Beverley Driver Needs a Boost

[Buster11]

An old friend, J**n B****t, and I did a flying scholarship together at Redhill on Magisters (complete with Gosport tubes). He went on to fly Beverleys (on 47 Squadron, I think) at Eastleigh, Muharraq and Abingdon.

He is now in a care home in Wiltshire with early Alzheimer's and, I gather, would be perked up by any contacts from people who knew him then. If you could help, a PM to me will get contact details.

On the subject of the mighty and ponderous Beverley, and thread-drifting slightly, are there enough tales of that aircraft and that period to make a thread in its own right? A nation awaits.

[langleybaston]

I cannot help directly, and I wish the gentleman well.

The Beverley ambled into my consciousness when several arrived at RAF Nicosia c. 1962, as part of a big lift for a Para exercise.

I, a very baby Metman, had sole responsiblity for the forecast, both flight and DZ.

The sight of those big beefers lumbering into the air, clamshell doors removed, packed with vehicles and soldiers and with internal lighting on, was very impressive.

Next day my wife and I went into the bondhu to see the war games, maroon berets seemingly everywhere.

Quite some aeroplane.

[dbee]

I might have the same......................................1957 Flying Scholarship Tiger Moth at Skegness Gosport tubes still there but had an early transistor battery intercom. Argosy at muharraq just as the Beverly was leaving; stories about natives lighting a fire for cooking on the floor! Now 75, so a similar age. PM if I might be of help

dbee

[Brian 48nav]

Not a Beverley man myself but I recommend that you try and get a copy of 'The Blackburn Beverley' by Bill Overton. Looking at the photos and stories in there could be helpful for him in his early stage of Alzheimers.

My mother has been in a care home for some years and she has dementia, but we find that we can have more inter-action with her when looking at old family photos.

[Lyneham Lad]

A search of the 'Aviation History & Nostalgia' sub-forum turned up 119 threads that contain the word 'Beverley'. May well be some useful material there!

[NRU74]

Buster
Was he an ex plod whose dad was Chief Constable of Lincolnshire (or similar) ?

[Buster11]

NR. No, no connection at all with copping. Retired when I knew him, but from what I know not.

[aw ditor]

Also did a Flying Scholarship at Redhill on Maggies. Don't recognise the monica'.

[Buster11]

B48 n. Many thanks for the steer to the Beverley book. I'll have a bit of a think about that; at £65 a pop it must get shipped down its vendor's eponymous river in a first class cabin.

Aw. We were at Redhill in Summer '53; Alan Sproxton CFI.

[Archimedes]

Buster, if you have the means of showing your friend websites (via an ipad, etc) and haven't already seen it, then you may find some photos and stories which spark memories here:

The Beverley Association (http://www.beverley-association.org.uk/)

[India Four Two]

Buster,

Some used books available here:
Blackburn Beverley - AbeBooks (http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=blackburn+beverley)

[Back Pressure]

Geez ! I thought the Bristol Freighter was fugly, but that Beverley takes the cake !!!

May well have been great old birds but lookers they were not.

[Brian 48nav]

The thought has just occurred to me that your friend may already have Overton's book - worth checking his bookshelf.
You mentioned 47 Sqn - their association may be a source of memorabilia.

Back pressure

Former Herc' skipper, Mike Nash (sadly RIP ), told me that when on an exchange tour with the USAF, one of his American colleagues said, " Did you ever fly that Blackburn Beverley? Jeez it could fly anything nowhere! ".

[aw ditor]

Buster

Was also there Summer of 53', Ward and Chinn were the other Instructors in addition to the CFI! G-AIYD had a reputation for being reluctant to recover from a spin?

AD'.

[Tinribs]

Buster 11
Try Barter Books at Alnwick, they have many pre loved books at sensible prices. If you buy I can collect and move south with a relay of like minded to save postage

[Nugget90]

In June 1963, having just completed No 103 Hastings course at Thorney Island, I spent a relaxing fortnight at RAF Abingdon where the newly-qualified captains learnt the art of dropping paratroops at Weston-on-the-Green, and we co-pilots simply enjoyed ourselves!

On the Sunday morning between these two weeks I along with others found ourselves invited to 'Cocktails for Breakfast' at the home of some WRAF officers who lived out, and it was there that I was given this little essay on the birth of the Beverley:

THE BEVERLEY – ANOTHER THOROUGHBRED

A famous aircraft designer saw a Dutch Barn blow past in a gale. The basic idea of the Beverley was born at that moment.

The original design of the machine was intended to fulfil a single-seat fighter specification, but as full power was required to taxi the aircraft forward at a slow walking pace, another engine was added. The resulting increase in all-up weight necessitated the addition of two further engines to enable it to move at all. This had increased the general dimensions somewhat, and work was often delayed for several days at a time while the aircraft was utilised as a spare hangar for visiting aircraft.

This state of affairs continued for so long that by the time the prototype was ready for flight all other new types of aircraft were jet powered. This rather embarrassed the designer. Fearing to appear behind the times, he had the propellers placed much higher than he had originally intended in the hope that they would not be noticed. This entailed raising the mainplane and fuselage sides. Subsequently the Production Manager raised the roof – which accounts for the immense height of the machine.

As no adequate runway was available, the undercarriage was adapted to take locomotive wheels and its first take-off was from both tracks of the Brough – Hull railway line. It was in fact airborne by the time it reached Beverley – hence its name.

A conversion kit for this purpose is still in existence. While the aircraft is in use in this role, the flight deck should at all times be referred to as the ‘Driver’s Cab’ and the V.H.F. should be re-crystallised to include the frequencies of Crew Signal Box and the Head Office of the National Union of Railwaymen.

Spinning the aircraft is not recommended, as the torque reaction involved causes the Earth to rotate in the opposite direction to the spin, to the accompaniment of terse notes from Greenwich Observatory. The aircraft is, however, extremely versatile, and may be employed in many roles, particularly those that do not include flying or movement of any kind.

It is extremely amenable to modification: for example wind-tunnel tests have shown that the wings could be placed at the bottom and the wheels at the top without any appreciable drop in performance.

Taken in all, the Beverley is an ideal aircraft for a civilian enthusiast with a million pounds, a private oil-well, and a complete abhorrence of the rules of flying.

Anon

[1.3VStall]

Heard a story, probably apocryphal, about the first time a Beverley landed at a USAF base.

Having taxied in and shut down, the crew dismounted to find a crew chief with a totally incredulous expression.

He pointed at the aircraft and said "what in the world's that?". "That, sir, is a Blackburn Beverley" came the response.

The crew chief, still looking incredulous, said "huh, huh - make it yourself?";)

[skua]

Nuggett :D:D

[Old-Duffer]

In Dec 12, I was privileged to attend a commemoration of the Brunei Revolt, organised by the Royal Marines and held at Eastney.

Two parts of the day stick with me particularly.

First, at lunch I was seated with several veterans of that piece of ‘unpleasantness’ when a lady was brought rather nervously to our table and the person escorting her pointed out the ex-Royal Marine she wanted to meet. They were introduced only by name and then the woman said something like: ‘you won’t remember me but when I was a baby living at Limbang, you saved my life when you rescued my parents and me because the rebels were going to kill us in the morning’! You can imagine the scene that followed with hugs and not a dry eye in the house. The woman had been traced and had come all the way from Australia for the event.

The second relates to one of the presentations discussing the RAF flying a Beverley loaded with troops into a coastal airstrip. The pilot, having described how he loaded a company of infantry in the freight bay of his aircraft and how they were all standing, with the clamshell doors removed and just some quick release ropes stopping everybody falling out. He then described how he undertook a stealth approach in his aircraft by flying over the sea at low level and shielded from the airfield by the trees which lined the coast road. As was pointed out, four Bristol Centaurus engines at ‘full chat’ aren’t exactly stealthy by any definition.

He continued; ‘In my final approach, I popped the aircraft over the trees, dropped it onto the grass strip and immediately chucked it into full reverse power with maximum braking and brought it to a stop fairly smartly – I then opened my eyes – (much laughter) saw I had used less than half the runway and once the quartermaster confirmed the pax were off, we shoved the throttles forward and having already selected flaps and pitch levers, we were off. As we accelerated the rebels opened fire on us but their training had left out the bit about deflection shooting and moving targets and so we escaped with a few bullet holes in the tail fin’.

O-D

[Exnomad]

Workedf on Beverley simulator,
Was told by Beverley pilot it was like flying a block of flats from a second floor window.

[Fareastdriver]

The Beverly was our lifeline during Confrontation in Borneo during the early sixties. Everything we needed was thrown out of the back, predominately fuel. That used to come in four 44 gallon drums and the baseboards were the basic sheet material for our bashers. Food and beer used to arrive the same way but there used to be a few problems.

They started off by packing the aircraft the night before. This led to static buildup in the chutes which caused the fabric to stick together. When it came out of the back one or more would candle so you leading to a high, if not ballistic, rate of descent. The survivors, whether drums of fuel or slabs of Tiger beer would resemble short fat rotund barrels.

The other was the Snatch. This is where the parachute would snap open and the load would disintegrate in front of it. Fuel wasn't a problem but food was. Raining fish, meat, potatoes and beer was not conducive to good moral.

One had to admire how they threaded those lumbering beasts around the hills and clouds to line up for the next drop but they only missed a handful.

Not a good picture; faded somewhat; Sepulot, Sabah, North Borneo. Spring 1966.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee224/fareastdriver/1-1-2010_006.jpg (http://s229.photobucket.com/user/fareastdriver/media/1-1-2010_006.jpg.html)

[Warmtoast]

Buster11

As your friend was on 47 at Abingdon he may like to see these photos I took at Gan on 28th January 1958. This Abingdon-based, but detached to the Far East 47 Sqn Beverley (Flt Lt Pete Dudley as the pilot), conveyed the first consignment of Pakistani workers from Pakistan via Negombo to Gan.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/GAN/Beverley1.jpg


http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/GAN/Beverley2.jpg


http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/GAN/Beverley3.jpg

Nose of the aircraft emblazoned with Arms of the town of Abingdon and GSM Medal (Malaya)

Below a couple of shots of Beverleys I took a year later when I was stationed at Abingdon in 1959

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/RAF%20Abingdon/Abingdon-BeverlyLanding_1280x853-1.jpg


http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/RAF%20Abingdon/Abingdon-BeverlyTake-off_1200x800.jpg


I hope it brings back a few happy memories!
WT

[Buster11]

Belated thanks to Warmtoast, Archimedes and others who came up with useful links and ideas on this. All duly passed on to the relevant carer, so with luck it will help to trigger a few good memories.

It did look as this thread might morph into a WIWOB one at one stage, but we live in hope.

[simmy]

Filling in the asterisks, I have a name who flew Bevs and was a captain with Britannia Airways when I knew him, from 1988, for a few years until I left. Is this the person in the care home?

[nimbev]

Buster

If your mate was at Eastleigh and Muharraq it is likely he was on 30 Sqn as they moved from Kenya to Bahrein in early 65 and the guys were re-toured.... wonder why morale was so low for a while, esp amongst the wives:{:{

When I was posted to 30 I was told the Sqn was in Nairobi - they didn't tell me it was about to move and by the time I joined it was in Muharraq.

Plse see your PMs re J B.