It's not terrifically harrowing in terms of contact with the enemy, but I think I beat the odds on this one simply because I was so far away from friendly territory AND managed to land it safely while looking around the cockpit and not having the gear pump mapped to a keyboard key (now I do
).
From the No.401 Squadron flight log book:
DATE OF FLIGHT: Midday, Feb 12, 2012
AIRCRAFT FLOWN: YO-X BW801
APPROXIMATE DURATION OF FLIGHT: 30 minutes
LEADER OF FLIGHT: Pilot Officer Wolverine
DESCRIPTION OF FLIGHT EVENTS: Took off from Manston airfield with Leading Aircraftman Elvis and proceeded on a South West patrol of the English coastline towards Folkstone. Upon arrival at Folkstone, re-vectored towards the French point.
Reached the French point at 12,000 ft and took flak damage to the engine such that I was bleeding oil slowly. Immediately turned flight command over to LAC Elvis and turned towards England. Set trim for gliding and shut the engine down to prevent further damage.
Returned to the English coast under no engine power. At 1,000 ft I turned westward to line up an emergency landing on the beach below the cliffs west of Dover. Landing gear was non-operative due to lack of oil pressure requiring manual deployment using the hand pump. Unable to use the hand pump and look out of the canopy at the same time, so alternated between pumping the gear down and looking for safe landing location.
On the verge of a stall for the final 500ft, I managed to get one of the wheels down and locked while lining up my final landing. Holding the plane as steady as I could, I returned to cranking the gear down and the final strut locked into place 10ft above the ground before I leveled out and put the Hurricane in the sand.
Let the plane roll out safely and came to a stop on three wheels, no further damage.
Engine inoperative.