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-   -   Jackaroo (https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/570971-jackaroo.html)

TCAS FAN 1st Dec 2015 09:06

Stationair8

No mate, definitely a Thruxton Jackaroo, as the example below shows:

GINFO Search Results | Aircraft Register | Operations and Safety

Remember them well when most were flying with the Wiltshire School of Flying, based at Thruxton, a few mile up the road from where I lived.

PAXboy 1st Dec 2015 11:29

Ah! 'Wiltshire School of Flying' that is where the Prizeman family said the original idea came from.

treadigraph 1st Dec 2015 11:54

I forgot: there's a fair bit about the Jackaroo in Bransom and Birch's "THe Tiger Moth Story".

Herod 2nd Dec 2015 15:10

India Four Two: I was after an alliterative name, but I've got you now (I think). Twin Jet?

India Four Two 2nd Dec 2015 15:51


Twin Jet?
Affirm. :ok:

Herod 2nd Dec 2015 16:54

It's amazing the way one thing leads to another. This is a bit off-topic, but following India Four Two's post, here's the gen from Wiki.

The word "Canberra" is popularly claimed to derive from the word Kambera or Canberry which is claimed to mean "meeting place" in the old Ngunnawal language, one of several Indigenous languages spoken in the district by Aboriginal people before European settlers arrived, although there is no hard evidence to support this. An alternative definition has been claimed by numerous local commentators over the years, including Ngunnawal Elder, Don Bell, whereby "Canberra" or "Nganbra/Nganbira" means "woman's breasts" and is the Indigenous name for the two mountains, Black Mountain and Mount Ainslie, which lie almost opposite each other. In the 1860s, the name was reported by Queanbeyan newspaper owner John Gale to be an interpretation of the name 'nganbra' or 'nganbira', meaning "hollow between a woman's breasts", and referring to the Sullivans Creek floodplain between Mount Ainslie and Black Mountain. An 1830s map of the region by Major Mitchell indeed does mark the Sullivan's Creek floodplain between these two mountains as "Nganbra". "Nganbra" or "Nganbira" could readily have been anglicised to the name "Canberry", as the locality soon become known to European settlers.

And there was me thinking it was named after Lord someone -or-other.

Stationair8 2nd Dec 2015 20:49

In Australia, Canberra means land 100 square miles of stupidity surrounded by a million square miles of reality.

Back to the Tiger Moth, what was the enclosed cockpit version called then?

treadigraph 2nd Dec 2015 22:35

[QUOTE=
Back to the Tiger Moth, what was the enclosed cockpit version called then?[/QUOTE]
DH-82c. The Canuck Moth...

clunckdriver 2nd Dec 2015 23:27

The "C" model became known as the "Civilised" Moth as it had a conopy, brakes, tailwheel, and a heater, all things which made flying in our Canadian winter a lot nicer for the long sufering instructors and students!

regentbl 3rd Dec 2015 11:00

G-APAP
 
I was a co_owner of AP in the 70's at Upavon. It was a dreadfull tug and in poor condition. I remember the plugs needed changing virtually daily and the misfiring engine was normal! It was a lot steadier than the tiger owing to the ailerons further outboard and the wider maingear, the result of the wider cabin. We removed the right hand seats to save weight but they had the harnesses attached which came in useful later when the directive came from the CAA to install shoulder harnesses on the left front seat. ( None were fitted!). I simply cut a hole in the leatherette seat back and bolted the liberated harness on. Voila and no paperwork. Around this time I flew G-APAM from Inkpen; a much nicer Jackaroo painted yellow/ red sunburst stripes and white leather seats and sharkskin grips on the sticks! I flew it for the only time 4 up to Redhill with CFI Ray Hunt. It performed remarkably well. Climb speed 60; cruise at 1900 RPM gave about 75 if I remember correctly. Without brakes on an undulating airfield in the wind caused a few minor disasters!

India Four Two 3rd Dec 2015 15:38


It was a lot steadier than the tiger owing to the ailerons further outboard and the wider maingear, the result of the wider cabin.
So it had a wider-wingspan - obvious when I think about it and it is clear when I look at pictures of the fuel tank.

So did the Jackaroo have any changes to the tail or did it have a normal Tiger Moth tailplane and elevator?

I remember reading an article by Derek Piggott on test flying a T21 motor glider. The engine had been installed in a new centre section, to which the wings were bolted. He found that the aircraft was now unstable, because there was not enough tail surface area to balance the larger wing area.

Were there any issues with the Jackaroo's handling?

regentbl 3rd Dec 2015 16:24

It was better in roll than the TigerMoth; felt more positive. No the tail was standard TigerMoth. Lifting the tail by the struts was no problem; clearly the weight/ C of G didn,t affect this with the extra "plug" cabin. I remember there was no mixture control; just mags and a throttle and no idle cutoff.

Lizard5T 23rd Sep 2016 09:16

Jackaroo Accident
 
1 Attachment(s)
http://www.pprune.org/c:\users\user\pictures\crash2.jpg

They weren't that seriously injured. The instructor was walking wounded and the student recovered fine. Remarkable when you look at the pic.

DaveReidUK 23rd Sep 2016 13:54

Thanks for the photo. It resolves the confusion (see earlier posts) over whether G-AIOW's accident was at Thruxton or Chilbolton - the photo is clearly taken at Thruxton.

Amos Keeto 23rd Sep 2016 23:03

Ah, I have fond memories of my first ever flights. At the age of 12, my father took me for joy rides in Jackaroos G-AOIX in September 1961 and in G-AOEX in June 1962 with the Wiltshire School of Flying at Thruxton. I remember the orange canopy roof glazing and the noise and vibration as the canopy shook.
There is a great book about the experiences of flying a Jackaroo by Maurice Brett called "A Sunday Flyer" which I have and enjoyed it immensely.

Marchettiman 28th Sep 2016 09:30

It was on 22nd July 1962, at the tender age of 17yrs 1 month that I reported to the Wiltshire School of Flying to begin my RAF Flying Scholarship, having ridden there on my NSU Quickly moped from Wimbledon. No messing about, I was shown my room in a very basic hut on the South side of the airfield, just by the black hangar which I soon discovered contained several Mosquitos and other aircraft in varying states of disrepair, and told to report to the club house by 3pm for a briefing. Late that afternoon I was strapped into Chipmunk G-AORL for my first effects of controls lesson with a very determined Polish instructor named Ruprecht. Over the next 12 days of complete immersion in the ways of the Jackaroo I completed the PPL course of 30 hours (18:40 dual and 11:20 solo) on G-AOEX (first solo), G-AOIR, G-AOIW,G-AOIX, G-APAI, G-APAP, and G-ANFY, spending evenings learning Air Law, Met and the mysteries of the Dalton computer. Taking my PPL Flying test on 5/8/62 with the larger than life CFI John Heaton, who had a few days earlier spun into a cornfield in a Tiger in full view of my fellow students, I seem to remember a heavy night of celebrations in the Jackaroo bar before launching off to home on the NSU the following morning.
As well as learning to fly, we cadets were used as cheap labour, ground handling the aircraft, refuelling, swinging props and making tea and coffee for the instructors. Over those action packed 13 days I flew with Hallmark, Lewis, Hadley and Ramsey-Smith, Ruprecht and Heaton, doing between 2 and 5 trips each day, with cross countries to long forgotten airfields such as Christchurch and Portsmouth. With no radio, brakes or starter the Jackaroo was hardly the most complicated training aircraft and seems to have done the job well; hearing what the instructors were saying to you through the Gosport tube intercom was probably the most challenging part of the training. Navigating the Airspace around Thruxton was no mean feat either, with RAF Andover, Boscombe Down, Chilbolton, Middle Wallop and Old Sarum all active military airfields with some pretty exotic machinery to see, avoid and marvel at.
I still fly from Thruxton and would love to hear from anyone who remembers "those days".
Sadlythough I never flew a Jackaroo again, the £4 17s. 6d an hour was beyond the means of a schoolboy with another year to go before A-levels.

76fan 28th Sep 2016 10:40

Thruxton 1962
 
... and following on from that ... I landed at Thruxton on the 12th August on my qualifying solo cross country in an Elstree London School of Flying Chipmunk G-ARGH as part of my ATC Flying Scholarship. It may well have been the first time that I had landed on grass and whoever I got to sign my required paperwork referred to my landing as a "wheelie". On requesting someone to hand-swing the Chipmunk I discovered that they were very reluctant because the Chipmunk had a metal prop! Eventually some brave soul did and I went on my way to my next landing at Luton before returning to Elstree. I seem to remember that someone else on my course failed to find Thruxton at all, and instead landed his Chipmunk at Boscombe. Having parked up he walked to the guardroom to report his arrival but at first they wouldn't believe him. The tight security(?) meant they then impounded the aircraft and I believe an Elstree instructor had to go down a few days later to retrieve it.
Similar to Marchettiman I had just done my A-levels at that time and two years later (and now earning about £9 per week) I could not afford the £6 15s per hour for a Chipmunk and tried instead to keep my PPL by paying £5 5s for a check-out in an Auster at Denham. If I remember correctly I couldn't hack the left hand stick and right hand overhead throttle and so I gave it up. Fortunately a couple of months later I was accepted for training as a helicopter pilot in the Royal Navy and so continued my flying in helicopters for the rest of my working life.

olympus 28th Sep 2016 14:46


Originally Posted by 76fan
...qualifying solo cross country in an Elstree London School of Flying Chipmunk G-ARGH...

...did mine in G-ARGG!


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