Sea King pilots

[Thomas coupling]

Where do retired Sea King pilots go after military time....?

[Limpopo]

The North Sea flying both Offshore and SAR.

[Spacer]

Or is there a punchline coming?

[sycamore]

A decent chiro/physio-terrorist !!

[John Eacott]

Semi retired Sea King driver ;)

Offshore - police - own business. Now semi retired, smelling the roses :ok:

[Geoffersincornwall]

Having been on Conversion Course No.1 (January 1970) I'm proud to say that Old Sea King Pilots don't retire - they just gently fade into la dolce vita.

G

:)

[Fake Sealion]

You'll be suprised how many current BA Captains have a Sea King in their logbooks.;)

[eagle 86]

Quite often reminisce about the "Queen of the Skies" - out of about 15 types she is still No 2 just behind that good old warhorse the UH1B.
GAGS
E86

[Adam Nams]

Having been on Conversion Course No.1 (January 1970) I'm proud to say that Old Sea King Pilots don't retire - they just gently fade into la dolce vita.

Old Sea King pilots never die .......... they only smell that way.

[Non-PC Plod]

Are you fishing TC? And is the bait any tastier than it was to start with?:)

[outhouse]

I guess that the OLD Sea King pilots are enjoying a bliss full retirement and taking the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of there labor.
Maybe sometimes when some young sprog of a pilot who is willing to fill his glass at the bar, a few edited stories of what it was like flying the Queen of the Skies would be forthcoming.
An amiable bunch of aviators.
outhouse
:ok:

[SARREMF]

I think they take a time to stop the nightmares about platform failures.

Did you ever see the Parkinson and Billy Connolly interview in the last ever series? Billy said that you know your growing old when as you pick things up or getout of chairs you make an audible noise. Not a groan more like a "whoooo thats got it" or "Geeeeeeeeeeee".

Sea King pilots get this earlier in life! Next time you get out of a chair ...... or better still ask your better half!

So the twitching, groaning old bloke in the corner shouting Torque spilt call NR! Trim trim trim trim! Or my favourite, gets the nulls in line![Think Michael Caine]!

[[email protected]]

SARREMF - that's enough about Bob King:)

[SARREMF]

Its funny how one name can just bring back memories isnt it! Bless him! I guess this is the perfect thread for this, and quite honestly I didn't think you would be able to post on here Crabb! You being so caught up in the fish hook Bootneck set for you on the other thread! It used to be called SAR harmonisation but its a bit off that at the moment!

Well, I think I have been very good in not writing about the name you mentioned!

Operation creep forward, now there was a story!

The book " the secrets of the metal cabinet" by B K. Now being made into a drama series!

Driving to impress Italians by BK.

Damn Damn just couldnt stop myself!

One flew over the minibus - a new motion picture based around a journey at RIAT!

Bob, if your reading this, you know we love you really! You sure could fly! Now driving ......

[The Ferret]

TC - so where do you think Sea King drivers SHOULD go after leaving?

Fake Sealion - I think you could add Virgin Captains to your list too!

I think we should all take our skills out into the big wide world and make sure that anybody who wants to can learn from our experience and/or mistakes! And if you get cold and miserable doing that in Blighty - live in Florida and still do it!!! :cool::cool::cool:

[screw fix diret]

There's a fair smattering of us in the UK holiday charter world too.

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

One thing's for sure: Crab will obviously be off to Bristow/CHC...

[crabbbo]

Not to mention a few of us in permanent semi-retirement enjoying the air ambulance role.

[nodrama]

One thing's for sure: Crab will obviously be off to Bristow/CHC...


.....Can't wait :)

[timex]

One thing's for sure: Crab will obviously be off to Bristow/CHC...

So Police and HEMS will be safe.....:ok:

[nodrama]

So Police and HEMS will be safe.....:ok:

Not if they have a winch fitted (and are up to standard!):)

[[email protected]]

Mum.....Mum.... the big boys in the playground are picking on me again......:{

[pumaboy]

One thing's for sure: Crab will obviously be off to Bristow/CHC...

Not sure if they have a Stby a/c::ok:

[IrishSarBoy]

Ah the Queen of the skies, popped into Chiv last week with the 61, had a moouch round the Seaking (fond memories), ah to be able to get into the front seats without squeezing through a hole designed for umpalumpas, and I'd forgot about the water boiler!!;)

[SARREMF]

Irish! Ever have Mad in your knickname?

[[email protected]]

OOOhhh you'll rot in hell for that one SARREMF:)

Are you really paying an exRN, non-QHI, umpteen zillion £s a day to recruit crews just because he speaks Francais? Outrageous:)

[leopold bloom]

Are you really paying an exRN, non-QHI, umpteen zillion £s a day to recruit crews just because he speaks Francais? Outrageous
There are two correct facts in your sentence, the rest is nonsense. Anyway this thread is about ex-Sea King pilots, shouldn't you be baiting civvies elsewhere?:cool:

[sarboy99]

Irish! Ever have Mad in your knickname?
Couldnt be him he was Scottish and besides no one would let him back onto an RAF unit.

[Bertie Thruster]

Do you mean Pete Mad McMad?

Could be just the sort of chap TC might inadvertently lure to Devil Island!

[Snarlie]

According to yesterday`s Telegraph, they turn into women! Must be something to do with the vibration. Could only happen to a crab!

[QTG]

I thought this was going to be a really interesting thread - maybe catch up with a few mates from the past etc - but then I discovered it was all a ruse by some saddo to attempt to lure someone (anyone?) into the back of a simulator in Anglesey. I don't think so!!!

In an attempt to bring sanity to the proceedings I attach this photo of a second hand Sea King with which I was associated on its final flight. Absolutely no prizes whatsoever for the the first person to submit the correct time and place.............................

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj225/ec135t2/scan0001.jpg

[Thomas coupling]

I hope it's not an RN cab, worse still I hope i didn't work with or around you sunshine. And yes I have bitten.

[SASless]

At least getting out would have been easy....just walk aft!

Assuming that was an option.:(

[John Eacott]

I hope it's not an RN cab

Looks like a HAS1, probably 826NAS from the "4" on the side. So I'd say it's an early RN cab, but I don't recall the bingle. Was it off Blake, QTG?

[QTG]

Close John, but no cigar. The 826 bit's correct, but its actually just after the end of Eagle's last commission and before Tiger's first (April 1971), and occurred in Falmouth Bay. It was the very first (Westland) Sea King to ditch/crash, and the supplementary question is why????

PS I reckon the last time I saw you John was on the RN Foreign Training Unit around the time of the Pakistanis and Egyptians. Scary stuff eh? Wasn't it you who submitted the MOD form whatever (Suggestion for aircraft modification from a front line unit) requesting a larger diameter funnel on the Sea King Pee Tube as the original wasn't large enough to accomodate your JT? Sorry about this everybody (especially the ones with no sense of humour - probably Crabs), but this is genuine Old Sea King Pilot material.

[John Eacott]

QTG,

The less said about the file that 'grew' from that defect report, the better. Especially the replies from Singapore engineering command ;)

Blake/Tiger, easy mistake: 820 was Blake, yes? The ditching escapes me, being a long term signed up member of CRAFT, can you elaborate?

RNFTU: you'd remember the CU Air Day 1975? Not a very good scan, but one of the Pakistani Sea Kings taxiing in:

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/1417-2/PN05.jpg

Plenty more Sea King photos here (http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/v/navy_photos/sea_king/) :ok:

[peterperfect]

Off thread I know, but....QTG for no extra points whatsoever, the warship in the phot is HMS Reclaim, the last stream recip in the RN, a quick googling reveals that it probably assisted in a few other salvage operations, at some stage Reclaim as diver support vessel assisted in the salvage of a ditched HAS Mk 1 "off Portland" (yet no doubt you are right in the location since you were there) in Nov 1974 or 1975, allegedly "in foul weather under the noses of some russian spyships unquote".

Coincidence is that the skipper of Reclaim at the time was Lt Cdr John Parry (now sadly RIP), whose son Chris is currently a very senior and successful (Adm ??) Observer in the RN today with previous ASW SeaKing and Wessex III experience.

Google again revealed there is a website called "Dorset Aircraft Crashes", there was a good spread of ditchings in that era, by chance the 31 March 1976 Sea King XV 669 had an 820 NAS fleet number starting with a 4 and came from HMS Blake:

20-5-71 XM875/PO516 Wessex 771SQ cr in sea off Portland.3 killed
14-07-71 XP174/521PO Wessex Has3 737SQ cr in sea off Portland
15-11-71 XP116 Wessex HAS3 737Sq cr in sea off Portland
13-1-72 XV645/PO529 Sea King 737Sq cr in sea off Portland
16-2-72 XS121/PO435 Wessex HAS.1 737SQ cr in sea off Portland
28-01-72 D-ANEF Viscount 814 Lufhansa crashed on landing Hurn.
damaged and withdrawn from use
24-6-73 G-ASHF C-150C Broke up in midair over Poole Harbour
2-8-73 XV675/665PO Sea King HAS.1 737 Sqd Ditched off Portland
15-7-74 XP138/654PO Wessex HAS3 737Sq Ditched off Chesil Bank- 3 killed.
19-11-74 XV644 664/PO Sea King HAS1 737 Sq Ditched and sank 20 miles S of Portland.
Recovered on 27.11.74
22-11-74 XX136 Jaguar T2 A&AEE cr nr Brockington Farm .
Wimborne St Giles- engine fire
25-7-75 Balloon "Gerald Heineken"hit power
lines at Coles Farm,Langton Matravers
31-03-76 XV669 BL/410 Sea King HAS1 820 Sq RN ditched in the English Channel off Portland
during a sortie from HMS Blake
18-7-78 XP105/403DV Wessex Has3 737Sq ditched off Isle of Wight.
4-8-78 XS507/PO513 Wessex HU5 772Sq Rolled over landing at Portland,badly damaged
13-9-78 XP110 Wessex HAS3 737Sq Ditched 15 miles off Portland Bill EF
12-5-79 G-AXLH Nipper hit trees close to Hurn
24-7-79 G-BGLP F.172N Forced Landing Holmsley South on delivery
flight Reims to Hurn .Slid into a ditch on landing and written off.
29-4-80 68-057 F-111A 20TFW Hit hill nr Mapperton(w of Sturminster Marshall)
2 crew killed
22-5-80 XT763/515PO Wessex Hu5 772SQ Ditched in Wetymouth Bay
27-6-80 XP156/663PO Wessex Has3 737SQ Cr in sea off Portland - 3 killed
24-9-80 G-ASFF Pa-23 Ditched off Bournemouth
11-3-81 XM872/662PO Wessex HAS3 737SQ Ditched south of Durdle Dor
after engine failure.Lt Brian Gell & Lt Martyn Reid rescued by
Wessex XS149(John Connell)..Lt Geoff Mackett
rescued by SAR Wessex 5(Lt Andy Mckie- 772Sq)
15-7-81 XP118/664PO Wessex HAS3 737SQ Ditched 15M S of Portland
(Pilot Brian Gell (see XM892 above)
22-5-82 G-DAVI TU.206G Crashed Bellamy Farm,Piddletrenthide
when a parachute opened in flight- wearer
was pulled out of aircraft and
tangled with tailplane.At least 2 persons killed

pp

[Whirlygig]

Somehow I get the feeling that this thread isn't going quite the way Thomas expected! :}

Cheers

Whirls

[John Eacott]

31-03-76 XV669 BL/410 Sea King HAS1 820 Sq RN ditched in the English Channel off Portland

PP,

The side numbers on RN cabs are the last two digits of the three digit number. The first is applicable to all aircraft of the (Carrier) Air Group, the second digit the Squadron allocation, and the last the aircraft number.

Ark Royal had all starting with 0, Eagle started with 1, etc. 824 was therefore 050 - 056 (7 aircraft), 826 was 140 - 145 (only six aircraft) when part of Ark's and Eagle's air groups. 820 would have had side numbers 10 - 13, IIRC, as a 4 aircraft squadron on Blake, so the photo wouldn't have been the 820 cab.

eg recovery of 051, an 824NAS HAS1:

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/1265-1/824+Sea+King+051+recovery+with+fire+fighting+foam+hanging+fr om+crane.jpg

[[email protected]]

Whirly - the only way TC will get this thread going the way he wants it is to offer lots of dosh:ok:

[leopold bloom]

Who cares why it started, great pictures John.:ok:

[Thomas coupling]

Crab / Whirly: ce la vie. One has to laugh though ...reading back - who are the saddo's now????? As long as it brings a smile to someone, eh?

Is that rivet number 37d, part 53392. Or is it the aluminium coated derivative post 1973?

[QTG]

Managed to escape from the Ice Dancing final on TV - where was I....?

I had thought that the date of the ditching was imprinted on my brain for ever, but the the early onset of dementia plays strange tricks! A look back at my logbook reveals that the fateful day was 10th April 1972, not 1971 as I said before, when after 15 minutes of flight............................................... ..........................................XV662 decided that she would attempt to continue with 4 and three quarter rotor blades instead of the manufacturer's recommended 5. Needless to say, the outcome was not good, but at least we sort of flew it onto (then under) the water and all got out. The failure was not confirmed for some years, until on 12th December 1974, an identical Sea King HAS 1 suffered exactly the same fate in the Bay of Biscay. By a strange quirk of fate (cue eerie music), I actually watched the aircraft ditch from another Sea King, then winched the crew up - again all of them managed to get out. We did get a photo of the aircraft before it capsized, and that showed one blade shorter than all the others, thereby ultimately providing closure to our own incident almost 3 years before.

I attach another piccie, this time of the Old Girl's (actually, come to think of it, she was still in the first flush of youth!) final flight.

Incidentally, nothing personal TC. I really hope you manage to find someone suitable. I've even got Dark Menace's mobile number if you'd like, but I expect you probably couldn't afford him!

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj225/ec135t2/scan0003.jpg

[John Eacott]

XV662/140 before QTG abused her ;)

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/1861-2/826+stream+landing.jpg

[Bertie Thruster]

just a bit more colour.............


http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i97/nmhsu/snowy.jpg


click here-------->:E (http://www.pprune.org/aads/thales_merlin_2.gif) .................................. is £50k enough of a lure to Devil Island?

[ShyTorque]

I think there are other perks to be had though. Baaa.... :8

[Bertie Thruster]

http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafvalley/rafcms/mediafiles/gallery/00085BB6_1143_EC82_2E2583971766C993/DSCF0042_thumb.jpg

as featured here (http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafvalley/gallery/airfieldimages.cfm?start=19)...

[Thomas coupling]

Vie: you got me scanning the bloody picture in fine detail now, looking for the casualty!!!:ok:

[peterperfect]

TC,
concur, on a theme of 'Where in the World is Waldo Rockface' ??

Brill photo Bertie, watch out in case it will be posted on some US Conspiracy Theory website soon with apparent images of OBL !!!

having said that I am sure that is the left eye and nose of a cougar 25 cms below the horizontal stabiliser !! stop it.....time for medicine....

thread creep warning 3
pp