Operation HYDRAULIC
Thread Starter
Operation HYDRAULIC
Operation HYDRAULIC, the deployment of 13 Lighting Mk 6 aircraft from Leuchars to Tengah, took place 50 years ago last June. I was a humble cog in the wheel and have recorded my recollections in a series of articles on my Blog:
https://tinyurl.com/y977h8g7
The first 3 installments are posted.
There are also some other aviation recollections about ejecting from a Jet Provost and almost writing-off an entire Air Force in a mixed formation.
https://tinyurl.com/y977h8g7
The first 3 installments are posted.
There are also some other aviation recollections about ejecting from a Jet Provost and almost writing-off an entire Air Force in a mixed formation.
Last edited by Top West 50; 15th Dec 2017 at 21:09.
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Hertfordshire
Age: 70
Posts: 292
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
TW50,
You're welcome. I have no idea why PPRuNe persists in blocking the "site that shall not be named", when it is so easy to bypass the block.
I'm eagerly following your installments. Really good stuff, but I have a question:
This passage seems to imply that the overwing tanks were of no value. Could you expand on you description?
You're welcome. I have no idea why PPRuNe persists in blocking the "site that shall not be named", when it is so easy to bypass the block.
I'm eagerly following your installments. Really good stuff, but I have a question:
Whilst the overwings greatly extended range and, hence, flexibility of route planning there was one important safeguard to observe. If there was any malfunction in the fuel feed from the overwing tanks into the main engine system then, for diversion planning purposes, the whole of the contents of the overwings must be considered unusable. This meant that the planning for diversion must be based on internal fuel only.
TW50: I see that one of your photos is of an Argosy of 105 Squadron at Masirah. I was Nav on the crew that flew up from Aden on 3 June 1967 to position as Standby for any transport requirement on the Operation and we flew back on 9 June. In the event, we were not needed, though I see we flew a local sortie on 7 June - mainly having a look at oil tankers coming out from the Gulf, as I recall. A couple of photos from that week:
I42, the overwing tanks had practical value, but not necessarily so for planning.
Which 74Sqn Lightning took Leuchars fuel in one overwing tank all the way to Tengah ?
I did Leuchars to Masirah and return using U.K. based tanking only, and with a few interesting stops in between to avoid Cyprus - the plan.
No plan survives contact with the ‘enemy’ !
Which 74Sqn Lightning took Leuchars fuel in one overwing tank all the way to Tengah ?
I did Leuchars to Masirah and return using U.K. based tanking only, and with a few interesting stops in between to avoid Cyprus - the plan.
No plan survives contact with the ‘enemy’ !
I don't have any specialist knowledge of the Lightning, but I assume that the overwing tanks transferred fuel into the main fuel (wing/belly tank) system to keep it topped up.
So a failure of the transfer system en route would leave the aircraft with the range/endurance corresponding to the normal tankage, with diversion alternates having been planned accordingly, but with everything working as intended the range would be greatly increased.
Thread Starter
The assumption was that all the fuel in the overwings may not be usable so, for planning purposes, we assumed diversion calculations based on internal fuel only. A typical malfunction would be persistent venting since one had no idea how much was being lost and at what rate. Hope this helps?
TW50: I doubt that the weather was much of a topic at Masirah. However, I can't recall how much we'd have heard by then about the 6-Day War that broke out during that week and, over the years since, I've occasionally wondered whether the unusual Lightning/Victor activity at Akrotiri was in any way a 'cause' for the allegations of UK participation on the Israeli side that circulated for a while around the Middle East.
Thread Starter
On the subject of external tanks. I was once, in a VC10, refuelling a pair of Jaguars from Goose Bay to Germany. After a couple of brackets we noticed that we were down on the fuel plan. This didnt particularly concern us at the time because we had a bit extra on board. However, after the third bracket (they were close together between Goose and Sondestrom) I challenged the leader to see if everything was all right. Oh, he said, No2 has been venting from an underwing since top of climb (now he tells us)! At this point we assumed the underwing fuel was unusable and re-planned to keep him within internal fuel range of the diversion. This meant almost towing him until just short of Iceland. This made a big hole in our fuel but we did manage to get him to within range of Lossiemouth before we turned back and landed at Keflavik on absolute minimums.
I have put the final episode of Operation HYDRAULIC at:
https://goo.gl/QBZHg9
I have put the final episode of Operation HYDRAULIC at:
https://goo.gl/QBZHg9
Thread Starter
Further to my post above about leaking tanks, here is a link to a picture of the offending Jaguar in flight. If you have ever wondered what Narsassuaq looks like, there it is below!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ox7f79bcka...0copy.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ox7f79bcka...0copy.jpg?dl=0
