Flyaway Kits
Wiley Those A & B kits were the cause of more than their fair share of "back busting". You can recall, I'm sure, lifting the darn things into and out of the aircraft. There was also a C kit, which I think had a couple of fire bottles in it. You will also likely remember that many of the items in the kits could only be used when on the ground and as a consequence the FE, often assisted by the LM, would be stuck rectifying defects well after the rest of the crew had left for the bar. In fact I recall one trip in an A model, where we departed Richmond with four overhauled engines and the aircraft just out of a "D" check, on a Staff College jolly. Within 18 hours of flight time three of the four engines had to have the duplex oil scavenge pump removed and the seals replaced, no small task. Two showed the tell tale signs (oil dripping from the oil cooler flap actuator) after landing and one let go in flight with a subsequent shutdown and diversion into Honiara. Anyone with any significant hours on the A model will know what I'm talking about. I am not sure just how it is done these days with the H model, but up until I left the RAAF in '81 it was still the FE who looked after the aircraft away base on almost all tasking.