Victor cockpit visibility?

[brickhistory]

How was it?

[rej]

I suppose it depended on how many of the crew were chuffing their pipes :E

[brickhistory]

I suppose it depended on how many of the crew were chuffing their pipes

True, but the smoke would rise and only cloud the view looking up. :ok:

I'm curious about the view forward for taxi, landing, etc.

Having learned a little about the Vulcan, I'm attempting the same here.

[BEagle]

Victor cockpit visibility


An oxymoron, surely?

Although ex-Victor chums such as Art Field and Mr Bernoulli will provide more proper comment!

[peterperfect]

I googled "view from a victor cockpit" and found a few shots and anecdotes, however best to hear it from the horse's mouth when the ppruning Victor chums start their alert duty ! pp

[Background Noise]

Don't suppose you wanted too much vis when the big bomb went off.

[forget]

If you're really serious;

Alphasim Handley-Page Victor HP.80 Prototype Pack No.1 Textures Only ..... The model has virtual cockpit with full 3D: gauges, switches, instruments.

http://www.simviation.com/files/commercial/Victor_PK1.zip

[Top West 50]

I came back to flying the Victor, in an examining capacity, having spent a few years on other transport and AAR aircraft. I had a fair amount of time on the Victor previously but was somewhat unprepared for the poor vision from the flight deck - I said to my examining colleague - "its like looking through a letter-box!"

[Dan Winterland]

"You can see what?"

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb73/dbchippy/seewhat.jpg

And don't ask Mr Bernoulli. He never looked out anyway! ;)

[Gainesy]

Wasn't a sponge tied to a snooker cue an essential bit of kit to remove condensation?

[Art Field]

TW 50, Hi, you beat me to it,I agree the postbox feeling. If you add that the glass often seemed frosted especially when it rained, you would be thankful for the DV window provided you could crouch down to look out of it. Otherwise vision was perfect. So what she was an amazing aircraft. EOSM37, by sitting in a Victor.

[forget]

brick, you may have seen this - it includes a couple of brief shots from inside. You'll work out which is Avro and which is HP. Brilliant production :ok::ok:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PO-KaDtzmcU

[Alex Whittingham]

There was a maximum of 18º (?) pitch up indicated on the AI, beyond that you couldn't see the horizon out the front so you had to try and fly visually looking sideways out of the DV window to assess your pitch. Scary.

[uffington sb]

Forget,

Nice vid thanks.

But why is there a Gp Capt ADC in the RHS and LHS?

[forget]

But why is there a Gp Capt ADC in the RHS and LHS?

No idea - but the Vulcan at 1:42 is reversed. If you're really really bored, you'll see why from the one at 6:45. :8

[4mastacker]

But why is there a Gp Capt ADC in the RHS and LHS?


Marham's station commander perhaps? The gentleman who held that post in the early nineties did seem to spend a lot of time with 55 Sqn.

[uffington sb]

Yes I know the staish at Marham is an ADC having E"R on the four rings on account of having her madge's country house in his/her back yard, but I can't be that bored.
Besides I'm on my third bottle of Old Rosie.

[DaveyBoy]

No idea - but the Vulcan at 1:42 is reversed.

I didn't know they could reverse!!! :ok:

[ZH875]

No idea - but the Vulcan at 1:42 is reversed. If you're really really bored, you'll see why from the one at 6:45. :8

You obviously had a slack moment or two to spot that one.:ok:

Yep, you are a :8.

[effortless]

Can someone elucidate as to why Vulcan carried on so long and Victor didn't? The discussion passed me by at the time. What was wrong with Victor?

[forget]

Yep, you are a :8

In my defence M'Lud, after many a beedin' cranium from bumping into L Band aerials you sort of notice when someone moves the ECM plate across the aircraft. :sad:

What was wrong with the Victor? Short answer - low level ops after Gary Powers, Vulcan won on fatigue life.

[Old Ned]

Forget.

VMT for the vid. Loved the chap in the sharp suit and cloth headset (it appeared) heading towards the Vulcan Mk1. Ahhhhhh, that was style! I do hope he was the captain. (I realise he was most probably the test pilot, but still smoothly attired).

Pip pip ON

[Treble one]

I believe the chap in the suit was probably Roly Falk, who I believe was the Avro Chief test pilot.

I think he was also the pilot who rolled the Vulcan over the Avro factory at the end of a test flight. Footage does exist somewhere, and what a sight it is! :ok:

Treble one

[ninja-lewis]

"Can someone elucidate as to why Vulcan carried on so long and Victor didn't? The discussion passed me by at the time. What was wrong with Victor?"

I'm not an expert by any means, but according to Vulcan 607, it was the change from high attitude to low attitude to avoid Soviet air defences. This placed more strain on the airframes, chiefly the wings, and reduced their service lives. The Valiant was the most severly affected apparently, followed by the Victor and then the Vulcan (the rigid wing supposedly coped better). Hence the Valiant was retired pretty quickly and the Victors were converted to tankers, leaving the Vulcans.

I'm sure someone who actually has first hand knowledge will be able to provide a better answer though.

[Eagle402]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4r0Kk-xX4o

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

Eagle402. Thanks for the link. It also pointed to http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=17GfXQ2wCFU&feature=related , one of the prototypes being rolled off the top of a loop. From that angle and that lighting, I can't identify the narrator.

Sorry (slightly) for contributing to the natural drift away from Sir Fred's creation.

[Senior Pilot]

Even more :8 :

Victor @ 3:37, scrambling with the tow bar attached? :ooh: I know it's just set up for the film, but........;)

Victor @ 4:30, is that the tail fin of a Lancaster in the right of frame? What an indication of the speed of aviation advances in those years :ok:

GBZ: Roly Falk?

[Senior Pilot]

Brick,

Just to get back OT: have you seen these photos?


http://www.classicaircraft.co.uk/photos/photo061.jpg


http://www.classicaircraft.co.uk/photos/photo062.jpg

Linky (http://www.classicaircraft.co.uk/aircraftphotos.htm)

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

GBZ: Roly Falk?

I didn't think so but there's no telling how chaps age. Where's the Vulcan when we need him!

The fin may well be a Lincoln.

[brickhistory]

SP, I had not. Thanks and to those with the other photos and links.


So the answer appears to be 'not great.'

[Old Ned]

Treble One & Eagle 402

Many thanks for the Roly Falk gen and the Vulcan clip. Have found another with the commentary by the irreplaceable Raymond Baxter (BoB Spitfire pilot);

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in4Pmp84BWM

Don't think the roll was at Farnborough though. Gosh, I would love to have shaken the hands of both these great men.

Pip pip ON

[Top West 50]

I do remember, however, an OCU conversion sortie which involved a high speed run in a Mk 1 without the use of the Mach Strut. Somewhere up at 45000 ft or above we began a shallow dive. At about M0.95, and with the aircraft pitching down furiously, my instructor said - "look out." Fresh from training, I did! Not that there was much to see (see earlier posts) - by which time we were very close to, or had actually exceeded M1.0!

[Vasco Sodcat]

The view out for the AEO and Nav (post combining Radar and Plotter into 1 job) was strictly limited, being through 1 rather small porthole each. As the disbandment of 55 approached I was on a crew that took one of our last airframes to Manston for the Fire School to play with. Manston approach gave us the "Dover tour" clockwise round the coast from the Thames to the Sussex border. Having viewed the tour through said porthole I heard the AEO complain that all he'd seen was sea :\

The obliging Approach Controller then gave us the tour backwards to redress the AEO's deprivation! :}

[Treble one]

Guys,

I don't know the name of the Narrator on the clip so kindly provided by Eagle, but the clip comes from a Vulcan DVD I bought my Dad for his birthday one year. The narrator was a someone who worked on the assembly line at the Avro factory, and helped build the aircraft in question.

When Roly Falk rolled the Vulcan, he managed to smash most of the windows in the factory roof......:ok:

[tornadoken]

el:#21: Can someone elucidate as to why Vulcan carried on so long and Victor didn't? What was wrong with Victor? Nothing. In 1959 both Marks 2 were underway, equally esteemed. Fatigue was not a design, or Spec. issue - high/far was wanted. 'Twas all to do with Skybolt and devious HSAL.

“few (contracts caused) such bitter feelings (as Blue Steel) even in ’56 (Avro puffed 1,000n.m. for later BS.Marks. MoS felt that if they) could not perfect (100n.m.) how could they (do) 10xthat? (Weapons Research Divn, many ex-RAE staff) weak management structure (criticisms) recriminations (were) common parlance” RAF Deterrent Official History, H.Wynn,P202/4. In despair, in January,59 UK joined a USAF Reqt., won June by Douglas (to be) AGM-48 Skybolt ALBM. UK appointed Avro as Sister Firm responsible for integration with RAF's 2 platforms. They said it would not fit under low Victor wings. Sir Fred HP said he would sort that, but he had been deemed "difficult" by MoS, as they juggled the "measure of coalescence" that became HSAL+BAC. Avro gave MoS the excuse needed to leave HP out in the cold. 3rd. Victor B.Mk.2 squadron was abandoned (became SR.2), first 2 to be confined to Blue Steel; all 72 Skybolt platforms to be Vulcan B.2.

[XL391]

I don't know the name of the Narrator on the clip so kindly provided by Eagle...

That would be the late Dougie Godfrey. He was a foreman on the Vulcan production line at Woodford. He was also the "chairman" of the 603 Club at Woodford, responsible for taking care of XM603. His death was a factor in 603's decline over the last 5 or 6 years I have read somewhere... :sad:

[tartare]

Chaps... what mission profile would the Vulcan have flown if it had to drop the big one on the Soviets?
Low - high speed and one way I suspect?
Excuse my ignorance but I assume it progressed from dropping a dumb nuke, to flying an entiorely different standoff stype mission with the Blue Steel?
Any former drivers who could tell stories of what the rehearsals were like?
(Without breaking any rules of course:E)
That video gives an idea of how scary the whole exercise would have been.

[MDJETFAN]

Roly Falk did barrel roll the Vulcan at Farnborough; I can't recall the exact year as I went every year starting in 1952 and remember it as one of the highlights of those early visits. I think it was VX777 in 1953 and Falk was flying solo.
On a more somber note, I witnessed the DeH 110 breaking up as it flew towards the crowd and seeing the engines soar over our heads and plough into the crowd behind us. I was part of a very large group of Blackburn Aircraft employees who had travelled down from Brough. As we had all made our way individually from London to Farnborough, we couldn't get a head count until we boarded the train home later that evening.

[Hipper]

According to Tony Blackman's book 'Vulcan Test Pilot' Roland (Roly) Falk practiced a few barrel rolls from Woodford on the 31st August 1955, possibly in XA889 (without warning the rest of the crew!). He then performed rolls at that year's Farnborough show, possibly in XA890, telling no-one except the show's commentator.

Of course it generated a lot of interest but Falk inevitably got a ticking off from the authorities and was forbidden to repeat it, even though he was able to show that there was positive g throughout the manoevre which was carried out only whilst the plane was climbing. He got his nickname from this episode.

[Art Field]

Why is it that any V-Force thread, regardless of the starting aircraft type, always ends up as a Vulcan nostalgia session. I accept it was and hopefully is a great display aircraft but having been involved with all three, consider it to have been the least use operationally of the trio.

Ducks right down.

[brickhistory]

I blame that French guy in the "Thunderball" movie.................

[Treble one]

Thanks for the info, interesting to know.

Regards

TO

[buoy15]

Not sure about the inside/out view, but for the spectator, you have to admit, the Victor was the most aesthetic of the 3, both in the air and on the ground

Old Ned

Would that be the same airshow and the same Raymond Baxter they wheeled out of the hangar to comment on the Jaguar display - when in fact it was an F111?:D

[effortless]

great display aircraft but having been involved with all three, consider it to have been the least use operationally of the trio.

Oh come on, Valliant wasn't all that was it?

[Old Hairy]

Art Field, do not duck down Sir.I to was privileged to fly all three. I will stand shoulder to shoulder with you.

I enjoyed the Valiant, loved the Victor and thought the Vulcan was overated.

[BEagle]

Arters, are your comments directed towards the airframes per se, or their suitability for the role in which you flew them?

I don't doubt that the Victor was a better tanker (except, perhaps, from the receiver's point of view) than the Vulcan - but as a reasonably agile low level bomber, the Vulcan beat the pants off that Handley Page device!

The Valiant was only ever an 'interim' solution for the V-force.

[Fareastdriver]

I blame that French guy in the "Thunderball" movie.................

The cockpit used in the underwater scenes was from XD814, a Valiant BK1.

[Art Field]

Old Hairy, thanks for your support, glad not to be alone.

Beags. I was thinking in the wider sense than as just Tankers, both the Valiant and Victor were used productively long term in multi roles as well as Main Force. The Vulcans were concentrated on the Nuclear side and perhaps a little of a luxury when the Navy took that role. I have not forgotten The Falklands nor the subsequent small Tanker fleet.

[BEagle]

Very true. But with the demise of the Valiant, the need to introduce further Victor Mk1 tankers became an imperative. Then the Mk2 saga of politics and defence cuts, Blue Steel and Skybolt pretty well sealed the fate of the Victor as a bomber.

I understand that the original HP design for a Mk2 Victor tanker was rather better than the Woodford design for converting B2s to K2s?

As for the nuclear role of the Vulcan post-68, I don't know how much emphasis was given to the secondary conventional role in later years? Certainly on 35 we didn't have the role - instead our secondary role was the boredom of boat-spotting in the tedious MRR role. I suspect that the defence chiefs weren't quite so 'purple' in those days - which probably helped to maintain the RAF's strategic bombing capability until it was thown away with the demise of the Vulcan post-82.

At its peak numerical strength in Dec 62-Apr 63, the UK's deterrent force consisted of the V-force with no less than 22 squadrons of aircraft - and 20 Thor missile bases each with 3 missile pads.

Whereas today.......

At least we got to fly some pretty iconic aircraft, Arters!

[S'land]

The cockpit used in the underwater scenes was from XD814, a Valiant BK1.

Thunderball is on the goggle box here now. Shall watch out for the scene.

[Jig Peter]

Of the three V-bombers, the (pilots') visibility out of the Victor was far and away the best - glazing in front and to the sides as well as overhead. The other two were "like flying my mum-in-law's upstairs flat through the letter-box" ...
in the upper-air role for which it was designed, the Victor was great - if it got its wheels up after take-off: the early Mk.1s, at least, had things called "tip-hooks" to catch the bogies as they tilted upwards before retraction, but they didn't always catch properly, or the micro-switches didn't "make", so then came plenty of time going round in circles to get down to max. landing weight (and yes, a gentle touch & go didn't work ...).
B O R I N G ...
:sad:

[Marham69]

Ahhhh.... the Victor cockpit views from Senior Pilot bring the memories back.

Swivelling the Nav Plotter's armchair 180 degrees, looking DOWN and acting as an extremely sarcastic Check Pilot for the 2 numpties up front. Only joking, genus piloti.

Some of you may remember my Captain - Bill Palmer. A japester par excellence on the ground but totally different airborne - went on to fly umpteen thousands of Captain hours with Swissair.

The Co-Pilot - poor Dave Mallett - on leaving the RAF he joined No 3 Sqn RRAF - was killed in a Jan 1977 Dakota incident whilst on a low level supply mission in Rhodesia.

Victor layout compared to the Vulcan? No comparison - flew a few times on competition umpiring duties in B Mk 2s from Waddo and Scampton. As heard on a TV programme the other evening - "Flying downstairs in a Vulcan was akin to travelling backwards in a windowless coal cellar."

As for Vulcan emergency evacuation? I well remember part of my Vulcan flight safety briefing (XM652 Sqn Ldr Lamont) - if the nose wheel leg is down, jump off the steps, grab hold of the leg, swing round and away you go. As he was a 2 and a half ringer unknown to me discretion overcame valour. But my thoughts were - "aye right, you have got to be fecken joking. I am full NOT of tricks like that."

My most energising 'brown adrenalin' experience of the Victor Cockpit view. Zooming along at FL390 M0.88, there was an explosion in the front cockpit (about 5 times as loud as 9mm practice on the pistol range) and the cockpit filled with dense smoke. Without any prior warning the canopy jettson lever had been activated. I swivelled around to front cockpit view expecting I know not what.

I should explain - this was on a 3 times round the UK 10hr training sortie for overseas deployment (fully re-tanked half way through). After about 5 hours Bill was a bit sore in the arse and swapped seats with the Nav Radar for a 10 min or so break. Dave M was doing his pilot thing.

Yup - you've guessed it. The Nav Radar (a very tall individual) was grappling around under the LHS seat to lower same. He pulled the wrong lever.

The Canopy DID NOT jettison. And at that height and speed I thank the Good Lord. To this day I am uncertain as to why - the reason I was given was cabin pressure <> outside air pressure. That seemed a bit odd to me ie the Captain would have to depressureise prior to ejection?

Any Victor piloty person care to amplify on this?

[Tankertrashnav]

Glad this thread's been revived - wasnt on PPrune when it was current. To get back to the original point of the thread, Pete Biggadike, ex 214 crew chief has posted some nice pics from his website on here V-Force Reunion - Gallery (http://www.vforcereunion.co.uk/gallery.html). The pics in question show the view when receiving and are on page 3, but there are plenty of others to satisfy those strange types who prefer Valiants and Vulcans (see Art Field's post about thread hijack!).

On cockpit vis, I understand the early Victors had no windscreen wipers - all part of Fred HP's very slippery design before they started sticking bits and bobs on the outside. They were consequently a nightmare to taxi in the rain and the windscreen wiper mod soon came along. Anyone verify this?

[deeceethree]

Marham69, have sent you an e-mail via this forum .....

[Art Field]

Marham 69. As far as I can remember (We are going back a bit now) the canopy did not go because the cabin had not depressurized when the jettison handle was pulled. The depressurizing was initiated by the Abandon Aircraft switch on the Captains left window panel which would, when the cabin differential became zero, allow the canopy to be lifted off by the aerodynamic effect over it. I remember Bill Palmer only too well having had the quarter next to his.

[olddog]

Marham 69, I was sad to hear of Dave Mallet's fate in your post. I trained, drank and caroused with him at Acklington, and often wondered what happened to him. A real character, who was always smiling and in the midst of many a merry jape.

[RFCC]

Marham69 - Check your PMs re Bill P.

[Madbob]

I've never flown a V bomber so can't pretent to be qualified to speak on why the Victor canopy didn't go when the jettison was pulled inadvertantly. But from first principles, a pressurised cockpit ought to have helped it on its way!

If the cockpit had been de-pressurised first, then there might have been some aerodynamic "suck" which kept it in place but with say 5-7 psi pressure differential it ought to have gone with a bang.

Just my 2 cents worth - I stand by to be corrected....

MB

[Art Field]

I may be digging myself deeper into the mire here but I think the canopy was held by latches or seals that could not release fully until the the removal of pressure differential. As I say I'm dragging back into my memory, after all we are talking Victor 1's here, they went out in the late 70's.

[beefix]

Art Field
Just about right, The canopy was held in place by a series of latches and was sealed by an inflatable rubber seal. You may remember the seal's gas bottle attached to the canopy. It was located just above the ejector seat and was inflated to 1800 psi. The integrity of the latches was checked by ensuring that the canopy rigging tool, located in the cabin near the left hand pilots consul, would pass through the the three rigging holes on the forward edge of the canopy, just on the pilots eye line. I was on 543 Sqn when the Marham canopy release incident happened, it certainly caused some consternation amongst the aircrew. IIRC we had to apply some extra markings to the canopy release handle. Having worked on both the Victor and Vulcan (44R Sqn Crew Chief) the cabin of the Victor was like sitting in a green house compared with the Vulcans " Black Hole of Calcutta"

[Marham69]

A formidable response which explains all. I would like to salute beefix and all of his Sergeant, Fs Sgt and Chief Tech compadres (Ranks are immeterial even in relation to 'Hawficcer' Aircrew). In my experience, not only at Marham, they were the ones who rally ran the Sharpie end.

Well done, Lads.

[Marham69]

Please excuse the spelling errors. I am an atrocious user of laptop keyboards - surely designed for midgets of the Underworlk. Or should that be Underworld.

[Marham69]

I presume that you may be alluding to the above Gentleman.

When Al departed No 55 Sqn in the late 1960s I replace him as Nav Plotter in Jock Carrol's crew. Bob Bonas was a superlative sidekick as Nav Radar and tought me so much about the Tanker game. I still have Al's notes on the intricacies of those magnificent Tanker Nav Tricks such as 'RV Bravos' etc

I had the pleasure in the mid 1990s of treating Gp Capt and Sally to a top nosh meal on Sydney Harbourside.

Lovely Man and Wife.

[VictorPilot]

I have only just caught up with this interesting thread. I do not recognise post 64 in the thread - are there some PMs about - if so it would be interesting to know what they say about Marham Stn Cdrs. Most were good but some were not.

Back to the thread.

The following edited quotation is copyright and may not be quoted or used in any other public forum, book, magazine or other publication without my written permission.

"The pilots escape hatches were not plug fits into the airframe, and were fitted with seals to maintain cabin pressurisation. The seals were inflated with air from an 1800 psi bottle, reduced to 15 psi. If this pressure was lost, one could screw a tool into the pressure reducing valve allowing cabin pressure air into the seal in an attempt to maintain cabin pressure. I only had to do this once and it worked.

In the early Victor days, the aircraft were not cleared for full pressurisation as the cabin floor had to be reinforced. We routinely flew around with cabin altitudes above 15000 feet. It was not until around 1961 that the B1s and B2 were cleared for full operation of the cabin pressurisation system. Within months, I think on three sorties, the main cabin door blew open in flight, and twice the entire door and associated structures left the aircraft. This resulted in changes in the SOP, and a fleet modification to provide indications that the main crew door locks were in a "geometrically" locked position. However, the most significant modification was the introduction of a cabin pressure differential gauge. When the whole door structure and blast shield left the aircraft, it meant that crew members could not abandon the aircraft except in a very low IAS situation. Thus it became the drill to check the cabin differential was below 3 1/2 psi (I think) before attempting to open the door on the emergency "blow open" system, so the blast shield would not be lost. I and other crews then thought that in the event of an extreme emergency such as a mid air collision, the quickest way to de-pressurise the cockpit to allow safe door opening would be for the co-pilot to eject dropping the differential to zero.

It should be noted that the canopy jettison was a key stage in the firing sequence of the ejection seat. The seat could not fire unless the canopy had departed the aircraft. To achieve this, when a canopy jettison handle or ejection seat handle was activated, the first thing that happened was that a cartridge was fired into a cylinder containing a piston connected by linkage arms to all the latches holding the canopy firmly in the closed position. The gas pressure via the linkage would open all the latches, and assisted by the airflow, two spring loaded jacks would kick the canopy open and away from its stowage. This system was proved when a navigator inserting the ejection seat safety pins while an aircraft taxied in after a sortie, accidentally pulled on the canopy jettison cable - the cartridge fired, the springs pushed, and the canopy ended up about 100 feet from the aircraft! The SOP for removing and inserting the pins was changed after this incident.

Now to the Victor 1 accidental firing of the canopy jettison system. It has been well described earlier, but my recollection was slightly fuller. The First Pilots ejection seat had a handle on the right hand side of the seat to raise and lower it. On the cockpit structure to the left of the seat was a "Grip" handle which had to be pulled upwards to fire the canopy jettison cartridge. The navigator, who was not strapped into the seat, wanted to raise the ejection seat and asked what to do. He was told to pull the lever up - he had his hand on the canopy jettison, and pulled it up and the cartridge fired as advertised. Fortunately for the crew, it emerged that there was not sufficient power or leverage from the piston to drive the locks open. When the latches were holding the canopy closed with cabin pressure exerting a load of several tonnes against them, there was too much friction to allow the latches to unlock.

A wiser crew and a wiser Victor Force, resulted. Abandoning the aircraft could only be safely undertaken when the door and canopies were not subject to full pressurisation loads. Drills were changed, and thankfully, apart from Keith Handscombe's mid-air collision, no other high altitude abandonment was ever required."

[Old Hairy]

Hi Bob,
Very interesting thread about the problems associated with escape procedures for the rear crew members. Reminds me of an incident we had on 57 Sqn.
Detached to Butterworth,in Nov. 1960. We had an incident when XH651 suffered a nosewheel collapse during servicing.Reasons, or who was to blame escape me now.A repair party was flown out from the UK to effect the necessary repairs. The Sqn. returned in Dec. leaving the aircraft behind. My crew were tasked in Feb.1961 to bring it back.I will gloss over a bloody awful transit to Butterworth via a Brittania from Stansted!!. We did two airtests and a airborne swing,practice diversion to Changi and satisfied everything was operational left for Honington on the 26th Feb via Gan,Karachi,looked after by BOAC,but thats another story. everthing was ops. normal.28Feb left Karachi for Akrotiri.incidentially the longest leg,again all normal,taxied in,shut down and could not open the door! We were stuck in the aircraft for about an hour or more,during which time it was suggested using the emergency handle and decided it was the last alternative.We were not flying with a crew chief,so the ground crew were also somewhat mystified.I believe signals were exchanged with BC.Then we were informed we would be refuelled,re-vitualled via the pilots DV and continue to Honington! Has there ever been a rear crew mutiny? John Beech decided he was not going to accept this.God Bless Him.In this crew,as Ive mentioned elsewhere,an addenden was added to the Pre-Takeoff Checks,"Seat Pins Out. Padlocks IN.Keys Stowed at the Back"
Much discussion ensued, when as if by magic the door opened. To cut a long story short,it transpired that during rebuilding the nose,removing the radome and rebuilding the nosewheel,water entered the door during the heavy rains and when the trapped water froze at altitude,completely froze the door locking mechanism.The temperatures at Butterworth,Gan and Karachi were high enough to melt the ice during descent and taxying in.but not so at Akrotiri,after a longer flight.Apparently there were drain holes which had been blocked.After we were informed the mechanism was checked ,after the necessary repairs were carried out,another airtest to confirm and we finally returned to Honington on the 2nd.Mar.
With hindsight,had an emergency occurred,it would have been another unexplained mystery as to why the rear crew did not manage to leave the aircraft! I wont raise the old arguement re ejection for the master race versus get out best you can for the rest.Needless to add it was a subject of much discussion in the Crewroom.