The "Whistling wheelbarrow"
Avoid imitations
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As a young lad I remember seeing these delivering their cargo to "Castle Donington" Airport. They were full of flowers, often daffodils if I'm not mistaken.
They left RAF service the same year I began mine.
They left RAF service the same year I began mine.
Nemo Me Impune Lacessit
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Never flew the Argosy but as a young soldier in Aden I do remember one day coming from Little Aden across the causeway to Aden proper and seeing an Argosy sitting in the water looking at us like a bloody big croc!
Regarding the Capt. locking himself in a car, did happen to a Singapore Airlines skipper on a B747 freighter carrying, I think, a 'special' Mercedes with non standard security.
Heard that flying the Beverly was like flying a council house from the upstairs bathroom window!
Regarding the Capt. locking himself in a car, did happen to a Singapore Airlines skipper on a B747 freighter carrying, I think, a 'special' Mercedes with non standard security.
Heard that flying the Beverly was like flying a council house from the upstairs bathroom window!
My first ever flight (having just become a 1st Class Cadet) was in an Argosy from Benson in 1962.
One and a half hours 'circuits and bumps' - I filled 2 sick bags!
I recorded the number in my 3822 as XP447, but I understand there was no Argosy with this number.
One and a half hours 'circuits and bumps' - I filled 2 sick bags!
I recorded the number in my 3822 as XP447, but I understand there was no Argosy with this number.
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As a young lad I remember seeing these delivering their cargo to "Castle Donington" Airport. They were full of flowers, often daffodils if I'm not mistaken.
They left RAF service the same year I began mine.
They left RAF service the same year I began mine.
East Midlands Aeropark - Argosy
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I'd never seen one of these aircraft, but just this afternoon I was looking through the current issue (Feb or Mar, not sure) of "Classic and Sports Car" magazine and there on the page was a picture of some open-wheeled racing cars being offloaded through the open nose doors of what could only be an Argosy.
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I recorded the number in my 3822 as XP447
I remember a story doing the rounds during the late 60s. One of the vehicles that the Argosy was supposed to transport was a fuel bowser, for those that remember, the one with the oval tank. It fitted fine but it was found that the Argosy floor was not strong enough. The floor was strengthened to suite, guess what, the strengthening was added above the existing floor which meant that there was now not enough height clearance to get the bowser on. Ho-hum.
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chevvron #24: XP447 was one of very few to move on after its RAF service, to Alaska & California as N1430Z.
AW650 was a political invention, though this time by industry, not Ministry. After Thin-Wing Javelin was cancelled (much fabrication would have been in Coventry), Hawker Siddeley in mid-1956 did not know what to do with AWA. The last of 119 Hunter F.6 was for delivery 2/4/57, last of 57 Javelin F.A.W.7 in ’58, last Vulcan tail would emerge in ’62. AWA's Board extracted HSAL £ in Sept.,’56 for R&D and to lay down 10 AW650 Srs.100. They minimised cost by adapting Lincoln wing and taking Dart with minimal installation engineering (should of course have been Tyne, with much, which RR, as was normal, declined to fund). 7 were taken up by Riddle, for whom roll-on/roll-off was helpful on the Arctic DEW-Line. The other 3 were bought by MoA in 1961, leased to BEAC.
The titty variant was a fluke: UK had paid lip service to the 1958 Nato Basic Military Requirements, hoping to win business without having to buy any of them: they were all part-US funded for the explicit purpose of starting up Aero design competence in NATO's W.Germany. NATO's choice for the field transport NBMR was Nord/VFW C.160 Transall. Its use of Tyne was good, but what it was not was what RAF wanted to haul the new Rapid Deployment Force: C-130E. Ministers in 1959, an Election year, were interested in exporting jobs neither to Georgia nor Bremen. Claiming that UK's need was urgent such that we "could not wait" for C.160, MoA ordered 56 AW660 "off-the-shelf".
It did well on time (OCU, 1/62; Transall in service 1967), but it had no payload/range. BEAC had 6 faintly-better Srs.200, 1965-70. RAF slipped 66 C-130K into 1965's US credit-package and relegated the barrow to Signals.
AW650 was a political invention, though this time by industry, not Ministry. After Thin-Wing Javelin was cancelled (much fabrication would have been in Coventry), Hawker Siddeley in mid-1956 did not know what to do with AWA. The last of 119 Hunter F.6 was for delivery 2/4/57, last of 57 Javelin F.A.W.7 in ’58, last Vulcan tail would emerge in ’62. AWA's Board extracted HSAL £ in Sept.,’56 for R&D and to lay down 10 AW650 Srs.100. They minimised cost by adapting Lincoln wing and taking Dart with minimal installation engineering (should of course have been Tyne, with much, which RR, as was normal, declined to fund). 7 were taken up by Riddle, for whom roll-on/roll-off was helpful on the Arctic DEW-Line. The other 3 were bought by MoA in 1961, leased to BEAC.
The titty variant was a fluke: UK had paid lip service to the 1958 Nato Basic Military Requirements, hoping to win business without having to buy any of them: they were all part-US funded for the explicit purpose of starting up Aero design competence in NATO's W.Germany. NATO's choice for the field transport NBMR was Nord/VFW C.160 Transall. Its use of Tyne was good, but what it was not was what RAF wanted to haul the new Rapid Deployment Force: C-130E. Ministers in 1959, an Election year, were interested in exporting jobs neither to Georgia nor Bremen. Claiming that UK's need was urgent such that we "could not wait" for C.160, MoA ordered 56 AW660 "off-the-shelf".
It did well on time (OCU, 1/62; Transall in service 1967), but it had no payload/range. BEAC had 6 faintly-better Srs.200, 1965-70. RAF slipped 66 C-130K into 1965's US credit-package and relegated the barrow to Signals.
TheChitterneFlyer:
"When 'Reverse' was selected....the aeroplane departed the runway".
A particularly clever trick indeed since the Argosy wasn't equipped with reversing propellers!
The fatal at Boscombe Down was XR105 on 27.04.76. An Italian Air Force officer, who was attending the Empire Test Pilots School course, lost control on a 2-engined approach. He and the flight engineer were killed.
"When 'Reverse' was selected....the aeroplane departed the runway".
A particularly clever trick indeed since the Argosy wasn't equipped with reversing propellers!
The fatal at Boscombe Down was XR105 on 27.04.76. An Italian Air Force officer, who was attending the Empire Test Pilots School course, lost control on a 2-engined approach. He and the flight engineer were killed.
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Didn't fly it, but was based at Cottesmore while 115 Sqn were there. They would fly CT sorties on occasion, bashing the circuit for what seemed like eons - I remember one of the pilots transmitting "Downwind for crew and ration change". The crews liked to joke that when doing the pre-flight walkround, if the nose was wet, it was serviceable. IIRC, there was a ranger to Teheran which took something like 3 or 4 weeks, due to various problems, such an engine failure and 3-engine cruise height being well below safety altitude. Names that I recall are Officers Baron, Burns, Hayward and IIRC, Commander (though he may have been on 360 Sqn). Happy days....
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For my sins I flew both RAF and 'commercial' Argosies and recall the well kept training exhortation " When climbing the Argosy please remember not to loose any height! "
Great fun at Benson one night looking in adjacent villages for a nosewheel which went missing on night roller landings !
I seem to recollect that an old lady found it resting against her cottage back door!
There are many more gems- what say the Old Boys?
Great fun at Benson one night looking in adjacent villages for a nosewheel which went missing on night roller landings !
I seem to recollect that an old lady found it resting against her cottage back door!
There are many more gems- what say the Old Boys?
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A particularly clever trick indeed since the Argosy wasn't equipped with reversing propellers!
Originally Posted by 27mm
Didn't fly it, but was based at Cottesmore while 115 Sqn were there.
I seem to recall that in order to open the forward doors, it was necessary to operate a large hydraulic pump lever. I also remember a rainy night in Blackpool, when the lady pilot (Lesley?) was operating the civvy version (ABC Cargo) of it on the newspaper run to Dublin. I would have offered to do it for her, but she seemed to be doing very well on her own...
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The Argosy
Oh joy, spent nearly 3 years as an engine fitter on the devices, really quite a trouble free time engine wise, don't you hust love RR Darts, although we did upgrade to a later Dart variant to give more power in 63 ? started at Benson early 64, then Khormaksar with 105 Sqd April 62 - May 64, then short time back at Benson before moving on to Victors, Much fun with the beast, regular runs around the Middle East & down into Africa, didn't carry much & didn't go very high (lots of limitations) but could carry a freight bay full of toilet rolls on a fortnightly basis from K'Sar to Perim, soil from Kenya to K'Sar for the bosses garden, small loads of passengers but not the vehicles for the Army it was designed for (Saraccen/Salladin), did manage to get the low load fuel boswer in once though but it had to be empty, although it did eventually get signed off by Boscombe to have MAUW from 85,000 lbs's to 105,000 lbs mid 63, didn't make much difference though as it seemed to be a good VIP carrier but not a lot else !. Also had an oddity in XP409 in that it had a nail embedded in the fuselage, stbd side just above the fuselage datum, story goes that when the new Coventry Cathedral was consecrated back in 61, 6 big nails from the structure of the old Cathedral were presented each to 6 of Coventry's major industries , Armstrong Whitworth being one of them, first entry in the aircraft F700 was "nail in forward fuselage at station ???", still looking for pictures of the nail, mine have been long lost !. Re the comments about loading Hercules power plants for Valetta's, puzzled, we used to load them complete on stands for 233 Sqd on a regular basis to fly up country after their engine failures, can generate photo's to show.
My time came to an end just after XP413 was converted into a flying boat on the approach into K'Sar long story about finger trouble with an aircraft full of concrete ballast & the lack of ability to fly on only 2 engines on the same side, but as before that's another story.
Thought it was a nice aeroplane but that's just my opinion as an engineer. PH.
My time came to an end just after XP413 was converted into a flying boat on the approach into K'Sar long story about finger trouble with an aircraft full of concrete ballast & the lack of ability to fly on only 2 engines on the same side, but as before that's another story.
Thought it was a nice aeroplane but that's just my opinion as an engineer. PH.
JW411 re. the Boscombe accident ... nearly!!
The Italian TP Student attempted a '2 out same side' go around which was a total No-No!! I crewed the Boscombe Sea King which was scrambled to the bomb dump to try to assist. Not much we could do apart from take the injured Captain (Vic???)off to Tidworth Mil Hospital. Given his apparent condition, I didn't expect to see him around again. If I recall correctly, he was out and about some six weeks later!!
Seems he was thrown through the windscreen and away from the main wreckage - remarkable.
The Italian TP Student attempted a '2 out same side' go around which was a total No-No!! I crewed the Boscombe Sea King which was scrambled to the bomb dump to try to assist. Not much we could do apart from take the injured Captain (Vic???)off to Tidworth Mil Hospital. Given his apparent condition, I didn't expect to see him around again. If I recall correctly, he was out and about some six weeks later!!
Seems he was thrown through the windscreen and away from the main wreckage - remarkable.
Gentleman Aviator
I certainly remember the "strengthened floor reduced the headroom so it couldn't get the vehicle in" line in the Gulf in the early 70s which The Oberon and zetec2 mention at posts #30 and #38, but I'm sure it was a Ferret Scout Car when I heard it. Hope it's true
Also amongst the banter (and I wasn't flying Argosies) was about the LM who was Court martialled for leaving his payload on top of his locker ......
.... but it did do a very good 'bus service around Bahrain, Sharjah, Masirah and Salalah .. (BFPOs 63, 64, 65 and 66 respectively IIRC - amazing what the mind retains)
Also amongst the banter (and I wasn't flying Argosies) was about the LM who was Court martialled for leaving his payload on top of his locker ......
.... but it did do a very good 'bus service around Bahrain, Sharjah, Masirah and Salalah .. (BFPOs 63, 64, 65 and 66 respectively IIRC - amazing what the mind retains)
I enjoyed four years on the Argosy. Didn't take many photos, but here are a few I took when on 105sqn in Aden. 1964-66. The quality isn't brilliant on some, but I have posted them as they are quite interesting historically.
Masirah 1965
Take-off in Bahrain 1964
Mombasa leave flight 1965
Flight Engineers station
Climbing out of Mombasa
Over Sudan
Preparing for a Radfan drop.
Masirah 1965
Take-off in Bahrain 1964
Mombasa leave flight 1965
Flight Engineers station
Climbing out of Mombasa
Over Sudan
Preparing for a Radfan drop.
Last edited by brakedwell; 8th Feb 2011 at 15:45. Reason: photo added