Yes Chugalug the Hercules/Hastings combination was eventually very reliable but only after a very troublesome time earlier in its life with the Herc 100 as fitted to the Mk 1, indeed the term “consumable payload” was allegedly invented to describe its very uncertain reliability during the 1949-50 period. Allegedly on at least one occasion a Hastings departing Lyneham loaded with three spare power units intended for stranded aircraft never reached Changi, having to use up its own payload to keep itself going!
JW411, I recall the Benina accident well having just been posted to 99 Sqdn following withdrawal of the York from service. Such recognition as the crew received was (in the opinion of many) indeed derisory and inexcusable, especially in the case of the captain who did a brilliant job - a posthumous AFC would have been more appropriate.
Reference has been made to the inordinate thirst of sleeve valve engines, often measured (especially for the Centaurus) in several gallons per hour. On the other hand, in my experience on both Hastings and Beverely they were pretty reliable – indeed I don't recall ever having an in-flight failure during my (admittedly) fairly limited time with the Bev, other of course than the episode recently described in #10757 – which was no fault of the engines themselves!
Mention of the Bev reminds me that perhaps another reminiscence is due, so read on where I attempt to describe in a light-hearted way some of its peculiarities as experienced by its users – both crew and pax:
Despite its many virtues even the Beverley's most fervent aficionados would hardly claim speed as one of them, however reports of trains overtaking it can possibly be discounted although an encounter with to-day's TGV or equivalent would be a different story. Short hauls were no hardship, but of necessity it had frequently to undertake long-range flights; that many of these derived from the RAF's absurd attempts to use it as a Hastings replacement, was of little consolation to those who had to endure hours of mind-numbing boredom as a result.
For the pilots tedium was initially alleviated by the need for hand-flying, no autopilot being fitted until fairly late in its life while at the same time lack of a flight engineer involved them in routine duties (i.e fuel system management, logging engine readings etc) normally carried out by this functionary - after all, was the bird not designed for short-range work (pity no-one told Upavon, though). As for other crew members, the navigation & radio empires were adept at keeping their members busy, often with less than essential tasks, while running up and down ladders with trays of refreshment kept the quartermaster fit & alert - hot climate operations in particular saw to that, but what of the wretched customers?
Sleep is of course the best way of passing air time but even the most noddy-inclined individual has certain limits in that field, so what other recreation was available? Passengers were normally carried in the boom compartment, which provided some relief from the noise but offered a very poor view out from the slightly upward-sloping windows; so, to see whatever was on offer from the main deck, it was first necessary to scramble awkwardly down into the hold, using the stringers as a step-ladder.
Primarily intended for freight, its generous 10' x 10' x 40' capacity nevertheless provided ample space for passengers where they would endure a decibel level way beyond any sensible limit – although carriage of motor vehicles (especially private cars carried as indulgence freight on homebound flights) could offer some escape from the interminable din. Slipping inside with a good book, one could read for hours in greater comfort than was possible in some contemporary airliners. Unfortunately however, any encounter with turbulence, always likely at the Bev's comparatively low operating altitude, necessitated a rapid evacuation if nausea were to be avoided; vehicle suspensions are designed to deal with surface irregularities, but merely exaggerate the effects of rough air. Keeping the pax warm was less of a problem than might be imagined, for the Bev was fitted with a number of combustion heaters providing hot air for both cabin and de-icing; burning avgas supplied from the aircraft's fuel system, they were at first regarded with some suspicion but in practice were reasonably reliable and to the best of my knowledge never caused any serious incident.
Should the hold be empty, athletically inclined persons could jog to & fro. Noticing a bicycle lashed to the cabin wall on one occasion, I rode it in a figure eight pattern for about five minutes (perhaps setting some kind of record, cycling over France at 150 mph?), though it was rumoured that someone once actually did the same on a motor bike! Then there was the supply aimer's position in the nose, giving a superb view of the passing scene through its clear glass panel. I spent some hours thus, and during one clear passage over the Massif Central was able to garner much useful data towards the planning of a forthcoming French holiday.
We all remember the Centaurus engine's voracious thirst for oil, so that during the longer "drags" it was usually necessary to hand-pump this commodity from the reserve tank to the engines - a task accomplished in a noisome hole in rear of the flight deck, where both temperature and decibel readings were normally off-scale. It was an exhausting chore, rendered worse by the impossibility of using oxygen in an oily environment. Visitors to the flight deck were encouraged, in the sly hope that they might be conned into becoming oil pumpers; sometimes the ruse was successful, but they were seldom "had" a second time. Why an electric pump could not have been provided (with the hand pump as a back-up) is another of those little Beverley mysteries - along with the lack of a galley, no autopilot etc etc.
No doubt human ingenuity dreamed up other ways of passing the hours, for there was always time to spare on a Beverley flight!