Originally Posted by
Lancman
ShackEng makes a very valid point, while the obvious threat to the U.K. came from the east and the UK defences were mainly orientated in that direction there was a less obvious but very potent threat lurking in the deep waters of the North Atlantic not so far to the west. It was vitally important that the Soviet nuclear missile submarine fleet was tracked, and occasionally deterred, at all times day and night fair weather and foul. This the Shackleton did for years and years, at low level.
Ah yes, I remember it well, anything up to 16-18 hour trips at low level with only one F/E.
Sycamore, the Bev carried an overload oil tank of 120 imperial gallons which was transferred when required by a hand operated wobble pump, in the inner ‘dog kennel’ aft of the flight deck, in flight. There was no facility to top up the overload tank in flight. IIRC the Centaurus engine had permitted oil consumption of 8 gallons per hour, and it’s oil tank held, normally, 25 gallons but could be overfilled, if memory serves, to about 32 gallons. I was a flying spanner, before the days of crew chiefs, on Bevs in those days, and must have pumped hundreds of gallons of cold 100U(?) oil in flight. I was on 53 Sqn.at Abingdon in the late ‘50’s, and one of our supply runs was Abingdon - Orange(Marseille) - Idris - Kano, night stopping at Idris and Kano. Thence a shuttle to Mamfe in the Cameroon’s where an RAF Rgt. Detachment operated with, again If I recall correctly, either single or twin Pioneers from the grass jungle strip, which was an interesting approach and landing for the Bev.
Due to its servicing schedule, it required a ‘Primary Star’ inspection at Idris, which amongst other items required all 144 spark plugs to be replaced. I normally completed the inspection just in time to get airborne the following morning.