Originally Posted by
5aday
The Nimrod airframes (based only at Kinloss) were washed after every trip and the engines were sprayed with WD40 or something that smelled the same as they were shut down. Those based in Malta,St. Mawgan and Wyton were not washed though I recall the WD40 treatment remained for all of the bases except Wyton of which I know nothing.
5aday
if you are referring to the automatic wash, that was only at the western end so was not available if you landed on 08. I seem to recall that we didn’t use the wash if the aircraft was due for Quick Turn Round (QTR) nor was the engine wash carried out after every flight. I cannot recall ever going through the wash with an R, no particular reason, we just didn’t do it.
The automatic wash was always said to be for corrosion prevention but I never saw any data that confirmed its efficacy. Indeed when I raised it with an OC Eng he said straight away that an installation at St Mawgan just wasn’t cost effective and he doubted whether in the light of experience they should have bothered at Kinloss. OTOH OCNLS at Kinloss was of the opinion that it was very effective. Who knows?
YS