Firstly can I bring to everyone’s attention the fact that Steve has edited his opening post? In summary, half the proceeds of the book will go to the RAF Benevolent Fund. A good gesture Steve, thanks for that and I hope the book goes well!
A couple of stories.
This first one is not directly related but it might provoke others memories. In the late 70’s a T17 flat-spotted it’s belly at Coningsby. The MU spent about a Year / 18 Months replacing all the worn away bits and then came the job of putting all the boxes back in and checking systems that had lain dormant for a prolonged period. As such the guys from Wyton Canberra Servicing Flight went across during the last 4 to 6 weeks of the fix. In the latter stages I went across for a week to do some electrical bits.
I found that we were lodged at a B&B in Woodhall Spa – miles away from Coningsby and civilisation as I knew it. So, the first night there, I asked the others who had lodged there a few weeks where the nearest entertainment was. I was advised that there was a Pub at the other end of the village. I was also advised that the landlady was a bit stern and did not like late comings and goings. Anyway, a few of us sallied forth and my abiding recollection is of walking for ages along a long straight road to the Pub. It must have been a good evening because, when we eventually came back, I had a severe fit of the giggles and I insisted that others should share my good humour – even if they had been asleep for a couple of hours!
The next morning I came down to breakfast and was confronted by a stony faced landlady. She advised me that my presence was no longer wanted in her establishment and I must make other accommodation arrangements immediately.
Oh Dear! What to do?! Well, the upshot was that, for the rest of the week, I found myself billeted in a Pub opposite a chip shop and only five minutes from work! I never did write to thank her!
The second story is an object lesson in never volunteering. This is the condensed version. Rang at home at 22:30 on a Friday and asked if I and a couple of others could go and do a job on a Canberra stuck in Portugal. Foolishly I volunteered. So 01:00 Saturday we left Wyton for Lyneham where we jumped on a Herc. Flew to Oporto Airport in Portugal and spent three hours on the pan fixing the Aircraft and seeing it off. Surprised to find we were then going to Gibraltar and not Lyneham. Landed at Gibraltar where everything was shut for Siesta and we were left alone on the pan for three or more hours. Finally flew back to the UK. Arrived Wyton Sunday 02:30 having been to two Countries and saw two airfields. During that time we never had sight of a Bar or even any ‘Duty Frees’. To say it was a disappointing trip would be an understatement!
And lastly…
It was a Friday afternoon – isn’t it always a Friday afternoon?! 1979 and the Canberra Servicing Flight at Wyton has a Hangar full of T4, T17 and PR9 Canberra’s. The Chief is on Holiday for a fortnight, the Sergeant is going on holiday after cease work and I will be in charge of the Electrical section next week. Right, a cunning plan! Next week we will be short of Electricians so today I will try and get some of the niff-naff job cards done so that I can give myself more time to multi-task on whatever admin needs to be done next week as well as the normal Hangar jobs.
Trawling through all the out-standing job cards I managed to clear a few on the other Aircraft in the Hangar. I then came to the PR9 which was within a day or two of completion.
One of the jobs to be done during the latter part of a PR9 check was to see that the supply to the Engine start system (Avpin) was OK. This was done by removing one of the Hangar safety (dummy) fuses, refitting the proper fuse and pressing the start button. A test light in the disconnected start system plug would then come on. If all was OK then the fuse was removed and the dummy refitted. The plug was then connected, wire locked and the card could be signed off.
I noticed that the Starboard Engine start system card had been signed up but the Port Engine one had not. I asked if this job could be done and was told all the bits were back in and it could be tested
A slight digression to explain the pertinent details of a PR9. The fighter style canopy is off-set to the left. This leaves room for a large Fuel control and Engine start panel on the right hand console. The whole console is pivoted so it can swing outwards and downwards to reveal a pit that you can jump into with a little bit of jiggling about. A fuse panel is on the rear facing wall of this pit.
So off I go and get the test lamp and connect it up to the Port start system. I ask one of the riggers fitting some panels on the Starboard wing if he will look at the light to tell me if the system is OK. I then wiggle down into the pit and, looking aft, I fit the Port fuse (the Port & Starboard start fuses are adjacent to each other). Rather than wiggling out and looking to see what I am doing – and also to save a little bit of time - I half pull the panel up, reach up and round to blindly press the Port start switch.
A tremendous noise fills my world and reverberates round the Hangar! What on earth has happened? I am now acutely aware that the Starboard Engine start system worked successfully! I switch the Battery off and vacate the Aircraft. Luckily I had checked that the Fuel Cocks were shut and the other Hangar safety fuses were in place beforehand.
So what went wrong? With the benefit of hindsight the answer was easy. I was in a rush to get jobs done before people knocked off on the Friday afternoon. In my haste I made two wrongs that definitely did not make a right! Sitting in the pit looking aft I put the left hand fuse in. In my eyes it was the Port one but, as you have now gathered, it was the Starboard one. I tried to save a minute or two by not getting out of the pit to push the button and then have to get back in it to remove the live fuse and replace the dummy one and then wiggle back out again. So I remained in the Pit, still facing aft and reached up to press the start button furthest away. Again in my eyes this was the Port one.
For those who hadn’t heard the start cycle, which would have been no-one as the sound resonated really well inside the closed Hangar, the smell of spent Avpin would have also attracted people like moths to a flame. Avpin has a distinctive but not particularly nice smell so the Hangar doors were opened and a gathering of the curious ensued. Wingco Engineering happened to be in the area and asked what was going on. When told he apparently said two words “Charge him!”.
Meanwhile, back in the Hangar… As I knew what had happened, and had smelt enough spent Avpin from working on Lightnings, I did not need to stay with the gathering masses milling round the Aircraft. So I quietly walked away and over to the nearby ablutions. A fitting place to stand and ponder my career going down the toilet!
Nowadays there would be a Human Factors inquiry to see what lessons could be learnt and measures introduced to prevent it happening again. Obviously it would not have been my fault, it would have been the system or the procedures or the culture. Back then it was a slapped wrist and career limiting – or, more exactly in my case, career stagnation. And rightly so! I was a grown up doing a grown-ups job and I made a mistake. I was lucky that no one was hurt and it was only my pride and promotion that suffered. It could have been a lot worse!
Last edited by morton; 1st Mar 2012 at 07:01.
Reason: add Year to MU time