Emergency escape parachutes were not alone Tash, as you know there was also parachute harnesses, single seat life rafts, personal survival packs, survival aids and locator beacons, immersion suits, life preservers and helmets. All kit that essentially assists aircrew survival post leaving the aircraft and was lovingly maintained by ‘the squippers’. So the bomb head bit is the easy part (just kidding St Babs crowd).
I’m just glad that many of ‘our’ aircrew got out and survived to return to their family and friends, our reward (no that one was expect or needed) was that they always (to a man) came in post ejection and said thank you to the Arm Eng flight individuals who had a hand in their escape (armourers and squippers).
Unfortunately one didn’t make it and is always remembered. L
Originally Posted by
Tashengurt
Cheers for responding John, I have indeed given up on Twitter as a bad lot.
I accept your points that you do mention, loosely, the Armourers and at least one parachute packer and I understand that "This one time I took a parachute out of its seat, serviced it and repacked it" isn't going to get you onto the Sunday Times bestseller list but I still feel when writing a book about a piece of kit which essentially involves two trades to maintain, it's remiss to not even name one of those trades.
In my day Tornado seats were pulled every six months for servicing, of course other aircraft and nations might be different.
We serviced 'chutes with absolutely meticulous care, literally by the book in as much that if a supervisor walked by any the AP wasn't at the same point as the packing process then they'd expect you to start again. It didn't matter if it was the first or the fiftieth chute you'd packed.
I just think it's a shame you couldn't trust your readers enough to step back from the dramatic to give a bit of insight into that process.
Of course, I'm biased and tetchy because none of you growbags ever had the manners to use one of mine!