aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!
 

The Dog Kennel, what an awful reminder!

Brilliant the ingenuity in getting those Bevs in the shed.

Bev cockpit section available to view at IWM Duxford.

One thing I failed to mention earlier is that when we were on the mainplane it was imperative to wear the safety harness as three years previous I fell off the wing of a Comet C2 through condensation on the wings and broke my wrist, to fall off a Bev wing would almost certainly have resulted in something considerably more serious! :eek:

FPG
I seem to remember that the S Eng O at the time was a real 'hands on' guy and being surprised to see him rushing round the flight line on a motor cycle stripped to the waist and covered in grease and oil!:eek:
J(G)C
aaarrrgh indeed. As a (then) smoker the requirement to pump congealed oil to all four engines at regular intervals at 8-10,000' was not terribly welcome. Also the overload oil tank capacity of 84 gallons caused the Shell man at Elizabethville in the Congo to mutter rude words,when we went in there during the Congo civil war. The ramp was absolutely full with aircraft having to queue to get onto the refuelling points. We were in line behind a little Cessna and when our turn came and we asked for the overload tank to be filled the Shell man pointed out that we were taking more oil than the Cessna had taken in fuel!! Poor sod hadn't had any sleep for 36 hours and the only way to get the oil in was via wing access ladders in gallon cans!!!

Bicester Circa 1967

http://www.btinternet.com/~simon.gur...esterc1967.jpg

Shame about the geek in the forground!!

When I was small the beverley was doing some trials at Holme-on-Spalding-Moor.It had rockets mounted to it for short take off trials.
Many years later when I learnt to fly at paul airfield we had it there as previous post pointed out.It was never used as a club room but we showed people around the aeroplane.
As a student pilot it was a very good land mark to help find the airfield plus the Humber of course.

Found another brilliant picture of the Beverley in my collection, sorry about the poor quality.

http://www.btinternet.com/~simon.gur.../Beverley2.jpg


Mr G

Excellent Mr Grubby!

That one is worth the proverbial thousand words

Anyone recall how the Bev could be reversed when being marshalled on the apron?

Question Orange Cafe
 

Would the cafe in Orange be the "Les Routiers" endorsed one on the Avignon road South of town. Great grub (and plonk) and just signed a chit and H.M. paid.

I have heard that the Beverley was the only aircraft that used to get bird strikes on the TRAILING edge of the wings!!!:D

Dr Illitout
That was said about a number of aircraft! What was true, however, was that a Bev, thundering down the French airways with its Centaurii at the standard 2300 ESB, was overtaken by a Hastings on three engines. Given that the Bev, in the cruise, was a variable noise , constant speed machine, perhaps not surprising. :(
Pom Pax
That's the one - I was intoduced to the joys of Pastis there. ..... woke up the next morning and, quite literally, could not see. My eyelids had swollen so as to prevent the lids opening - lots of cold water compresses to recover vision!! :yuk:
J(G)C
Used to be part of the display programme - Taxy in , reverse into display position, open 'clamshells' and lower ramps and out comes the band in full marching order. ..... but beware the prop interrupter switches!!! :eek:
One other little tale....
The raised platform at the front of the freight bay was known as the Bandstand. One of our (in those days) AQMs was married at Abingdon and was able to organise his wedding reception in the freight bay of one of the squadron aircraft. The affair was made complete by a small musical group playing ..... on the Bandstand. :D

Met a chap on a skilift on Sunday. Game old fella. Turned out he had been in the Paras (in National Service). He had done 40 drops, including from a Bev into Egypt to support that little war. He then went on to tell me how he was sent to Boscombe Down (much better than being in barracks he said) for a while because the Bev needed trials soon after it was introduced into service because of probs with parachutists getting friction burns from the strops or something. Small world.

Mr G
thank you for the latest Bev piccy. I have done a PSP 'clean-up' to remove the creases - if you would like a .jpg copy, e-mail me.
Skua - don't know about the strop burn problems, but the paras who dropped from the boom reckoned it was the best exit ever; you just rode the slipstream directly without having to force yourself out sideways into it.
We were doing exercise para drops in Norway using half wing overlap formation - a short-lived introduction, courtesy 38 Grp. We were number two and one of the lead's paras went over the top of our wing while his 'chute went underneath. The shroud lines went through the leading edge as far as the front spar. One very lucky para released, somehow, and completed his journey via his reserve. :eek:

Blackburn Beverly
 

Mr_Grubby
How dare you, I was the Geek in the foreground!

Pom Pax
Yes it was and I still remember the walk back to the Base Arienne. Was there not also a watering hole known as Le Petit Bar?
Rgds. FPG

Beverley Geek
 

FaPoGai

Whilst you may well have been a geek in 1967, you are certainly not the one in this picture.

I know the history of this photograph and I also know the identity of said geek. A very good friend of mine. We are still in touch after all these years. Sorry !!!!!!!!!

Regards
Mr G.

:D

http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/pprune/bev1.jpg

I guess it passed all the Ministry tests:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Courtesy of CORNISH JACK
 

This Photo taken by Jack at Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand.

http://www.btinternet.com/~simon.gur...evandDev45.jpg


Thanks

Mr G.

Mr G, that's a 30 Sqn Bev. Any idea what year that was taken? A copy of it might be of interest to the Sqn Historian, if it is not already in the archive.

DrSyn
 

I posted this pic because Cornish Jack could not.

Suggest you contact him for more details.
(he does seem a nice guy !!!!)

Mr G.

Dr Syn
At a guess, 1963 - I'll check my log books to see if I can narrow it down. We used to visit Chiang Mai fairly often, so it may not be too easy.
I have a feeling that the visit was some sort of official celebration (Betty's birthday, maybe) and the Bev had carried a military band for the occasion. I can't think of any other time during my 35+years in blue when I could snap both my current and previous types!
The Teeny Weeny Airways machine was VP 977 and we covered Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and, latterly, Burma as well as Thailand. With some notable exceptions, some of the best of my service flying.
As an ex 30 man (Bevs at Dishforth), they would be welcome to a copy.

Courtesy of bral
 

XH122 taken at Bicester in December 1970. I think in 84 Sqd. markings with the scorpion on the nose. The aircraft was cut up in early 1971 although parts were still at the local scrap yard next to the base in 1974. Just visible on the side of the nose is a painting of the route flown to Bicester. bral was told at the time that the aircraft had a cracked main spar. As an incentive the crew that flew her home were allowed to bring back their cars. Anyone cast light on that story? Also where would her last flight have been from? RAF Muharraq?


Regards

Mr G.

http://www.btinternet.com/~simon.gur...hotos/Bevs.jpg

DrSyn
Re. the date for the BevandDev photo, Sod's Law strikes. The one log book which covers that period has gone walkabout so will have to search again. We did night-stop at Chiang Mai on the 25/26 July 1963. I think, however, that the actual date of the photo was a week later - the reason for that thought being a matter of considerable embarrassment for us (the Devon operators). :O :O :O