Coff,
Congratulations on the milestone passed of 1000, thanks for your comment, I'm sure there are many more who have provided more valuable input. As we set off on the next stage I offer a short story of a lad from a Staffordshire farming village, besotted with the magic art of flying.
As I could hardly believe that the Royal Air Force would train me to maintain aircraft (what a risk to take) my posting to Colerne, and employment as a Jnr Tech Airframe Fitter on Albert, was equally astounding. Despite all of Haltons attempts, I could not believe that such a huge chunk of aluminium (not Aluminum) could get airborne. I soon learned to think differently. As I've probably told previously, Colerne was to the C130 fleet in those, early 70s, days that Marshalls of Cambridge later became. We had an Air test crew, some I recall are Sqd Ldr Whelch, the Captain, Bert Poulton, the Flight Engineer, Roy Gaunt, The Loadie. I can't remember the Nav, but I reckon they used to borrow a co pilot as required from a squadron at Lyneham.
As part of a post Base 3 airtest, the crew expected that two of the teams techies attended in person, by experiencing all the worries and concerns one might have when your workmanship is put to the test. I was always one of the first to volunteer to undertake this arduous task, and as a result managed to enjoy many happy hours aloft. Now, at the time, the "airtest" involved an initial departure (I hope the two winged master race can forgive my description), tactical take off, with the Captain making the point on intercom as we rotated " this will see if they put the wing attachment bolts back in properly", I was simply impressed that he knew we had removed them in the first place. A climb to a reasonable altitude, and some playing with engines, ticking the check sheet and we headed back to Colerne, not to land, but to test the pressurisation system. On the way in, MALM Gaunt served up to my co tradesman and myself a very hot coffee and a mouth burning Cornish Pasty. Now, Paddy and I were standing either side of Captain and Co pilot, if you know Albert, you know where, we had no idea what was coming, and with both hands fully occupied, had no way of bracing for what was about to happen. The object of the run in was a high speed pass along the runway followed by a 2G, I believe, pull up and max rate climb abeam the tower. The rate of climb needed to outpace the ability of the outflow valve to control the cabin pressure, allowing the safety valve to function. All I can say is that at some point during the first few thousand feet of climb, I abandoned the coffee and Pasty, and grabbed what I could. Needless to say, our brave Captain ended up wearing them both. Luckily, whilst hot to the mouth, neither were excessively painful to the recipient. To this day I'm convinced that Mr Gaunt had set it up. I was banned from Air tests for three months as a result, and had to clean the flight deck after landing.
I'm sure that if Flight idle still follows these columns "she" will confirm this event, I do know that being able to fly on the air tests from Colerne in those days led to my eventual employment as a C130 Ground Engineer, possibly the pinnacle of a minor, but awesome (or was it woeful) career
Goodnight all, keep the thread going, as Coff says, there really is more out there.
Smudge
