aa62,
I still have it somewhere, but not sure of its exact location presently. I do remember that the handle extension, could be used as a "dumpy" screwdriver, mounting point exited the handle whilst I was still a GE, so, I ended up with two seperate screwdrivers. It was always a handy piece of kit though, and saved many a GE having to drag his whole tool kit outside the aircraft.
Dougie,
Had a similar experience on our way back from the Far East. We had an ignition relay failure on No 1 Engine, and no spare in the FAP. I had one in my spares bag, acquired whilst somewhere in the states, but my fellow GE on the trip suggested we check the part number was good. So, we engrepped Lyneham Ops and were informed that it was not the correct part, and we would take a 24 hour delay whilst the correct item was sent. ISTR we were in Abu Dhabi at the time so we set off to enjoy the creature comforts of the hotel and await arrival of the spare. It duly turned up on the next evenings BA flight. We waltzed it through customs and unpacked it ready to fit. On checking it was exactly the same part number as I had in my spares bag. We advised Lyneham, and were eventually told the correct item would arrive on tomorrow's flight. Enjoy the pool ! Well, any who know will know that there's a little "trick" with the ignition relay, designed for when you need to get out of dodge fast. That is to start the engine, and once self sustaining transfer the relay to replace the dodgy one. It gets a bit drafty behind the prop, but done properly perfectly safe. The option was discussed, and offered, no one was interested. The "injuns" we're not coming over the hill. All we needed was to start the engine and do one leg to Akrotiri where the correct item was awaiting us. Eventually Lyneham relented and allowed me to fit my spare relay, the wrong item remember. The engine started fine, we informed the crew and were airborne within a few hours for Akrotiri.
On arrival at Akrotiri, one poseur and former GE Mr Libby, was very welcoming and soon had stores deliver the proper relay to us on the TASF pan, the part number was identical to my spare. So, in agreement with the crew, we said nothing, cleared the one flight only on my relay and flew home the next day. On our return I was hauled over the coals as to why I was carrying an incorrect spares item with me en route. Luckily our GE boss had done some checking of his own and found the following. When we had contacted Lyneham Ops from Abu Dhabi, the Flt Sgt eng ops guy had rung the line to confirm the part number of the ignition relay. The line had sent a man out to the hangar and he confirmed the number of the relay on the nearest engine to him with open cowlings. This was passed to eng ops, who then used it as "the standard", you guessed it, the one checked in ALSS was in actual fact a spare, fitted somewhere other than Lyneham and was indeed the wrong item. My spare was the correct item, as were the six or so held in stock at AKR. Talk about embarrassing, but I never got an apology for my "stand up when I address you Chief" ! It all sounds a bit of a shambles really, and I suppose it appears that way. The problem was that at the broken end of the supply chain, as GEs often were, we had no control of anything until it pitched up at the coal face. One GE told me of recieving a replacement window somewhere in Africa. On getting hold of it, the box clearly marked "Heavy Item, 16 lbs weight" was in fact the correct, but empty, transit box for that particular window. It only weighed about 2 lbs, yet no one had queried this from Lyneham Stores, through the engineering pre issue check through transit with BA etc etc. All part of life's rich pageant in those days I think. Regards to you all, keep posting about those good old days, it do make I chuckle.
As a quick follow up. If I recall correctly a fellow contributor to this thread, R4H, was one of the two Captains who had "driven us" to Hong Kong, pretty sure the other was one S/L Chris O'B***n. Perhaps he remembers the incident.
Smudge
