Were you flying Nimrods in 1974?

[Fris B. Fairing]

I have been researching aviation in the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy at Darwin in December 1974. One of my sources, who crewed Hercules C1 XV199 into Darwin on 27 December, states that they spoke on the radio to a Nimrod which was evacuating British subjects to Singapore. I would welcome details of the operation such as the identity of the Nimrod, crew names and number of pax. You can view my research
here (http://www.qam.com.au/papers/tracy/tracy.htm)

Rgds

[Nimman]

FBF - This article came from a 42 Sqn history book

"On 25 December 1974 Cyclone Tracy had devasted Darwin in Northern Australia and 42 Sqn Crew 8 (Capt-Sqn Ldr Trowern), who were based at SAF Tengah, Singapore on the Nimrod Maritime Detachment (MARDET), were called out during the night to fly to Darwin to assist in the airlift of survivors of the disaster. They were the first RAF crew to arrive on the scene and were able to move a large number of civilians to safety."

If anyone has any further info I would also be interested to hear some details.

[500N]

The RAF had some personnel stationed in Darwin at the time / attached to the RAAF.

Have you tried contacting them ?

[Fris B. Fairing]

I have managed to contact Bob Trowern who was the captain of the Nimrod in question. He recalls:

At the time I was a Squadron Leader on No. 42 Sqn and XV255 with my crew were on a two month detachment based at Tengah, Singapore. We arrived at Darwin in the dark at, as far as my memory serves me, around 2300 local time on 26th December 1974. We needed fuel to return to Tengah but that at Darwin was all contaminated. The obvious place for us to refuel to return to Singapore was Bali. Unfortunately we could not obtain permission to go there. Local information assured us fuel was available at Tindal, about 30 minutes to the south. We loaded our 38 UK civilians aboard and hopped down to Tindal, only to discover if we took fuel we'd take most of their stock and have to fuel over wing! Thus there was no alternative but to head east to RAAF Townsville. We arrived there at first light and were extremely well looked after. We arrived back at Tengah early evening local time on 27th December."

Nimman, thanks for coming up with the captain's name. Google and a bit of luck did the rest.

Rgds

[Nimman]

38 pax + crew. That must be the closest, and probably the only time, a Nimrod came to carrying out its Troop Carrying Role of ferrying 45 troops.

Must be a record for the number of persons on a Nimrod flight. Unless anybody knows any different?

[Captain Tercrew]

Please excuse thread drift, but I wonder, is he related to Fred Trowern who was one of the leading lights in the Kestrel/Harrier tials?
He finished his aviation career as Flt Comd at Basic fixed wing at MW in the 90s as I recall, what a gent, a super guy who inspired trust and friendship from all who knew him. Not sure where he is now.

[Fris B. Fairing]

Captain Tercrew

In answer to your question, Bob Trowern advises:

Fred Trowern is my elder brother but, unlike me, spent his flying career as a fighter jock. During his 32 years in the RAF Fred flew Meteors, Hunters, Kestrels and Jaguars and was awarded an OBE,AFC and 2 Queen's Commendations for Valuable Services in the Air.


Rgds