Pilots of 78 Fighter Wing RAAF watch while fellow pilot Flying Officer Les Reading DFC of ...

Pilots of 78 Fighter Wing RAAF watch while fellow pilot Flying Officer Les Reading DFC of Cunderdin, WA is strapped into a Martin-Baker ejector seat in a dummy Meteor cockpit. The pilots went to an RAF station in Suffolk to try the safety device, which was becoming standard equipment in modern aircraft. The practice mechanism, with only half the charge of the real thing, threw the pilot 30 feet up a ramp; the seat was then manually lowered for the next occupant. A detachment from the Wing was in England to take part in the RAF Royal Review air pageant. Identified Australians left to right: Flight Lieutenant Geoff Thornton DFM, AFM of Mildura, Vic; Pilot Officer (PO) Vic Oborn DFM of Mont Albert, Vic; Flying Officer Brian Nicolls DFM of Goulburn, NSW; PO Keith Meggs DFM of Preston, Vic; PO Barry Weymouth of Essendon, Vic; and PO Cecil Sly DFM of Brisbane, Qld.