Vickers Valetta

[T-21]

After the wonderful response in information and photographs for the Varsity can I appeal for information/anecdotes on another forgotten aircraft the Valetta. Used successfully in Malaya and then training RAF navigators. My father had the misfortune to crash and survive the only T.4(long nosed version) at 228 OCU RAF Leeming in 1959. Apart from a book by the late Bill Overton and monographs,very little has been seen in print on this aircraft.

[Cornish Jack]

Should have a few lurking around somewhere - will see what I can find. Must be many more 'Pig' people out there, I would have thought.

[Double Hydco]

An old pal of mine was a Master Nav on the Valetta, in the Middle East (Aden I think?), employed in the VIP and communications role. I remember him showing me a picture of one sat atop a crushed house, possibly a result of an EFATO.

I'll try and dig up some info or snaps next time I see him.

DH

[Cornish Jack]

I've found one or three poor quality shots and uploaded them to Photobucket. Now for the head-banging bit!!:ugh::ugh:
http://s647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/?action=view&current=Val06.jpg
Remains of VW 165 at Beihan. We had stalled 10kts early on very late final (thank you God!!) Jack B, Harry B and myself, plus a Dutch newspaper correspondent. Cracked main spar, tail wheel severed, plus sundry other 'discrepancies'. Getting clear of the landing strip in that condition (to allow another 'pig' in, to take us home) was an 'interesting' exercise.

http://s647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/?action=view&current=Val10.jpg
Seen from the top of the Fort at Ataq - landing strip in the background.

http://s647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/?action=view&current=Val08.jpg
Coming down the Beach Road inbound to Khormaksar, flying 'shepherd to one of 'ours' which had diverted into Fahoud with severe oil loss - cracked cylinder head??? or the new detergent oil??? Memory fails. The poor crew had to suffer oil company conditions for several days until we could give them a temporary 'fix' and escort them home. Air conditioned rooms, steaks for breakfast and so on... :p:p envy is a terrible failing:p
Have a few more, if interested (and, if this lot works!!)

Aaaaaaaaaarrrrgghhh!! - Far too optimistic.:mad::mad:
Have read (and complied with) BOAC's nicely lucid instructions but, result is zilch, nada, rien :mad: nothing. Help and suggestions welcomed.:(

[Warmtoast]

Some photos to follow. Meanwhile the following press cuttings will be of interest and provide leads to further research.


http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/May1953_1280x520.jpg

May 1953 - Malaya. First I've heard of speakers being fitted to a Pig.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/August1954_789x800.jpg

August 1954

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/27thSeptember1953_409x800.jpg

27th September 1953.


http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/25February1954_1114x800.jpg

25 February 1954.

I left the second paragraph in as it shows how we treated miscreants in those days!

[Cornish Jack]

Will this work???


http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/Syc01-1.jpg (http://www.pprune.org/%5BIMG%5Dhttp://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/Syc01-1.jpg%5B/IMG%5D)

Yes, it does but wrong piccy!!!:ugh::ugh::ugh:

[Cornish Jack]

I've found one or three poor quality shots and uploaded them to Photobucket. Now for the head-banging bit!!
http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/Val06-1.jpg

Remains of VW 165 at Beihan. We had stalled 10kts early on very late final (thank you God!!) Jack B, Harry B and myself, plus a Dutch newspaper correspondent. Cracked main spar, tail wheel severed, plus sundry other 'discrepancies'. Getting clear of the landing strip in that condition (to allow another 'pig' in, to take us home) was an 'interesting' exercise.

http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/Val10-1.jpg

Seen from the top of the Fort at Ataq - landing strip in the background.

http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/Val08-1.jpg


Coming down the Beach Road inbound to Khormaksar, flying 'shepherd to one of 'ours' which had diverted into Fahoud with severe oil loss - cracked cylinder head??? or the new detergent oil??? Memory fails. The poor crew had to suffer oil company conditions for several days until we could give them a temporary 'fix' and escort them home. Air conditioned rooms, steaks for breakfast and so on... envy is a terrible failing
Have a few more, if interested (and, if this lot works!!)

[Cornish Jack]

A couple more.
http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/Val19-1.jpg

Taxying out at Khormaksar, astrodome open for better clearance check and trying to get the 100F + on board temperature down!

http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/Val17-1.jpg

Loading at Beihan. The jebel in the background had to be flown around when landing direction was toward the 'town'.

[T-21]

Cornish Jack, very nostalgic shot's thank you . The pictures help the whole ethos of this forum to preserve aeronautical matter and delight viewers. It also show's what a good work horse the Valetta was in different climates.

[PFR]

Cornish Jack - fantastic:ok: Anymore? Great to see photo's of such times:D

[norwich]

From the collection of a friends relative !
3 July 1952, 5 miles east of Oya, Sarawak.
Forced landing on beach following engine failure from loss of oil.

Keith.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii58/keithnewsome/special/trip9.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii58/keithnewsome/special/trip8.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii58/keithnewsome/special/trip7.jpg

[Warmtoast]

FEAF Valettas at Gan 1958

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/ValettasatGan-195810.jpg

Parked on the uncompleted new runway

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/ValettasatGan-195811.jpg

Arriving aircraft had to do a low fly-by along the runway to alert workers that it was about to land.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/ValettasatGan-19582.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/ValettasatGan-19588.jpg


http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/FinalsCoralRwy2.jpg

Finals to land on the crushed coral runway

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/ValettasatGan-19587.jpg

Take-off raised a large cloud of coral dust

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/ValettasatGan-19583.jpg


http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/NZ5909-Offloading.jpg


Occasionally engines failed and replacements had to be supplied via the Changi-based 41 Sqn RNZAF Bristol Freighters.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/ValettasatGan-19584.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/ValettasatGan-19589.jpg

The most important day of any overseas tour was the last, as shown here as Tour-Ex airmen board the Valetta for 'Blighty'

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/ValettasatGan-19586.jpg

Homeward bound

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/ValettasatGan-19585.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/ValettasatGan-1958.jpg

[l.garey]

VW197 at Blackbushe 17 July 1959, about to take us on an ATC Overseas Visit to Belgium (Melsbroek, via Ypenberg).

Laurence

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc39/apollo-fox/vw19759neg.jpg

[l.garey]

The same VW197 at Abingdon 1968.
Sorry, I cannot recall the origin of this photo. I think I took it, or did I archive it from someone else. Any claims?

Laurence

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc39/apollo-fox/vw197-abing-1968.jpg

[Cornish Jack]

Norwich
Interesting shots of the beach landing. One of ours in Khormaksar did a similar beach arrival. As part of the post touchdown procedures the crew 'blew' the life rafts (carried in the nacelles behind the engines) ... both were perished and failed to inflate!!:eek:
I can't see on your photos whether those hatch covers were 'blown'
Can't compete with those super colour shots from warmtoast (obviously Far East allowances were MUCH greater than we poor relations in Aden:E) but this next is (I think) at Sharjah, in the old sand/oil runway days when Charlie and his steam roller and oil cart did a resurface after each arrival/departure!:*

http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/Val14-1.jpg

All this recent chat about female pilots is a bit passe, really.

http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/Val24-1.jpg

http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/Val25-1.jpg

We started them young in the 50's:ok: (En route to Bahrain, if memory serves correctly)

[l.garey]

Cornish: doesn't quite look like Sharjah to me, although I was not there at the time and could be wrong.
You can usually see the characteristic control tower, and/or the low hills in the background. If it IS Sharjah, it is welcome news to me, and a new view of the place, that I last visited a month ago!

Laurence

[Cornish Jack]

Laurence
Afraid I can't be certain about location but, for me, the clues are the half-sunken 45gall drums used as peri markers. Sharjah was completely marked out with those. The fort (Int Aeradio Control tower) would have been out of sight to the right as we look. The low buildings are, I believe, the Sgt's Mess accommodation. Can't recall anywhere else where we parked so close to buildings. However, this is all down to memory and THAT is not necessarily at its best.:{
If it is what I believe, I think we had arrived to take a cash convoy down to Buraimi for the Trucial Oman Scout detachment and initiate the recovery of the oasis from the Saudis, which happened the next day.

[l.garey]

Thanks Cornish. You are probably right. All that remains of RAF Sharjah now is the fort and the (fourth) control tower, plus a new hangar in which are a number of aircraft purporting to be ex Gulf Aviation, although not in fact, as I have commented several times elsewhere, eg: l.garey - RAF Sharjah, Al Mahatta Museum (http://l.garey.googlepages.com/rafsharjah,almahattamuseum)

The runway is now a street in the centre of town, but you can still find some old tarmac.

Not far from Sharjah, at Firq in Oman, there was a wrecked Valetta long since cleared away. It was VW817 of 78 Squadron which burst a tyre on landing, swung off the runway and tipped on its nose 14 January 1959. The airfield still exists.

Do you have photos of Buraimi? There were two strips, the one near Buraimi fort (Hamasa, used by the TOS) and the one at what is now Al Ain, a bit to the south (Dau'di, used by the RAF). The latter has only just disappeared under the builders' bulldozers in the last few weeks. I even managed to rescue a few runway markers!

Sorry for slight digression.

Laurence

[JW411]

Well, for what it's worth, I thought it was Sharjah too.

[l.garey]

Thanks JW. You should know! I stand corrected. One more bit of information for the record.

Laurence

[Exnomad]

I did around 40 hours nav training in Valetta (pig) in 1952 at Bishops Court. Valetta were use to teach use of nav aids,(Gee Rebecca, Babs) before being allowed out on our own.
When the Car ferry Princess Victoria sank on the Stranraer- Larne route, station aircraft were used for search. Some station staff iuncluding at least one Pilot I flew with (Sgt Petrie) when down in it.

[Cornish Jack]

Laurence
Sorry, no pictures of Buraimi. Only went there twice - once with the cash convoy and then at dawn the next day to pick up the (rather battered) 'prisoners' to take them back to Sharjah. As far as I know, at that time, there was only one strip for the oasis.
The mention of "old tarmac" from Sharjah would be from a much more modern era. In my day, the runway was oil soaked sand which broke up regularly with our landings and takeoffs. The resident 'Works and Bricks' man Charlie had a regular chore of resurfacing with his steam roller and oil cart.
A bit OT but I spent 10 days there when the airfield was flooded and amused myself accompanying 'Shani' Wallis in his gigantic Scamell desert recovery truck and helping 'Bomber' Wigley hammer 6 inch nails into wood battens sitting on top of 1000 lb bombs. Sharjah was that sort of place!!:ok:

[l.garey]

Cornish: just sent you a PM

Laurence

[donthaveone]

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c196/jodeld117/Valetta52sqdn.jpg?t=1243507164

[Cornish Jack]

The start of it all- Dishforth 1955.
http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/Val21-1.jpg


What the professionals use the sick bag for:)
http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/Val05.jpg

,,,and the info board at one of our more unusual destinations.
http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/Val22.jpg

[JW411]

That sign (or one very like it) was still there when I took the C. in C. (Admiral Sir Michael Le Fanu) and his good lady to Kamaran in 1967 in an Argosy.

[sycamore]

In my youth on 225 in Borneo,the 52 Sdn det. were always looking for co-pilots on some of the drops,and so I spent many hours poling the `Pig` with such people as F/L Capp,S/L John Oldham,Bill Gopsil,F/L Baxter,and M/Plt Tom Owen;a real bunch of`old-time`professional aviators who knew how to `drop` on a hot LZ. also vaguely remember going to a 52 party ,up the hill in Penang,when I was on SAR Det at B`wth,and then getting a `wallah-wallah` water taxi back in the middle of the night onto the beach to go on shift at 0600.Happy days..Syc

ps,average age of 52 sdn?....52..oldies,but goodies!

[Cornish Jack]

JW411
I imagine that things must have changed (improved !)in the intervening years. We were 'entertained' overnight by the Resident, a fine old 'Raj' style individual who could best be described as eccentric!! His diet was, apparently Heinz soup and gin and he looked remarkably well on it. He had been there for a great many years and did not want to leave. He had imported and installed several UK road signs "Steep Hill", Sharp Bend" , Dual Carriageway, etc., - not, perhaps, essential for an almost flat island containing only one vehicle - his Land Rover!!! Interesting days but never an ambition to return.:(

[b377]

Has to be one of the ugliest planes ever built only beat by the Vicking.

Don't suppose she could do anything a DC-3 couldn't do better and faster for less.

[Fishtailed]

Seen on PPRUN before, a photo I took around 1962 at RAF Weeton.
This is Valetta C1 7459M, ex WD168

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f280/fishtailed/oldprop.jpg

[JW411]

Cornish Jack:

I wouldn't mind betting that the Resident was one and the same chap. He was definitely one of a kind. I have a feeling that his name was Archie Wilson. We didn't night stop but left the wheels there for the weekend to be picked up on the Monday morning but we did visit the Residency.

The hot water system was powered by the sun and a one inch thick plate of glass on top of a large water tank and the air conditioning consisted of vents and louvres on the roof.

The Resident was most eager for me to post some packages for him when I got back to Khormaksar. He then asked us if we liked crab. He sent one of his servants to go and get five crabs so that we would have one each. This seemed a bit odd to me but I kept a diplomatic silence. When we got back and opened the cool box, we discovered that the crabs were the size of dinner plates!

I also remember an old 1920s car parked in front of the "terminal" underneath a basha. It looked like a Model T but I seem to remember that it was a Buick and was the first car on the island.

If you send me a PM with your email address I will send you a couple of photographs that I have recently converted from colour slides.

[Cornish Jack]

Typical 'up-country' turn round in progress. Don't know which of the many strips but could be Mukheiras (with its 4 lbs boost deficit!:{) Its big plus was that the edge of the escarpment was close to the end of the runway - a feature used to full advantage by Arthur H when he 'lost one' on lift-off.:eek:
http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/Val03-1.jpg

"Anybody have any prohibited items, nail scissors, large bottles of shampoo, things like that?? No? OK, let's get on board"

http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu193/CornishJack/Val01.jpg

[T-21]

Cornish Jack, Very nice photo's thank you, who said the Valetta was ugly it certainly earned its keep.
I have checked my fathers log books and he completed a short Valetta conversion course at 242 OCU,Dishforth from Jan 09 -24th 1956 flying VW848,VW825,VW146,WD166,VW152. His instructor was Pilot Office Hall.
At the time he was on Balliol's with No 238 OCU at Colerne.

[Cornish Jack]

T21
I was just a few months ahead of your father. I finished the 242 course at the end of August 55. PO Hall featured a couple of times as our instructor also - he must have been a 'retread' from NCO pilot..Unsurprisingly, most of those airframes featured on our course as well.