Lt Cdr Martin 'Jack' London MBE QCBA

[lmgaylard]

Dear all,

Some of you may be aware that I am currently writing a book about the Sea Harrier.

I am currently writing a piece about the late 'Jack' London, with his widows blessing, and I was hoping that perhaps some of you who knew him and served alongside him would like to say a few words about him. Perhaps a funny story, an incident that stands out from the rest......you know what I mean.

I have covered his now famous 'cabriolet' SHAR landing on HMS Invincible, which is still a remarkable feat.

I have had some contributions from 1 of his former CO's of 800NAS and from some of the ground crew guys.

If any of you would like to help I would be most grateful.
Thank you in advance,
Kind regards,
Lewis

[Engines]

Lewis,

I had the honour to serve with Jack on 801, and he was a true FAA pilot - professional to the core, worked hard, played hard and bags and bags of real style.

Stories? Tons.

One that stood out was Jack's determination to carve his own path during a port visit. As the ship berthed, there was Jack, black leather jacket, black shirt, black trews, black shoes, black bag and black sunglasses, first down the gangway. Not a word to anyone.

Nothing heard for four days. At all.

Four days later, one minute before the gangway was to be lifted, Jack appears at the dockside. Black leather jacket, shirt, trews, shoes, bag, sunnies. Strolls up the gangway, snaps to attention, makes for his cabin. Duty Officer - "Hey Jack, where have you been?". Jack - "Around." Leaves.

Pure class. Miss him loads.

Engines

[tarantonight]

I am the son of a former FAA FJ man from the era prior to Jak London. My father's ashes are interred in the graveyard at St Barts in Yeovilton village and I visit as often as I can.

I always make a point of standing in front of certain Headstones, Jak London's amongst them. I look forward to the book, please keep me posted.

TN.

[SammySu]

Lets not forget his habit for brewing coffee in the mug, stashed anywhere and everywhere, over a several day period before returning to drink them once suitably matured.

Irreplaceable and full of panache.

[Bigpants]

Was this the same Jack London who would arrive for early met at Valley back in the 1980s with his breakfast consisting of:

Tin of Coke (leaded) and a half smoked Gallois Cig in his other paw?

He was a real character, sorry he left fashionably early from the party, probably had a better offer at the next one.

[airborne_artist]

You need to contact Arkroyal, a resident of this parish, who joined the Dark Blue on the same day as Jack. He should be able to put you in contact with others on 86 Flight BRNC.

[glad rag]

Feet | Define Feet at Dictionary.com (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/feet?s=t)

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[airborne_artist]

@glad rag Pedant | Define Pedant at Dictionary.com :ok:
(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pedant?s=t)

[MSOCS]

Was always fond of Jack when I often bumped into him at Wittering for the 899 NAS students' 'strips course', especially his love of extremely hot and spicy food! Stomach of steel and a wonderful sense of humour. RIP to a truly inspirational character that was taken too soon.

PS - I don't think you'll be short of dits on 7500 (that was one of Jack's name badges - SSR code for 'Hi-Jack')

[lmgaylard]

Thank you all for your recollections of 'Jack'.

I hope that it is OK with you if I may use some of the 'dits' in my piece about him. If you do have any objections, or you would like to add more, please let me know.

Thank you once again....:D

[Edmund Spencer]

OK, here's a good one.
Jack and I went through RAF Valley together on the Hawk.
We had all been down to the pub after a fairly hectic Friday afternoon "barrel" in the mess. Jack seemed to have hollow legs but I swear he had had at least 7 or 8 pints during the evening but seemed totally unaffected! He was driving quite briskly back to base at the end of the evening with us in another car in short trail. In those days he drove an incredibly clapped out Renault (I think).
Speeding around a corner which happened to be the well known location of a "Viet Taff" pub he broadsided some poor bloke pulling out of the pub car park. Jack stopped to see what the damage was but on seeing a mass exodus from the pub of extremely irate Viet Taff decided the best thing to do was make a break for it!. He was quickly chased down by some more Viet Taff who had by now got in their vehicles and hauled back to the pub car park for reckoning. I distinctly remember thinking things were about to get really ugly.
Luckily, at that moment the police turned up and both Jack and the guy he had driven in to were promptly breathalized.
Incredibly, Jack passed!!! The other guy didn't!
Never seen anything like it. We quickly went on our way and gave the area a wide berth for the next few months.
ES

[VitaminGee]

I had the pleasure of serving with Jack in Ark Royal ('87-'89 ish) and enjoyed his company immensely. The old saying "They broke the mould when...." most certainly applied to him and, unlike some of his colleagues, there were no airs and graces, what you saw was what you got!

Two things spring to mind: the first was his uncanny ability to avoid being detected, by the ever patrolling XO, having a kip in his cabin, at any time of the day. Clues that alerted the XO were the closed door of a cabin also in darkness. So Jack used to leave his door open with just the curtain pulled across, leave the lights on and pull the neatly arranged bed clothes/duvet completely over him (rumour has it the he had removed some of the central bed springs to reduce the profile!). I don't recall him ever being busted - well not for that sin anyway!;

the second relates to one of his few failings - he was rubbish at poker (5 card draw, dealers choice on wild cards etc.)! To cut a long story short, during a game initiated by a certain 848 B Flt looker (after a serious lunchtime sesh at anchor off the Yorkshire coast), having started out playing for pennies we ended up with a max bet per person per hand of £20. By the end of the afternoon/evening Jack owed lots! I was happy, however, to accede to his request not to cash his cheque (for more than £100) until the beginning of the following month!!

Good luck with the book, lmgaylard :ok:

[Pure Pursuit]

I had the pleasure of working with Jack during a 4 month stint on R05.

Coming towards the end of our tour, it occurred to me that I'd not seen a single SHAR land so, I popped up to Flyco and asked permission to take a look and get some pics.

Jack London was the second jet to approach the deck however, from the offset, things looked rather different from the first landing I'd just watched.

As he came to the transition to the hover, he didn't seem slow down much and maintained a healthy overtake on the carrier. Unfortunately, he did descend and disappeared from view. I will never forget the site of a WAFU waiving at him as he vanished. About a second later, jack reappeared courtesy of Martin Baker and promptly vanished again, this time into the water.

He subsequently drank like a fish on 2 deck. Hosted by most messes!!!! Utter legend.

A couple of days later, we went alongside in Gibraltar. Jack made an appearance in several bars dressed like Elvis. I will never forget looking across at the good looking :mad:, as he sang on karaoke, thinking 'good looking lad, harrier pilot, absolute gent AND he can sing like a star...' Slightly envious eyes from many of the lads.

Without exception, everybody on that ship loved him. I never heard a bad word said about him.

[ALTAM]

I served with Jack on 826 NAS C Flight in 1984 in RFAs Fort Austin and Tidespring during the early Falkland patrols. He was an interesting character to us Observers.

Wound the senior pilots up a treat and was always good for a evening session to make what was a fairly dull deployment more interesting. I always thought that he was destined for great things.

Sadly missed.

[lmgaylard]

Great story...:O

Are you sure this was 'Jack'?
From my records of Sea Harrier ejections this would appear to be Lt Blackburn who suffered engine failure whilst in the hover alongside HMS Invincible in XZ492 on 10th December 1996.

Just checking...

Thank you....:ok:

[Al R]

My final day in service was also Lt Cdr London's. I had just put the Op Fresco fire fighting det at Brampton to bed and returned to Wittering that morning when the crash alarm went; we were practically first there, my senses are still vivid with the shocking suddenness and violence of the event. I remember a young female LAC photog shaking and crying her eyes out but soldiering on because someone said that is what someone with his sense of professionalism would have wanted. I remember there was talk that Lt Cdr London stayed with the jet as it took off, allowing the student (?) to eject but thereby reducing his chances of survival to zero as the aeroplane rolled (out of trim?) towards the ground. The other pilot landed in the field just outside the wire I think. I started 12 months leave later that day - no beer, no celebrations.. who could possibly feel anything other than complete sadness? Universally, no one had a bad word to say about Lt Cdr London - whenever I very occasionaly saw him in Ops or taking a short cut through the section, he seemed 'just' a genuinely nice guy and his professional reputation of course, was beyond compare. An awful day.

[Pure Pursuit]

Oh, now I have an element of doubt in my mind....

I shall take your word for it, t'was a long time ago.:suspect:

[Alpha Whiskey]

PP - It was Blackers that jumped out that day. Due to launch as a 4-ship, one of the jets went US on start, so the returning order was Blackers as No 1, Tinsel as No 2 (who subsequently had to overshoot and ultimately land with very little left in the tank) and Jack as No 3.

AW

[Thomas coupling]

Took me to post #16 to realise it was the Jack London I knew. I only met the guy a few times while he was on SeaKing. A maverick if ever I met one and very very likeable guy.
I didnt realise he had died. What year was it? What was he flying?
RIP you old bugger.

[diginagain]

TC;

Navy's best pilot killed in Harrier training crash - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1415300/Navys-best-pilot-killed-in-Harrier-training-crash.html)

[SixOfTheBest]

Had the pleasure of many a few beers with Jack. A few things I will always remember:

First, his dress sense...Jack was subject to regulations that no-one else has ever found. Flying suit, Rank slides optional. Boots, type optional, laces undone. Issue polo-neck optional, normally a Ralph Lauren shirt under the flying suit. Cravat optional extra. Smile and glint, always.

Coffee. Arrive at work. Make coffee, drink half. Leave coffee somewhere 'safe'. Do some work. Make another coffee, drnik half, leave somewhere 'safe'. More work, find first coffee, add another spoon or two, drink half...you get the picture. End of the day, several cups of syrup, all in 'safe' places.

Curry. Phaal. Eat half after night on the lash train, bring in other half for lunch.

I remember being told story about his early days at Yeovilton...someone else might be better placed to elaborate. Young Jack goes out for a night on the lash train several miles from base. Following morning, 10 miles from the base, 20 minutes to Met Brief, stn cdr passes chap wearing something like i've mentioned earlier walking down side of dual carriageway. Pulls up, winds the window down, and without even looking at who the stray is, calls, 'Get in Jack'!

I remember being at a chain 'Old Orleans' or something in York many years ago and Jack was challenged (for literally 10p) to yam the bowl full of condiments sitting on the table....which he does, 'cos after all a challenge is a challenge...Oils, vinegars, sauces etc. A few more beers and strolling back to digs and even the iron stomach of Jack acts up. He wonders into a front garden, leans over and proceeds to ralph condiments over the roses...just as an old lady opens the front door. Jack finishes, wipes his mouth, smiles politely and says 'Wonderful Evening isn't it?'

A true gent. Plied with with brandy sours once in Akrotiri when I went U/S....wearing the same outfit, with the glint and smile, and, no doubt, with a chicken Phaal/Well hot kebab on order....!

[lmgaylard]

Thank you all so very much for your tales of 'Jack'.......

I must confess that I have had quite a chuckle reading them and over the next couple of days I will incorporate them into my piece on him.

He certainly seems a 'unique' character....:)

Thank you all once again for taking the time to re-tell your 'dits'......

Very much appreciated:ok::ok:

Kind regards
Lewis

[orca]

I was fortunate in that it was Jack who was LSO the day (well - one of the days) that I elected to make a buffoon of myself alongside (well - in front of) the boat. I had been bantered about long deliberate decelerations and was determined to put matters right. Which I did with a fairly major over swing from sublime to ridiculous.

Jack offered the calm, sage words of 'Why don't you go around and have another go?" just as I lost sight of Mum over my right hand shoulder...which was a little embarrassing as you might imagine.

He came straight down to the briefing room at the behest of Wings (who I got on with infamously badly due to a previous 'small misunderstanding') and told me (laughing, eyes twinkling) that he had been ordered to give me a very serious talking to. With that lovely smile of his he simply asked "Shall we consider this a very serious talking to then?" And off he went, minging coffee in hand!

[Mick Strigg]

I joined Dartmouth with Jack and went through flying training with him until he disappeared down the FJ pipeline. However, he reappeared in the RW domain a couple of years later when he had been "restreamed" for what he described as "Character and Leadership" problems at Wittering! So, he was on his first tour whilst I was on my second and we had some great flying in the Falklands and South Georgia before he went back to FW where his natural talents belonged.

The only person I know to have been killed by FOD: A piece of FOD struck a turbine blade at some time before the accident. It caused a stress raiser and the blade parted from the disc just as they were running up towards the ramp at Wittering. The departing blade struck a large valve unit which bent and pinned the aileron control rod against the side of the airframe. As the aircraft left the ramp, it started to roll, which could not be corrected as the control rod was immovable. The student ejected first, just in time, but Jack was so unfortunate to eject just after the airframe had passed 90 deg roll, so the inevitable happened; what a great shame.

His death prompted Yeovilton to change its attitude towards FOD and you will now be unable to find a cleaner airfield anywhere in this country! The RN flight Safety Centre kept the relevant parts of his aircraft to educate visitors on the importance of good FOD control and every visitor reeled at the story of how such a great man was lost due to a tiny object. Yeovilton's FOD policy was then adopted by DASC/DARS as the MOD FOD policy and therefore it is immesurable how many lives have been saved as a consequence of his tragic loss.

Gone but not forgotten matey.

[WhiteOvies]

Lewis,

I served with Jack on 899 NAS, PM sent.

Best Regards,

WhiteOvies