Blackburn's Finest

[CoffmanStarter]

Some cracking pictures of the mighty Buccaneer worth sharing ...

It’s hard to believe that it has been 20 years since the iconic shape of the Blackburn Buccaneer left the RAF inventory, but that’s what the celebrations were all about on Saturday 29th March at Bruntinghtorpe airfield, near Leicestershire. With unseasonably mild temperatures, blue skies and sunshine, both models belonging to the Buccaneer Aviation Group, S2Bs XW544 and XW894, both looked superb in their shiny new coats of paint, XW964’s being her first outing for 12 months following an in depth service and a full re-paint. Glenn Beasley was there for GAR.

GAR Bruntinghtorpe : 20 More Years (http://www.globalaviationresource.com/v2/2014/04/02/aviation-event-review-20-more-years-of-the-mighty-buccaneer/)

Any takes for flying XW544, XW894 or XW964 when in service :ok:

As the title to this thread is a little ambiguous as to what was Blackburn's Finest ... all Beverley contributions are most welcome :ok:

[david parry]

Bravo /Zulu on the paint job...ps we never had a pilot on 809 squadron called Norma lol;)

[MrBernoulli]

Ah, I thought this was going to be a thread about the Blackburn Beverley ........
:ok:

[Cornish Jack]

Precisely, Mr B!!:ok:
Blackburn getting the contract for that 2 seat 'runabout' prevented them producing the Bev Mk2 - pressurised, Tyne powered and more than a match for Fat Albert. Oh, what could have been!:{

[CoffmanStarter]

Mr B, CJ ...

Just to keep you chaps happy :ok:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Blackburn_beverley_in_1964_arp.jpg/640px-Blackburn_beverley_in_1964_arp.jpg

CJ ... I take it that the Mk2 was to have been the B-107/Tyne variant ?

[Fake Sealion]

As an Abingdonian Who lived just inside the downwind leg of 26 L I was brought up with sights and sounds of the Beverley.

Ah happy memories!

[Fake Sealion]

Interesting photo.
I see it's 47 Sqn machine with the crane symbol on the fins but what is the significance of the dayglo patches I wonder?

[HTB]

Camouflage?

[Davef68]

Used for training flights if my memory is holding up - there were a number of Comets with similar markings

[EyesFront]

Go faster stripes, clearly...

[nimbev]

Nice to see that you got the thread back onto its rightful theme CS :ok:

By the way, the dayglo patches on the extremities were to stop MAMS from driving into the beast!

[NutLoose]

I see it's 47 Sqn machine with the crane symbol on the fins but what is the significance of the dayglo patches I wonder?

They're a navigation aid, as long as the Nav is situated between all 4 Dayglo patches he knows where he is.

[nimbev]

They're a navigation aid, as long as the Nav is situated between all 4 Dayglo patches he knows where he is. ie LOST.... actually we were never lost - just permanently unsure of our position.

[NRU74]

API, Drift Sight and ADF ...... that were luxury !

[Herod]

I believe Beverley navigators only had to navigate outbound. Inbound, they just followed the oil slick. ;)

[Lyneham Lad]

I believe Beverley navigators only had to navigate outbound. Inbound, they just followed the oil slick. ;)

Indeed - exactly what I was told when I had the pleasure of a leisurely voyage from Seletar to Kuching in early 1966. Later in my tour when 34 Sqn's Queens of the Sky were scrapped, I was a member of the 390 MU working party wielding the axe. A sad end to an impressive machine.

[goudie]

Working behind an engine, in the leading edge, was a unique Beverly experience:eek: Lovely old crate.

[Rossian]

.....but could it be true?
I had a captain on the kipper fleet who had been on the Bev. He claimed his most frightening moment was at an overseas base where, for some reason, it was decided to have a cocktail party in the cargo hold. Late in the evening he was saying farewell to one of the VIPs on the ground outside he saw that another crew member** had persuaded a pretty young thing to accompany him on a walk along the top of the boom; exiting from a hatch above the wing and re-entering another hatch at the back of the passeger cabin. She was in high heels and clutching a glass as she teetered along.
Could this have been possible?

The Ancient Mariner

**PS my money is on it having been the flight engineer

And yes I did really like the Bucc pictures too - honest guv. Who? Thread drift?? Me?

[goudie]

PS my money is on it having been the flight engineer:cool:

So is mine!

[Cornish Jack]

Rossian and Goudie - if it was, it would have been late in the day. We didn't have 'ginger beers' until the Bev had been in service for some time.
The first wing hatch exit and stroll onto the tail boom was courtesy of our Co-pilot Hugh *******, a young man with an irritating amount of charm for nubile young ladies!! (where's the jealousy smiley?) He had rounded up a pair of nursing sisters while we were static parked at Plymouth Roborough Air Display. He then went off with the Skipper John K to sample West Country beverages, leaving the ladies in our care. Hot day, wing hatches removed, momentary inattention and went to the rear flight deck to see a pair of shapely ankles exiting the hatch! Rushed to hatch expecting to see disaster scene but instead, said lady was happily perched on the top of the boom - best seat in the house for the flying display! Recovery process was carefully overseen (shoes removed!!!) and pulse returned close to normal after half an hour or so.
Day was rounded off with a memorable departure - lots of dew on the grass runway so we taxied up to the hedge, then reversed to put the tail boom over the road, max thrust against brakes until it started to skid, then off and into a V2 climb. I suspect there was not much that was more spectacular on the day. Young, silly and happy as a pig in whatever pigs are happy in!:ok::uhoh:

[langleybaston]

I think it had to be a fleet of Beverleys at RAF Nicosia c. 1962, tasked with a big paradrop exercise. Big even by 1962 standards.

I did the mass met-brief at the age of 24 in front of seemingly hundreds. Surface wind speed iffy for the drop but I forecast decreasing.

Watching the climbout from the tower balcony, looking up the arse of the Beverleys with interior lights on, and clamshell doors either removed or open has remained in my memory.

Please can this have been so?

PS not a leg broken, nor a vehicle pranged. Happy boss.

[RAFEngO74to09]

The clamshell doors were removable. There were also paradrop doors in the floor of the tailboom passenger compartment.

[ancientaviator62]

The clamshell doors could not be opened in flight on the Bev. So when airdropping stores over the ramp they had to be removed on the ground.

[Haraka]

Beverley.
First flight (as the "Universal Freighter") 20 June 1950, so younger than the Canberra.:)

Captain( Harold Wood) to Co-Pilot (D.G. Brade) on lifting off from Brough.

"Well, my side's airborne!"

[nimbev]

Cornish Jack's post reminds me of arriving at BoB Open Days, opening the doors and driving out one of our cars. All ready for a night on the town. A set of wheels suddenly made us the most popular crew around. The look on the faces of the fast jet guys was always a joy to behold

[ian16th]

#25 posts and nobody has mentioned pumping oil yet. :eek:

[ricardian]

A Beverley transported me from Muharraq to Sharjah in 1963 and back to Muharraq in 1964. Clambering up into the top deck clutching an RAF holdall was not an easy task!

[Haraka]

Farnborough's Beverley (XB259?) nearly caught me out. Exploring up the tail boom I went through a bulk head (past the Elsan?)and nearly stepped out into space. ( The para doors being open, of course).
Subsequently, I read of the Co-Pilot who tragically lost his life by falling through these doors on to the pan beneath.

[skua]

Capt Harold Wood was of course known as 'Timber' !

[ian16th]

Haraka,

Didn't hear of a co-pilot, but a groundcrew guy fell to the tarmac at Luqa, circa 57-58.

He staged through Istres on a Casavac flight back to UK.

So he survived to that point, I never did hear anything more.

[Cornish Jack]

Haraka - Para door disposition was t'other way round - Para doors, then Elsan doors, then access to the booster units.
Co-pilot incident happened at Khormaksar. Co.s were required to do a rudder and elevator hyd booster inspection as part of the pre-flight. Access was via the boom Elsan compartment which was immediately aft of the floor para doors. Our Co had gone through to do the check and while in there, the Movers put a boom loading ladder in position on the ground and opened the para doors ... without checking if there was anyone behind the Elsan. It was half past 4-ish and dark and Co backed out of the toilets and stepped into space, fell onto the ladder and suffered, ultimately, fatal injuries. Skipper and I held him until the ambulance arrived but no hope of recovery.
Two points of note :
This was the only fleet aircraft which hadn't had a mod fitted which coupled a pair of pins to the para doors to prevent the Elsan doors opening if the para doors were open.
The local OC Flying arrived after things had been sorted and happily informed that we wouldn't have to delay long as we would be supplied with a replacement Co from the local (84) Sqdn!!!!:mad::yuk:
Andy Andrus was the Skip - a notably gentle man ... his reaction to this suggestion was suitably out of character and entirely justified:ok: We, surprise, surprise, went nowhere that day, apart from drowning sorrows - again courtesy of Andy.
One of a number of days which won't/can't be erased.
Ian 16th - oil pumping? 84 gallons in the overload tanks, filled via the overwing caps (done by knackered Shell man at Elisabethville, during Congo troubles, one gallon at a time!!!) and pumped via the hand pump and selector in the 'dog kennel'. This was an exercise not recommended at 8000' for heavy smokers - cold-soak oil does not pump easily!

[ian16th]

Ian 16th - oil pumping? 84 gallons in the overload tanks, filled via the overwing caps (done by knackered Shell man at Elisabethville, during Congo troubles, one gallon at a time!!!) and pumped via the hand pump and selector in the 'dog kennel'. This was an exercise not recommended at 8000' for heavy smokers - cold-soak oil does not pump easily!

Well done Son!:ok:

There must be more oil pumping stories from the Bev, than any other mundane task that was ever done in the RAF. Why couldn't the Air Ministry have put in an electric pump? It would have cost about £10 in those days.

I only ever had to do it on the ground at Istres/Orange, it was a fine way to sweat off a hangover :eek:

[brakedwell]

Operation Quickstep 2, Kano, Nigeria April 3 1958. Transport Command is moving a large number of Paras from to UK to Kenya. While our Hasting was being refuelled I heard the (detached) ground crew discussing the U/S Beverley parked next to us.
Airframe fitter to Eng fitter, "I've fixed the snag on the Bev, Jim."
Eng fitter, "Which snag?"
"The broken Elsan seat in the boom."
'How did you manage that?"
"Just wrote ground tested and found comfortable in the 700."

[Mick Strigg]

Bucc, Bev...... I thought that this was going to be about the 1699 aircraft that Blackburn built in Sherburn-in-Elmett during the war that, due to its sterling work on the Atlantic convoys, prevented us from losing the war.

What was it? Don't you know? Shame on you! The Swordfish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Swordfish) of course.

[HTB]

Most of the Swordfish might have been built by Blackburn, but it was a Fairey Swordfish that they were constructing.

Mister B

[brakedwell]

There's always the Skua and the Roc, which were even slower than the Beverley.