Originally Posted by
Luqa Sid
When 103MU was struck off in 1975 the tool store held items stored from the early 1920s when the MU was called X Depot in Egypt, we had to load up lighters to dump all this junk off shore, Audax rigging boards and beautifully made brass things in mahogany boxes were all chucked overboard.
One of the main tasks on the MU was to drill holes in things, all alloy, manganese steel, brass and extrusions, the standard RAF windy drill could only be selected ON or OFF, ON gave a very high RPM and this could only be reduced by kinking the airline to restrict air supply, absolute rubbish. I later bought a lovely pistol grip windy which was perfect for all jobs and offered complete control, used it for years and it cost about fifty quid in the early 80s, how this would have improved the job time and quality of the job on the MUs.
Agree, Air force windy drills were crap apart from the better Cleco's. Then again, the straight, 30 degree and 90 degree windys, had little speed control on them. Still got my sheetie kit, not used it properly in 13 years since I got my line job.