SHFNI Stories!

[Thud_and_Blunder]

...followed by the geezer in the LHS retarding both ECLs just as the RHS HP was pulling an armful of collective..

interesting conversation thereafter inside the base - not at all affected by the cockpit rank gradient, to the amusement of the Para incumbents.

[ShyTorque]

The Wessex in the bomb explosion at Warrenpoint was an interesting story…is that in the public domain?

(Expatfrance may know, seeing that he was the pilot flying it).

[Video Mixdown]

an interesting story…is that in the public domain?
Good question. There is lots of stuff from those times that it'd be interesting to talk about, but as we've seen events over there still cast a long shadow. I suppose keeping your mouth shut is often the only safe option.

[Herod]

Public domain. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/revealed-how-the-army-foiled-an-ira-propaganda-coup-after-terrorists-shot-down-helicopter-30917119.html

[lsd]

For what it’s worth Wessex XR 525 was serviceable 20 May 1975 at Odiham (no blame on me for any cat 3 damage!), and likewise in September and October 1975 at Aldergrove. Last flew it in June 1976 at Odiham - with Taff Walker as it happens……

[Herod]

Thanks, lsd. My gen is obviously duff on that one Still doesn't confirm or deny the reg of the Crossmaglen one though.

[NutLoose]

IIRC the RPG 7 round bounced off the step.........

And didn't the crewman who saw it coming and warned the rest about it, shut the cabin door as his anti RPG measures? not that it would have stopped much lol

[huge72]

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1613/72_sqn_aldergrove_3baa5ea50ecacc93973555decf6d865fda08198f.j pg
Taken from a Gazelle on the occasion of OC Handover from The Great Santini to BS. Tasking was halted and we all flew in from the various sites. Engineers positioned the Cabs, photo taken we all Bomb burst back from whence we came!

[SLXOwft]

Thanks, lsd. My gen is obviously duff on that one Still doesn't confirm or deny the reg of the Crossmaglen one though.

As it was allegedly the pre-FJ Mogwi who flew it back to Bessbrook, maybe if it was him and someone asks him very nicely (and assuming he still has it) he might check his relevant logbook for 15 April 1976. I have checked my copy of HS and it isn't one of his 72 Sqn reminiscences.

[Haraka]

Anybody still around who might remember some "Cavicorn" Puma exploits perchance in the mid 70's , :)

I have been asked to write.

[Mogwi]

As it was allegedly the pre-FJ Mogwi who flew it back to Bessbrook, maybe if it was him and someone asks him very nicely (and assuming he still has it) he might check his relevant logbook for 15 April 1976. I have checked my copy of HS and it isn't one of his 72 Sqn reminiscences.

Not me chief! I was a long way east by then. I seem to remember that one of the snags discovered, on further inspection, was tail rotor control cables practically severed by small arms fire. 🙁

Mog

[SLXOwft]

:O Thanks, Mog - I thought the other source I had was probably wrong and you were with RAFG.

So does the BT have it wrong or did Mog have a namesake who also flew with 72 and went on to fly Harriers...

[Herod]

one of the snags discovered, on further inspection, was tail rotor control cables practically severed by small arms fire.

Something similar happened to one of the 78 sqn aircraft out in Aden, as I recall.

[Video Mixdown]

I think this was in Germany, not NI, but some of the Puma/Scout guys might find them interesting.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/400x299/photo_01_da3ec367fa8fb8f980c20d0faa2916ad96e92e6b.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/296x429/photo_02_d0107a52a069046cf285951a1dd0f12edf3d79e6.jpg

[langleybaston]

Digression I fear, and without photo I fear greatly.
Unusual Wokka load: a complete 10 meter Met. anemometer mast airlifted from near Appleby to RAF Linton, to replace the dwarfish resident item.

Sadly, although I "supervised" at Appleby, nobody thought to take a photo. Must have been 1983 +/- a year or so.
"Piece of p1ss" said the crewman. Impressive from where I stood.

[Hueymeister]

Trying to find the 72 Sqn song that was based on the Louis Armstrong it’s a wonderful world..’I see fields of green….getting texture now, following through..’

[EESDL]

it'll be in your song book dear boy

[Hueymeister]

Which is buried deep in a box 8000km away. Had a beer with Sevs last night…we couldn’t remember all the words…

[teeteringhead]

Had a beer with Sevs last night…we couldn’t remember all the words… A few more beers and you'd have remembered!

[Herod]

OK, let's change the location and decade. Any old f*rts remember the words of "Hello Khormaksar Tower, this is XT601"?

[ItsonlyMeagain]

Hueymeister

Dug out the SH songbooks that sit on the shelf….. One from 82 and AL2 from 92. Sadly, neither have the song you are looking for.

Interesting reading them again. They would go down well in todays woke world. I think every possible offending topic is covered.

Me

[bugged on the right]

It's only, I believe squadron line books have been banned in the Aussie Air Force. What a wonderful read of the units unofficial history. Always removed when civilians in the crew room. What a filtered existence the young have.

[Scamp]

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1613/72_sqn_aldergrove_3baa5ea50ecacc93973555decf6d865fda08198f.j pg
Taken from a Gazelle on the occasion of OC Handover from The Great Santini to BS. Tasking was halted and we all flew in from the various sites. Engineers positioned the Cabs, photo taken we all Bomb burst back from whence we came!

Thanks for the photo post up .......... where have 30+ years gone by, can`t remember if this was 91 or early 92 ( i departed June 92)? Dirty engineer row 4, left of photo, happy days.

[EESDL]

I see fields of green, un-recce'd fields too,
Getting texture now, follow me through
And I think to myself, it's an NVG worrrrlllldd

I'll let some other muckers carry on from here ;-)

[madhon]

Slight tangent, how many of each type of helicopter where based in NI around 1989 ? And where they would usually be based at ?

[Q-SKI]

I see fields of green, un-recce'd fields too,
Getting texture now, follow me through
And I think to myself, it's an NVG worrrrlllldd

I'll let some other muckers carry on from here ;-)

would the SH song book still be in the crew room today?

[Herod]

Slight tangent, how many of each type of helicopter where based in NI around 1989 ? And where they would usually be based at ?

No, but I can tell you the location and type in NI on 15th July 1969. 3 x Wessex HC2, hurriedly dispatched from Odiham. At Ballykelly. I claim Grandfather Rights, 'cos I was there. The Army had a couple of Sioux there as well, I think.

[teeteringhead]

No, but I can tell you the location and type in NI on 15th July 1969. 3 x Wessex HC2, hurriedly dispatched from Odiham. At Ballykelly. And the first Wessex to touch down was actually No2 in the formation! But the pilot retired as a 3-star Sir, so it didn't affect his career too much............

[Herod]

Check the date.

[NutLoose]

No, but I can tell you the location and type in NI on 15th July 1969. 3 x Wessex HC2, hurriedly dispatched from Odiham. At Ballykelly. I claim Grandfather Rights, 'cos I was there. The Army had a couple of Sioux there as well, I think.

Ahhh... watching the Sioux coughing and farting on a cold winters morning trying to get them started at Aldergrove .
:) Happy days.

[Herod]

It was the opposite in South Arabia, Nutty. I believe there were problems with vapour locks in the fuel lines above +40, so they didn't normally fly after mid-morning. Also happy days. ;) (I think)

[ShyTorque]

We landed our Puma very early one cold wet morning at St Angelo for a task briefing. As we began to walk towards the guard post, the overnight Gazelle crew (green one) were about to start the rotors of their aircraft, about 50 metres away. The engine was already running and the observer was standing ahead of the cockpit, outside the rotor disc with the fire extinguisher, as per SOP.

As I got closer and the rotors began to turn I could hear shouting. It was the soldier in the guard tower, who appeared to be shouting at the Gazelle observer. He then turned and began shouting something to me. I looked at him and saw he was pointing at the Gazelle. I looked across and realised the aircraft didn’t look quite right (I used to instruct on the type). I then saw that the aircraft was still wearing a main rotor gearbox cover (a wraparound, waterproof fabric cover, held on by straps and metal buckles). The guard was trying to alert its crew.

All three of us began waving our arms to attract the attention of the crew, but they were oblivious and continued with the rotor start. As the rpm increased, the cover then began to remove itself, with its straps (complete with metal buckles), began flailing around under the rotor disc, one of the straps getting longer and longer….. I realised this wasn’t going to end well so I’m afraid I went into self preservation mode and ducked off to one side at the corner of the guard post wall. There was a sudden loud bang and a rattle as the cover came off, went up through the rotor disc and was flung in pieces off to the far side of the aircraft, thankfully without harming anyone. The pilot chopped the engine and shut down. He appeared shortly after, looking very dejected and asking to use the radio….

It was obvious that the crew were suffering from fatigue. They had diverted in to St Angelo the night before due to very poor weather (hence the MRGB cover having been fitted) and had been trying to sleep overnight in the cold, unheated guard post.

[Thud_and_Blunder]

Re Scamps post #773 and the departure of GS/ handover to BS, that would partly explain BS' insistence on going back to his RN exchange-tour days and trying to put on a "balbo" around the Province. The weather did its usual trick and we ended up being the Chinook at the back of a mass hover-taxi around Lough Neagh; biggest waste of AVTUR I ever had the misfortune to witness/participate.

[NutLoose]

Shytorque when I left the RAF and went to a company as a contract engineer, i was watching a Gazelle burning and turning outside the open hangar doors, it was there for ages, asking what was happening I was told it was out on a ground run..I stood there in awe...

When the occupants came in ( two engineers) I asked them politely what they would have done if they had got ground resonance... their faces glazed over as they asked me "what's that?"
Needless to say I suggested they read up on it and ceased doing the turning part of the equation for all our sakes, I had visions of rotor blades bouncing in through the open doors..

BTW in the USA you can get a helicopter licence simply for hovering only, designed for engineers I believe doing ground runs etc.


​​​​​​…

[ShyTorque]

I was once tasked to carry out a post maintenance air test on a Blackhawk (obviously not in NI). Having signed the tech log we walked out to it. As we got closer, we realised that the APU was running and assumed an engineer was still carrying out some unknown check inside. However, the aircraft was totally unmanned!

We shut it down and went back to the engineers’ office to find out what was going on. The duty engineer had previously been carrying out some systems checks and subsequently seemed to think that it was perfectly acceptable to leave the APU running unmonitored and go inside. Discussion ensued. He (and his line boss) were mistakenly under the impression that the APU was fully automatic and would shut itself down in the event of any problem. We pointed out that would only shut down in the event of it sensing its own oil pressure failure but NOT if it caught fire. They went rather sheepish.

[blind pew]

A Trident burnt out having been left with the apu running at LHR.

[MightyGem]

what they would have done if they got ground resonance
Hmmm...extremely unlikely in a skidded helicopter.

[albatross]

Hmmm...extremely unlikely in a skidded helicopter.

Not as unlikely as you think.
AS-350, As-355 and Hu-300 were prone to it to name just 3.
The AS-350 and AS-355 on fixed floats loved to dance!
Not used perhaps in The RAF / RN true.
Never heard of it on the Bell 47, 204, 205, 212.
Seems to occur on 3 bladed of more aircraft…which, by definition makes sense.

[wub]

Hmmm...extremely unlikely in a skidded helicopter.

https://youtu.be/0FeXjhUEXlc

[NutLoose]

https://youtu.be/0FeXjhUEXlc

crikey.

[OvertHawk]

Hmmm...extremely unlikely in a skidded helicopter.

No it's not!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vICf8l-KV0

The AS350 skids have metal springs at the rear to dampen potential GR.

The Lama could be bad for GR as well

[El Grifo]

Just discovered this thread.
What a bloody hoot :-)

Been on it since just after 10.00.

Able now to put character to some of the Pprune names.

Respect ! :}

El Grifo

[ShyTorque]

Sad to announce that Neil Mitchell (Wg Cdr ret’d, ex Whirlwind and Puma QHI) has very recently passed away.

In the mid 1970s, Neil suffered a tail rotor drive shaft failure in a Puma in NI whilst flying at speed at very low level. He successfully put the aircraft down, albeit on its side, thankfully resulting in everyone surviving.

A true gentleman. Sadly missed.

[NutLoose]

Damn, I used to baby sit his kids at Odiham, will raise a glass to him tonight, a true gent.

[MightyGem]

No it's not!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vICf8l-KV0

The AS350 skids have metal springs at the rear to dampen potential GR.

The Lama could be bad for GR as well
Not impossible, but extremely unlikely.