Vickers Varsity

[Yellow Sun]

GEE - Decca - TACAN VOR/DME

IIRC Gee was finally shut down around 62/63 so the Nav was probably using Decca which was a broadly similar system.

GEE remained the "Rapid Fixing Aid" for basic navigator training until 1970. Decca was not fitted to the 2 Air navigation School (ANS) aircraft at Gaydon until 1969 although it had been in use on the 1 ANS Dominies and the pilot training Varsitys at Stradishall and Oakington for some time. The Varsitys at
1 ANS were fitted with Green Satin doppler (IIRC) but I cannot recall whether they had Decca or not.

The 2 ANS aircraft had GEE Mk3 but GEE Mk2 was still installed in the pilot trainers.

The VOR/DME fit appeared on the 2 ANS aircraft in 1969 and by the time both ANS were relocated at Finningley as 6 Flying Training School (FTS) all the aircraft had this fit. I do not know whether the pilot training aircraft were similarly modified. TACAN was introduced prior to 1972.

It is worth reflecting that in 1968 all the equipment on the Varsitys used for basic navigator training would have been recognisable to a WW2 bomber crew.

YS

[alvin-sfc]

Ahhhh ! The Varsity.My one and only flight in one was as an air cadet on summer camp at Linton upon Ouse 1971.As we flew over York,I got a great view of the minster from the "bomb bay."
Coincidently it was whilst flying as co-pilot in a Varsity,that our CO,W.cmdr Ralph Reid-Buckle lost his life along with several others when their a/c crashed whilst trying to limp back to East Midlands Airport with an engine problem.

[Yellow Sun]

Stolen Varsity

Milt,

Stealing a Varsity

Didn't a non flying airman steal a Varsity in the late 50s. Ended up crashing into a French village after several hours of controlled flight.

There was an earlier thread on this incident that may be found here.

YS

[Warmtoast]

My one and only trip in a Varsity took place in June 1956 whilst I was with Fighter Command Communications Squadron (FCCS) at RAF Bovingdon.

A 90-Group Varsity calibration aircraft (from Watton?) came down to Bovingdon to calibrate the nearby ROTOR Radar station at Chenies. This meant flying outbound and inbound tracks to the Radar station on various headings. Rather boring but it provided a useful opportunity to sightsee London from around 10,000ft. This photo shows the navigator of the Varsity at his plotting station. I recognise the R1155 HF receiver with the big tuning dial.



During the flight I took a photo of a sparsely occupied London Heathrow as it appeared in June 1956 from 10,000ft looking east. The newly completed Europa Building, later Terminal 2 is in the centre island, whilst alongside it the Oceanic Terminal; later Terminal 3 is under construction. In 1956 transatlantic traffic departed from the North Terminal alongside the A4.



No M4 as yet (in 1956 the M4 was but a gleam in the planner’s eye - the London bit of the M4 westwards opened nine years later in 1965), however the Bath Road (A4) shows up on the left as the dark strip running top to bottom parallel with the north main taxiway & runway.

On the right the A30 (the lighter of the two darkish strips) wends its way through the (then) rural delights of Middlesex towards Hounslow and London. Straight ahead and beyond the airfield boundary, just beneath the cloud line the A312 can be seen running left to right.

[bluesilk]

Varsity 1ANS

I was at 1ANS in 1961 and I must say I don't remember that we had Green Satin to play with (though I knew what it was and how it worked) on the Varsity, and as you say Yellow Sun Decca came in much later. My somewhat elderly memory tells me I had a drift sight, bubble sextant, ADF (either a GEC model or the much better Marconi) and an API plus GEE mk 2 or 3. Plus a Siggie who could count the dots/dashes on Consul a damn sight easier than us u/t navs. Great days.

[reynoldsno1]

They had Green Satin in '73, plus a TACAN - still had Rebecca though. The Green Satin had trouble coping with the extreme ground speeds though , and would unlock with regular monotony... got to FL205 once, it took a long time....

[norwich]

A couple of period pics for you, courtesy of Colin Lourie. with permission !
Keith.

Leuchers 1960.



Leuchers 1961.



Leuchers 1962.

[T-21]

Nice photo's. WL691/N of No115 Squadron Tangmere was dumped at Andover after 1969. WL626/E from No 1 Air Navigation School ,Stradishall is now preserved at East Midlands Airport. WJ901/H is also from No 1 ANS but from Topcliffe ,SOC 1975 @ Kemble. They moved to Strad in Dec 1961.

Can anybody post any RAF College Cranwell Varsity pictures please ?

[Akrotiri bad boy]

The only working Varsity I saw was in Boscombe colours during the late 1980's. It operated for a few days from Gutersloh, quite probably doing some sort of complex beer run: Oooops, sorry, I meant to say NavEx.

[spekesoftly]

The only working Varsity I saw was in Boscombe colours during the late 1980's.

Probably WL679, which last flew in July 1992 when it was delivered to the RAF Museum Cosford, and is now part of the Transport and Training collection. I was looking at it only yesterday!

[lightningmate]

WL679

This was actually a Farnborough aircraft, one of 3 Varsities operated by RAE between mid-70s and early 90s.

WL679 was a FLIR research aircraft so its presence at Gutersloh was unlikely to have been just for refreshments. I recall 2 weeks at the same place with the same aircraft in the early 80s chasing tanks etc. Much fun.

lm

[Milt]

Had the challenge of flying each of the Varsitys, or should that be Varsities, at ETPS Farnborough in 1955.

I had one flight with an instructor named Jack? Hindle before being let loose with flight test exercises on my own but I had plenty of prior time in Gooney Birds so it wasn't a big deal.

I never did record the letters before the numbers which oddly were 381 and 681. Could I have been mistaken with the first digit although I think there were two in the fleet which also included a Valetta..

[chevvron]

At Topcliffe for ATC camp in '71, Varsities were being used by Airman/Aircrew Training School. One departed for Gibraltar on the wednesday and we were told it would go u/s when it got there. The aircraft taking 'spares' out on thursday would also be going u/s, so they would both have to weekend there!
As for '679; as it landed one day on runway 29 at Farnborough, the controller noticed smoke from the main gear and advised the pilot, who replied noncholantly 'yeah I'm going off the end'!!

[T-21]

Milt, The aircraft were WF381 "41" and WL681 "11". ETPS used several machines over the years including the prototype VX828 when it was dismantled circa 1962 at Farnborough.
WF381 crashed 4 miles North of Tangmere on a training flight with ETPS 19.10.59. WL681 ended up with Shorts at West Malling.

[chevvron]

In my first few months at Farnborough, a Varsity from West Malling would transit around the Gatwick Zone using callsign 'Bluebell 1'; would that have been '681 I wonder? As far as I can recollect, '679 flew out to Duxford when it retired from Farnborough (or maybe that was one of the other RAE Varsities?)

[T-21]

WL679 was used by RAE Farnborough from Mar 1977 until flown to Cosford Museum on 27/7/92,unique in the raspberry ripple colour scheme RAF Museum Aircraft Collection :: Vickers Varsity T WL679

Shorts at West Malling used WF387 and WL681. The Met Research Flight retired WF425 to Duxford although WJ945 is still preserved there.

[Red Four]

BBC - Archive - Aerial Journeys - Television Goes Flying

Interesting but fairly poor quality film from BBC 1950's Watton with Varsity plus Lincoln/Hunters/Meteor/Venom.

[forget]

I have a memory of being driven to the 56/57 Motor Show in London. We were southbound on the A1, around South Yorks I suppose. The dual carriageway was being built and, there on the new un-opened north-side, lay a Varsity - wheels up. Anyone know what date that would be?

[Exnomad]

Varsity

I did a nav course at Bishops Court in 53-53. Valetta flying classrooms were used initially with 10 students, first allowed out on our own in Anson XIX, followed by the majority of the course in Varsity. One point, they would fly close to maximum allowed TAS in level flight, about 40 kts faster than specified on the flight plan. This was used if the pilot had a date that night. If it happened too often we needed an extra trip to make up the required hours. Longest trip around 8 hours on a single excercize.
Aids used were Astro, GEE and Rebecca

[ralphmalph]

The first Regimental bar for the N I Regiment AAC was in a Varsity fuselage recovered from the fire dump at Aldergrove. The Regimental bar was re-opened 2 years ago and renamed The Varsity.

We still had a Varsity prop outside 1 Flight AAC at the time, although not sure if it is still there!.

Ralph