Turmo IIIC4s eating pigeons was a standard occurrence in NI. Homing pigeons caused problems because their leg rings would nick the compressor. Five minutes with a half moon file would round it off.
Coming out of Wildenrath fully loaded with Seckt, including two cases pre-ordered by customs, we went IMC in sparrows. The noise was incredible, just like heavy flak. We turned back because the screens were covered in blood and guts so we needed them cleaned so we could see where we were going.
These were the days when if a dragonfly went into a Harrier’s intake it was instant Cat 5 so we had the whole show out to meet us when we got back. After shooing away the blokes in the asbestos suits we started to clean up the aircraft.
Whilst we were prising carcasses out of the rotor head the SEngO arrived. We levered him up to the engine panels and he was horrified see the multiple skid marks in the intakes. I spun the engines a couple of times but it took a lot of persuading to convince him that there was nothing wrong with them. He did insist that we swept out the debris in the intakes before we started it up
Reading some technical manual on the Turmo it was cleared to run on any fuel, ranging from petrol, through Avtur, diesel and even liquefied coal. Birds were just another form of portable energy.
The same time on them than Shytorque, and again I never had a failure. Others not so lucky, I lost a couple of friends in Aberdeen when the good engine failed during a training sortie.