One for the maintainers, hardest job you have done
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Good topic, lets see how long this one runs. I predict it will end up as 'Shoe box in t'middle of road' 
A few interesting ones.
Baulk head connector up the top of the electrical bay, behind the cockpit of a T7 Hunter. Still the best looking military aircraft in the world bar none. I was the only one who could get into the right place.
Rear intercom box on a Bucc. Removed the old 52 way D type, yes, you can see this one comming. Soldered on the new one without fitting the back shell. Removed the 52 way D type again, refitted it with the back shell. Whilst sitting on the MB seat working sidways. I was stiff as a board the next day.
Hottest job, replacing the Zeus Rx on a Harrier GR5 at Nellis. I even went in early while it was cooler. By the time it was tested and wire locked it was baking hot outside let alone up in the rear end of said aircraft. I was wringing wet through. Shift FS not impress by my appearance.
Trying to do any job on an aircraft when in order of seniority, your shift FS followed by the JengO and Sengo ask how you are doing. But to do that you have to stop what you are doing so that they can hear you grrrrrrrrrrrr. You would have think they would have got the message when my work collegue threw a hammer at one of them. I think the dent in the concrete is still there at St Mawgan,
My brother got stuck in the wing tank of a Victor. They had to tie a rope to his leg and pull him out. He also nearly got knocked out by the rotor brake on a chinook because he did not want to use two hands to do it because he was holding an ice cream he had just been given to him by his boss for doing a good job
A few interesting ones.
Baulk head connector up the top of the electrical bay, behind the cockpit of a T7 Hunter. Still the best looking military aircraft in the world bar none. I was the only one who could get into the right place.
Rear intercom box on a Bucc. Removed the old 52 way D type, yes, you can see this one comming. Soldered on the new one without fitting the back shell. Removed the 52 way D type again, refitted it with the back shell. Whilst sitting on the MB seat working sidways. I was stiff as a board the next day.
Hottest job, replacing the Zeus Rx on a Harrier GR5 at Nellis. I even went in early while it was cooler. By the time it was tested and wire locked it was baking hot outside let alone up in the rear end of said aircraft. I was wringing wet through. Shift FS not impress by my appearance.
Trying to do any job on an aircraft when in order of seniority, your shift FS followed by the JengO and Sengo ask how you are doing. But to do that you have to stop what you are doing so that they can hear you grrrrrrrrrrrr. You would have think they would have got the message when my work collegue threw a hammer at one of them. I think the dent in the concrete is still there at St Mawgan,
My brother got stuck in the wing tank of a Victor. They had to tie a rope to his leg and pull him out. He also nearly got knocked out by the rotor brake on a chinook because he did not want to use two hands to do it because he was holding an ice cream he had just been given to him by his boss for doing a good job
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PTR175 said:
There's the problem right there - ice cream 
. I made bacon sarnies for my 18 Sqn(B) shift on a couple of occasions, a small gesture to say thanks to the boys and girls for doing a good job.
My brother got stuck in the wing tank of a Victor. They had to tie a rope to his leg and pull him out. He also nearly got knocked out by the rotor brake on a chinook because he did not want to use two hands to do it because he was holding an ice cream he had just been given to him by his boss for doing a good job
. I made bacon sarnies for my 18 Sqn(B) shift on a couple of occasions, a small gesture to say thanks to the boys and girls for doing a good job.
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Until you've changed the T/R of an H2S Mk 4 on a Lincoln (in-flight, of course).
Had more cable snags on Lincolns in my 2½ years at Lindholme, that the other 11+ years all told.
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Changing the Gee-H Tx in a B2 Canberra. 1st remove your legs as they are in the way!
Any job inside a Canberra where it is 'ot & sandy.
Freezing at Lindholme at 02:00 while changing an aerial on the wing tip of a Varsity. Couldn't do the job with gloves on, without the gloves fingers were numb and I kept dropping the screws and climbed up and down the 6' flat top steps and searched with a torch in the grass for the damned screws.
A soldering job on a junction panel near the Orange Putter Tx/Rx right up the thin end of a Valiant, on the inside!
Changing a Green Satin blower motor on a Valiant. Not a problem except it was on Gan, and we didn't have the socket to reach the nuts in the terminal block, did the job with long nosed pliers that kept slipping.
Some more will probably enter my remaining grey cell.
But I'd love to do it all again!
Any job inside a Canberra where it is 'ot & sandy.
Freezing at Lindholme at 02:00 while changing an aerial on the wing tip of a Varsity. Couldn't do the job with gloves on, without the gloves fingers were numb and I kept dropping the screws and climbed up and down the 6' flat top steps and searched with a torch in the grass for the damned screws.
A soldering job on a junction panel near the Orange Putter Tx/Rx right up the thin end of a Valiant, on the inside!
Changing a Green Satin blower motor on a Valiant. Not a problem except it was on Gan, and we didn't have the socket to reach the nuts in the terminal block, did the job with long nosed pliers that kept slipping.
Some more will probably enter my remaining grey cell.
But I'd love to do it all again!
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Really good stories. Those fly boys don't know the half of it!
Mind you a Brit. Captain, Taff Williams, offered us 48 cans of Tiger if we'd start work on an engine change at Changi, as soon as we'd landed on a VC10.
Worked through the night, he was off back to Blighty by 09.00. Took 4 days before we were offered a flight back on VC10!
Bugis street was, as ever, good fun though!
Yes ian16th, would do (most) of it all over again
Mind you a Brit. Captain, Taff Williams, offered us 48 cans of Tiger if we'd start work on an engine change at Changi, as soon as we'd landed on a VC10.
Worked through the night, he was off back to Blighty by 09.00. Took 4 days before we were offered a flight back on VC10!
Bugis street was, as ever, good fun though!
Yes ian16th, would do (most) of it all over again
Lightning horrors
Removing and replacing cockpit pressurisation controller on the Lightning, situated forward of the rudder pedals on the bulkhead 
Again Lightning, fitting thermocouple bolts on No1 engine, when temp around freezing and a real danger of dropping a bolt, Yes I was that man, much to the sooties disgust as they had to pull the jetpipe/reheat pipe out to recover said bolt.
Again Lightning, fitting thermocouple bolts on No1 engine, when temp around freezing and a real danger of dropping a bolt, Yes I was that man, much to the sooties disgust as they had to pull the jetpipe/reheat pipe out to recover said bolt.
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Fitting the top bolt to the BIL when harmonising the F4 gunsight. It was a blind fit and it either went in straight away or it took forever. You needed hands like a four year old schoolgirl to have any luck with that. Of course people that I didn't know used to try for five minutes then just do the bottom bolts up extra tight...
Spending most of the night hanging upside down in the back cockpit changing and wirelocking inumerable insty boxes. This was of course after asking our best mates the armourers to take the seat pan out...they loved us.
Lots of mind numbingly boring jobs as well as tricky ones. Taking off the PFCU cover in the wheel well of the F4. Eighty squillion bolts. The chief who first showed me how to do it (or showed me the panel and told me what size socket I needed) said 'Now is the time to learn the art of meditation.' Luckily it was just the right height to be able to sit on a chair while you did it.
Virtually anything we needed to run on the E3 needed the ACE cart fitting. Used to turn a five minute job into an hour, pain in the butt.
Spending most of the night hanging upside down in the back cockpit changing and wirelocking inumerable insty boxes. This was of course after asking our best mates the armourers to take the seat pan out...they loved us.
Lots of mind numbingly boring jobs as well as tricky ones. Taking off the PFCU cover in the wheel well of the F4. Eighty squillion bolts. The chief who first showed me how to do it (or showed me the panel and told me what size socket I needed) said 'Now is the time to learn the art of meditation.' Luckily it was just the right height to be able to sit on a chair while you did it.
Virtually anything we needed to run on the E3 needed the ACE cart fitting. Used to turn a five minute job into an hour, pain in the butt.
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Unit 2aa on an RT321. Had to strip the set down to a shell to do it.
Frequency illumination bulbs on an RT353.
Anything on an RT351.
Anything involving a cricket bat soldering iron usually didn’t end well.
Powering up a Ptarmigan SCRA(C) that hadn’t been used for months. Manually starting the 6.5KVA diesel genes inside Zetra Stadium in -20C temps was not my idea of fun. Nobody had ever seen it done before, let alone in that place.
What bother me though, is RAF/RN types working on aircraft in such ridiculous circumstances. Why do it in the dark/rain/snow etc, if a) it wasn’t war, and b) flight safety depends on a job well done. And what kind of poor design requires a job to be done blind? How do you know you’ve done it right?
Frequency illumination bulbs on an RT353.
Anything on an RT351.
Anything involving a cricket bat soldering iron usually didn’t end well.
Powering up a Ptarmigan SCRA(C) that hadn’t been used for months. Manually starting the 6.5KVA diesel genes inside Zetra Stadium in -20C temps was not my idea of fun. Nobody had ever seen it done before, let alone in that place.
What bother me though, is RAF/RN types working on aircraft in such ridiculous circumstances. Why do it in the dark/rain/snow etc, if a) it wasn’t war, and b) flight safety depends on a job well done. And what kind of poor design requires a job to be done blind? How do you know you’ve done it right?
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Victor
Two to choose from:
Removing the No3 tank in the port wing, having climbed up the undercarriage, crawled through one 18" wide oval aperture in the centre spar, then through the second 18" wide aperture in the forward spar, then turning back through 120 degrees, past the hissing combust start bottles, to crawl through a third 18" aperture, then crawling down a narrowing bag tank cavity and then lying on my back in 3" of fuel while trying to 'unpop' the poppers that held the tank onto the underside of the wing upper skin, safe in the knowledge that, if anything went adrift, I was on my own. Happy days.
or
Perched precariously on the RAT intake using my pitiful 18 yr old/10 stone body to hold the RAT intake down against its spring while someone else fitted a new chipper duct beneath me, all the while contemplating the steep and curving fuselage that led to an attractive 15 ft drop onto the floor. Safety harnesses? Nah - they're for poofs, mate. Apparently.
Removing the No3 tank in the port wing, having climbed up the undercarriage, crawled through one 18" wide oval aperture in the centre spar, then through the second 18" wide aperture in the forward spar, then turning back through 120 degrees, past the hissing combust start bottles, to crawl through a third 18" aperture, then crawling down a narrowing bag tank cavity and then lying on my back in 3" of fuel while trying to 'unpop' the poppers that held the tank onto the underside of the wing upper skin, safe in the knowledge that, if anything went adrift, I was on my own. Happy days.
or
Perched precariously on the RAT intake using my pitiful 18 yr old/10 stone body to hold the RAT intake down against its spring while someone else fitted a new chipper duct beneath me, all the while contemplating the steep and curving fuselage that led to an attractive 15 ft drop onto the floor. Safety harnesses? Nah - they're for poofs, mate. Apparently.
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Nimrod
20 minute JB-60 change, then spending the rest of the day doing functionals.
Or as a GE changing an engine Oil Tank with the ECU in situ down route at Gib with the VASF bengo hovering like a chicken constantly complaining about the oily mess we were leaving all over his nice clean concrete. Took us 2 days but we did it.
Or as a GE changing an engine Oil Tank with the ECU in situ down route at Gib with the VASF bengo hovering like a chicken constantly complaining about the oily mess we were leaving all over his nice clean concrete. Took us 2 days but we did it.
SPHLC
Ah yes the Canberra BCV - in between the 2 floors - not so bad on a T4 because you could swing the nose open and actually see what you were doing LOL - but the Bomber variants were a pig !
ISTR that the aileron bias motor/spring were also 'down there' and also where you could touch it or feel it but not at the same time !
Canberra Brake Control Valve - forward of the rudder pedals but under the cockpit floor, to give you yer differential braking.
ISTR that the aileron bias motor/spring were also 'down there' and also where you could touch it or feel it but not at the same time !
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After 3 pages how on earth can I be the first to say "Working with Aircrew"!
. I have the dubious pleasure of flying with serving aircrew and have tried to drill into them the old 'You fly them, let the techies fix 'em, they don't need any input from your vast technical knowledge' to try and save the serving techies from whacking them with a hammer. I do my best but to be honest it's like herding cats. Once they know words like 'engine', 'airframe' and 'undercarriage' it's too late.
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Safety harnesses? Nah - they're for poofs, mate. Apparently.
Replacing the HF aerial on a Beverley.
Out of the astrodome, fix one end of the aerial to the mast.
Walk along the top of the boom to the tail, wearing the safety harness and clipping another section of safety line on every 10 feet or so.
Reach the tail and fix the aerial cable to the shackle on the tail, job done.
I walk back along the boom, looping up the safety line.
Mate with head through astrodome watching all this, when I get back to the hole he asks, 'why are you using the safety harness?'
I said 'in case I slipped off.'
He takes the harness off me and says 'Watch', and throws the harness over the side.
That was the moment I learn't that a Beverly was longer than its height!
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Hmm. Lots. One that still grates was using a 150w soldering iron to connect a lighting transformer on a F4 wingtip due to the f#####g temp in Norway, had the burn scar on LH index finger for a decade...it was connected to ah houchin btw...
Integral fuel tanks seem a regular culprit. My worst were Nimrod wing tanks, with Zoot-suit, air supply, terrible lighting and..fuel!. How did we get away with it? The only bit that was ever dry was the area where you had cut away all the PRC and prepared for the new sealant.
OAP
. How did we get away with it? The only bit that was ever dry was the area where you had cut away all the PRC and prepared for the new sealant.OAP
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The riggers that used to crawl into fuel tanks had my greatest respect. One job that I couldn't have done, the very thought of it makes me shudder. Hats off to you guys.