Handley Page Hastings
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Manchester
Posts: 115
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Here's another story for you.
Before setting out on a long overseas trip, the crew assembled the day beforehand for a briefing by the captain, followed by full checks of the aircraft including engine ground runs. On the trip in question, the newly promoted ex-Cranwell Squadron Leader, was being route checked by a very long in the tooth, highly experienced, Fliight Lieutenant from Lancashire, commonly known as "Pork pie Jack", which is another story. Now Jack was a heavy smoker and the young Captain finished his briefing by saying "And as per Pilots Notes, there will be no smoking on the flight deck during this trip." A broad Lancashire voice from the back of the room was then heard to say, "Ast got f***ing" news for thee lad"!!
Before setting out on a long overseas trip, the crew assembled the day beforehand for a briefing by the captain, followed by full checks of the aircraft including engine ground runs. On the trip in question, the newly promoted ex-Cranwell Squadron Leader, was being route checked by a very long in the tooth, highly experienced, Fliight Lieutenant from Lancashire, commonly known as "Pork pie Jack", which is another story. Now Jack was a heavy smoker and the young Captain finished his briefing by saying "And as per Pilots Notes, there will be no smoking on the flight deck during this trip." A broad Lancashire voice from the back of the room was then heard to say, "Ast got f***ing" news for thee lad"!!
Cunning Artificer
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: The spiritual home of DeHavilland
Age: 76
Posts: 3,127
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
As 'V' Bomber ground crew in the sixties, we thought ourselves very fortunate to get a nice smooth, quiet Hastings as transport for a detachment or an 'Exercise Micky Finn'.
The alternative transportation device was a Beverley
One year, the No.1 Group Pipe Band went to Wildenrath by Hastings and on boarding for the return flight, when the crew turned up, one had his arm in a sling, one had a pot leg and was on crutches and another had his eyes bandaged up. He was led up the aisle into the flight deck by the AQM, who was dressed in Mess Kit. The 'crippled' crew managed to get the beast started and we took off for home. After settling in cruise, the nattily suited AQM yelled "Gentlemen, lunch is served!" and began throwing our lunch packs at us.
A right bunch of comedians. They hadn't really been in a car crash, but they certainly had us worried at first.
The alternative transportation device was a Beverley
One year, the No.1 Group Pipe Band went to Wildenrath by Hastings and on boarding for the return flight, when the crew turned up, one had his arm in a sling, one had a pot leg and was on crutches and another had his eyes bandaged up. He was led up the aisle into the flight deck by the AQM, who was dressed in Mess Kit. The 'crippled' crew managed to get the beast started and we took off for home. After settling in cruise, the nattily suited AQM yelled "Gentlemen, lunch is served!" and began throwing our lunch packs at us.
A right bunch of comedians. They hadn't really been in a car crash, but they certainly had us worried at first.
a very long in the tooth, highly experienced, Fliight Lieutenant from Lancashire, commonly known as "Pork pie Jack"
Well, if the thread is still of interest perhaps a ‘war story’.
Your hero was getting an ‘intermediate co-pilots course’ consisting of about 10 hours concentrated training. The first trip on the first day I KNEW an engine would fail. When ‘sir’ walked past the engineer’s position, he would leave a note to the effect that when safety speed was called the engineer was to switch off the number 4 injector, and as a result the engine would stop. Non of your pretend stuff in those days!
I was well up to speed with the drills and knew what to do. A swing followed by a great boot full of rudder to keep it straight and then the immediate actions that one learnt of by heart;
1. Throttle closed
2. RPM lever to feather
3. Feathering button pressed
4. Injector cut off to cut off.
5. Fuel master cock off
6. Ignition off
If you say them fast as in 1 close the throttle 2 rpm to feather 3 feathering button pressed then what is below, makes a bit of sense.
I used to recite them even when the wife and I were…….to make sure they were word perfect.
We got airborne and the swing occurred resulting in;
‘Eng., engine failure starboard side – check Ts and Ps’
‘Cylinder head temp falling on number 4’
OK says your hero, who then did the following. He closed number 1 throttle, placed number 2 feathering lever through the feather gate, pressed number 3 feathering button and of course number 4 was already ‘dead’.
We were now flying with number 1 at idle, 2 feathered, 3 was still running at power (the feather button popped straight out again against the oil pressure) and 4 was, as I said above, dead! There were 2 sinking feelings, one outside and the other in my chest.
‘Sir’ says ‘OK I have control. Eng, put all the levers back where he found them and also start 4’.
We went round and landed, taxied to the take off position and he says;
‘Nav what is the time?’
’10.08 captain’
‘No it is not nav. It is 10.00. The last 8 mins did not happen. Now lets all relax. We know we can do this, so lets go and do it again properly’
At the end of the 10 hours he sent me ‘solo’ with another co-pilot in his seat. What a man, and I remembered his attitude and understanding when I did the CFS course a few years later.
Your hero was getting an ‘intermediate co-pilots course’ consisting of about 10 hours concentrated training. The first trip on the first day I KNEW an engine would fail. When ‘sir’ walked past the engineer’s position, he would leave a note to the effect that when safety speed was called the engineer was to switch off the number 4 injector, and as a result the engine would stop. Non of your pretend stuff in those days!
I was well up to speed with the drills and knew what to do. A swing followed by a great boot full of rudder to keep it straight and then the immediate actions that one learnt of by heart;
1. Throttle closed
2. RPM lever to feather
3. Feathering button pressed
4. Injector cut off to cut off.
5. Fuel master cock off
6. Ignition off
If you say them fast as in 1 close the throttle 2 rpm to feather 3 feathering button pressed then what is below, makes a bit of sense.
I used to recite them even when the wife and I were…….to make sure they were word perfect.
We got airborne and the swing occurred resulting in;
‘Eng., engine failure starboard side – check Ts and Ps’
‘Cylinder head temp falling on number 4’
OK says your hero, who then did the following. He closed number 1 throttle, placed number 2 feathering lever through the feather gate, pressed number 3 feathering button and of course number 4 was already ‘dead’.
We were now flying with number 1 at idle, 2 feathered, 3 was still running at power (the feather button popped straight out again against the oil pressure) and 4 was, as I said above, dead! There were 2 sinking feelings, one outside and the other in my chest.
‘Sir’ says ‘OK I have control. Eng, put all the levers back where he found them and also start 4’.
We went round and landed, taxied to the take off position and he says;
‘Nav what is the time?’
’10.08 captain’
‘No it is not nav. It is 10.00. The last 8 mins did not happen. Now lets all relax. We know we can do this, so lets go and do it again properly’
At the end of the 10 hours he sent me ‘solo’ with another co-pilot in his seat. What a man, and I remembered his attitude and understanding when I did the CFS course a few years later.
A broad Lancashire voice from the back of the room was then heard to say, "Ast got f***ing" news for thee lad"!!
Several HM Customs Officers lived in the Officers at Lyneham and mixed well with aircrew in the bar; unfortunately the friendly relationship broke down after several sneaky rummages and the throwing of the book at a Shackleton crew when they arrived from Gibraltar with a few extra (fake) watches!
We arrived at HMS Fulmar and were marshalled to a position in front of an impressive parade fronted by a RN Captain.
Five minutes later the AQM burst into the flight deck and said, "the bloody door has jammed, can somebody help me?"
Our Flt Lt navigator, an amusing and well built Yorkshireman with the initials P.S volunteered to help.
After a struggle they managed to force the main door open. P.S looked down at the scrambled egged, be-medalled Captain waiting at the bottom of the steps and exclaimed in a loud Yorkshire voice, "f**king hell, customs!"
"f**king hell, customs!"
You've made my day. Thanks.
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
DH108
They were not Loadmasters in those days, the job title was Air Quartermaster, their aircrew badge was QM
They were not Loadmasters in those days, the job title was Air Quartermaster, their aircrew badge was QM
Thanks Ian16th,
Yes, that must be it. He died over 20 years ago, so the few measly snippets are a bit lost in the fog of time now. He was born in 1932, so I guess his National Service started around 1951(ish).
The few bits of info I can recall are:
The job involved CofG calculations
Possibly based at either or both of RAF Lyneham and Dishforth
Airspeed Oxfords being very noisy
An incident with a Hastings propeller breaking free and cutting into the fuselage, I've found a record of this online. I don't think he was on the plane, but he knew about it.
No mention of foreign trips, but anyone on Hastings must have been all over the world surely?
Regards,
Andy
dh108,
I was an AQM on Hastings but just did the one tour before converting to Lockheed's masterpiece.
As has been mentioned the Hastings was unpressurised so at any height above 10000 feet oxygen was normally required. A trip from Akrotiri to Khormaksar would involve cruising heights well above this. Getting to the toilets at the back of the a/c could be a scramble as the small portable oxy bottles were of very limited duration.
In these circumsatances pax would be on oxygen in their seats and the regulations stipulated that they had to stay awake. You can imagine how difficult this was on a night flight !
The Hastings sloping floor did not make for easy loading, especially vehicles etc. The arrival of the Hercules was 'the great leap forward' IMHO.
I was an AQM on Hastings but just did the one tour before converting to Lockheed's masterpiece.
As has been mentioned the Hastings was unpressurised so at any height above 10000 feet oxygen was normally required. A trip from Akrotiri to Khormaksar would involve cruising heights well above this. Getting to the toilets at the back of the a/c could be a scramble as the small portable oxy bottles were of very limited duration.
In these circumsatances pax would be on oxygen in their seats and the regulations stipulated that they had to stay awake. You can imagine how difficult this was on a night flight !
The Hastings sloping floor did not make for easy loading, especially vehicles etc. The arrival of the Hercules was 'the great leap forward' IMHO.
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: South of Old Warden
Age: 87
Posts: 1,375
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
My first flight in a Hastings was from Akrotiri to Shajah via Tehran.
First impression was how bloody noisy the clattering engines were on take-off!
For part of the trip we had to wear those awful oxygen masks.
In-flight catering consisted of a stale roll with sliced egg and a lettuce leaf.
There was a tea urn down the rear. Smoking was forbidden.
On the other hand, returning to Akrotiri from a small detachment to Idris, we were given seats on the NEAF CinC's Hastings, who happened to be returning from a visit there. He ensured we were well looked after on that trip.
First impression was how bloody noisy the clattering engines were on take-off!
For part of the trip we had to wear those awful oxygen masks.
In-flight catering consisted of a stale roll with sliced egg and a lettuce leaf.
There was a tea urn down the rear. Smoking was forbidden.
On the other hand, returning to Akrotiri from a small detachment to Idris, we were given seats on the NEAF CinC's Hastings, who happened to be returning from a visit there. He ensured we were well looked after on that trip.
As has been mentioned the Hastings was unpressurised so at any height above 10000 feet oxygen was normally required. A trip from Akrotiri to Khormaksar would involve cruising heights well above this.
Mount Ararat:
brakedwell,
thank you for those very evocative pictures. I had forgotten quite how close they were. I recall several trips at night in thunderstorms over that route. According to my log book the Akrotiri-Khormaksar leg took around nine hours. Seemed to go on forever at night.
thank you for those very evocative pictures. I had forgotten quite how close they were. I recall several trips at night in thunderstorms over that route. According to my log book the Akrotiri-Khormaksar leg took around nine hours. Seemed to go on forever at night.
When Giant Voice was cancelled in 1972, OC Waddo, 'Des", cast around for a way to compensate the four understandably disappointed crews. He hit upon a long-weekend trip to Wildenrath. Those who were able to persuade their wives that this was a normal training exercise made their way uncertainly at sparrows', after a typical Friday night Happy Hour, to Fox Trot dispersal where a Hastings awaited. A magnificent creature appeared in the doorway with luxuriant white hair sprouting unrestrainedly from under a hydraulically soaked SD hat. Fixing us with a jaundiced eye he bellowed, "Skip, the f@#$&ing pax are here". Sort of set the tone for the whole weekend.
BB,
if you flew in a Hastings in 1972 then it was probably a T5 OF '1066 Flight' from Lindholme. So one of your own from Bomber Command.
The Transport/ Air Support Command Hastings were all stood down in 1967/8 as the Hercules entered service.
if you flew in a Hastings in 1972 then it was probably a T5 OF '1066 Flight' from Lindholme. So one of your own from Bomber Command.
The Transport/ Air Support Command Hastings were all stood down in 1967/8 as the Hercules entered service.
BB,
if you flew in a Hastings in 1972 then it was probably a T5 OF '1066 Flight' from Lindholme. So one of your own from Bomber Command.
The Transport/ Air Support Command Hastings were all stood down in 1967/8 as the Hercules entered service.
if you flew in a Hastings in 1972 then it was probably a T5 OF '1066 Flight' from Lindholme. So one of your own from Bomber Command.
The Transport/ Air Support Command Hastings were all stood down in 1967/8 as the Hercules entered service.
And Transport Command/Air Support Command Loadmasters were far too sophisticated to behave in such a crude manner
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Cyprus
Age: 91
Posts: 179
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
What's all this nonsense about inches of boost? In my day on Hastings “boost” was measured in good 16 ounce pounds per sensible square inch and there were two types, plus or minus. Your namby-pamby inches of mercury were for arty-farty manifold air pressure.
Yeah yeah I know!
We young 'whipper snappers' in our 60's should know better. Certainly in the latter days of flying the thing, the gauge was in inches of mercury. I was told if you want to refer to boost, double the boost required and add 32 and that would give you inches of M. (Roughly)
Nice to see there are still some of the grumpy old s*ds around to keep us on our toes! Was your airspeed indicator in MPH!
1066 had a couple of mark ones in 1972, (TGs 536 / 568) so it may have been one of them that went to Germany that Saturday morning.
We young 'whipper snappers' in our 60's should know better. Certainly in the latter days of flying the thing, the gauge was in inches of mercury. I was told if you want to refer to boost, double the boost required and add 32 and that would give you inches of M. (Roughly)
Nice to see there are still some of the grumpy old s*ds around to keep us on our toes! Was your airspeed indicator in MPH!
1066 had a couple of mark ones in 1972, (TGs 536 / 568) so it may have been one of them that went to Germany that Saturday morning.
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: marshfield
Age: 71
Posts: 12
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hastings at colerne
I flew in.Hastings TG528 at colerne in 1967 24 sqd,I was in 93 sqd Bath ATC.On the flight was SAC Holly (Buddy),anyone know what happened to him ?.. I still work in 24s old hangar,on Grob Tutors !!! Ah Hastings days !!!!!!!!!!
1066 had a couple of mark ones in 1972, (TGs 536 / 568) so it may have been one of them that went to Germany that Saturday morning.
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Cyprus
Age: 91
Posts: 179
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
No! No! No! “add 32” is for Centigrade to Fahrenheit! 
. End of grumpy voice.
One of the reasons for longer sector times was that the Hastings had to be flown around mountains instead of just ignoring them. You probably remember flogging down the Rhone/Saone corridor or popping out into the Mediterranean through the Carcassone Gap over near Spain, which made it a long way to Luqa, El Adem, or Nicosia.
. End of grumpy voice.One of the reasons for longer sector times was that the Hastings had to be flown around mountains instead of just ignoring them. You probably remember flogging down the Rhone/Saone corridor or popping out into the Mediterranean through the Carcassone Gap over near Spain, which made it a long way to Luqa, El Adem, or Nicosia.