memorable time I spent in the air!
