Years and years ago when Aldershot had some industry a factory was built with the normal tall chimney. This was a brick built structure with a large fabricated brass ring at the apex. Time marched on; the factory became redundant and eventually became to being demolished. The chimney would normally have been felled to cheers from onlookers but the Army had sensitive communication systems close by so the crump of a thousand tons of brickwork hitting the ground was considered unacceptable. As a result it was going to have to be dismantled brick by brick but the brass ring was a problem.
This is where the RAF stepped in.
The ring was estimated at about 1,500 lbs, well within the capability of a Puma. To facilitate its release from its mortar bed the brickwork was chipped away so that there were only four small pillars supporting it. Access for the crewman who was going to hook it up was provided by the scaffolding built within the chimney itself. The plan was, the crewman would nip up the chimney supervised by demolition staff, hook the already rigged ring on to the Puma’s hook, there then would be a pause whilst the crewman and staff shinned down the chimney and out of the firebox and finally the Puma would lift the ring and place it inside an adjacent skip.
The squadron commander was soon to hand over the squadron so he decided to take on this task. He considered that he was probably not the most experienced USL pilot on the squadron so he had the most proficient in the left hand seat flying shotgun.
The bewitching hour came and off we went.
The aircraft landed and we confirmed the final details with the organisers and waited until we got the signal from our crewman at the top of the chimney. Despite his lack of practise the boss had no problem positioning the aircraft at an 80 ft. hover with little outside references. The aircraft crewman was pattering away and came the time where it was hooked up and we were waiting for everybody to clear the structure.
Then one of the pillars started collapsing.
This was probably a result of the vibrations from the aircraft as the hover was steady enough. The hooker and his support staff were now fleeing down the chimney hotly pursued by bricks and rubble from the collapsing pillars. It was then that it was apparent that the estimated weight of the ring was hopelessly optimistic and full power was only just holding it in position. It couldn’t be jettisoned because it would have brought down the whole chimney and everybody in it. We listened to the helicopter crewman’s commentary until we heard him declare that they were out of the chimney and clear.
It was then dragged off sideways. As soon as it cleared everything started descending and with a combination of luck and skill the boss plonked it into the skip.