RAF centrifuge video

[tonker]

A little more light relief. Did i laugh..yes, could i do a better job...nope.

Sorry if this is a repost:ok:


LiveLeak.com - The RAF centrifuge might make you say pip pip cheerio to your fish n' chips

[lightningmate]

Possibly the obvious QinetiQ nameplate in the background will provide a hint to the actual owner - the RAF gave it away, along with many other irreplaceable capabilities, many years ago.

Don't ask how much it costs to use what was once ours!

lm

[fantom]

Hmm...sustained 8G is a bit severe; would they have sued in the event of a ruptured aorta?

Worse: who remembers the Cerney spin table c 1966?

No daylight in there and far worse than G in one axis. Your breakfast intake was recorded and then inspected later...

[VX275]

the RAF gave it away,

It actually belonged to the MOD, who I suppose still own the RAF.
As to the RAF having such an asset, did they ever get the brand new (and very expensive) centrifuge for the RAF IAM at Henlow working?

[ian176]

Possibly the obvious QinetiQ nameplate in the background will provide a hint to the actual owner - the RAF gave it away, along with many other irreplaceable capabilities, many years ago.

Don't ask how much it costs to use what was once ours!

lm

Obviously under the LTPA you won't be paying anything for it for the next 18(?) years? Meanwhile back in the real world.....

[SirToppamHat]

As to the RAF having such an asset, did they ever get the brand new (and very expensive) centrifuge for the RAF IAM at Henlow working?

Well, there's a beautifully put together round building right next to CAM ... and I guess somewhere there's an equally beautiful centrifuge that's ... err ... just slightly too big to fit inside it.

STH

[LOAgent]

Hmm...sustained 8G is a bit severe; would they have sued in the event of a ruptured aorta?

Not severe at all. I suspect some of these fine young aviators have aspirations to fly on the extremely 'G' capable Typhoon. Fair enough the anti-g equipment they would wear on the Typhoon would help but they've got to be able to execute an effective AGSM. Less than 5 seconds useful consciousness at 9+G would definitely have severe consequences though.

[Could be the last?]

STH,

Correct!:ugh:

[lightningmate]

ian176 - Unless there has been a change very recently, the Farnborough Centrifuge is not included in the LTPA. I doubt anyone would consider doing so due to its continuing life span being so tenuous. Possibly, you are thinking of the support funded by the Typhoon Team ?

VX275 - The RAF IAM was destroyed long before the Centrifuge Replacement programme fired up. No Centrifuge was ever installed at Henlow, just the building in anticipation. Safety concerns with the new facility design led to a Legal Engagement with the Centrifuge Contractor. As usual, the MOD lost the case and effectively paid twice for a Centrifuge that was never delivered. Thereafter, the smiling Contractor sold the same centrifuge facility to another Customer! A situation that has an all too familiar ring to it :ugh:

LOAgent - Takes much more of a sharp-edged jolt to rupture a healthy Aorta, Mine is still coping, so I think everyone else operating in the High +Gz environment can sleep happy at night.

lm

[Wander00]

So (merely as a tax-payer) the RAF ordered a centrifuge, paid for it twice and never got the facility - and who was fired for incompetence?

[LOAgent]

lm - I was merely refuting the speculation by fantom that 8G may have been severe. I am quite comfortable with the very low chance of severed aortas due to the G experienced during the maneuvering of modern fighters. Mine too is still firmly in place.

[fantom]

To be clear: Sustained 8G.

Done more than that many times but sustained in the box?

I don't think so.

[ex-fast-jets]

8G!!

F-16 drivers laugh at 8G!!!

If you can't cope with 9G and look over your shoulder at the same time, you're a wimp!!

8G isn't severe - it's a building block to the real thing!!

[fantom]

OK, I think we are at crossed purposes here; I'm talking about my Toyota Camry.

[Wwyvern]

Talk of the IAM caused me to remember two incidents whilst visiting RAE Farnborough in late 1970s/early 80s.

First was in the OM and a Gp Capt doctor being peeved that the RAeS refused to appoint him to Chartered Engineer status. The second was seeing the rail track for sled acceleration work whose wired off compound carried the warning "Trespassers will be experimented upon".

[viz]

Just out of interest, are the G runs done while wearing an anti-G suit?

...and the F16 centrifuge?

[lightningmate]

Wwyvern

Said Medical Branch RAF Gp Capt could well have been the irreplaceable Gp Capt Tony Barwood. The most senior Gp Capt to have served in the RAF - promoted 1950.

Tony Barwood was the RAF IAM Aircraft Accident Investigation Specialist for years and he knew his stuff inside out. This included the engineering aspects, which is why he would have been grumpy. His workshop at the IAM was an Aladdin's Cave of aircraft accident history and his related engineering capability.

Another claim to fame was the use of his backside as the profile model for fibre glass PSPs.

He suffered fools not at all; hence his seniority as a Gp Capt and no higher. Unfortunately, no longer with us and the RAF will not see his like again.

lm

[blaireau]

The fibre glass seat profile used on the MB's was called the "Barwood Bum".

I recall a pleasantly sociable ocasion with Gp Capt Barwood and several 8 and 208 colleagues in the bar at Muharraq. The noise offended Wingco admin, one "Gladwys Dunbar", (a bit of a hand cranker), who ordered us all out of the bar. The noisy medic introduced himself, apologised on all our behalves, and the session continued sans "Gladwys".

[Lou Scannon]

I was nominally on the staff at IAM and remember Gp Capt Tony Barwood with fond memories. He was a force to be reckoned with...but always on the side of us aircrew.

I remember when a team from a far eastern country were entertained to lunch in the Officers' Mess...much against the Group Captains instincts, having seen the British Servicemen who had been their Emperors "Guests" during the war. He refused to have lunch with them and as they entered the anti-room afterwards simply stood up and announced in a loud voice:

"Bit of a Nip in the air this morning!" before stomping out.

...and he did stomp as he had taken to wearing a pair of flying boots that he had removed from a Phantom pilot who no longer had need for them. He explained his dress with the words that in his opinion, the chances of two men dying in the same pair of boots was pretty remote.

...it is worth mentioning that I have omitted all the "F's" and "B's" that he would have peppered his comments with!

He was a man with whom most aircrew were totally unaware, but he was probably more responsible for saving their lives behind the scenes than anyone else.

I only achieved the distinction of receiving praise from him on one occasion...and that concerned bringing a donkey into the Institute. A story that is best left untold!