Global Aviation Magazine : 60 Years of the Hercules

[DCThumb]

AR5?
I remember the ridiculous time in Gulf War 1 (c) when Saddam was kicking off again. LYE was in the middle of TACEVAL and we had to play, even as an operational route departure....,the upshot was that we left with 2 lots of the damn stuff, an exercise set that we had to wear for departure and the ‘real’ stuff in case Saddam got feisty again!

I fell off the slip pattern at Akroneli and was VC10’d back home. The last I saw of my big green bag was in the hangar at AKT

[ksimboy]

Sorry to break up the Granby tales, but once again i am the bearer of sad news. MALM John Banks ex 24, 242, 57(R), LXX Sqns passed away recently. I had the privilege of flying with John on many occasions and always thoroughly enjoyed both the tasks, but also the debriefs. RIP Mr Banks, the crew room in the sky has become richer again. A pint will be raised in the Bells when they reopen.

[ancientaviator62]

ksimboy,
thanks for letting us know the sad news the news about JB. I put him up for his first tour as an instructor on 242 OCU. As you say raising a pint would be appropriate.
Trust you are well.

[Ken Scott]

AR5?
I remember the ridiculous time in Gulf War 1 (c) when Saddam was kicking off again. LYE was in the middle of TACEVAL and we had to play, even as an operational route departure....,the upshot was that we left with 2 lots of the damn stuff, an exercise set that we had to wear for departure and the ‘real’ stuff in case Saddam got feisty again!


I was on PRT, thought I’d successfully dodged most of the TACEVAL, we’d only done the groundschool on day 1 when we were told we were off to Kuwait in our crews. When I went to pickup my green bag I was told in no uncertain terms that it was ‘not to be used’.

We managed to spend most of the week away but were sent home for the end of TACEVAL, we ended up spending the final day on the pan in our ac before joining the survival scramble as EGDL was about to get ‘nuked’. After some time in the SORBIT over Devizes we were all diverted to Brize & parked over in the SE corner of the airfield. As the clock ticked down to the ENDEX we imagined all the blunties back in the mess drinking the barrel put on by the Staish saying ‘where are all the aircrew?’

Eventually someone came over and said ‘you can all go home now’- cue a ‘Le Mans’ style start as everyone dashed for their ac, taxying on 2 engines to get ahead in the queue whilst starting the remaining ones. We were off second as I recall, off Rwy 24, straight to Rwy18, 8 mins flying time, not quite quick enough to round down to 5 in the logbook.

[ksimboy]

AA 62 all is well at my end thanks , hope this lockdown is treating you and yours well also. I will update you on progress work wise by PM . I only spoke to John just after Christmas, and informed him of DWs passing, we had arranged to raise a glass for him in the 5 Bells when we could. Looks like 4 pints will now need to be raised given the losses to the former fleet over recent months.

[OmegaV6]

Sorry to break up the Granby tales, but once again i am the bearer of sad news. MALM John Banks ex 24, 242, 57(R), LXX Sqns passed away recently. I had the privilege of flying with John on many occasions and always thoroughly enjoyed both the tasks, but also the debriefs. RIP Mr Banks, the crew room in the sky has become richer again. A pint will be raised in the Bells when they reopen.


Sad news indeed, had the great pleasure of working with John both on the OCU (under it's varied names) and LXX .. and then again after I left... he was Jury Officer at Swindon Crown Court for a good few years while I was a Crown Court Usher, so our paths crossed daily as we handed a jury back and forth to each other !! We had many good laughs both about our "previous lives" and the current state of things.

Another glass to be raised, getting to be too many of those at the moment ........

[ancientaviator62]

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1024x709/hercules_op_granby_kit_akrotiri_3a131e33972f2d93974f2498feb7 6dfc7848ec0d.jpg
Just a reminder for those who were there and an explanation for those who were not

[Dougie M]

Brings it all back. What a logistical nightmare. I still have one of those green bags in the loft full of kit. "And what" said Mrs M."do we need NBC kit and an S10 respirator for?""You never know" I said.

[sycamore]

aa62,is that an approved JATE lashing on the pallet,or just a `lash-up...?

[etudiant]

Brings it all back. What a logistical nightmare. I still have one of those green bags in the loft full of kit. "And what" said Mrs M."do we need NBC kit and an S10 respirator for?""You never know" I said.

Don't be so modest, you saw Covid coming,

[DCThumb]

Reminded of the 24 Sqn Christmas Review. Green bag on table (curtain around table legs), crew proceed to remove all manner of things from the bag as an explanation of what the heck we were lugging around. Last item, as I recall, was a (ahem) young lady....

[ancientaviator62]

sycamore,
nice one ! They even started to run out of lashing tape as well as almost everything else during 'Granby'.

[ksimboy]

AA 62, recall educating the holding officers on the best way to stack the pallets and how to secure the bags. Always good for a giggle.

[ancientaviator62]

sycamore,
I did reply to your PM. Did you ever get it ?

[sycamore]

AA62. not received.....

[CloudyHill]

I have spent many hours reading various posts and opinions on what is considered by the media good to sell newspapers. It's the same with airfix models all jets or WW2 aircraft.

Finding a C130 is much harder. But 40 year embargoes must now be falling away from these men in their flying machines. The versatility and involvement in everything the RAF has surely been the crews of the C130 and I don't tire of hearing about the beautiful roccoco interiors of the 5 star hotels and the immodium for the sorties. Some of these C130 crew were insane and defied gravity in ways even they wouldn't want to repeat. I feel they deserve more recognition and the history of any war or humanitarian crisis is in it's logistics not in one bullet wound or bomb dropped. Appreciate any stories you'd care to reminiscence on. Thanks

[ancientaviator62]

sycamore,
I have replied to your PM so hope it gets to you.

[sycamore]

AA62,nothing rec`d..PM back to you....Syc

[NutLoose]

Well I never knew, the Herc had a front freight door in its past, you learn something every day.

https://www.paradata.org.uk/media/9404

[jbal_davidoffer]

I came across this little gem this afternoon ... and thought I'd share the link :ok:

British Pathé Sep 1967 : The Hercules for the RAF ... The first of the initial 66 ...

Starring 36 Squadron and XV194 ... I think 194 suffered damage deemed 'uneconomic to repair' in Tromsø Norway in 1972 ... thankfully no crew injuries.

Thanks for sharing the Pathe Film.

After watching the Flypast today including the 3 x Hercules I dug out my late fathers log book and discovered he was the Flt Eng on this aircraft XV194. It’s made my day finding this.

[Null Orifice]

Luckily I won the toss (or was otherwise engaged) and didn't get to do the Propulsion trade recovery of items from XV194 (the fleet fatigue lead a/c). My colleague Dave L**** drew the short straw for that particular task.

There is an 'interesting' story to the background of the Tromsø incident - I wonder if the above mentioned log book has any detail on this?

[jbal_davidoffer]

Luckily I won the toss (or was otherwise engaged) and didn't get to do the Propulsion trade recovery of items from XV194 (the fleet fatigue lead a/c). My colleague Dave L**** drew the short straw for that particular task.

There is an 'interesting' story to the background of the Tromsø incident - I wonder if the above mentioned log book has any detail on this?

The log books only goes to 1970, he transferred to commercial jets (BOAC) then.

I saw the pictures of the aircraft in Norway, it didn’t look pretty.

[DeanoP]

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/164x200/image001_94cdec40c7b8cd21980ad041f395a09d399ada47.jpg


The 48

Squadron Association

50th Memorial Service


Members of the 48 Squadron Association will gather together at a memorial service at 14.00 hr on Sunday 10 September 2023 at Saint Michael & All Angels Church Lyneham to commemorate the sad loss of the five crew members on board XV198 when it crashed at RAF Colerne on 10 September 1973.



Also present will be family members and some widows of those who died.

The crew members were:
Sqn Ldr Anthony Victor Barrett

Flt Lt Douglas Gerald Mills

Flt Lt Stuart Alexandewr Fraser

Sgt Peter Robert Coate

MALM Walter Charles Natt

May they all rest in peace.



If you knew any of the men who died fifty years ago and wish to be present at the Memorial Service please contact me so that I can keep track of the number of people who will be attending.

Forte et Fidele
Colin Eames

Secretary

48 Sqn Association

[email protected]

[aeroid]

Hi Deanop,
Snoopy here

[DeanoP]

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/640x480/img_3470_2dc9036865f73df5a008efa801e5b46409845dde.jpeg