Was posted to M.E.A.S at Waddo as a newly qualified LAC, L.Mech AC back in 1967 and on my first full day in the hangar was introduced to the Flight Sergeant (initials H.B) who ran the hangar Avionics section.
"Right lad", he said, "on that shelf you will find all of the A.P's relating to the Vulcan's avionics fit; take a couple of days to familiarise yourself with the equipment, it's componenets, and its location on the aircraft. When you think you know where evrything is, come see me and show me." In awe of this F/Sgt who later turned out to be much more than just a father figure, I determined that I would do just that.
The STR18B HF, TR1984/5 VHF and ARC52 UHF radios were located along with their various sub-units, controllers and aerials, likewise the ILS system (anyone remember B.I.L.S?), the old AD7092D Radio Compass, the location of all of the units for the Intercom system, everything I had been taught at Cosford fell victim to my newwly acquired Sherlock Holmes investigations.
Satisfied that there was nothing he could throw at me to catch me out, I reported back to the F/Sgt.
"Right then," says he... "now show me." He threw a whole load of questions my way regarding the locations and functions of the various boxes and aerials and sure enough I passed, as I thought with flying colours...
"OK... but what about the ECM?"
"E.C. what?" says I..."Sorry Flight Sergeant, but I havent a clue what you are talking about..."
We descended from the flight deck and he put an arm around my shoulders...
"This way, young fella," he said leading me to the bulbous back end of the aircraft...
He opened up the hatches of the bulge to reveal what to me appeard to be a load of black dustbins of various sizes with numerous electical connections and hosepipes attached...
"This, my son, is ECM, the bane of our lives as Air Radio folks... Electronic Counter Measures, Jammers, Spoofers call 'em what you will but this is what you will be spending 95% of your time changing..."
We went back to the section and he made a phone call and a few minutes later we visited the Electronics Service Centre and the high security ECM bay where he introduced me to the Chief Tech (initials D.T.) who in turn introduced me to the guys who worked in there. After what seemed a never ending stream of paperwork and me signing yet another copy of the Official Secrets Act, I was given an introductory lesson on ECM, what it was, what it did, how it did it and the dire consequences of letting this information be known to anyone else...
I spent the next three months in that bay... un-canning (removing and cleaning the covers from the same dustbins I had seen earlier), basic maintenance on Green Palm, Blue Diver, and various other rainbow named equipments, running Magnetrons on the huge test rig (and experiencing first hand the painful shocking results of what happens when the main earth clip fails...), then fiiting and greasing up new seals before re-canning and final testing of the newly serviced equipment. I disliked every moment of my time in that bay; great blokes but a totally sh*t job... the original version of 'its a dirty job son but someones gotta do it..!'
Back in the MEAS hangar the boss was right... hardly a sortie went by without at least one of the dustbins needing to be replaced. I lost count of the number of overalls I got through and the number of showers I had to take as a result of the partial failure of those damn glycol coolant pipes... and don't get me started on the rear crew under the table sub components of the STR18B HF Kit and the rear crew relief bottles stowed on hooks also beneath the table... Nasty!