Runway arresting gear
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Most economical arrestor gear set up by the RN. Wires across the runway held up by truck tyres cut in half. Ship's cable attached to wires and run alongside the runway. Took it once in a Venom and brought to a halt in short order.
Another memory; I was sitting in my Argosy on Pan 18 (on top of the hill) at Benson when I spotted a multi-coloured Meteor coming down finals for runway 20. It was rather high and rather fast and I expected it to make go-around.
However, it finally touched down halfway down the runway (which was 6,000 feet long) going for the world land speed record.
It disappeared from my sight behind "A" Hangar and then a voice called for the barrier.
"We haven't got a barrier" replied the Tower and so it was that it ended up in the muddy brussels sprouts field off the end of 20.
It was dragged out of the field and given a good wash. It was undamaged by its excursion (it was Meteor 7 with a Meteor 8 tail) and it duly departed for RAE Bedford next morning.
However, it finally touched down halfway down the runway (which was 6,000 feet long) going for the world land speed record.
It disappeared from my sight behind "A" Hangar and then a voice called for the barrier.
"We haven't got a barrier" replied the Tower and so it was that it ended up in the muddy brussels sprouts field off the end of 20.
It was dragged out of the field and given a good wash. It was undamaged by its excursion (it was Meteor 7 with a Meteor 8 tail) and it duly departed for RAE Bedford next morning.
Sounds like the Martin Baker Meteor, based just up the road at that secret Oxfordshire airbase (Chalgrove), but then an MB pilot should have known Benson didn't have a barrier.
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Chevvron, do you recall the incident when the barriers were being checked and there was some confusion over which one was to be raised? The wrong end was raised underneath a gentleman who hadn't isolated it and he was flung into the air. He had quite a tale to tell…in a high voice...
Swiss cheese holes ...
... a mid 70's Friday night in Gibraltar with a couple of Buccaneers and a Nimrod parked on the apron. Air Commander Malta has a drink with the crews and explains Princess *** is visiting tomorrow and he would like to see some 'airfield activity' before the lunchtime cocktail party. Crewsare invited and can wear their flying suits...
Nimrods don't do less than 4 hours, so get airborne around 8am and stooge around the Strait approaches. Lob in a sonobouy at random. Lead Wet "Contact, probsub". WTF? Lead Wet "Errr, it's one of ours". No-one knows we are where we are, this could be embarrassing .... HOLE 1
Return to BRAVO @ 1150 and collect two Buccaneers doing barrel rolls around us. First one lines up for landing, drops gear, flaps and all its hydraulics. Calls for CHAG, and ends up off the runway in rust haze and righ opposite the cocktail party. Quite impressive HOLE 2 Second one diverts to Tangiers HOLE 3. Princess remarks that ' you shouldn't have gone to so much trouble just for me...'
Nimrod reports that it only has 20 minutes holding fuel - Ops dumbfounded that Nimrods run out of fuel.
1220 Nimrod diverts to Faro HOLE 4
Monday morning Air Commander espies Nimrod nav in flight planning. "Ah, Flt Lt, does your crew have a fuel carnet?" "Yes sir, our trusty Flt Eng has one of those". "You, couldn't pop into Tangiers on your way home and pay the fuel bill for the Buccaneer, could you?" "Well, actually sir, we diverted to Faro on Saturday because we're not allowed to go to shady places like Tangiers - perhaps OC Accounts could go on the ferry? The weather looks OK" HOLE 5
Nimrods don't do less than 4 hours, so get airborne around 8am and stooge around the Strait approaches. Lob in a sonobouy at random. Lead Wet "Contact, probsub". WTF? Lead Wet "Errr, it's one of ours". No-one knows we are where we are, this could be embarrassing .... HOLE 1
Return to BRAVO @ 1150 and collect two Buccaneers doing barrel rolls around us. First one lines up for landing, drops gear, flaps and all its hydraulics. Calls for CHAG, and ends up off the runway in rust haze and righ opposite the cocktail party. Quite impressive HOLE 2 Second one diverts to Tangiers HOLE 3. Princess remarks that ' you shouldn't have gone to so much trouble just for me...'
Nimrod reports that it only has 20 minutes holding fuel - Ops dumbfounded that Nimrods run out of fuel.
1220 Nimrod diverts to Faro HOLE 4
Monday morning Air Commander espies Nimrod nav in flight planning. "Ah, Flt Lt, does your crew have a fuel carnet?" "Yes sir, our trusty Flt Eng has one of those". "You, couldn't pop into Tangiers on your way home and pay the fuel bill for the Buccaneer, could you?" "Well, actually sir, we diverted to Faro on Saturday because we're not allowed to go to shady places like Tangiers - perhaps OC Accounts could go on the ferry? The weather looks OK" HOLE 5
The ATC Rover and Mu Meter took the cable at Marham in 95/96 during an exercise late at night ! The good to come out of it was the canx of the exercise, the bad was I was driving ! Well we got told the Mu Meter could trample the raised cable, well it could, if the jockey wheel was removed completely ! 
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This has become one of the funniest threads I've read in a long time, perhaps it belongs in the military aircrew thread because I bet they have some equally amusing stories to tell.
This takes me back to my 1970's ATC days and my faves so far, and I can picture them all, are the Buccaneer showing off in front of HRH then crashing directly in front of her, the Meteor at Benson and as for the Mu Meter taking the RHAG ... They're all classics
Oh the good old days
This takes me back to my 1970's ATC days and my faves so far, and I can picture them all, are the Buccaneer showing off in front of HRH then crashing directly in front of her, the Meteor at Benson and as for the Mu Meter taking the RHAG ... They're all classics
Oh the good old days
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Originally Posted by chevvron
Yes I do recall it; another case of the assistant being 'helpful'!
Originally Posted by lightningmate
it was a different numeral during preceding and following periods
(The one thing I remember about lightningmate was his warning at briefing about frogs in the gents: "when checking output don't think that you have had a happy event…")
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Talkdownman,
Well 4 actually, the last one being 10 years duration and then retirement from the RAF. Albeit the flying side shifted to Boscombe around 1994, which was a bit of a commuting pain. Certainly not 'Punishment', actually achieving something useful, even if British Industry and the MOD Procurement Organisation did not like the results .
lm
Well 4 actually, the last one being 10 years duration and then retirement from the RAF
. Albeit the flying side shifted to Boscombe around 1994, which was a bit of a commuting pain. Certainly not 'Punishment', actually achieving something useful, even if British Industry and the MOD Procurement Organisation did not like the results .lm
Thread drift: I think lm's last tour was the period when Experimental Flying Squadron was renamed Experimental Flying Wing and the OC changed all 'Nugget' numbers so that, like at Boscombe, ATC could identify them by instructing 'squawk callsign' ie Nugget 20 would then squawk '0420' and I can't remember what his final number was; in any case it changed to a 'Guantlet' number when he moved to Boscombe.
Many days of fun and excitement at RAE Bedford where cable and other arresting systems were developed on the old RN arrestor runway (24R?). This was after the era of wingless Scimitars and Canberras which developed barrier systems.
When exploring CHAG and SPRAG, where the chains might not pay-out symmetrically, or the pistons or port holes in the spray system, which if not matched / blocked by wild life, the tests concluded in close examinations of the runway edge / grass.
RAHG was regularly tested and also used to develop bottom-cable technology for improved barriers. For this ‘The Commanders Barge’ Sea Vixen, with a Naval Hook, charged the cable over a range of weights/speeds, where a mid range value determined the test stop-fly option in the event of hook/cable failure.
At that time the bottom cables did not use rubber wheel-lifts or springs, thus a system of rubber/wood supports raised the cable to the required test height; the blocks were glued to a ¼” steel plate bolted into the runway; the blocks should shear off if they were inadvertently ‘hooked’.
Came the day when the Vixen had a well-worn ‘sharpened’ hook – the test hooks generally had blunt/rounded ends. The sharp edge engaged the interface of the steel plate and the runway attempting to either ‘arrest the runway’ or roll it up behind the aircraft. Neither resulted, but the Vixen's hook-sting was bent back (3’’ dia steel rod) wrecking the aircraft hydraulics (no brakes), the steel plate curled up departed the runway ‘pinging’ skywards through the aircraft's tail plane – no controls, no fly, and due to the slightly off centre engagement everything went sideways. Fortunately the test condition was to stop for a failure which was concluded in the grass.
Bedford Flight Systems were ‘Nuggets’ (93)
When exploring CHAG and SPRAG, where the chains might not pay-out symmetrically, or the pistons or port holes in the spray system, which if not matched / blocked by wild life, the tests concluded in close examinations of the runway edge / grass.
RAHG was regularly tested and also used to develop bottom-cable technology for improved barriers. For this ‘The Commanders Barge’ Sea Vixen, with a Naval Hook, charged the cable over a range of weights/speeds, where a mid range value determined the test stop-fly option in the event of hook/cable failure.
At that time the bottom cables did not use rubber wheel-lifts or springs, thus a system of rubber/wood supports raised the cable to the required test height; the blocks were glued to a ¼” steel plate bolted into the runway; the blocks should shear off if they were inadvertently ‘hooked’.
Came the day when the Vixen had a well-worn ‘sharpened’ hook – the test hooks generally had blunt/rounded ends. The sharp edge engaged the interface of the steel plate and the runway attempting to either ‘arrest the runway’ or roll it up behind the aircraft. Neither resulted, but the Vixen's hook-sting was bent back (3’’ dia steel rod) wrecking the aircraft hydraulics (no brakes), the steel plate curled up departed the runway ‘pinging’ skywards through the aircraft's tail plane – no controls, no fly, and due to the slightly off centre engagement everything went sideways. Fortunately the test condition was to stop for a failure which was concluded in the grass.
Bedford Flight Systems were ‘Nuggets’ (93)
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Around '73 time, wingless Scimitar launches down a short RW at Farnborough with intent to engage a cable. Whoops! Hook is jolted up just before the cable and no engagement. The outcome of an engagement failure had not really been considered and the Scimitar, along with concerned 'drivers airframe', hurtled onwards towards the boundary fence and public road. Thankfully, the main-wheels ploughed into soft ground and the beast was retarded before it could leave MOD premises. The unfortunate guy was a bit knocked about due to the rough ride but was soon back on his feet.
That particular trial was quickly terminated, with much organisational embarrassment all round, plus the Scimitar was no longer usable.
lm
That particular trial was quickly terminated, with much organisational embarrassment all round, plus the Scimitar was no longer usable.
lm
Last edited by lightningmate; 9th Jun 2014 at 15:37.
A story going round Brize Norton in the 1970s:
One night, an air traffic assistant is sent in the Land Rover to the fish and chip shop in Carterton to collect an order for those on duty. He duly collects the fish and chips and starts reversing in the car park and is greeted with expensive graunching noises from behind. He hadn't realised that he had the Mu Meter attached.
One night, an air traffic assistant is sent in the Land Rover to the fish and chip shop in Carterton to collect an order for those on duty. He duly collects the fish and chips and starts reversing in the car park and is greeted with expensive graunching noises from behind. He hadn't realised that he had the Mu Meter attached.
Nice one JW
Lightningmate, I remember the late Honey Monster telling me the tale of that Scimitar, and how even though wingless it actually got airborne on one run!
Then in the late 40s/early 50s, Winkle Brown was doing cable engagements on the 'arrestor' runway in a Sea Fury. After many arrests, the tail section decided enough was enough and parted company with the rest of the airframe which also got airborne. Winkle apparently said 'oh how annoying' as he managed somehow to land the bit he was in.
Lightningmate, I remember the late Honey Monster telling me the tale of that Scimitar, and how even though wingless it actually got airborne on one run!
Then in the late 40s/early 50s, Winkle Brown was doing cable engagements on the 'arrestor' runway in a Sea Fury. After many arrests, the tail section decided enough was enough and parted company with the rest of the airframe which also got airborne. Winkle apparently said 'oh how annoying' as he managed somehow to land the bit he was in.