My only flight in a Beverly was Gutersloh to Cranwell---into a strong headwind. We were reasonably low through Germany and , I kid you not, were overtaken by traffic on the autobahn.

Only a few pax and no freight, we were able to have a kick around with a football on the freight deck.

ATC story.

Early Bev going UK into French airspace. On handover, French ATC---

"We have you contact, you appear to be followed by two objects"

"That's OK, they are our fins"

The Beverley was a "Stately" machine. There was no point in rushing her or getting into a flap. On one 'Mickey Finn' we flew from Waddington to Machrihanish in a Beverley carrying our own Fire Tender for the detachment. There was a westerly gale blowing and it took us nearly four hours to get there. Four days later when we returned it was still blowing a gale and we got back in less than an hour. Those who are familiar with Waddington will know that the runway is aligned something like 03/21 so the landing was rather 'interesting'. We could see straight down the runway centreline through the 'portholes' in the boom and though we weren't actually going backwards, there wasn't an awful lot of forwards either. Does anyone know the crosswind limits for a Bev? We must have been close to the limit.

I never got the throw anything out of a Bev but I've spent many a long hour talking to a chap who did a fair bit of Air Drop trials work with them. I like this one best.
On the Bev the extraction parachute was mounted on the rear face of the cargo bay sill and during the pre start up checks someone had used it as a step when getting down. What wasn't noticed was that the relaese had been damaged. During the take off roll the extractor parachute fell off and deployed, this in turn pulled the the Medium Stressed Platform out of the hold and deposited it on the runway. Releived of its load the Bev promptly took off.

Has anyone ever seen the Bev with what looks like an arrestor hook! (Is it the largest aircraft to ever have one?) for Ground Proximity Extraction drops?

No, but to set the scene, for many years NATO Forces held an exercise to practice for a second Berlin airlift. This consisted of Transalls and USAF/RAF C130 being escorted around northern germany by F4/Mirage/F104/F15.

As you would expect, the 'package' returned to base together. To take the urine out of the fighter jocks, I once saw a USAF C130 deploy the mother of all 'brake' parachutes upon landing!
I bet she stopped toute-suite as well.

The "arrestor hook" was probably the red tripod fitted under the sill of the cargo bay to prevent tipping when unloading.

No the hook was a hook.
It was fixed to the sill and broke away when it caught the cable. However it was still attched to the load which would then be extracted from the aircraft.
When the arrestor system was replaced by a system of extractor parachutes ULLA (as the UK called it, LAPES by everyone else) was born, havng the advantage of not needing the arrestor cables to be set up first.

Airdrop
As has been reported, ULLA/LAPES was used by the Beverley although I don't think it was ever used operationally. Please somone correct me if I am wrong. I have used it in the USA from C-130s in 1964 as well as the PLADS system and it was used in Vietnam. We did quite a few ULLA trials on JATE at Abingdon in the early 70s with the C-130K but I don't think it ever caught on in the RAF. I am not privvy to the latest black arts as practised by the SF world anymore, but it seems that the USAF system of GPS controlled high level parachute drop has some merit. If I am straying into forbidden territory, please shut me up but it seems the RAF have not moved very much in the last 50 years. Apologies for the thread creep.

Apologies for the slight thread creep but I did some of the ULLA trials with the C130K and we continued the Beverley practice of using extractor parachutes (modified Vulcan brake 'chutes if my fading memory is correct ). Each platform could weigh a max of 14000 lbs and as we used to do triple ULLA, a handy load could be delivered with just on pass.

Years ago, I used to fly with an ex Beverly pilot. During the 60's, he'd been first officer on a Beverly doing the Wolverhampton airshow. He said they had a very serious incident, due to him preparing the props for reverse on landing, as briefed. Apparently, the captain changed his mind at the last moment and decided to do a touch and go instead. This required the F/O to deselect a load of switches in quick time before it was safe to apply power. They came very close to running out of runway.

Years later, I was talking to someone who'd been a member of The Wolverhampton Aeroclub. He told me all about how he'd watched a Beverly nearly crash at the airshow. Both stories tied up beautifully!

I was invited by a chum on a Beverley afternoon sortie out of Nairobi, for a low level cruise around the game parks, back in the 60's. All went well and I was enjoying the views from the throne like jump seat, when it was decided to carry out a low level attack on a herd of eliphants.After the first pass a lone bull remained trumpeting at the 'intruder'. On the third pass with the bull still rooted in position and waving its trunk, the flight engineer surmised aloud that clearly the bull was anticipating mating!

The resulting explosion of mirth may well have been our last, however, fortunately my chum remembered to pull out of the 'attack'!

Ah, the Beverley (just discovered this thread).

I was on 390MU, Seletar from1966 to 1968. Seletar was also home to 34 Sqn Beverleys. When the Belvederes of 66 Sqn Kuching detachment needed extra help to catch up on modifications I was despatched to Kuching on a Beverley. Must say I found the flight (up in the boom) to be very peaceful and relaxing. The aircrew were reputed to navigate outbound by dead-reckoning and then return by following the oil slick...........

Sad to say that later in my tour I was a member of the working party sent across Seletar airfield to strip the Bevs of anything useful then chop/hack/saw the twin tailplane off, prior to local scrap merchants descending mob-handed to finish the job. Had I been tasked with carrying out a similar task on the Whistling Tits, I would have done it with much greater gusto!

ZeBedie
Ah yes, the dreaded prop interruptor switches!!:mad:
Yet another retrofit to sort out problems with the prop de-icing IIRC. Unfortunately they required reselection/deselection when using reverse thrust and if you got it wrong you were stuck in reverse. Needless to say, such a potential 'Murphy' didn't take long to surface - one of the early 30 Sqn aircraft was being parked in a dispersal, at Dishforth, using reverse thrust but with the switches deselected - dispersal sloped down in the direction of travel.... attempts to get out of reverse failed and subsequent brake application produced the inevitable rotation onto the tail:ooh:
Happy days:ok:

Beverley in New Zealand
 

Extracts from a letter written by Group Captain F.C. Griffiths Blackburn Beverley, XM104 RAF Transport Command.
" ......... on our way to Rotorua [in the vicinity of Ohakune] we saw a plume of white smoke in a deep valley. As we got nearer it manifested itself as a cropdusting [topdressing] operation. I took the power off and we watched from about two miles away as he dropped his load, landed on the small farm strip and picked up another load and took off. It was the first time I'd seen cropdusting and it was a very slick operation, maybe only four minutes between take-off's.
We'd been briefed to fly low and show the Beverley to the inhabitants so here was an opportunty!
I don't think either the pilot of the cropduster or the loading party on the ground had any idea we were standing off at reduced power and I judged it nicely. The Beverley is a superb aircraft though large for landing in small places at low speed. As the cropduster took off we came in just behind him to the utter astonishment of the party on the ground. I don't suppose four engined aircraft often came into their farm strip. I touched our wheels and off we went to Rotorua.
I'm not exactly sure where this place was as we were a bit lost at the time but at least there must be someone who will remember the incident....."

I16

I recall a senior USAF guy who said he had flown the Beverley; possibly an exchange tour. He described it thus:
'Great ship. Take anything nowhere.'

On the subject of hooks and such, I have a vague recollection of seeing a Beverley flying with what can only be desribed as a bloody great net hanging out the back. Possibly South cerney. Any thoughts?

Anybody, Ex Bevs, Akrotiri '61-62 remember this incident ?
The best I can recall.

……..the Beverley’s were amazing aircraft. From our school playground at Akrotiri we could watch their ops. They would load up with parachutists and stagger up to a suitable height and deposit these unfortunate soles on the salt flats just to the north of Akrotiri. Sometimes they would disgorge a Land Rover or Light Tank supported by several parachutes.

One morning we watched from the playground as a Beverley turned towards the DZ, its rear doors wide open. At the appropriate moment a Land Rover was dispatched out of the rear of the lumbering giant. It fell away and we all waited for the tell tail sign of the trail chute to appear. We waited and waited. One parachute opened but the other three just candled. The receiving ground crew were on the ball. As we watched for the other three parachutes to open they were already running.

The Land Rover hurtled into the ground at a huge rate of knots and disappeared in a cloud of sand and mud and metal. We kids shouted and cheered. Fantastic stuff, the likes of which we had never seen before. This was the only talking point in the playground for weeks to come.
Later that day, my father took me to the scene. The Land Rover was about two feet tall…………


Clint.

Mr Grubby - my first experience of heavy drops was out of Abingdon, detached from Dishforth. We were cleared to drop by the Range Controller and duly made the run. Quite quickly after release we got the following R/T call ... " Please inform the Captain that the load took three seconds to leave the aircraft and five seconds to hit the ground". With no previous experience of the drop sequence, the significance didn't register and the message was duly passed. The response was "WTF :mad: " and a VERY rapid (in Bev terms) whip around the circuit and a low level recce to view a distinctly flat Land Rover on its rather secondhand pallet.
Dropping things from the Bev was always interesting. On the initial trials of para drops from the boom in the combined para/heavy drop role, the dummies were released through the floor hatch but disappeared from view. Much puzzlement, until they were discovered lying in the freight bay, having been swept there by the reversed airflow caused by the doors being removed. Yet another retrofit, this time the "elephant's ears", thereafter used for mixed drop sorties.
Re. the senior 'septic' comment = take anything for SHORT DISTANCES - correct - that's what they were designed for and what they did supremely well. Problem was, as ever, Auntie Betty's Flying Club rarely used it in its intended role - plus ca change:mad:

Beverley Photos
 

Hi

gooselection of Beverley shots at http://www.abpic.co.uk/ just enter 'Beverley' in the keyword search.

ATM

Who has the cine film of XB259?
 

As a spotty teenager I used to hang around Paull airfield in the mid 70's hoping to save up the astronomical sum of 400 pounds for a PPL...
I was lucky enough to bum a lift in an Aztec (G-B*HJ) around 5pm on 30th Mar 1974 to meet the Beverley coming to become our new clubhouse! I remember that somone in the plane was filming, just before the pilot said "I won't be able to get much closer than this before we hit the......" and then everything was upside down for a while.
I couldn't believe it was going to get into our grass strip. Almost as much fun as someone's pal doing a touch and go in a Vulcan - rumour has it he lost his job for that one.
Paul(l)

The good old four fan cantilever council house. moved a lot of stuff with 34 Sqn at Seletar in '62. Good old days. At least, before the staish shut down the aircrew mess.

bob C

Seeing stuff being dropped from Beverleys at Akrotiri onto the salt flats is one of my earliest memories.

Someone asked about Sharjah. The old airfield at Sharjah doesn't exist now. It's now covered by buildings and a motorway junction so it can't bee seen on Google earth. The new Sharjah airport is a few miles away from the old one.

Beverlys
 

Hi Milt

It was R.C.A.F. Station Namao, not Base. I was there from February 1961 to May 1963.

R.H. ‘Russ’ Janzen was a test pilot with the R.C.A.F.’s Central Experimental & Proving Establishment Climatic (evolved from C.E.P.E.’s Winter Experimental Establsihment). He flew the Beverly at Namao and also at R.C.A.F. Unit Fort Churchill, Manitoba. Flight Lieutenant Karl Weinstein was the R.C.A.F. ‘s Beverly project engineer.

The Beverly was tested by C.E.P.E. at Churchill during the winters of the 1956 and 1957. Once the proper mods were in place, the aircraft could conduct ops down to a temperature of – 40 degrees.

During one flight to Uranium City, Saskatchewan, the crew had to depart with ten inches of snow on the ground. No problem! Al they did was taxi the aircraft up and down the runway until they rolled three tracks in the snow and then off they went.

I heard that the Beverly’s interior noise level exceed that of the Canadair North Star. Now that is really loud.

The F-89 Scorpions were from the USAF’s 59th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. They belonged to the 64th Air Division.

I have a black and white photo of the Beverly at Namao if you are interested.

Contact me at: ccharlandATcogecodotca

Cheers…Chris

XB261
 

I have fond memories of clambering over XB261 when she was at Southend Historic Aircraft Museum.
She was ex A&AEE & probably had a harder life at the hands of the little oiks who used to spend many an hour pretending to be pilots in her. Seems amazing now that we had full access to the top deck, via the ladder. What would H&S say now?
When she finally met her end, one of her engines was, after it's removal with the aid of an oxy-acetelene torch & gravity, bought by a mechanic friend of mine as a 'rebuild to display condition, with cut-aways to show the internal workings'. When I asked him, why on earth he was taking on this slightly in-depth process, his reply was "Well, when you rebuild drag-racing engines for a living, you need a bit of a challenge, now & then to keep you interested"
RIP 261

Bev
 

As a young and keen TP at AAEE in August`70 I got the opportunity to fly as a co-pilot in XB261 on an ULLA drop on the `Plain. The captain was a Canadian exchange pilot `Jake` Wormworth and as I was always trying to cadge trips when not testing helos, I was commandered to work the `engine-room` of the `Bev`. Can`t remember the exact details, but it was one of the last and largest loads dropped/pulled out , probably about 50k lbs,as a bit of one-upmanship to the Herc, which was also on trial,probably why there were no other co-pilots around . It was necessary to drop at about 15-20 foot sill height ,about 8-10 ft wheel height, and keep that height as the load was released,and pulled out the back,transient CofG change causing a lot of stick pushing/pulling and a lot of `engine-room` telegraphing as well. After a `dummy` run to co-ordinate ourselves, it all went well, and I managed to fly the `block-of-flats from a toilet window` back to B-D.... Sadly the a/c later went to Fboro, and later ,where-ever. Syc

From Farnborough it went first to Luton for Court Line/Autair to use as an engine ferry for the RB211's on their TriStar fleet; then Court line promptly went bust! So it was ferried to Paull airfield near Hull by a Farnborough crew to become the clubhouse.

I think you are getting your Beverleys mixed up. I had it in my mind that the Southend Beverley XB261 was broken up there.

The one that went to Paull (and is the only survivor) was XB259.

JW411, back in Jan u wrote:
I will have you know that I am the proud possessor of the Firq - Saiq tie (navy blue with the Arabic number 4 in yellow circle emblazoned upon a palm tree)!
Got the same tie and only talking about it t'other day. Too slim for modern wear, but a great design. What a/c did you operate into Firq-Saiq x 4?

The HS 660 Argosy C.Mk.1.

4PON4PIN
Your "handle" suggests you were on Twin Pioneers at some time. I flew over two hundered Firq - Saiq - Firq and Saiq - Nizwa - Saiq sorties in the Twin Pin during my tour on 152 sqn in 1959/61. There was no tie in those days and the original 600m strip could be very demanding after midday due to the heat and turbulence on the approach.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...nPinLocals.jpg
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...Saiqrunway.jpg

Beverlys
 

G'day

Here's some supplemental gen for you.

Beverley C. Mk. 1 - XB260

Beverley C. Mk. 1 - XB262 ‘Mayflower III’ also known as ‘The Ark’. A fire started in a covered engine stand surroundingNo. 4 engine on the 19th of February 1956 at R.C.A.F. Station Namao, Alberta. The fire damaged the engine and the propeller. The aircraft was subsequently repaired.

Cheers...Chris

Moose 47

Thanks for the gen on Namao and Beverley XB262. Wondering now why I didn't hear about the fire around No 4 engine before launching from Namao for birthplace Brough.

Are you able to post the Photo of 262 at Namao?

Incidently it was always a fascinating transition as a TP to mix flight tests on the Beverley with the three V bombers and the Comet 2C thrown in for good measure. Many of my flights in the Beverley were to clear the operation of the autopilot with some exciting rides as one determined the effects of full rate runaways.

Cannot recall the g limits for the Beverley nor its VNE. Can someone?

Have only just discovered this thread. When I was posted (as an SAC Telegraphist) to RAF Sharjah in 1963 I travelled from Bahrain to Sharjah in a Beverley and on tourex (12 months later) went back to Bahrain in a Beverley. As a passenger the hardest bit was clambering up the ladder inside the freight deck to get onto the top deck whilst still clinging onto your RAF holdall.
--
Bruce Fletcher
Stronsay, Orkney

I apologise if someone has already said this, but I did'nt spot it in a quick scan of the thread.....

I'm wondering if the photos that kicked it off were not taken at Beihan, in what was the Aden Protectorate?

I was at Ataq for about 6 months with some artillery, and recall visiting Beihan where the 2004th Airfield Construction Squadron (I may have got the title wrong) was building a strip. They had been there for about 2 years, I was told, crushing rock, laying it, grading it, compacting it, and so on. The Flight Lt in charge was, to put it mildly, a bit doolally. Came the day it was finished, and to celebrate a party of bigwigs came up from Aden in an Army Beaver, followed sedately by a Beverley to inaugurate the new strip. The Beaver landed, the Bev did a magisterial circuit or two and then, watched by the bigwigs, touched down. As it did, a ripple developed from the mainwheels, as from a boat moving nicely in calm water, leaving a corrugated surface.

"Ah well" said the Senior Bigwig to the Flt Lt, "That's you here for another 2 years. Get it right next time". And they climbed back in the Beaver and left.

The Flt Lt went off and had a bottle or two, and then attacked his fellow officers (APL etc) in the mess with a khanja during that night's film show, accusing them of causing the problem. He was invalided out later. At the time, we just tied him down.

ricardian, See this thread for lots on Sharjah.

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=288546

Beverley maiden flight
 

Was it not on the first ever flight of the Beverley when, as the aircraft got airborne, the Captain [assume it must have been Blackburn's chief test pilot?] is supposed to have turned to the P2 and said "my side's airborne, how about yours ? " !!

I still think the original photographs were taken at Firq. I used to go to Beihan pretty regularly and it was never that flat.

Incidentally, I have a colour slide somewhere in the attic of the local barber's shop in Beihan. The barber's chair is the captain's seat from XH118 of 30 Sqn which crashed at Beihan on 04/02/58.

Captain Speaking, yes I've heard that, it was Harold "Timber" Woods who said it.

JW411

I'm sure you are right; Firq it is. My recollections of Beihan are 47 years old!

During the early days of Beverley flight testing at Boscombe Down I used to be continually frustrated with engine starting. It seemed impossible to home in on the correct priming for those monster engines and there was much time spent overheating the long suffering starter motors.

We didn't sort the starting problem out in my time at BD.

The other persistent problem was failures of the electrical brush housings for control of the the props.

Did these problems persist in service?

Airfield in UAE
 

I just found this renewed thread on the Beverley. As Forget and Brakedwell will recall we exchanged some chat about Sharjah and Oman (including the Saiq strip) on the thread http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=288741


Perhaps Beverley related was a request I made for information on an old airfield near the Oman/UAE border on http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=288741
quote:
I wonder if anyone can help identify an old abandoned airfield situated in the United Arab Emirates, south of Al Wagam and Al Q'aa (about 180 km south of Al Ain). It is almost exactly at the intersection of 23N and 55E, which makes it easy to find. There are two large sand runways forming a « T » that is easily visible on Google Earth. Otherwise there are just dumps of old tyres and cars, including a Landrover. Some are obviously truck size sand tyres; others look more like aviation types (rounded profile, almost treadless). No buildings, but human debris (ACs, cooking things, the odd gin bottle etc). What is the name of this airfield, and when was it in use?

Several Ppruners gave me information about the fact that it was obviously oil-related, but no-one came up with a postive indentification.

Any information? Was it used by Beverleys?

I recall that the Beverley was always referred to as 'an aluminium, petrol cooled, oil burning overcast.'
Wasn't there one on display at the RAF Museum some years ago? Is it still there?