RAF Whirlwind British Guiana

[The soldier]

I am former 'Self Loading Cargo' and now the historian of The King's Regiment. The attached photograph shows three Kingsmen, all identified, in British Guiana between September 1965 and March 1966. Can anyone identify the chap in the driving seat of the Whirlwind please? If he is not sitting in the driving seat, I would still like to identify him. If anything interesting is known about the aircraft I would quite like to know that as well.

[sycamore]

If you wait a bit,Old-Duffer or D120a may be along; it was probably 230 Sqdn Det,can`t remember the Flight No.,and to me it looks like Eric Smith,or possibly Simon Pettit.If you have any more photos,they`d be most welcome,especially ones showing a/c registration.no.,as it is another `forgotten` excursion in far off places.

It was 1310 Flight,RAF.

[mandylifeboat]

Sycamore - I think it's probably your steely-eyed, lantern-jawed successor at RAE, looking just a bit younger.
Faith was XJ409, Hope XJ727 and Charity XJ430 - wonder what happened to them?

[teeteringhead]

wonder what happened to them? According to the UK Serials site (http://www.ukserials.com), 409 went to Llanbedr in 1994, 430 went to Manston Fire School and "perished" in Jan '90, while 727 became 8661M (is that an engineering training number?) and then to "Richborough, Kent" (??) in 2007.

That site also has pictures of 409 at Rhoose in SAR yellow (presumably):

http://www.ukserials.com/images/ukimages/xj409.jpg

and 727 in Shawbury (2 FTS) colours:

http://www.ukserials.com/images/ukimages/xj727.jpg

727 was at Ternhill (CFS(H)) in 1970 - cos it's in my logbook a few times (me as a Stude).

[with apologies for any copyright infringement!]

[chinook240]

Edit: Just seen Teetering's post, we were looking at the same time.

Courtesy of http://www.ukserials.com:

XJ409 - f/f 03/11/1954 as XD779, re-serialled to XJ409, d/d 19/11/1954, to Westland helicopters, Old Mixon 15/01/1963 for conversion to HAR10 standard, f/f 20/07/1964 as such, returned to service 05/08/1964, to Wales Aircraft Museum, Rhoose 13/06/1979 for display, to the Pump House Restaurant, Grangetown, Wales during 1992, then to Llanbedr, Wales during 1994, fate unknown.

http://www.ukserials.com/images/ukimages/xj409.jpg

XJ727 - f/f 29/12/1955, aw/cn 31/12/1955, d/d 03/01/1956, converted to HAR4 standard 03/08/1962 whilst serving with 22 Sqn St Mawgan, to Westland Helicopters, Old Mixon 10/01/1963 for re-conversion to HAR10 standard, returned to service 22/05/1964, to No.1 SoTT Halton 27/11/1980 for ground instructional use as 8661M, to RAF Manston History Museum 17/05/1998 for spares, to Richborough, Kent during 2007

http://www.ukserials.com/images/ukimages/xj727.jpg

XJ430 - f/f 20/01/1955, d/d 25/05/1955, to Westland helicopters, Old Mixon 29/06/1962 for conversion to HAR10 standard, f/f 25/05/1964 as such, returned to service 22/06/1964, to CTE Manston Fire School 16/11/1979, perished during 01/1990

http://www.ukserials.com/images/ukimages/xj430.jpg

[7of9]

According to the UK Serials site (http://www.ukserials.com), 409 went to Llanbedr in 1994, 430 went to Manston Fire School and "perished" in Jan '90, while 727 became 8661M (is that an engineering training number?) and then to "Richborough, Kent" (??) in 2007.

That site also has pictures of 409 at Rhoose in SAR yellow (presumably):

http://www.ukserials.com/images/ukimages/xj409.jpg

and 727 in Shawbury (2 FTS) colours:

http://www.ukserials.com/images/ukimages/xj727.jpg

727 was at Ternhill (CFS(H)) in 1970 - cos it's in my logbook a few times (me as a Stude).

[with apologies for any copyright infringement!]
Think that will be one of the many airframes my father would have serviced.
Cpl/ Sgt Bill Marshall, engine bay RAF Tern Hill1968 to 1975.

[Hueymeister]

A truly ugly aircraft...

[Fareastdriver]

It's not Simon Pettit. He came to us on 230 Sqn when 1310 folded and he didn't look like that.

[sycamore]

H-M,only to those who never operated it...
`409 was at AAEE in`71,ETPS and `D`Sqdn hack,and `727 was still at Strawberry in `80..
Mandy,yes ,I think we were all steely-jawed and lantern-eyed..now it`s all a bit more `slack`....`all bets are off`...!

[mandylifeboat]

My thanks to the three researchers on finding the ultimate destinations of Faith, Hope and Charity. I was at Tern Hill in 1971 and now, having just looked at my logbook, find that I also flew XJ727 on several occasions.
Sycamore - By the time I got to AAEE in '74 they must have 'upgraded' (!) the D Sqn hack to a Mk.7 (XN385) - never saw 409.
H-M wot do you mean 'ugly'? Have you never seen a Mil Mi-1?

[Roadster280]

Less ugly than walking :)

[Old-Duffer]

Could it be Mike Betts?

1310 was an established flight and people went there for a six month or so detachment. There is probably a Form 540/541 in the National Archives and that will narrow it down to about four guys.

They all look so young!!!

Old Duffer - not being much help

[Fareastdriver]

Could it be Mike Betts?

SWMBO says it might be.

[GANNET FAN]

Weren't the three Gloster Gladiators in the siege of Malta named Faith, Hope and Charity?

[MPN11]

Indeed they were, GANNET FAN

[Fareastdriver]

Having operated the Whirlwind in Borneo in similar conditions to British Guiana with the power you had available you really needed Faith, Hope and prayed for Charity.

[Rigga]

Huey and Roadster,
They might look ugly but they were good for cutting your teeth on. As an LAC I was taught how to hover those things in the corners of Chetwynd and that minor skill came in handy for flying a Huey years later...not bad for a Rigga.

PS - Im sure '430 was also at Tern Hill/Shawbury!

[Herod]

Chetwynd. Now there's a name from the past to conjure with.

[Fareastdriver]

When I was a snotty nosed APO at Tern Hill learning to fly the mighty radial engined Provost T1 the duty student was required to accompany the orderly corporal plus a couple of heavies and inspect the RAF sites that had fallen into disuse owing to the Germans surrendering. They had been kept going until the mid fifties and the inspection was to ensure that squatters had not invaded the premises; that's what the heavies were for.

They was one at Chetwynd consisted of a group of wooden huts with a tall fence around them that still had the standing orders and paraphernaliar dating from way back.

Five years later, learning to fly Sycamores it had all gone; just a grass field.

[teeteringhead]

Chetwynd still in use by DHFS!

[Rigga]

Yes - the grass field is all I remember except for a few low walls by the gate where Bowsers used to park.
Nice to know it's an asset not yet sold by MOD...unlike Tern Hill

[teeteringhead]

Rigga

unlike Tern Hill

It's only the domestic site, hangars etc - aka "Clive Barracks" - that's being sold off. The airfield - still technically RAF Ternhill - will still be used by DHFS and - I understand - by an expanded and very wonderful (sic) Air Cadet Glider Squadron/School.........

Most of the quarters were sold off ages ago by Allington Homes (sp?) at great profit - to them!

[Nugget90]

I few in to Atkinson Field in what was then British Guiana on the 24th of June 1964 acting in the capacity of co-pilot of a No 24 Squadron Hastings. We had been tasked to fly around that area visiting various airfields lest we should be called upon at some future date to support an airbridge resupplying our British Army colleagues who were stationed there.

We had flown in from Nassau and the intention was that we should spend a couple of days with the army as our hosts at Atkinson before buying beers and spirits from the NAAFi to 'fuel' a party hosted by veterans at our next stop, Barbados.

However, no sooner had we joined our army colleagues in their Mess bar, which was on the first floor of a building, then some dissident with a sten or machine gun opened up from the adjacent jungle! The soldiers promptly hit the floor followed by us a nano-second later, whilst the intrusion was sorted out. The welcome drinks then continued until, in the dark, we found our beds in rooms on the ground floor and attempted to sleep, with difficulty despite the alcohol - not having previously encountered such a hiatus!

At dawn, just after I think we had all fallen asleep with exhaustion, a most almighty BANG startled us from just outside the building! Of course the first explanation that entered our minds was a renewed attack, but when we looked through the windows we saw a Whirlwind starting up (a starter cartridge I think it might have been).

Given the situation in the area and an approaching storm, we amended our plans, bought the booze and hurried off to Barbados where from the comfort of the bar we watched the storm whip up vast waves and bend the palm trees low.