I am surprised at some of the stuff the RAF dispose off
Nutloose wrote:
Picture of a large 4-engined jet which had the main bogies re-drawn as talons, each of which were grasping a smaller, two-seater, single-engined jet. The caption underneath was "Well, that's breakfast taken care of." 
What was on the back....
In the mid-seventies I was on Puma squadron when our Mk3 helmet boxes were withdrawn and replaced with nancy helmet bags. Roughing it in the sticks a helmet box was invaluable as a camp bedside table to keep all your goodies in.
A couple of months later we had a dispersal exercise to a disused airfield where a hangar was occupied by Staravia; a used aircraft spares organisation. I was chatting to the bloke that looked after the hangar about flightworthy Goblin engines and suchlike that they had in store when I came upon a huge pile of helmet boxes. Two minutes rummaging around and then I found mine.
Clutching it like a long lost baby I asked him how much. He told me to take it as they were probable going to be burned.
Comfort was restored in the sticks.
A couple of months later we had a dispersal exercise to a disused airfield where a hangar was occupied by Staravia; a used aircraft spares organisation. I was chatting to the bloke that looked after the hangar about flightworthy Goblin engines and suchlike that they had in store when I came upon a huge pile of helmet boxes. Two minutes rummaging around and then I found mine.
Clutching it like a long lost baby I asked him how much. He told me to take it as they were probable going to be burned.
Comfort was restored in the sticks.
To have spares ready to replace non-serviceable items immediately seems kind of sensible to me.
But in the interim many valuable and much needed stores were scrapped. The first such instruction was on Hercules Cloud and Clunk radar spares - over £3M worth were ordered to be binned and the contracted turn round time went from 7 days to 18 months. Multiply that by hundreds of avionic equipments and the waste was astronomical; and of course the spares had to be replaced but the Treasury refused funding as it had already been used, so had to be stripped from other parts of the defence budget. And infamously, as part of that "savings", our War Reserves were ordered to be scrapped just as we were gearing up for GW1.
The 3 Star chappie under whose leadership the policy was developed in 1987 used to post here.........
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Used to be policy. Then they introduced "Not in Time". Overnight (on 13.1.88) it became policy to wait, as a minimum, the production lead time. This was later changed to the much maligned, but not quite as stupid, "Just in Time".
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Only the military can pay £150,000 for a engineer-designed, tested and certified, and regulation-approved aviation transmission crane - then use it no more than 12 times in 25 years - and then sell it at auction for £100.
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Sounds like a good idea to have spares just in case. Isn't that the point!
To have spares ready to replace non-serviceable items immediately seems kind of sensible to me.
To have spares ready to replace non-serviceable items immediately seems kind of sensible to me.
The numbers set are not made up by loggies. They are determined by the engineering specialists and those responsible for the fleets, who are also not loggies.
Overall, the systems used to manage spares etc work very well, when they are allowed to work. Long screwdrivers, meddling, self-importance and the desire to be promoted seemed to be the reasons why it didn't work, and of course Engineers thinking they know better.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Mr C H, actually do have an effect. E.g., years ago when there was a place called Harrogate, a woman (I would have said smart young lady but I can't now) rang me up. Now I was a lowly officer in Ops but she bypassed Command, Group, and Eng Wg, and said as how we had a standing order for some 20,000 cartridges per year but nil expenditure. Could she suspend the contact for that year?
I realised what was happening and suspended the order. Other than that woman at Harrogate, no one on the engineering or supply side had seen the problem. Indeed some chief on the other side of the airfield was probably wondering where to put them.
Now aircraft spares used to be calculated carefully at CSDE, IIRC, until we ordered the E3 in short order. Now an aircraft already in Service for many years, the manufacturer should know shouldn't he?
So we asked Mr Boeing for a truck load of spares. An opportunity of a life time and he cleared his shelves - mostly spares the USAF hadn't needed (at least that was the story).
I realised what was happening and suspended the order. Other than that woman at Harrogate, no one on the engineering or supply side had seen the problem. Indeed some chief on the other side of the airfield was probably wondering where to put them.
Now aircraft spares used to be calculated carefully at CSDE, IIRC, until we ordered the E3 in short order. Now an aircraft already in Service for many years, the manufacturer should know shouldn't he?
So we asked Mr Boeing for a truck load of spares. An opportunity of a life time and he cleared his shelves - mostly spares the USAF hadn't needed (at least that was the story).
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Other than that woman at Harrogate, no one on the engineering or supply side had seen the problem.
Early in my career when I had a "trade", as opposed to an "occupation". The PO sent me to stores to pick up a shackle. The bin rat behind the desk said "sorry no stock", but I could see one on the shelf right behind him so I said "why can't you give me that one"
His response, "Well if I give you that one I won't have one in stock".
His response, "Well if I give you that one I won't have one in stock".
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It all works two ways, many years ago in a sandy location I received an order from an electric supervisor for some seals. I checked for a stock card (Pre computer days) and found found no record, informed said lekie who went ballistic
commenting on the parentage of myself and stackers in general and said he used these every day and had run out. When I asked where he had got them from he replied that when the Lightnings transferred from Khamis four years previously (Give away) he pinched them all from their stores and kept them in a box under his bench in the bay. As he left he threw the word W***** over his shoulder. Some seals were sent by company mail to tide us over.
After a couple of weeks and no further requests I asked him if they were still needed, the reply, "It doesn't matter now, I forgot I nicked two boxes".
I left him with the comment W***** in his ears.
commenting on the parentage of myself and stackers in general and said he used these every day and had run out. When I asked where he had got them from he replied that when the Lightnings transferred from Khamis four years previously (Give away) he pinched them all from their stores and kept them in a box under his bench in the bay. As he left he threw the word W***** over his shoulder. Some seals were sent by company mail to tide us over.
After a couple of weeks and no further requests I asked him if they were still needed, the reply, "It doesn't matter now, I forgot I nicked two boxes".
I left him with the comment W***** in his ears.
