Hastings Heavy Drop:
Perhaps it might be useful if I were to add what I wrote on the subject in my book about 53 Squadron:
"In March 1952, two crews were sent to Abingdon to carry out heavy drops of jeeps and guns. A heavy beam was fixed to strong points underneath the fuselage of the Hastings and to this was attached either, two jeeps or one jeep and a field gun, fitted with parachutes. Having this sort of load hanging underneath did absolutely nothing for the performance of the aircraft and an engine failure on take-off would have had catastrophic consequences. It is interesting to note that it was this requirement to carry external loads on the heavy beam and the space needed to load them underneath the aircraft, that dictated the extremely nose-high attitude which the Hastings adopted when stationary. In fact the cockpit was over twenty two feet above the tarmac. This made doing a decent landing in a Hastings a rather demanding exercise, as anyone who has ever seen one make a series of quite spectacular bounces would willingly testify!
Three crews were sent out to Kasfareet in the Canal Zone on 3 May with aircraft fitted with heavy beams to join other Hastings and Valetta aircraft (note: there is only one "L" in Valetta unlike the capital of Malta) taking part in Operation Leapyear. This involved flying at night from Kasfareet in formation and making dawn drops at Mafraq in Jordan. Formation flying and supply-dropping was still flown in vic formation at this time. Keeping station in a vic formation at night was one thing, but managing to do it with the additional handicap of having two jeeps hanging underneath was another. W/C Jimmy Brodie MBE AFC once made the observation that when power was applied to catch up, the aircraft responded like a dead donkey and when it was necessary to slow down, it behaved like a young stallion after a mare! Kasfareet airfield had to be closed for repairs after the exercise. Extensive ruts had been made in the tarmac and runways by the heavy aircraft which had taken part in the operation".
Then we move on to Suez:
"A few Hastings fitted with heavy beams had been provided but the normal fighting vehicle used by the Parachute Regiment at the time was the Austin Champ and the Hastings could only carry jeeps. This meant that the troops had to go into battle with war-surplus vehicles and with which they were unfamiliar. The French forces on the other hand, were supported by rear-loading Nord Noratlas aircraft and were supplied with all of the equipment that they needed".
Finally, I have (hopefully) attached two photographs of F/L Alistair MacLean and some of his crew contemplating the enormity of what they are about to do!
Last edited by JW411; 25th May 2017 at 16:58.