Far East VC10 run

[bazzacat]

Does anyone know which routes were flown outbound / inbound, ie which countries were overflown? I imagine the route may have been less than direct in middle eastern part. I have vague memories of the return flight in 71 and would be interested to know where these places were!

[Cornerstone958]

When I was lucky enough to get a trip the route was
Outbound Brize-Bahrain-Gan- Changi
Inbound Changi-Gan-Cyprus-Brize
CS:O

[bast0n]

And what a wonderfully comfortable aircraft it was - as long as you had copious hipflasks to combat the Crabachol phobia..............:)

[dagenham]

I was only a little lad but the VC when did come to Brunei - memory is not good enough to know if it was a regular service

on one occasion came back on one for the start of boarding school when the BA VC went tech ( which was more often than not )

In my time - I think I only ever flew once on it with a smooth not hassle stops - two flap less landings and one hoax

[spanish no fly]

Brize-Akrotiri-Muharraq-Gan-Changi.
Changi-Gan-Muharraq-Akrotiri-Brize.
If the winds were right, sometimes Muharraq would be overflown eastbound, and Akrotiri westbound.
Before Brize was fully opened, the aeroplanes positioned/recovered empty to/from Lyneham.
As far as I am aware, to Akrotiri it was normal airlines routing, something like UK, France, Switzerland (?) Italy, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus.
Can't remember exactly off the top of me 'ead for the rest of it but something like Cyprus Turkey Iran Bahrain Oman Pakistan India Maldives Myanmar Thailand Malasia Singapore. When Confrontation finished Myanmar and Thailand ould have been changed for Indonesia. These are the FIRs that the aeroplane would have, I'm pretty certain, transitted. Probably there will be somone out there who can verify it.
Beautiful aeroplane, in my opinion second, marginally, to the Britannia.

[Neptunus Rex]

Brize - Akrotiri - Gan - Changi - Hong Kong.
I was posted to Australia on exchange, and went to see the lovely lady in MoD movements. I explained to her that I was very recently married, and that my wife's uncle was serving with the Royal Artillery in Hong Kong and had missed our wedding. She gave us tickets to Hong Kong and then on a Qantas 707 to Brisbane. I did not know that the RAF VC 10 would go to Changi first. When I got back to Honington and told the Corporal mover what I had done, he told me that I was way out of order, but it was fait accompli. The reason he was so accommodating might have been related to his jolly to Gib when I was the captain! (Shack, not Buccaneer!)

There followed two idyllic years and 1,000 hours on Neptunes, in tropical North Queensland, with my mother-in-law thousands of miles away! Thank you Desk Officer.

[Type1106]

Once Gan (73 ish?) closed, the route became Brize Bahrain Colombo Hong Kong. The Brits tended to do the Changi slip (until that closed about the same time) and the VC10 the Hong Kong. By the time I joined 10 Sqn in early 77 the slip was wholly as I describe.

1106

[SRENNAPS]

I also had the privilege of flying to the Far East on a VC10 when I was a child:

May 1968 – Brize-Bahrain-Gan- Changi – Aged 8
July 1971 - Changi-Gan-Cyprus-Brize –Aged 11

Things I like to think I remember:

Trip out:

Being at Brize looking out of a huge window at 100’s of aeroplanes with propellers, and my dad saying we are going in that one – no propellers and it was the biggest plane there.

Getting on board, crying my eyes out, and the air stewardess giving me loads of boiled sweets.

Walking into a massive room in Bahrain, it was absolutely boiling hot and there were “jinglies” (no offence, but cant use the term that my dad and everybody else used in those days) everywhere. I was given an ice-cream that was melting faster than I could eat it. I distinctly remember my dad telling me and my younger brother that he could take on all of the “Jinglies” on and win no problem.

No recollection of Gan

My recollection of Changi was leaving the VC10 and getting into another aircraft with propellers. There were wires hanging from the roof!!! This aircraft was an Andover and we were moving up to Butterworth/Penang.

However, I know this is not quite right because we stayed in Changi for three days. My Dad got drunk and took me and my brother down Boogie street. I do remember being in a taxi and a million kids attacking us. Well that’s what it seemed like to me but apparently they were excited to see two white kids. My mum was not impressed.

Trip back to UK in 71:

Driving in an old RAF van (that looked like a Sherpa - J2 or something?) to Penang airport and flying in a MSA Boeing 737 to Singapore.

My Dad stayed in Penang to close it down, so we were returning back to UK with my mum. I remember we were rather naughty and went and stole a load of rambutans from the kitchen of the Changi hotel and got caught.

Strange, but again no recollection of Gan, except for getting a drink of water from a huge blue water bottle with a handle and it tasted of salt.

Being in Akrotiri and walking up loads of steps???

Arriving back at Brize and mum dressing us up in duffle coats. She thought we would be cold. It was July but to be honest I cannot remember if it was hot or cold.

Finally I remember the train journey from Swindon to Bridgend (My dad was posted to St Athan) because I could not believe how green all the fields were and how flat it was.

Not sure how accurate these memories are but I am glad I had the opportunity to experience the far east in those days as a kid. Some of the things we got up to!!!!!!!

But the best thing was flying on a VC10. Only 8 years later I was working on them as a young JT and have subsequently flown probably 100's of hours to many places around the world. Happy days.

[Rhayader]

In July '79 did a VC10 from Brize-Bahrain-Colombo-Perth-Sydney. Only realise now how lucky I was to get the chance.

:)

[soddim]

Where's Beagle??

[bazzacat]

Thanks for the info. I had always wondered whether the flights were considered "military" or not and the associated overflight permissions needed.

Memories are dim- take of from Changi, some parched looking mountains, and a night stop at Akrotiri where my Dad got off for a beer.

No recollection of arrival, just next being at Warton transit camp near Lytham St Annes, hence first UK memories being Blackpool tower and Lytham windmill. A curious choice of transit accomodation as we were posted to Lyneham!

[Neptunus Rex]

Perhaps you were supposed to go to Wroughton, and some scribbly mistook it for Warton

[Type1106]

Spanish No Fly

The route from UK to Cyprus to Bahrain was, in those days, as you describe.
However from there on The route took us over the UAE, Oman (Masirah Island) then straight across the Indian Ocean to Gan (or Colombo in later years) From either of those stops the route to Singapore was across the southern part of the Bay of Bengal to the tip of Indonesia (Medan on Sumatra) and across the Straits of Mallaca to S'pore.

This avoided India (best to do at any cost because it was, and I believe still is, impossible to get diplomatic clearance without stopping in the damn place).

The route to Hong Kong from Gan or Colombo took us up across the Bay of Bengal - avoiding the Indian Islands dotted around there - to Phuket and across a little bit of Thailand. Interestingly, while the Vietnam war was going on and the US effectively ran the airspace, RAF flights flew right across the 'Nam - not in my time on VC10s but I did it on the old Belfast. After the Yanks got kicked out of there, we had to then made a quite large detour around Vietnam and up the South China Sea to Hong Kong. Again we had to avoid certain islands belonging to the Phillipines and China.

Make no mistake, this was a scheduled airline type of operation and carried out to a very high professional standard. But, because it was military there were a number of wrinkles to overcome in the way of overflight clearances and this was a constantly changing scenario.

These days everyone seems to make fun of the VC10 and its reliability and its recent restriction on carrying non military passengers (the result of sheer bloody cowardice on the part of senior officers in the fallout from Haddon Cave). The result of years of neglect and the constant lowering of standards and experience among both aircrew and ground crew have taken an awful toll.:{

Nevertheless, in the days of the old Far East slips (which is what this thread is all about) and for many years after she truly was the Queen of the Skies and I am proud to have had the privilege of flying her for as long as I did.

Hankies away

Cheers

1106

PS somebody asked 'Where's Beagle'? Well, when all this was happening - at school I should think......

PPS mind you, I'm surprised he hasn't given us the benefit of his opinon anyway....;)

[blaireau]

Just a matter of time.......

[ICM]

A few additional details, given that the original post was about routings. The issue of obtaining diplomatic clearance for military overflights was, and presumably still is, a significant factor in planning and running air transport ops. So, for example, we did not overfly Switzerland en-route to/from Cyprus or Bahrain. Then, after the division of Cyprus in 1974, routing to/from Akrotiri into the CENTO route over Turkey and Iran, meant using a routing around the east of Cyprus when formerly one headed up over Nicosia.

The Bahrain, Colombo route to/from HK was introduced in January 1976, with final flights through Tengah and Gan completed by March. As the Brits were phased out, 10 Sqn picked up some variations on the HK route - a 'Brunei Extension' was flown twice a month or so, and every other month there was a flight to Osan AB in South Korea, supporting the small UK presence in the UN force there. And there were seasonal 'Gurkha Trooping' flights between HK and Katmandu.

Happy days!

[spanish no fly]

1106, thanks for the additional info. Still, it was a preety good memory feat from a UKBAGS who last flew in a '10 on that route sometime in the late '70s. As you said, to a high professional standard, and priveledged to have flown with such people. All AT included.

ICM so right about getting Dip Clearance through India, but I believe now if you are transiting their FIR and are more than 3NM from the coast it is easier to obtain. Kathmandu, I was fortunate enough to do a 3 month stint there with the Brits......

However, we won't go there, but I'd like to!
Regards to all.
SNF

[sisemen]

July 1975

8 - XV101 Brize - Akrotiri

9/10 - XV106 Akrotiri - Gan

11 - XV103 Gan - Kai Tak (skirting around Vietnam)

17 - XV103 Kai Tak - Gan

18 - XV105 Gan - Akrotiri

19 - XR810 Akrotiri - Brize :ok:

[SomewhereOverHere]

I flew on the last commercial BA VC10 service from LHR to Brunei - I don't remember the date, I think 1976 or 77.

I seem to recall it going to Rome, then Muscat, Colombo, Singapore, then Brunei.

What I do remember is that, being the last VC10 operation there, it did a low level flypass along the runway. The following week BA started operating to Brunei as a stop en route to Australia, so the B747 operated in and attracted quite a crowd of people to see it.

[green granite]

So where did the one that used to take off from Scampton, mid afternoon on a Monday go to?

[SRENNAPS]

So where did the one that used to take off from Scampton, mid afternoon on a Monday go to?

Was that possibly the one that used to take new recruits from RAF Swinderby on an air experience flight??

[Pontius Navigator]

Oddly no one has actually answered the routing issue from Cyprus to Bahrain.

It was via Turkey and Iran. In the event that there were problems with that route then there was a route via the USA. After the revolution in 1973 I guess the Iran option closed but an alternative Cyprus - Bahrain route was probably negotiated.

To satisfy the pedants, the western route was Gander, Offutt, Hickam, Anderson, Changi.

[BEagle]

It was - but I don't think anyone ever flew from Akrotiri to Bahrain via the USA.....:rolleyes:


Sorry, blaireau.

[Brian 48nav]

Looks like the 10' must have skipped some of the Herc stops.
In May68 I flew on 48's first Westabout from Changi -- via Gan,Bahrain,Night stop(NS),Akrotiri,Lyneham,weekend off,Gander,NS,Offutt,McClellan,NS,Hickam,NS, Wake,Guam,NS, and back to Changi, 2 days late for my wife's 19th birthday!
The rest of the crew were Wg Cdr Neil Taplin Capt
Fg Off Stu MacManus Co
Flt Lt Ted Gibson the spare Nav!
Fg Off Brian Lee Eng
MAQ Arthur Smith AQM (I think)
Ted was exWW2 Wellingtons then Yorks and finally Brits before the Herc.

In June 1970 I did the same route on 30Sqn starting from Fairford. On the 14th while flying from McClellan to Hickam we tuned in to BBC World Service to hear England throw away a 2 goal lead and lose to West Germany in the World Cup!

Re the Changi - Hong Kong route, we often flew up the airway over South Vietnam. The pilots always had 'Guard' selected and it was almost surreal listening to the USAF/USN chatter,including FACs directing strikes and rescue choppers picking up downed aircrew. 'Another coffee please Q'.

[Lou Scannon]

I remember nightstops in Gan with 48 Sqn. (or Ghaan as the Nav Flight Commander insisted on pronouncing it!)

The trick was to disembark in ties and long sleeved KD, check in at the Blue Lagoon ordering steak sandwiches, make no comment when the desk clerk allocated the VC10 crew rooms and then gobble down the steaks before the VC10 crew checked in.

The "mistake" corrected we would then give up the rooms with good grace but they couldn't get their steaks back!

I also remember the transit mess in Malta where one of the transport crews wrote in the Suggestions book:
"Why can't we have steaks like the V force?"

That night one of the steaks was found stapled into the suggestions book with the words: "If you can eat this bastard...you are welcome to it"

[dangermouse]

Brize to Akrotiri to Gan to Kai Tak

getting out of the VC10 at Gan after getting on it early Dec in the UK was a bit of shock

Did the return trip in 1975 when my dad left Tai Mo Shan

whatever happened to Gan?

DM

[SOSL]

VC10 back from Akro to Bzn with family, sprog born in TPMH. Mrs SOSL became upset by the condensation dripping from the top of the fuselage via the luggage compartments. Had a single tyre burst on landing - only one! - Mrs SOSL hasn't flown since -godammit!

SOS

[Pontius Navigator]

dangermouse, after a period in the doldrums Gan is now a holiday destination in its own right. Whereas before the islands were all separate the wartime causeways which had been deliberately destroyed have now been replced. If you use Google Earth you can do a virtual tour of the place. :sad:

[Tankertrashnav]

make no comment when the desk clerk allocated the VC10 crew rooms


A rather unwise Cpl VC10 steward was heard to call out "there go the tanker trash" as a Victor crew humped their kit, hot tired and sweaty past the air conditioned block (101?) at Akrotiri, normally reserved for VC10 crews. A very fierce red haired flight commander was in the crew, and the cpl found himself evicted from his room in double quick time, to be replaced by some lucky tanker guy.

[Pontius Navigator]

Gan had an air conditioned suite. It was financed by Bomber Command as part of the Blue Ranger programme for V-bombers transiting to Woomera for Blue Steel firing. More often than not the rooms were unused so the Transport crews used to bag them to the disgust of the SAR Shack from Changi.

As our det, plus others, totalled 9 Vs we didn't push it but, later on, when doing ordinary rangers we got the aircon rooms the 10 crews were 100% peed off.

Those were the days when Commands had money to spend.

[ICM]

Further to PN's post #21, the sector Akrotiri - Bahrain was rarely used for VC10 Far East runs after early 1976, when the new BZN - Bahrain - Colombo - HKG schedule was introduced. (The CENTO route via Turkey and Iran was still available as the Iranian revolution did not occur, in fact, till early 1979, albeit that things were going downhill there in 78; the Iranian officer on our Staff College course went home to a very uncertain future indeed in December that year.) The UK - Cyprus trooping schedule became an out and back in a day affair. The routing BZN - Bahrain was standard as far as the Med, than across into Egypt down to Luxor, turning to cross the Red Sea into northern Saudi Arabia, then on to Dahran (I think) and down into Bahrain. As I recall, ATC comms across north Saudi were very much a sometime thing in those days, with aircraft normally transmitting blind on a common VHF frequency to keep one another aware of traffic, altitudes, and ETAs.

[Pontius Navigator]

As I recall, ATC comms across north Saudi were very much a sometime thing in those days, with aircraft normally transmitting blind on a common VHF frequency to keep one another aware of traffic, altitudes, and ETAs.

Thank you ICM couldn't remember (or botheed to heck) the Iran issue.

As far as ATC Comms, nothing hanged then. In the 60s it was SOP for the Canberras from Akrotiri to file a flight plan clear of Saudi airspace and the empty quarter but to fly direct to Masirah. They would file px as if they were on the flight plan route so anyone listening would be none the wiser. :)

[Brian 48nav]

One of my favourite memories of Gan was drinking in the Blue Lagoon. Our Herc crew were getting stuck into a few Tigers,and as it was before 7pm still dressed in casual gear.As long sleeved shirt and tie time got nearer a guy at the bar kept looking at us and was getting increasingly agitated. Eventually he announced he was a Sqn Ldr (or only a VC10 captain, not a real one!) tapped his watch and said it was time for us to get properly dressed. Hang on we said (Sir!),we'll just finish our round. Of course we dragged it out to beyond 7pm and eventually he ordered us out of the bar. Just as we were getting up, the swing doors at the entrance swung open and in walked a Victor crew,sweaty and resplendent in their 'rompers' with all the dangly bits hanging out and the captain, a Wg Cdr, shouted 'what you having lads?'. The VC10 captain slunk off to the dining room in high dudgeon and we, of course,stayed and got another round in!

[WorkingHard]

I was based in Bahrain 70/71 and flew many times direct UK from there. Occasionally we went via Akrotiri or Luqa

[AQAfive]

In 1974 as a young fresh faced AEOp, we were detached to Tengah for 8 weeks. Our route out by VC10 was Brize, Akrotiri, Gan, Tengah. We landed at 4am local in Gan and having put my jacket on to go to the Blue Lagoon, it was dark after all, I was somewhat taken aback by the 'oven' I walked into.

Loads of stories about the Gateway House, the Blue Lagoon, and VC10 crews trying to be like a real airline, and Boughi (?) street of course. I am pretty sure at that time Tengah was used every time as the threshold of the runway was about 500yds or so from my room in the Sgts Mess. Every Tuesday and Thursday am 4 mighty Conways used to wake me up.

We returned with our own mighty hunter via Gan, Muharak (?) and overflew Cyprus as the Turks had invaded, (we were hoping for a States routing, no such luck), on our way to Malta and home to Kinloss

Went back to Singapore this year, so much has changed beyond recognition, still a lovely place. Changi has got much bigger!

[goofer3]

Just remembered that I kept my "About your flight" brochure from my VC10 and Britania trips from the later part of the 60's. Noted this inside so hope it comes out OK. I notice it shows Britannia UK - Cyprus, but I did Muharraq - UK in a Britannia. (Can't understand why the Gooferess calls me a hoarder:E)http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae294/goofer33/RAFAirSupport.jpg?t=1287437147

[Brian 48nav]

It was Bugis Street, named after a race of piratical people I believe. There now is an MRT station bearing the name but I fear the sleazy street so beloved of British servicemen (with the world's smelliest loo)is no more.

[paulgibson0]

Brain 48 nav,

Flt LT Ted Gibson, you mentioned him in your post yesterday?

That was my Grandad!

[Kaz01]

I hope you don't mind but having read through this thread with a smile on my face, I felt moved to write this post. My father was a VC10 nav on 10 Sqn from September '73 to approximately December '74 until he was medically downgraded and re-branched. Previous to this, he was on the Devons at RAF Andover (21 Sqn). He died in 1984 when I was 11 so I have had very limited access to information about his RAF years. I joined the RAF myself in the late '90s and my stepmother gave me, as a gift, his logbook and photograph album. Having looked back through his logbook, I can see that in 1974, he travelled several times along the following route:

Outbound:- Brize-Akrotiri-Gan-Tengah-Hong Kong
Inbound:- Hong Kong-Tengah-Gan-Akrotiri-Brize

I did notice one trip in April 1974 that seemed to take in some seriously exotic sounding locations and involved travelling from Brize via Akrotiri, Gan, Tengah, Hong Kong, Guam, Honolulu, Offut(?) and Namao.

I left the Service several years ago and am happy being just a Mum now to my two children but I would just like to say how much I have enjoyed having the excuse today to dig out the old photo album which is chock-a-block full of photos and souvenirs from various trips. Thank you for giving this sentimental female the opportunity to feel as if I've gained more of an insight into my Dad's world. Not a day goes past without me missing him and the influence he had, and would have continued to have, on my life. :)

[AQAfive]

Brian 48nav

Many thanks for your correction, I noticed the name on a building but couldn't remember how to spell it. I was sure it wasn't the Boogie Street we all called it.

I am now in mourning at the loss of Norman.:{

Never trust a politician or a FJ jockey.

[moggiee]

Oddly no one has actually answered the routing issue from Cyprus to Bahrain..

Never did that myself. In the late 80s we would go Brize - Bahrain (where the slip crew would take over) - Columbo (refuel stop) - Hong Kong.

If the original poster wants the countries overflown it would be (if my aging memory has it right): UK, France, Italy, Greece (unless you had dangerous air cargo in which case you'd skirt the Greek/Libyan FIR boundary), Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain.

The next leg would be UAE, Oman, Indian ocean all the way to Columbo. (I don't recall overflying India en-route).

The final leg would also be mostly oceanic - pretty much direct to Thailand (Phuket) and then skirting Vietnam etc and up the South China Sea to HKG.

[Pontius Navigator]

Brain 48 nav,

Flt LT Ted Gibson, you mentioned him in your post yesterday?

That was my Grandad!

G**d, I felt old when I flew with someone's son. Now we have the grandkids under our feet :(

Just joking Paul. Our AEO on Nimrods had been the tail gunner for our captain's dad. He PVRd shortly after :)

[Warmtoast]

Talking of Gan and Navigators the following happened a decade earlier when Britannia's flogged the routes to and from the Far East.

I kept the following which appeared in the magazine of the RAF Britannia Association a couple of year's ago, because I found it so amusing.

Not sure who the author is but assume he was a member of the ground crew servicing the aircraft on it's 2-hour stop at Gan.



The night is one of those which can only be read about in a Mills and Boone novel - but is real. The warm, gentle, breeze blows off the Indian Ocean and rustles the Coconut Palm tree leaves. In the distance is the soft murmur as the rollers break on the reef. Stars shine down and seem no more than arms length away. The moon shines so brightly as to make it possible to read a newspaper, outside, in the middle of the night, and I can - I tried!

Things could be perfect, or as perfect as they can get on Gan, but the situation has gone horribly “Pear-shaped”.

It’s like this; manpower on the Transit Aircraft Servicing Flight dictates a permanent three shifts system each twelve hours “On” and twenty-four “Off”. No weekends, no Bank Holidays, no leave, nothing but “Time Ex” to relieve the repetition. We have Two/Three Airframe trades, Two/Three Engine, two Electricians, two Instrument and one “Electronics” man, plus a Boss, on each shift. The usual total of thirteen is definitely unlucky for some.

At the moment we have a problem. Due to sickness and family difficulties back in the UK we are down to just one “Electronic” representative, Cliff, among the three shifts. He can’t work 24h/day, so he is not on any one shift, but available at any time. “Available” in Cliff’s language means that you have to search the right watering hole in order to catch him for work when he is required. We need him tonight because we received a “Tech Warning” from a Brit coming in from Singapore, “No Returns on CCWR”. This means the crew cannot use Radar to see tropical storms ahead. They won’t be happy with a “Turnround” servicing and Take-off again. Gan has to increase its population from around three hundred to four hundred with all the feeding and shelter for crew and passengers this entails, until the aircraft is fit to fly once more. No-one is happy at the prospect. Cliff must be found!

Everything that can be done is done and we are ready for the arrival. As the aircraft stops we go through the turn-round procedure. Cooler, Oxygen/Air bottle/Bog Trollies, Ground Power Unit, Fuel Bowsers etc. are brought into position and the inspection starts and finishes as far as we are concerned, Radar excepted. Excuses are found to go onto the A/C to see how the Shift Boss is getting on with the Navigator.

The “Rover” arrives - the driver has found Cliff. Mixing him and the Navigator is likely to be a problem. Cliff looks and smells like someone who hasn’t showered, eaten or slept for some time. The Nav. is immaculate; for someone who has just flown a leg from Changi, he is a walking miracle. SD hat TDC, creases only where required in trousers. No sweat streak down the middle of the shirt back above a ramrod spine, tie straight and mat black. Shoes with no marks to mar the high polish and not a pinpoint of a sweat on his brow. A regulation picture.

Cliff gets down to business; that is, he sits at the Nav’s station and closes his eyes. Electricians hover with AVO and lamp and batteries at the ready. “Check Resistance between “D” and “F” on No Three plug”, the check is made and the result passed back to Cliff. “Check between “A” and “K” on “No. Two”. The assistants down in the “Forward Freight” carry out further instructions as requested, the shift boss anxiously consults his watch, the Nav. stands waiting (Why doesn’t he sit, go away, or at least, lean). Time passes, Cliff sweats even more, brow furrowed, heads peek out from the forward freight, everyone is at the ready, waiting for him to work his magic. Our meagre store of spare “Boxes” etc. for the CCWR system are gathered and we are ready to change, repair as far as we can or just thump the item that Cliff indicates is U/S, but he seems stuck. Everything is back to the way it was when we started. We are going round in circles. The A/C is cleared of equipment, except for Ground Power and the Cooler, ready to go when it’s fixed. We await Cliff…

“Run it” said Cliff. In no time I have three and four going in S’fine and the radar “ON”, we wait. Time seems to stand still, no one moves. The roar of the GPU intrudes above the engines and they are the only sounds in the world, apart from the thump, felt rather than heard, of the oscillating scanner. Suddenly, Cliff surges to the front of the cockpit, crying:
“Let me see that f*****g display”. He stares at the screen, turns to me and says “Stop it”. He stays there as the engines stop and the steps come in. We wait for Cliff to say something.

He turns and says “Who snagged this f*****g thing?”
“I did” states the Nav.

Cliff looks at him and, apparently, sees him for the first time. He puts his face close to the Nav’s, breathes out, and tries to focus. Everyone stays frozen in impossible positions, thinking he has finally cracked.

“You?”

Cliff hangs on his tie, flows round him and then pulls him, by the tie, to the top of the steps, we follow. He swings his spare arm in a gesture that covers the star-spangled firmament and declares.

“Can you see any f*****g clouds?” Then…

“How do you expect to get any f*****g returns?”.

The Nav enters the cabin while Cliff stumbles down the steps and into the back of the Rover, shouting “Get me back to the 180”. It goes off. So do we, fast.

No one but the Shift boss and the Nav. is on the A/C. Everyone is back on the Flight veranda, gazing back at the Brit and wondering what will happen now. After a few minutes the shift boss comes in and calls “Ops”.
“The Brit is finished, F700 cleared, and it’s ready to go”.

I suppose we never will find out what happened after we left the A/C, or what was said - unless one of your readers.........?

[Brian 48nav]

Hello Ted's grandson! Good to hear from you. I recall Ted and Averill had 3 children,the eldest a boy called Vaughan - I think!

Good job I wasn't rude about Ted!

All the best Brian Wildey

[pasir]

..Apologies if inappropriate but noting the name Averil
prompts me to enquire about an old family friend also named Averil (nee Saunders) - married airman in 60's - Averil died aged about 35 around the mid 1970's - Only info to hand beleived resided one time in RAF m/qs at or near Leicester - 2 sons - Husband beleived a/c RADAR mech - surname not known - only other info at one time drove BMW bubble car - A very long shot I know but wishing to visit the grave - Thanks for any help.

Brian

...

[Samuel]

I [RNZAF] once hitched a ride from Brize to Changi via Gan on a VC10. Having gone to the UK in the back of a Herc I can say that the VC10 would be my vehicle of choice every time! A brief stop at Gan, so I went walkabout and met a local and asked him the time:"half-past 19-bloody-67" was the reply, from which I gathered all the residents of Gan weren't entirely happy with their posting!

Regarding Brian 48's post on dress after 1800 I recall certain RNZAF Gp Capt in Singapore during the ANZUK days who arranged lunch at the Officers Mess at Tengah for all RNZAF Officers in ANZUK and as happens on occasion the lunch became more convivial as time went buy, until the PMC,RAF of course, suggested "shorts should not be worn after 1800 etc," whereupon the Kiwi contingent as one did a down shorts!

Yeah, I know.....:D

[paulgibson0]

Hello Brian,

Yes, Ted had 3 children, but that was with his 2nd wife.

Prior to that he had 4 children with is first wife, my grandma.

My dad is his eldest child, and I'm guessing from your username, he's the same age as you?

Vaughan is my dad's half brother and I've only met him a handful of times.

We're quite a fractured family!!!

If you have any stories or info on ted, I'd love to hear it, as I hardly knew him and he seems like quite a guy. :ok:

[bazzacat]

Found an interesting article- go to flightglobal.com, search archives for "Far East Commuter" and there is an article from 1970 about this very subject

[Brian 48nav]

Yes he was quite a guy! We were on the same Hercules course in 1967 when I was a 20yr old Pilot Officer and Ted was a 45yr old Branch List (ie ex Airman Aircrew) Flt Lt, and both went to 48 Sqn at Changi. He took me under his wing for a while which was a bit of a double-edged sword because it meant the trapper nav (a miserable Scottish b*****d called Jock P*****s) had an early look at me and thought I was nowhere near as good as Ted said!
I recall Ted saying he had been on Wellington bombers at Mersah Matruh in Egypt in WW2 and later became a transport man proud of his 10k hours.
Before the Herc he had done a double tour on the Brit, approx 62-67 so there may be someone on this forum that has a story or two from that time.I have Dave Berry's book about the Brit (The Whispering Giant in uniform) but there is no mention of Ted.
After Changi he went to HQ at Upavon as an OPs Controller - in fact I did speak to him on HF radio from Nairobi when I was on detachment there and had some problems sorting out rooms for the crews that were involved on an exercise there; much to the horror of the ground crew radio expert Ted and I were using first names to greet one another - I always was a rulebreaker!
I've just moved house so when I get the chance I'll dig out the photo of No4 Herc course and send it to you, and PM if I can think of some 'Ted' stories.Also I'm still mates with lots of ex48 guys so will ask for any of their memories of him.
I'd be pleased to get a PM to hear of what he did after retirement etc.
Cheers BW