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Old 13th Jan 2010, 07:39
  #204 (permalink)  
Dundiggin'
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Finchampstead
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Diamondglider....promised dit on Geordie Haswell.....

When we first went to NI in the Wessex, I was a sprog crewman on 72 Sqn and was learning the way of the World from the 'hairies' like Geordie Haswell.
To set the scene; in those days the crewman would monitor HF as a Flight Safety Net. So on takeoff we would check that it was working OK and then monitor it during flight. The atmospherics on the net could be quite intrusive, crewmen had to put up with it but other crew members would de-select the HF rx button to get a bit of peace.
One day, Geordie Haswell (ex British Rail fireman shovelling 40 tons of coal a day to keep the steam up! - good skills in the Wessex ) departed Aldergrove to go tasking in the Province. Sometime later I took off to do some other Province tasking and after takeoff I tuned in the HF radio and did a radio check with Ops. That went OK so I settled down in the cabin to monitor the nav. I then became aware of an unusual sound on the HF which sounded like someone singing the letter oh (O) but in one long sound: 'Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhhhhhh' I said to the pilot 'Have a listen to HF there's a weird sound I can't make out' He selected his HF rx button and there was the sound nonstop but getting fainter 'Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh'
'That's strange don't know what that is' Then the 'Oh' sound stopped and continued with 'klahoma with the wind gan whistling doon the playne'
The fact it was in a broad geordie accent gave the game away; obviously Geordie Haswell was having a boring Province task.

Last edited by Dundiggin'; 13th Jan 2010 at 12:06.
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