Originally Posted by
Tankertrashnav
Sorties of that length in the V Force (Victor tankers in my case) were not unknown. The rear crew could leave their seats although there was little point as there was nowhere to go, but the two pilots were stuck in their bang seats for the duration so were in no better a position than the FJ crews who might be accompanying them. Possible to put the pins in and get out I suppose, but there would have been little point.
When 214 Sqdn. flew the early long distance/duration proving trips during the IFR/AAR trials, 1959/60. An Elsan was carried on board the Valiant.
The trips included:
May 28th 1959 Marham - Salisbury 9h42 Sqdn. Ldr J H Garstin
June 18th 1959 Marham - Waterkloof 11h03 Wg. Cdr. M J Beetham
July 9th 1959 O/H LHR - Cape Town 11h28 Wg. Cdr. M J Beetham
July 14th 1959 Cape Town - O/H LHR 12h20 Wg. Cdr. M J Beetham
Mar 2nd-3rd 1960 Marham - Around UK 18h05 Sqdn. Ldr J H Garstin At the time the longest flight by a jet a/c.
May 25th 1960 Marham - Changi 15h35 Sqdn. Ldr J H Garstin
June 1st 1960 Butterworth - Marham 16h16 Sqdn. Ldr J H Garstin
Normally on these long flights there were 6 bodies on board as the Crew Chief usually travelled on the jump seat.
There was also the Vulcan to Sydney, and the dry run for that, which was the Vulcan flew Scampton to O/H Karachi, and returned to Scampton.
We also did trips ferrying fighters.
One such trip was taking Javelins to Singapore. The route was Marham/Coltishall - Akrotiri - Karachi - Gan - Singapore. All done on successive days. We ground crew did the pre-flights and saw the a/c off. Jumped aboard a Britannia, that followed the Valiant's and Javelins. On arrival did the de-snagging and went to bed. Repeated each day for 4 days. We were young and thought it was all fun!