拍品專文
Sold with newspaper cuttings relating to the incident for which the recipient was awarded the above Badge.
Squadron Leader Tony Svensson, who was on loan to the Royal Australian Air Force, was flying from R.A.A.F. Avalon, near Melbourne, on 7.12.1964, test flying a Mirage III supersonic fighter over the desert, when his troubles began:
'I was at 35,000ft. in the Mirage and I was carrying out a manoeuvre I had been ordered to do at near the speed of sound. The actual manoeuvre is still secret but I immediatly lost control of the Mirage and although I shut off the engine it went straight down, nose first, increasing in speed and rolling at the same time. For the next 90 seconds I was very busy. I kept a running commentary going to the Ground Station saying what I had done, what was happening to me and what I was trying to do to get the plane out of its downward plunge. But whatever I did made no difference. The Mirage still went on down increasing its speed every second despite the fact I had cut the engine. At 7,000ft. I decided it was time to get out and I pulled the blind which fires the ejector seat'.
Three seconds later the Mirage, still accelerating, hit the ground.
His ejection, at 932 miles an hour was at the time a world record for such a feat. On ejecting at such a speed he broke both his arms and one leg in two places and lost consciousness. On landing he then broke his other leg in two places.
After which he had a piece of luck!
Six doctors were passing by in a minibus on a desert road only 100 yards away. They were immediately at his side giving the first aid he desperately needed. He was taken to the R.A.A.F. Hospital at Laverton where, for two days he was unconscious and then for 10 days, was in a coma. After the bones of his legs were reset, it was found that he was two inches shorter, at 5ft 8in., than he was before the accident'.
Squadron Leader Tony Svensson, who was on loan to the Royal Australian Air Force, was flying from R.A.A.F. Avalon, near Melbourne, on 7.12.1964, test flying a Mirage III supersonic fighter over the desert, when his troubles began:
'I was at 35,000ft. in the Mirage and I was carrying out a manoeuvre I had been ordered to do at near the speed of sound. The actual manoeuvre is still secret but I immediatly lost control of the Mirage and although I shut off the engine it went straight down, nose first, increasing in speed and rolling at the same time. For the next 90 seconds I was very busy. I kept a running commentary going to the Ground Station saying what I had done, what was happening to me and what I was trying to do to get the plane out of its downward plunge. But whatever I did made no difference. The Mirage still went on down increasing its speed every second despite the fact I had cut the engine. At 7,000ft. I decided it was time to get out and I pulled the blind which fires the ejector seat'.
Three seconds later the Mirage, still accelerating, hit the ground.
His ejection, at 932 miles an hour was at the time a world record for such a feat. On ejecting at such a speed he broke both his arms and one leg in two places and lost consciousness. On landing he then broke his other leg in two places.
After which he had a piece of luck!
Six doctors were passing by in a minibus on a desert road only 100 yards away. They were immediately at his side giving the first aid he desperately needed. He was taken to the R.A.A.F. Hospital at Laverton where, for two days he was unconscious and then for 10 days, was in a coma. After the bones of his legs were reset, it was found that he was two inches shorter, at 5ft 8in., than he was before the accident'.