Mt Alice Fighter Control Radar Relocation 1984

[pedroalpha]

In the Spring of 1984, my crew underslung a complete AR3D radar installation between two mountains on East Falkland using a Chinook. Having lifted this rather heavy load off the ground, we had to fly it to its new home some 14 miles away and position it onto a carriage which was then to be wheeled on a track into the dome. All went well but I wonder if anyone has photographs of the lift that they might wish to share?

Pedro

[diginagain]

PM for you, Pedro.

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

Are you sure about the details of the lift? From memory, Mt Alice isn't on East Falkland (nor within 14 nm of East Falkland!).

[leopold bloom]

Perhaps you meant West Falkland?

[malreeves]

Without checking my log-book, I recall building the radar sites in 83 or 84 when two ships were loaded with all of the bobbins required to build a radar site to which we then detached for a few days at a time to off-load the stuff in sequence. I think one was Op Cara-Cara (Alice?) and something else for Mount Byron? I do remember a penguin in the aircrew shower one morning (!!!) and "Caddyshack" playing endlessly in the mess-room. Regret no pictures of the evolutions - but do have one of the penguin in the shower.:)

[rolandpull]

I was the resident (english) hooker on the Corato. I remember the radar lift very well, but for what might have been all the wrong reasons. On the day we flew the radar head itself we positioned the ship closer to the mountain, acft weight was a concern. As usual it was very windy. To cut a long story short, on deck the wind blew my rigging scheme away and I 'cuffed' a scheme to get the job done. Perhaps I should have let on at the time - sorry. Mind you 11 years of hooking and never lost a thing.:ok:

[ORAC]

I think one was Op Cara-Cara (Alice?) Cara-Cara was Mount Byron.

[Bigt]

The 3 sites were Mount Kent, Mount Alice and Bryon Heights

[SirToppamHat]

I was at Byron when they took the Type 99 off in Jul 98. ISTR the transmitter cabin was about 11 tonnes which was right on the limits for the Chinook and conditions. There were several attempts due to the fact that the thing had to break some suction from having been there so long.

Eventually, the thing lifted and the Chinook disappeared (it seemed almost to stagger!) over the cliff edge and I don't think I was the only one who wondered whether it would be able to stay airborne - but I needn't have worried (though it must have gone almost straight down as it was several minutes before it reappeared some 2,500ft below and heading away).

Sometimes wonder what the radar sites are like these days.

STH

[pedroalpha]

Torque,

my apologies; I never could manage to sort out East and West. Yes the operation was on West Falkland.

Rolandpull, the operation that I refer to was not the initial deployment from the ship but the relocation when it was found that the radar cover was not ideal from the first location. The crew judged the weight of the load to be in the order of 11.7 tonnes; it certainly required all available power to haul it off the ground and none spare for the transition until a lucky gust of wind allowed a small surplus to initiate the transition. To give us the best chance, we had stripped the aircraft of anything not connected with the lift.

I would add here that the hookers were really fantastic. We picked up all kinds of odd loads in those days and never had a single problem with rigging or instability. They worked in foul weather, received massive static kicks from the strops on occasions yet never let us down. Brilliant effort.

[Jabba_TG12]

"Sometimes wonder what the radar sites are like these days."

Having had 3 tours of FIADGE (in 89, 94 and 97), I'm relieved to know that I'll never get to find out! :}

Seriously... all three were enjoyable tours, two of Alice with an AR3D that hardly ever worked (especially second time around) and one of Kent.

Incidentally, I'm sure Alice was the original Cara Radar... I'll go and find out......


Yep. 751SU Mount Alice was definitely previously Cara Radar. There was an old painted wooden sign at the door to the accom complex with it painted on it, with a picture of the two cara birds descending. Cant remember the old names for Kent and Byron I'm afraid.

[gearontheglide]

Jabba, quite correct. Cara Cara was the original callsign at Cape Orford to start with. I was there when we shut Orford and moved to Alice. Although Alice was a great site (better than the Somme at Byron), Cape Orford was a lovely place. Fond memories of BV206 races around the lake en route to the Whales Graveyard.

During the move we had loaded one ISO (One of many!) about half full with PSP. The hooker got it ready and when the Chinook came to lift it I have never seen a Chinook work so hard trying to get it airborne. The crew reckoned it was about 15 tons in weight!!! Oh what fun we had having just spent all morning filling the damn thing only to empty it again:{

Wasn't Kent 'Puffin Radar' and Byron just Byron?

[Jabba_TG12]

Ah, I think you're right about Kent.

One of the things that I remember most was when the AR3D's klystron ate itself on one of my tours that we had to have the T259 brought up from MPA.

Except that when the 259Det turned up, they were minus at least one generator... the helo had got half way across the sound with the genny underslung when the strop gave way and those accompanying it could only watch as if in slow motion as the load fell gracefully towards the water before landing with a mighty sploosh. :O:}

And when they did finally get it working a few days later (it wasnt as if we could ever see anything anyway), because they stuck it on the alternate hardstanding to the side of the dome, right by the western edge of the perimiter, where the wind rushes up the escarpment, as soon as the wind got above a certain speed (about 25-30Kts), the aerial would just click and stop.

We used to get a lot of wind like that in a Falklands winter.... :p:)

Some very fond memories, but I have no intention whatsoever of ever going back!

Most interesting chinook lift I saw was at Kent in 94. They'd just refurbed the accom and the catwalks and there was a huge skip (like one of those things off the back of a dumper truck) by the BV shed full of crap - bits of wood, metal and heaven knows what else. It had just been used as a dumping ground and there was all manner of garbage in there. OC decides it needs to be sorted out and got rid of. So, four of us on a work party spend ages skip-dipping sorting it out and sticking a netting over the top ready for the wokka to come and take it away.

Wokka duly arrives a few days later and attempts to pick said skip up. Unfortunately for him, right next to said skip is a rather prominent rock outcrop. No sooner has he strained to get the thing into the air than a freak gust of wind catches the skip and blows it towards the rock outcrop, taking said wokka in same direction.

Cue emergency drop of the load back onto its original place with a godalmighty bang that was heard around the entire camp and diverting of wokka to Kent's helipad for a change of pilots trousers before RTB'ing to MPA. From (rapidly fading) memory that was some time mid-late Dec 94.

[Cows getting bigger]

Fond memories. Jabba, your skip story reminds me of a Rapier move where a certain individual was rather twitchy with the emergency release

"When we release :eek: the load I'll...."

That'll be a Rapier fire unit dropped from quiet a few feet. :ooh:

[Gainesy]

Probably did it the power of good.

Hiya Big Nose:ok:

[OKOC]

Ah memories of 1983. Taking our turn to fly off 25 hours in 3 days based on the stout ship "Ly-caon" a Russian container ship based in Alermarle harbour --this ship contained the entire stuff needed to build a radar site--aggregate in the topmost ISOs right down to the radar heads at the bottom of the ship--simples. She was crewed by a ragged assortment of flotsem and jetsam and had a Liverpudlian captain who had ingeniously filled the ships' swimming pool with barrels of I think Carlsberg Special Brew--he cut us a fine deal--the lads in the O Mess, Sgts Mess and Wockers bar really enjoyed it instead of the dreadful Watneys Red Barrell that we were buying at high cost from the Naaffia in down-town Stanley. The ships crew were brilliant towards us and were quite happy for us to use their washing and drying machines on board (no such luxuries at Kelly's.) Happy days and I still have the video somewhere of the building of the site--the very first ISOs when quickly emptied were welded together and became the hard accommodation--happy memories (in the main)--was it really 26 years ago?

[FCWhippingBoy]

My last trip to Byron was '06 and it was still (leaky) welded together ISOs then, although Kent was purpose built if memory serves - didn't get as far as Alice (Alice? who the **** are Alice?!)

Had some Wokka lifting antics - and associated LIs! Make sure the door to the rubbish ISO is shut before the Wokka takes the strain with some peice of Radar equipment the other side of the compound; it only ruins your day picking up the resulting mess! Oh, and the door to the ISO will never close again!

"Byron boys are on the **** again!" - my knuckles have never looked the same since!

Which reminds me, must be due a return visit soon;

* Cold wx gear - Check

* Sense of humour - Check

* Spare liver - Check :}

[Cows getting bigger]

.... and then some killjoy built a road up to Kent!!!!!!

[malreeves]

Big-Nose! Who are you calling Big-Nose?

How are you Mike? Ah De Havilland and happy memories of a lost afternoon at "School Dinners" in Soho!!

[Len Ganley]

gearontheglide,

Kent was indeed Puffin Radar, but I've also heard 'Island Radar' used as well (except for one FC who could never remember which call-sign he was at so just kept with 'Mount Kent Radar').

Had a brilliant time there back in 96.

[Gainesy]

OK Mal,

Miserable bean counters wouldn't let me put School Dinners' membership fee on exes as in their opinion is was not the type of "Learned Insitute" they had in mind. Still, had a few good bashes while it lasted.
Thread jack end.

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

OKOC. I think you may have misremembered the nationality of MV Lycaon. In ’82, when I boarded her in Spithead, she was wearing a British ensign. As I remember it, only 3 ships from Trade were under foreign (but friendly) flags.

[Wyler]

Have spent 31 months of my life in the FI !!!!!

Tour 1 in 1983 at Cara Cara as a newly promoted Fg Off. Lots of shift work where we used to amuse ourselves playing cards and hiding from the Infantry who were really scary. Spent most of my free time refuelling various helicopters as they passed through. We used to advertise fish and chips on the radio, they were like flies round sh!t. Swapped 200 fags for 20 minutes low level in a lynx...those were the days. The Wokkas were a godsend, especially with the blue bags on board. We lived in a croft which doubled as the medical centre. Managed to get a flush toilet working but is soon got clogged.........with sweetcorn. Had a working bath at one point but the water was full of small fresh water shrimp, so food and a good wash :E Finally, looked at how much the spares for the AR3D cost: £30.00 for a roll of bodge tape. Good old British Industry.:ok:

Tour 2 as SOpsO at Mt Kent. Miserable sh!thole of a place. Best bit was 'fat boys' at 9.00pm every night. The Chefs came round each Mess with trays of sandwiches!!:ok:

Tour 3 1999-2001 as OC 303SU based at MPA. Much better place when you are there with the family living in a brand new FMQ. My daughters still talk about it (in a good way). They saw Albatross building nests, hundreds of seals etc and too many Penguins to count. Loads of flying too with Bristows and the little red FI Taxis. Two X Xmas as well where the weather was boiling and we had BBQ'd Ostrich, Kangaroos, Prawns and Crocodile tails! On the first one CBFFI thought it would be a jolly good idea to fly around all the remote sites on Christmas day saying hello to the troops. I was dragged along. Poor sods all had to stand there looking grateful when all they wanted to do was get the party started.

Now a civvy and will never set foot on the place again, unless I win the lottery in which case I may well stop by on the luxury liner taking me to sunnier climates.

Happy Days.

[trex450]

Wyler,
nice to hear positive comments about the Islands, anyone there on tour should always make the effort to get away from the job and enjoy the Islands. Everyone who makes the effort to get away from work and the bars and has a look around comes back far more postitive for it. Lets face it there is more sunshine and less rain than most of the UK.

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

It must have been a real holiday for you chaps on Alice

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n131/Golf_Bravo_Zulu/ALICE-BLOKES1.jpg

It looked far more fun on Adam

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n131/Golf_Bravo_Zulu/ADAM-BLOKES1.jpg

October '00.

[Gainesy]

make the effort to get away from the job and enjoy the Islands

There was a Yank in the tower at Lakenheath in about 1978 whose "proud" boast was that he'd never been outside the base except for the bus ride in from Mildenhall when he arrived. I commented, politely, that this was a bit strange, their comment was that the LN SATCO thought he was effin nuts and was being sent to see the shrinks.

[talk_shy_tall_knight]

It was either Alice or Byron who at some time between the late 80s-early 90s, made a point of bringing a tray of tea and biccies out to the Chinook, while the tatties and slabs were being offloaded. It was a nice touch. It was unfortunate however, when I had just received the tray and placed it on the jump seat, that the L/H seat (perhaps in desperate need of a piss) casually reached across and released the jump seat, sending the whole lot crashing to the floor/centre console (aircraft turning and burning). I'm pretty sure that it was you Mal, though much alcohol has muddled the brain since.

Bloody hard work, but very happy days.

[Wyler]

As I said, my first tour was in 83 at Cara Cara (Cape Orford). Way to the west and only accessible by helicopter. We had some Blowpipe with the RA for daytime protection and a Platoon of Infantry for night time protection.
Bored one day, I put up a notice stating that their would be a bus trip to Stanley the following Sunday. Lunch and beers at the Goose and then 2 hours for shopping before home. All the Infantry put their names down.:rolleyes:
Even more disappointing was the amount of time it took to explain that it was a joke.:ugh:
I had my 23rd birthday there and a new cocktail was invented in my honour: The Cara Cara (original!!). It was 1 part brandy to 4 parts south sea lemon fizzy drink. The added extra was to put in a splash of Bennolin cough mixture. It was surprisingly good until we were inspected by the Med people because we were using 10 times as much cough mixture as anywhere else on the islands.:E

The place was named after the Cara Cara Eagle and we actually had one that used to queue up with us at meal times.:D

On November the 5th we had a big bonfire with soup and hotdogs. Great until the Army (again) chucked a load of blank ammunition on it. := Lots of Ooooohs and Aaaaahs though.

We had a communal crapper as well. I learned about small talk from that. :ooh:

Like I said, Happy Days.:ok:

[OKOC]

GBZ.

Soz my post should have said MV Lycaon was a Russian BUILT ship which I seem to remember she was. As you rightly point out she was sailing under British colours. Thanks.

[chinook240]

I was part of the Mt Alice build roulement, like Mal, living on the Corato and being forced to watch Caddyshack every night!

The Cape Orford radar, I believe, was lifted by callsign L4C, Bob G, a well known ex-Wessex pilot who enjoyed playing the RAF marchpast over the radio during a rejoin to Kelly's Garden.

[rolandpull]

I can well remember L4C, chasing the poor old sapper driving the CSB around the bay, just because he could. Fred Cross was our live-on Gazelle pilot.

[AR1]

This is floating around youtube.. BBC Breakfasts video from 1986, with a few lads captured picking their mail up..YouTube - Mount Kent, Falklands - BBC Breakfasts program 1986 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7ARO1M-Vk0)

[Bunker Mentality]

That film's from about end Jul - early Aug, I would guess. Several of the guys in the film were still there when I pitched up in the middle of Sep.

Had travelled in civvies from the UK and got off the Timmy, found my kit and straight onto an Eric, only to be deposited in a filthy wet bog 20 mins later. Then up the hill and into the murk in a muddy BV - my chinos and brown brogues were never the same again!

Most of the skids had names, like the one in the film. Mine didn't, so I christened it Dunbonkin - and it still had the name on it when I went back on a short visit 6 years later.

The bit about preferring to stay on the mountain was very common. I hated MPA, which I thought was a cold, soulless, unfriendly, self-absorbed nest of utter nobs. I went to Byron for my R&R.

[rolandpull]

If I recall correctly, when we hooked the loads from Stanley going up to the building site site as it was we worked with 53 Sqn RE commanded by Maj. Plant!

[Navaleye]

Lycaon was indeed British registered and was one of the STUFT ships taken up and the first to arrive in the area in April 82.

[Flying Serpent]

I hated MPA, which I thought was a cold, soulless, unfriendly, self-absorbed nest of utter nobs. I went to Byron for my R&R.

I did two tours at MPA, in '94 and '96, and can reassure you it was not as you thought. It's just that you moutain boys had your mates up there and we had ours in the lowlands. Wednesday quiz night in the Sgts mess were always excellent as was the impromtu karaoke afterwards. Many happy memories and when I find the pics I'll post some up.

I have to say though that I had one EXTREMELY good dining in night up at Kent in '94.

:)

cheers chaps.

[Concepta]

Hi guys and Mal.... my first post here.. such great memories of the Op Cara-cara and shepherd times, always jousting with Lima 4 cuddles because L4E was so much better...changing the rock at tiswas everytime. Though we weren't the ones who went for lunch on the beach and then fund the APU wouldn't start and used a bigger CB to get it started. As for the radar guys...Cape Orford was the only place other than Baltic Ferry to get real fish and chips from!! Respect to all ex and current chinook operators :D

[bayete]

There was a video on YouTube called- Tour of Duty 'The Re-make' that showed some footage of Alice from a couple of years ago. It had a mixture of ground stuff and fly pasts.
Sadly the link does not work any more.

Edited to add, this is a short clip from the vid.
Playing Chicken With A C130 Hercules Aircraft Then It Disapears - Video (http://www.metacafe.com/watch/380999/playing_chicken_with_a_c130_hercules_aircraft_then_it_disape ars/)

[ORAC]

I have a DVD copy (poor) of a VHS tape of Mount Alice if some one wants and/or can put a cop on line.

I also have a copy of QRA ops from LU and some South Georgia Islands footage from a C-130 trip. I got from an old F4 nav, apologies I can't remember his name.

[snaketurner]

i was one of the 4 original operators who sailed down with it chinooked it off an lsl (fun trip that was ) and got it up and running way before you moved it

[mitchj51]

Just to let you know I was the Engineer hooking up the radar for Mount Alice.We had one stop then raced back to get fuel before final lift. I also have pic's of the dome once completed and pics of the area.

[pedroalpha]

mitchj51,
please post your photographs, I'd love to see them.

[Failed_Scopie]

I did a tour in the Falklands at JCUFI, but I never got out to the Radar Dets; funnily enough though, I went to the Outer Hebrides twice on exercise and visited Benbecula Radar Head each time...

My overriding memory of my tour was spending my birthday on Sealion Island.

[Shackman]

End of Feb 83 - Started the lifts of ISO's and Portacabins off Sir Percival and up to Mt Alice - this was the first phase of building the radar station up there. Unfortunately on day 2 succeeded in 'sliding' an ISO across the deck of Percival and fracturing the high pressure water main (used for fire fighting if required). Apparently quite spectacular from other views and from my crewmen, who couldn't figure out why the load was leaking(?), but that was the end of any further lifts until they fixed it. Main memory of the task was in fact the Chinese Take Away from the Percival - they gave you a menu, ordered it on the radio and about lunch time we hovered over the rear heli deck (Op Corporate rules which allowed us to land on them had just been rescinded) and a large carrier bag was duly delivered, and we then shut down on shore and ate our carry out in absolute peace and quiet. many BZs to the RFA!:ok:

Unfortunately my photos of the incident have long gone, but I seem to remember posting about this on another thread some time ago.

[CAW]

Was Cara-Cara never meant to be the final radar base on south West Falkland? When did the Albermarle area come to be chosen?

I read somewhere that the SBS run an operation in June 82´s second week at Pillar Cove (Weddel Island), maybe meant to get rid of navigational aids to the argentinean flights through that route (that were never placed there) or to set an OP that could be later turned into an eraly warning radar site (such as Woodward´s wish was by the time the San Carlos Landings were planned)

[Diverrobster]

Anyone know about the original Puffin Radar Station?

1982 I was down south on the Illustrious. Around the beginning of October I got the chance to get ashore for a few days and work alongside the guys at Puffin Radar station. At the time we were based near the end of Stanley Runway. There was some destroyed Pucara fighter jets there that we got to take a look at and geet some photos. I will look for them and post.

[Ken Scott]

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1500x2000/1170f82b_9060_49b5_ba71_5f9fc60e2610_2512ca9ae34ef8b645c4b75 83c9a54022f5b5b18.jpeg

Not a picture of Mt Alice but one of Mt Kent, taken during a visit on Fixmas Day 94, a Measles by a 1312 C130K.

As I recall one of the FCs & I shared a couple of bottles of KVV Port in the OM so I was a touch ragged on my return to MPA. Our FE stayed to see the visiting CSE show that night, bad weather came in and he wasn’t able to get back for 48hrs , we had to borrow a FE from another crew for our next task.

[MAINJAFAD]

Cara-Cara was Mount Byron.
Rubbish.

OP Cara Cara was the Construction of 751 SU at Mount Alice (and its name at Cape Orford). OP Sheppard was 7SU at Byron Heights.

[rolandpull]

This is me on the aft end of the MV CORATO (OP Sheppard) purpose built, Chinook compatible, flight deck doing the hooking. Image was shot from one of the ships cranes.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1342/corato_8ecf04e180d18f50144b0c95d1d6b03234ba7cd0.jpg

[pedroalpha]

This has become a fascinating historical thread; please keep contributing! Still hoping for a photo of the lift from Alice though ...............JHSU?
regards,
Pedro

[Ken Scott]

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/6f4426f9_8f71_4aca_8a7f_6c63de77b54f_01663fa2f0d66585185c75e 17091150b1cec7436.jpeg
A view of Alice (I think) from the Sikorsky helicopter bringing us back from R&R on Saunders Island. A pretty remote spot to spend your det compared to the bright lights of MPA.

(The wrinkles in the photo are the plastic covering to the page in the album, sadly showing its age.)

[Ken Scott]

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/f3f4557e_5a4c_42c0_94b9_61124c1da423_77366cb634c82bb5bda0fbe ee8f8243c1ca27944.jpeg

A view from inside the cockpit of Mt Kent (can’t be certain as I didn’t caption the pictures).

I’m clearly not doing the flying as we’re so high!!

[diginagain]

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/571x373/bleak_3438e52ae4e09d76a074724e2a9b5fbda388643d.jpg

[ORAC]

1992....


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1775x1331/img_1690_150431c720322c09876d0e8fd33d966ca1e89b34.jpeg
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https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1775x1331/img_1693_1136ba58b4bd0827e18ad655a3aa4945c3ea5c81.jpeg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1775x1331/img_1694_34f15e714b2df09699c4d59569a694a552dcc239.jpeg

[ORAC]

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1775x1331/img_1695_a805443faa164ce3ffccc96ced7f635c9c8dea65.jpeg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1775x1331/img_1696_d856ec56f85b7d352e21e4c703fd37513dfe421f.jpeg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1775x1331/img_1697_20a7f6d25000e88f5be8b358a073c4264e63c0e3.jpeg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1775x1331/img_1698_2672ffb5a6dd650e69943ba81c2b22bebf24114f.jpeg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1775x1331/img_1699_5b2249824227fc7f90d0314d2efd30b2a2e14987.jpeg

[ORAC]

It was also the time the F3s replaced the F4s (I was also on R&R at ASI as they staged through and flew back south the ground crew.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/img_1704_aa9df4c9a16dd4af3baf32e0a3e20134a22eb080.jpeg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1500x2000/img_1700_dbadc8aa843805cb143a0a2582209469c89c7c97.jpeg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/img_1701_94d4a6f364d36d89ebaee45434cd8d677d8d5c44.jpeg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/img_1702_b94c988a964a18a6aed4751eaa87fd2c419d3d67.jpeg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/img_1703_ebf0aba7c20c56dabf0d60a3a15b4b960d91e6d0.jpeg

[TEEEJ]

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/f3f4557e_5a4c_42c0_94b9_61124c1da423_77366cb634c82bb5bda0fbe ee8f8243c1ca27944.jpeg

A view from inside the cockpit of Mt Kent (can’t be certain as I didn’t caption the pictures).

I’m clearly not doing the flying as we’re so high!!

I had a look on Google Maps. It is Mount Alice.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1682x809/mount_alice_ccb563e2905ef597d7ba9ec719a8c8f6a4cb6e4c.jpg

Mount Alice map link

https://goo.gl/maps/ugTX4BQGq8EEvHx78

Mount Kent view which has quite similar inlets and islands.

https://goo.gl/maps/gXhVpEXqHRX9oQWT8

[Ken Scott]

I had a look on Google Maps. It is Mount Alice.

Thanks, TEEEJ, impressive detective work!

[huge72]

I did 2 tours as Dep Heliops Controller Aug - Dec 87 & Jul - Oct 2000. During the 87 Det, an empty ISO was taken up to Mt Alice as the rubbish ISO and the full one taken off. When the lads from Alice went out to put rubbish in the new one they discovered the Falklands supply of Loo Rolls inside. For several months they used to barter with every other unit for goodies in return for a roll or two. The other little wheeze was when anybody was visiting for a dining in night, whilst the diner was at the meal the lads would fill his/her cabin with loo rolls which they then had to dig out before they could get to their bed!!

[TEEEJ]

Thanks, TEEEJ, impressive detective work!

No problem, Ken. Thanks. Thanks for sharing the image! :ok:

[pedroalpha]

Many thanks ORAC, the crew estimated the load as 11.7 tonnes. Somewhere there is a shot of the Chinook fuselage showing the skin distortion once the load was off the ground.
pedro

[AR1]

The bit about preferring to stay on the mountain was very common. I hated MPA, which I thought was a cold, soulless, unfriendly, self-absorbed nest of utter nobs. I went to Byron for my R&R.

You did. With me.

Found out old 303 OC Mike Clulow passed away not too long ago. Lovely chap. RIP Mike.

[chinook240]

Of interest, the Chinook recently doing the Gibraltar Rock radar lift in this article, ZA680, was the same airframe as a Mk1 that did the Cape Orford to Mt Alice lift nearly 38 years ago. I spent many a flying hour building the Mt Alice site as part of OP TANTARA.

https://theaviationist.com/2022/03/07/raf-chinook-load-lift/?fbclid=IwAR2vIkZM9ghuONP0HCEOOeJNgGACpShBTzF_yC8X3uRhWq9jH3 seooQ3QTE

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1536x864/373c646f_f68b_4be6_bd95_bd7d24f4e37d_c5e4a05bb74b45dc731a7e1 c960d7250d7531ead.jpeg
ZA680