Global Aviation Magazine : 60 Years of the Hercules
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Op Bushel Engineering support
Try this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeoWb6d-9qc
and :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku2HEVdBa7Q
That's it guys, that's all I have, sorry about the repeats, obviously some are the actual ITN voice-overs with Geoffrey Archer, but this is how the tape came to me from ITN.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeoWb6d-9qc
and :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku2HEVdBa7Q
That's it guys, that's all I have, sorry about the repeats, obviously some are the actual ITN voice-overs with Geoffrey Archer, but this is how the tape came to me from ITN.
Last edited by Brian W May; 23rd Sep 2014 at 16:22. Reason: Added material
"The Foodbirds"
I suspect many on here will be aware of the above titled book by Molly O'Loughlin White written about Operation Bushel
If anyone is interested ISBN 1-870519-24-8
She also wrote a good book about the Sc5 Belfast.
I suspect many on here will be aware of the above titled book by Molly O'Loughlin White written about Operation Bushel
If anyone is interested ISBN 1-870519-24-8
She also wrote a good book about the Sc5 Belfast.
Apologies for the short intermission before my long one. The computer had a huge wobbly and it has taken three days to sort it out. After aimlessly poking about in the innards I decided to use some of my long dormant tech training, a bit of logic and get out the test meter. To cut a frustrating story short, the PSU was the culprit.
A used spare is now doing duty but I may have to invest in a new computer as this one is seven years old. Anyway back to Op Vigour.
The pic above shows a typical load and no prizes for spotting where the aid came from. You can also see the improved version of the G/E hammock folded just forward of the port para door. Not that they ever got to use it in theatre. You can also see the blue poly bag inside the Elsan, as previously mentioned.
The chaps on top of the load are two of the RAF police security team, all of whom were excellent and really got involved in helping .
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Foodbirds
Although the "Foodbirds" were the mighty C130s, Queens of the skies, the local eagles reckoned that they were encroaching on their territory and were not afraid to take on the aircraft in flight. There were one or two spectacular results with Cat5 eagle and Cat2 Herc.
Dougie,
I seem to recall in the early days of the 'K' Dave P... having an altercation with a vulture on t/o from Nairobi. This resulted in a close view of the game park as they dragged the 'K' back for an emergency landing. Dave P... was a cool operator who got an early promotion to Captain on the Hastings. He prevented the Colerne 'staish' from landing at Hullavington instead of Colerne !
I seem to recall in the early days of the 'K' Dave P... having an altercation with a vulture on t/o from Nairobi. This resulted in a close view of the game park as they dragged the 'K' back for an emergency landing. Dave P... was a cool operator who got an early promotion to Captain on the Hastings. He prevented the Colerne 'staish' from landing at Hullavington instead of Colerne !
AA62, your detachment was not as deputy to a certain portly navigator wing commander was it? I remember his being extremely concerned when he returned and complaining that the underbelly protection that Marshalls had developed made the aircraft look very untidy.
You will recall the original version was a bit like Marley floor tiles glued to the underbelly of the aircraft and he was not impressed that they worked loose and, in some cases, came off. He took a lot of persuading that, as with the space shuttle, they were meant to be sacrificial rather than the aircraft skin doing the same job. The need for protection came about from Op Bushel after which an eagle-eyed ground crew spotted something amiss with the underside of one on the line at LA, investigated and poked his thumb through the skin with no effort at all - the shale on LZs having abraded it thoroughly. If memory serves we had several aircraft grounded immediately and several more flying with restricted pressurisation until repaired.
The other "skin" problem we had was with grains that had escaped from their packaging and fallen under the cargo bay floors. There in the dark, warmth and damp of the underfloor heating they germinated freely with their roots forcing themselves between the fuselage ribs and skins tearing them apart. Yet again a demonstration of the Law of Unexpected Consequences.
You will recall the original version was a bit like Marley floor tiles glued to the underbelly of the aircraft and he was not impressed that they worked loose and, in some cases, came off. He took a lot of persuading that, as with the space shuttle, they were meant to be sacrificial rather than the aircraft skin doing the same job. The need for protection came about from Op Bushel after which an eagle-eyed ground crew spotted something amiss with the underside of one on the line at LA, investigated and poked his thumb through the skin with no effort at all - the shale on LZs having abraded it thoroughly. If memory serves we had several aircraft grounded immediately and several more flying with restricted pressurisation until repaired.
The other "skin" problem we had was with grains that had escaped from their packaging and fallen under the cargo bay floors. There in the dark, warmth and damp of the underfloor heating they germinated freely with their roots forcing themselves between the fuselage ribs and skins tearing them apart. Yet again a demonstration of the Law of Unexpected Consequences.
This is my last Op Vigour posting before I leave for Ozz. The main tale of the VVIP trip will have to wait until I return as I need to upload the pics.
The pic is of Mogadishu.
One day during the det the boss took his only day off leaving me as chief 'office boy'. Usual early start for a first light launch of the fleet, all two a/c. Brief the crews, met check etc and authorise the trips. Once they have gone it was a cup of coffee, admin and a walk round the site. After lunch I had to go to talk to the USAF about common problems and then I came back to our ops.
The ops clerk said he had a phone call from the crew that had gone to Mogadishu, they had a snag and were unable to start one of the engines. They would call back in an hour.
There was no way of getting a spare to them that day as all the USAF a/c were out as ours were. The GAF were doing their own thing and seldom landed anywhere but back at Mombasa. To retrieve the a/c that day it would have to be a three engine ferry.
I rechecked the auth sheets but merely to confirm what I already knew, it is an all instructor OCU crew, who teach such things.
Next step was to look in the det orders that group have issued us with.
Big snag. Only Group Captain AT at group can authorise a three engine ferry.
The comms were very difficult out there but I eventually get the Group Ops Controller on the phone and asked to speak to the Group Captain.
I was informed that he was out for the day but I could speak to his deputy.
He turned out to be the W/C Air Movements. I explained the situation but not surprisingly he does not know anything about three engine ferries and it appeared that there was no one there to advise him !
Time was pressing so I said that unless he rang me back to forbid the three engine ferry from Mogadishu to Mombasa, having considered all the circumstances, I was going to authorise it. I never did receive a phone call back from group one way or the other.
So I authorised the three engine ferry in the auth book with a note that I had spoken to group.
When the captain rang back I checked the details with him and authorised him to fly the a/c on a three engined ferry, basic crew plus G/E and empty of cargo and pax. I did mention coming back the sea route in case of further problems but of course they had already thought of that !
Back they came without drama or fuss, and the menders performed their usual
magic and we had two frames on the line ready for work the next morning.
That night over dinner I briefed the boss on the days events and he said I had done the right thing.
So life went on as usual on the det until we received THE signal informing us that a VVIP would be visiting and that is where I will pick up the story when I return, with plenty of pics.
Xercules,
yes I was the deputy to the then OC 30 Sqn for whom I had the greatest respect. The problems with the underside of the 'K' were known right from the start. Even using the comparatively benign Upavon Gallops or Nz Farm for strip landings would trash the a/c underside. Was not the joke after the Op Bushell grain started growing in the a/c that the groundcrew would be issued with lawnmowers ?
yes I was the deputy to the then OC 30 Sqn for whom I had the greatest respect. The problems with the underside of the 'K' were known right from the start. Even using the comparatively benign Upavon Gallops or Nz Farm for strip landings would trash the a/c underside. Was not the joke after the Op Bushell grain started growing in the a/c that the groundcrew would be issued with lawnmowers ?
That joke certainly rings a bell. I did not mean to disparage said W/C but it seemed a necessary start to the tale. He and I did have our ups and downs from time to time but, on the whole, we got on very well. He was then my OC for the year I was a reservist before I broke myself and also realised that the demands of currency were incompatible with a full time job elsewhere.
Enjoy your time in Oz.
Enjoy your time in Oz.
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If you got on with the 'Fat Controller' things were fine, but woe betide if you didn't.
Fortunately I never had a problem but I know several who did...
Fortunately I never had a problem but I know several who did...
Interesting trail we are following here chaps. I rather suspect that the trials and tribulations you suffered during your exploits led to the "tarmac underbelly" we had on the SF frames, by GW1. I must say, having experienced strips various at that time, the protection was very effective, the only problem we ever had was a double puncture on the RH mainwheels on a shale strip. Now, that was a story of fine flying and crew collaboration that might be relevant after Africa is done. Meanwhile, some great detail chaps, right down to the stowed GE hammock AA62. Keep it going.
Smudge
Smudge
The photo of the bags of grain remind me of a trip into Gondar. I was in Ethiopia on an airland detachment, later on in the RAF's time out there when it had started to rain. Gondar was a short dirt strip facing a large hill, so we landed towards the hill and took off away from it. I had previously been up to the storage shed for the grain and seen the stockpile they had there - we were delivering it more quickly than they could distribute it - so there was no real pressure to get in there.
Anyway this day there was a huge thunderstorm over the hill and as we approached we could see on the weather radar that it was moving towards the strip. Definitely not a day to go around! After landing it was just beginning to rain. I said to the Loady that I would give him 5 minutes and then we were closing up and getting out of there and take back whatever was left of the load.
As you can see from the earlier photo, it was all manually off loaded. We had our Loady, a young mover and the locals. We started the stop watch and after 3 1/2 minutes I asked how they were doing and got the reply " Just tidying up, start taxying and I'll let you know when I am ready". They had manually offloaded 25000 lbs in that time - and our loady had just gone up hugely in our estimation.
After the first sortie out of Addis Ababa each day, we used to load up from a strip at Assab which is on the Red Sea coast. At first glance you wondered why the strip was parallel to the coast, but a visit in the afternoon when the sea breeze had got going showed why - 40 kts blowing down the strip was not uncommon. One day, after a discussion about Khe Sanh over a beer or 2 the night before, I did one of these approaches into Assab. For those who haven't seen them, they are quite impressive and the stronger the headwind, the better they are. We landed and taxied in and parked by the storage shed. Normally the locals were ready and grain was being onloaded as we shut down. Today there was nobody to be seen so I walked over to the shed and they looked at me in amazement. When I asked why they weren't loading the aircraft, the chargehand said "We saw you coming in but thought you had crashed so we came back in here to wait for the next aircraft". To give them their due, there were crashed aircraft close to a number of the airfields we used - in particular one off either end of the runway at Addis.
Anyway this day there was a huge thunderstorm over the hill and as we approached we could see on the weather radar that it was moving towards the strip. Definitely not a day to go around! After landing it was just beginning to rain. I said to the Loady that I would give him 5 minutes and then we were closing up and getting out of there and take back whatever was left of the load.
As you can see from the earlier photo, it was all manually off loaded. We had our Loady, a young mover and the locals. We started the stop watch and after 3 1/2 minutes I asked how they were doing and got the reply " Just tidying up, start taxying and I'll let you know when I am ready". They had manually offloaded 25000 lbs in that time - and our loady had just gone up hugely in our estimation.
After the first sortie out of Addis Ababa each day, we used to load up from a strip at Assab which is on the Red Sea coast. At first glance you wondered why the strip was parallel to the coast, but a visit in the afternoon when the sea breeze had got going showed why - 40 kts blowing down the strip was not uncommon. One day, after a discussion about Khe Sanh over a beer or 2 the night before, I did one of these approaches into Assab. For those who haven't seen them, they are quite impressive and the stronger the headwind, the better they are. We landed and taxied in and parked by the storage shed. Normally the locals were ready and grain was being onloaded as we shut down. Today there was nobody to be seen so I walked over to the shed and they looked at me in amazement. When I asked why they weren't loading the aircraft, the chargehand said "We saw you coming in but thought you had crashed so we came back in here to wait for the next aircraft". To give them their due, there were crashed aircraft close to a number of the airfields we used - in particular one off either end of the runway at Addis.
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I recall going into Assab one day carrying 3 nuns on the way to Makele, carried the ladies on the flight deck to keep them away from the locals down the back. Captain decides to do Khe Sahn and invites the head nun to stand behind him for the landing. After briefing said lady on what was about to happen Albert pitches nose down, with an unusual view of the sea one side and desert the other. Unpleasant odour on flight deck with all on intercom denying it was them. On landing head nun seen disappearing rapidly towards the hangar with the only toilet, claiming to be a little ill. Yet another quality day on Albert. 
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Nuns in Ethiopia
On my second det out in Addis we also were asked to take a party of nuns to see the church at Debre Libanos en route to a drop at Lemi. The skipper, one J*** C****** decided to skim the high ravine tops which caused some rather un-nunly vocals. We thought that they were terrified but were informed by one of the lady teachers at the English School that the zero G probably gave them a little pelvic floor lift which might have been their only sexual experience in the company of men. Sad.
As regards the other birds I found the Eagle v Herc photos but can't upload them.
As regards the other birds I found the Eagle v Herc photos but can't upload them.
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Fingers and Thumbs
Thanks Coffman, but my tech was an hour's worth of wriggly string with 2 minute markers along it and a stopwatch. Ksimboy has already nicked my tactical nav brief.
Tales from the Hammock - A Tyresome Time
So there we were, The run up to GW1, an SF Flight Det, flying out of Minhad, wall to wall F16s and the sexiest beast on the base was Albert. On the day in question, we two GEs had decided to split the workload. The day's task was a trip down to a strip to meet the head honcho of the "hooligans", who had set up a camp nearby. This was before "Victor" was involved, and didn't look like it was a ball breaker of a day. My pal KM won the toss and got the day off. I should explain that the Det had been set up with engineering planning done by the mightiest brains of LYN Eng wing, what could go wrong? We had a spare mainwheel at Minhad, which was considered ample cover for the one month detachment. The crew was Captained by one C*** T*****y who was IMHO a class pilot.
Off we went, and landed on the required strip, as it turned out it was a shale strip, not sand, and was our first experience on that type of surface on that det. As our skipper held his meeting with Mr Hereford at the back of the shut down aircraft, I decided to have a "bimble" around the aircraft to see if the shale had inflicted any damage. As I walked past the RH MLG bay I heard a hissing noise. I lifted the door and stuck my head between the mainwheels, crikey, stereo hissing ? Sure enough, two mainwheels punctured and leaking nitrogen in a big way. I inform both the Eng and the Captain, who had a listen and decided a rapid departure for Minhad was in order. I managed to phone my fellow GE at the Hotel and get him heading to Minhad to prep to fix the snag.
On takeoff from the strip, it was obvious that the RH wheels were getting a bit "soft". The transit back to Minhad was around 30 minutes, and all were aware that the tyres could well be very deflated on arrival. On landing, the Captain made sure that the RH MLG was given the lightest of loads possible, and after taxying off the runway, the long taxy back to our dispersal was completed at high speed with considerable left aileron applied (we did the lot with the RH MLG off the ground) on arrival at our parking slot my mate KM was there with the spare mainwheels. Just like the well known "prick of steel", we now come to the tragic bit. Whilst providing our detachment with a spare mainwheel, LYN Eng failed to supply a suitable jack to facilitate our changing it. My mate had done his best and had borrowed a jack from one of the F16 squadrons. So, we decided that we would replace the rear RH (Punctured) mainwheel, and worry about the forward one once the aircraft was stable. Unfortunately the "blow out" valves in an F16 Jack function well below the weights encountered by the raising of even one bogey on Albert. You guessed it, we couldn't get the bloody flat tyre off the ground. We had a problem.
Some phoning around had elicited that a USAF C130 unit were within a 30 minute flight time of Minhad. They were, as always, amenable to assisting us in our plight. We devised a cunning plan. N2 bottles and a swift inflation of both wheels saw us safe, if hissing, to depart (I have to admit we inflated slightly over pressure). Our arrival at the destination had our Captain treating the RH gear with respect again, and taxying in to the designated bay saw us jacked up, as the engines were winding down. The "Yanks" were brilliant, and had us fixed in around 30 minutes. They fitted two of their wheels, we returned two days later and refitted our wheels with US tyres fitted. Whatever anyone says, the US Albert operators were always amenable in dire times.
I salute the planner who can foresee a requirement for replacing a wheel, and not see the requirement for the tools to do it. For the rest of that detachment both of us GEs rolled our eyes as we passed our spare mainwheel. An Eng Rep, informing the powers that be was sent, requesting a jack for the det, it was not forthcoming. The airmanship by the Captain that day was extremely impressive. His "sympathetic" ground handling of the aircraft ensured that the eventual remedy could be undertaken. It was a bit of a day for my mate KM too, he had to come to work. After having got the tyre problem sorted out we continued with the day's programmed tasks. Once again, a team effort ensured the job was done. I will never forget that fast taxy down Minhads taxyway though.
As usual I apologise for the long winded post, I'm sure if I could use less words I would, I "just weren't built like that though"!
Smudge
Off we went, and landed on the required strip, as it turned out it was a shale strip, not sand, and was our first experience on that type of surface on that det. As our skipper held his meeting with Mr Hereford at the back of the shut down aircraft, I decided to have a "bimble" around the aircraft to see if the shale had inflicted any damage. As I walked past the RH MLG bay I heard a hissing noise. I lifted the door and stuck my head between the mainwheels, crikey, stereo hissing ? Sure enough, two mainwheels punctured and leaking nitrogen in a big way. I inform both the Eng and the Captain, who had a listen and decided a rapid departure for Minhad was in order. I managed to phone my fellow GE at the Hotel and get him heading to Minhad to prep to fix the snag.
On takeoff from the strip, it was obvious that the RH wheels were getting a bit "soft". The transit back to Minhad was around 30 minutes, and all were aware that the tyres could well be very deflated on arrival. On landing, the Captain made sure that the RH MLG was given the lightest of loads possible, and after taxying off the runway, the long taxy back to our dispersal was completed at high speed with considerable left aileron applied (we did the lot with the RH MLG off the ground) on arrival at our parking slot my mate KM was there with the spare mainwheels. Just like the well known "prick of steel", we now come to the tragic bit. Whilst providing our detachment with a spare mainwheel, LYN Eng failed to supply a suitable jack to facilitate our changing it. My mate had done his best and had borrowed a jack from one of the F16 squadrons. So, we decided that we would replace the rear RH (Punctured) mainwheel, and worry about the forward one once the aircraft was stable. Unfortunately the "blow out" valves in an F16 Jack function well below the weights encountered by the raising of even one bogey on Albert. You guessed it, we couldn't get the bloody flat tyre off the ground. We had a problem.
Some phoning around had elicited that a USAF C130 unit were within a 30 minute flight time of Minhad. They were, as always, amenable to assisting us in our plight. We devised a cunning plan. N2 bottles and a swift inflation of both wheels saw us safe, if hissing, to depart (I have to admit we inflated slightly over pressure). Our arrival at the destination had our Captain treating the RH gear with respect again, and taxying in to the designated bay saw us jacked up, as the engines were winding down. The "Yanks" were brilliant, and had us fixed in around 30 minutes. They fitted two of their wheels, we returned two days later and refitted our wheels with US tyres fitted. Whatever anyone says, the US Albert operators were always amenable in dire times.
I salute the planner who can foresee a requirement for replacing a wheel, and not see the requirement for the tools to do it. For the rest of that detachment both of us GEs rolled our eyes as we passed our spare mainwheel. An Eng Rep, informing the powers that be was sent, requesting a jack for the det, it was not forthcoming. The airmanship by the Captain that day was extremely impressive. His "sympathetic" ground handling of the aircraft ensured that the eventual remedy could be undertaken. It was a bit of a day for my mate KM too, he had to come to work. After having got the tyre problem sorted out we continued with the day's programmed tasks. Once again, a team effort ensured the job was done. I will never forget that fast taxy down Minhads taxyway though.
As usual I apologise for the long winded post, I'm sure if I could use less words I would, I "just weren't built like that though"!
Smudge
Last edited by smujsmith; 28th Sep 2014 at 20:54.