Things you find on YouTube

[WE Branch Fanatic]

Aircraft Battle Damage Repair

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ah58lTSZvE

If the Cold War had gone hot it would have gone very hot indeed.

[NutLoose]

Lol that brings back memories.

[dctyke]

And what do we have ABDR wise in todays super lean airforce, probably not a lot!

[TheWizard]

We've got these!! http://int.elastoplast.net/magazine/health-and-protection/~/media/794AF6E60BB14CF8B6FE9A44166E3E22.ashx

[barnstormer1968]

What is under the wing at 1:13?

Looks a bit like something not fitted to Buccaneers.

[RAFEngO74to09]

Barnstormer

AIM-9 Sidewinder Acquisition round without wings fitted.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Good to see the use of the Mk 1 FOBH - F#ck-Off-Big Hammer!

[CoffmanStarter]

And for the modern aircraft built of composite materials there is ...

http://www.conservation-resources.co.uk/images/AralditeRapid.jpg

Standard Tutor First Aid kit :E

And ... good old Speed Tape ...

http://www.maxitape.com/tape/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/f/i/file_4.jpg

[Courtney Mil]

Given that we don't build aircraft by carving them out of a single block of steel any more, out ABDR kits need to move with the times:

http://www.airfixrailways.co.uk/AirfixCementR.gif

[CoffmanStarter]

And every ABDR Engineer should carry a tin of ...

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Body-Filler-P38-Davids-Isopon-Easy-Sand-600ml-P38S-/04/!B8TvFW!!Wk~$(KGrHqZ,!lsEy+jC)+OgBM2sU+Utw!~~0_12.JPG

For those annoying little "dings" ...

:E

[Fareastdriver]

For those annoying little "dings" ...

We had to use some of that on a Valiant wing leading edge when a giraffe, steps variety, rushed out into the wing.

[Rocket2]

I gather Aeroflot are buying up all known stocks of speed tape & expanding foam :uhoh:

[Moi/]

The days of "ABDR" has gone.

Its now called "Expedient Repair".


International Defence Training (RAF) - Expedient Repair (ER) Assessor Course (TG1) - 4052 (http://www.raf.mod.uk/idtraf/courses/4052.cfm)

[CoffmanStarter]

Rocket2 ... That explains the Russian gentlemen I saw in Wickes today buying up all the builders expanding foam and aluminium insulation bonding tape :*

[Fg Off Bloggs]

b'stormer '68,

AIM-9G to be precise! Fitted to Buccs in RAFG and 208 Sqn in late 70s/early 80s!

Bloggs

[Rocket2]

Wish I could find the picture of the BDR job we did to a Nimmy in Ascension Island back in 96(?) when we got delayed on a Tonka swap. Crew decided they were going to lose currency so flew some staff around for an hour or three, ending in a low level pass over the airfield then turned over Frigate Island, hope hum - many (big) bird strikes (suprise, suprise!) After lots of expanding foam, speed tape, metal bashing & burning of midnight oil while the crew worked out a fuel plan for the long trip home BWOS refused the repair so we abandoned it on the pan & hitched a ride home courtesy of Timmy Airways.

[The Oberon]

Rocket, we had a similar experience during Corporate when one of the Victors decided to distribute the internals of the HDU fuel pump into the bomb bay and outside world. Our riggers worked wonders skinning patching and re-ribbing. It was flown back without any problems.
I do wonder if the modern minimally trained engineers could do the same job, no fault of theirs.
It also concerns me about BDR on some of these highly complex, stealthy composites.

[claron]

OMG. That's a blast from the past. Did a scab patch repair on that very aircraft just in front of the rear fuse reg, during TACEVAL at Laarparts in Mid 80's. they wouldn't let us bash holes in the nice shiney Tonkas!!

[acmech1954]

When we took the patch off the Victor,it turned out to be an OM15 can, as it was the only bit of sheet metal on the island that was large enough to cover the hole.
We would have loved to carry out the proper repair, but they handed it over to the Abingdon crowd, but being very kind people they did leave it to us to install the bomb bay lining, which was one thickness up from tinfoil and was a complete nightmare to pop rivet, thanks boys.

[Krystal n chips]

The video brings back a lot of memories. I was involved in some of the initial trials c/o 431 M.U when the techniques were in their infancy. The work was interesting and we started to learn about the practicalities and logistics of carrying out various repairs in "field" conditions, using the Canberra's that were on Bruggen at the time. Bear in mind that at this stage, BDR as such, was still an unknown and intially, the repairs we carried out still reflected the more permanent types we embodied on a daily basis.

A lot of our work resulted in the changes required to alter this mindset.

The lighter side.

It was Germany, in the summer, we were sent across the airfield for the day, so we took the required refreshment with us...naturally.

Canberra airframe vs crash axe. The Canberra won.

However, how many on here have seen a grown up reduced to tears ?
Enter our "heroic and inspirational leader" at the time, the cleverest man on Bruggen ( his words, and a view not entirely shared by the rest of the Station) and who was known, by one and all, after a small caged bird and its habits...i.e. "all chirp and sh&t ". Thus one day, our "hero" decided to invite the grown ups to watch our developing expertise....alas.

On the day in question, a novel twist...Baldric would have been envious!..no briefing, just split into two groups and collect weapons... one group arrives on site, commences setting up and prepares to repair the damage. Then. our hero arrives and places great emphasis on having our weapons ready. The grown ups watch, bemused, but interested. Then cometh his moment.

Adoping a stance of placing on leg against a sandy ridge, drawing his pistol with a flourish, and in a manner that would have been more akin to an Ealing B movie / Harry Enfield sketch, our hero proclaims "Enemy attack ( long pause ) to the front ( another pause ) men !...pick up you weapons!". We had wondered as to where the other group had gone, now we found out, they were the "attacking force" who, in theory, would now come stormimg out of the woods.

Sadly, this was not the case. The gravitas of our leader resulted in attackers and defenders collapsing in derisive howls of laughter such was the delivery of his speech.

The grown ups ?...the one with 3 rings was seen to place his hands over his eyes ( whether to avert his gaze, or prevent us seeing a senior officer in tears, or probably both, I do not know) and shake his head...slowly. The grown up with 2.5 rings was seen to silently suggest our hero could both masturbate and engage in the anglo-saxon term for sex at the same time.

The troops waited untl their tear ducts were empty before returning to the tasks.

Our hero, blissfully unaware as to why all the above had transpired. was dispached for refreshments by the grown ups, who then spent a lot of time talking practical engineering with us....sans leader.

[WE Branch Fanatic]

Here is another one - the Cold War turning hot c1990. Made from news footage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yXTCEZkjQ4

Why can't I make it work? Editing help needed.

[Selatar]

Great find and a classic bit of film.

In terms of up to date experience I would venture a sizeable chunk of the Iraq/Afg rotary fleet (minus the very latest additions) have had a form of BDR carried out due to IDF, SAFIRE or even hailstones! I would put a fiver on pretty much every chinook having had a repair since 2003. I'm sure I'll be proven wrong!

[GIGFY]

While doing a tour at 431MU, it was laid on myself and a guy called Wally Wareham to create the first BDR for Germany, later to be accepted by MOD and the foundation of ABDR.

Little did Wally and I know that we were to perform BDR on a Buccaneer after a mid-air collision with another Buccaneer up in Denmark. How the powers-that-be conned the pilot to fly the aircraft back to Wildenrath beats me but he did without incidence. Luckily the Buccaneer was the perfect aircraft to do the patch-ups on seeing how it was built like the proverbial brick s**t house.

[99 Change Hands]

A bit off topic but are old RAF publicity/training films archived anywhere? They filmed a security training one in my very early days on the squadron in which I was 'room meat' but I never got to see the finished article.

[ORAC]

Things you find on youtube?

Fireflash Missile (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireflash)

-BC2NiirG6E

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/Ryanhothersall/FireFlash.jpg

[bluetail]

Re The Nimrod in ASI 1996

The issue wasn't the repair itself which proved to be a bit of a pig, it was more the Fuel Tank that got dinged, it was a 4A Tank and the rule book said no leaks from them what so ever, after the MU lads came up with the fix (speed tape, foam etc etc) the Flight Eng noted a small seep and refused the jet, he also called home and got backing from the Station, in the end they robbed another 4a tank from a jet in Major at ISK, but that's another tail completely. If I recall the jet was stuck at ASI for a good couple of months.

[Lima Juliet]

I don't think I fancy FIREFLASH - it doesn't get very far in front of the launch aircraft (Meteor) either! More likely to frag yourself than the target! :eek:

[Roadster280]

Question about the wing damage repair in the HAS in the first video.

Would an aircraft suffering what seems like minor damage like that be eventually sent to an MU to have the skin repaired to factory finish, or would the field skin repair be considered permanent-ish?

[ACW342]

Summer '74, shiny 10 on the civvie side, P&SS guy sees hole in flap jack cover. Flight cancelled and crew straight back to the Park Hotel for several more days until new flap jack cover arrives.

December '74 shiny 10 on civvie side, P& SS guy (not the same one) spots hole in flap jack cover. Eng, covers hole with speed tape and shiny 10 leaves on time. It was the Xmas aircrew sweeper.

[drustsonoferp]

Roadster,

As listed in the current MAP entry, a temporary repair should be just that. The concept of Expedient Repair was supposed to allow a spectrum of different repairs, from ABDR to full repairs, with the idea being to do the best repair you can with the resources (incl time) available, and the temporary end of the spectrum certainly need to be reworked to a permanent repair standard.

In practice in recent years, the answer has been to call upon our internal repair organisations, 71(IR) Sqn and 1710NAS to carry out aircraft repairs, not to use sqn-level temporary techniques. This reflects current attitudes to risk.