F4 Phantom
Retract......
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Hello
Just found this site by accident. Never knew it existed! This has brought back many memories of the F4. It was possibly the F4 that made me want to join the RAF, as I vividly remember watching the Simon Dee show when he went for a supersonic flight in one of the first Tooms to be delivered to the UK and I was awestruck. The thing looked like it shouldn't have flown at all. I arrived at 228OCU in '74 as an Nav Inst mech after training. The aircrew I remember are Middy Hopper (my mate married his daughter Liz), Nick Ireland, Bob Prest, Arthur Vine (I was strapping Arthur in once and he made the wry comment after watching some Luftwaffe Tooms taxy in that he'd been fighting the buggers 30 years earlier, I think he flew Tempests) and Mike Shaw who was OC at the time and I remember him as a very nice bloke.
The chief in charge of my line shift was the amazing Jock Hickey. Jock was one of the great characters of the RAF, they seemed to die out towards the end of my service. If I remember correctly he was banned from the mess for not wearing a tie in the bar. When his ban ran out he turned up wearing a tie and nothing else. Banned again. We used to chain the back mudgard of his bike to the bike rack so that we could see him come crashing off it after he'd gone 5 yards. Sadly I believe Jock died a few years ago.
Other characters I remember vaguely were Master Pilot Egan, who was taken up for a jolly in a twin sticker before he retired and apparently flew it like an expert. Which I suppose he was. There was an aircrew guy with a beard on 41 which I always thought odd, how did his mask fit? And another aircrew guy with an eye patch, which really fills you with confidence.
Also at the time Bob Prest was flying on the OCU, the hit 'Oh, We're Going to Jamaica' via coconut airways was doing the rounds, which of course led to him being dubbed Coconut Airways One by us. I don't think he appreciated it. We all thought that Bob had seen to many Bond movies as he used to pose around in a black TR6 and was never without his designer shades.
There were also a couple of US Marine exchange navs there at the time who were really great guys. One of them had been filmed doing a wheels up in an F4 somewhere in the states. The other guy had flown his twin sticker after the stude pilot had flaked out after pulling some ridiculous amount of 'G'. That was one bent aircraft when it came back. I believe one of the characteristics of the Toom was that it pitched up as it came back through Mach 1 and he was already heaving some as it happened.
CO's I remember were a guy called Allison, I think he was replaced by a guy called Clark who was a really nice bloke. I also remember one of the Wg Cdrs there was called Danny Lavender, maybe OC29? We said hello at some beer call or other and finished up spending the rest of the night talking about flying (I fly gliders and George Lee the then World Glider champ was a Toom pilot) Top bloke.
The F4 was a cogs and knobs kite, it was pre IC electronics which made it interesting to work on. You could actually figure out faults without plugging the bloody thing into a computer. I used to alternate between working out on the line where my main raison d'etre was to run up and align the INAS before the crew arrived, and working in the shed which was more interesting technically but not as much of an adrenaline rush as standing next to 2 speys when they are winding up and you are 'Man 1'. Some of the boxes were a pain to get to, I remember the rear bang seat had to come out if you wanted to change the Weapons Computer, and a lot of time was spent upside down inside the rear cockpit which was the only way to get at some of the stuff with any degree of success. The rate gyro's needed an enormous panel taking off inside the wheel well which was a real pain of a job. Another bad one was harmonising the ODU for gun shoots. There was a device called the BIL (Boresight something or other) which had to be fitted into the nose gear compartment. There were 2 bolts holding it place, the bottom bolt was easy to fix but the top one needed the fingers of a child to squirm through the pipes to get your hands on it. Sometimes the thread would just start immediately, other times you would be there for 15 minutes without any luck, grinding the skin off your hands. As a result, most alignments were done without the top bolt in place, so some of the ex pole stirrers here may now have a new excuse for not hitting the banner..........oddly enough, in later years I was at 30 MU, Sealand and my job was to refurbish and repair ODU's, including the little joke thing that was fitted to Navy Tooms, the OSA. You would have been better off with a chinagraph cross on the windscreen. So I suppose as I was the only guy in the RAF doing that job that most of the jocks here have at some time or other looked through one of my lovingly rebuilt masterpieces...!
Prangs I remember were the CO being killed just before I arrived. Hit a crop sprayer. Several jets came down during my time there but as I remember, all the crews banged out safely. One that springs to mind is a jet that lost it's outer wing, maybe in a mid air. One that I saw was XV415 that crashed after a roller. I was strapping somebody in and I glanced up as it lifted off, there was obviously something wrong as it was leaving a trail of crap behind it, then two parachutes appeared. I remember thinking that they must be dropping flares, you just never expect to see a plane crash. It slowly rolled and crashed into the Witham round about Tatty Bridge. Apparently bits of it came to rest in an old dear's garden and when the fire crews got there they realised she was as deaf as a post. 'An aircraft has just set your garden on fire' shouts head fire person into her ear, 'Oh, I thought I could hear the dog barking' says old lady.
I was there in '76 when the Queen came to visit, can't remember why now but it was that blazing hot summer and her plane was late. Guys were flaking out all over the parade ground because no one had the wit to stand everyone at the easy and relax for a while. As I remember a jock called Dave Roome was the officer who was standing right in front of me on the parade ground. He was trying to say to us out of the corner of his mouth 'Sway on your balls lads, keep the circulation going'. I whispered back 'Well if you're going to flake out sir, fall forwards not backwards because your scabbard is pointing directly at my balls.' Some of the guys were making soft farmyard sounds to try and set Dave's shoulders shaking but he stood stalwartly, defender of the realm.
Anyway, some great memories on here, glad to see the plumbers are still shirty! (would that be Graham Marriot perchance?....) It's about 5 years since I last poled a glider around, as something called Golf came into my life. Also my son lives in Oz now and the yearly trek out there cattle class is enough flying for anybody. But I would like to leave you with a little tale of synchronicity...Since leaving the mob some years ago I became a professional musician, yes you say, a natural progression from aircraft engineer, but I digress. I became aware of a custom guitar maker called Neil Morgan who makes the most superb instruments. I finished up getting to know Neil and have done the Wembley Guitar show with him. He's not a musician by trade, he's a senior 747 captain. Which I thought closed some kind of circle. Strange uh?
Right, now I must search out the Lightning and Harrier threads.
The chief in charge of my line shift was the amazing Jock Hickey. Jock was one of the great characters of the RAF, they seemed to die out towards the end of my service. If I remember correctly he was banned from the mess for not wearing a tie in the bar. When his ban ran out he turned up wearing a tie and nothing else. Banned again. We used to chain the back mudgard of his bike to the bike rack so that we could see him come crashing off it after he'd gone 5 yards. Sadly I believe Jock died a few years ago.
Other characters I remember vaguely were Master Pilot Egan, who was taken up for a jolly in a twin sticker before he retired and apparently flew it like an expert. Which I suppose he was. There was an aircrew guy with a beard on 41 which I always thought odd, how did his mask fit? And another aircrew guy with an eye patch, which really fills you with confidence.
Also at the time Bob Prest was flying on the OCU, the hit 'Oh, We're Going to Jamaica' via coconut airways was doing the rounds, which of course led to him being dubbed Coconut Airways One by us. I don't think he appreciated it. We all thought that Bob had seen to many Bond movies as he used to pose around in a black TR6 and was never without his designer shades.
There were also a couple of US Marine exchange navs there at the time who were really great guys. One of them had been filmed doing a wheels up in an F4 somewhere in the states. The other guy had flown his twin sticker after the stude pilot had flaked out after pulling some ridiculous amount of 'G'. That was one bent aircraft when it came back. I believe one of the characteristics of the Toom was that it pitched up as it came back through Mach 1 and he was already heaving some as it happened.
CO's I remember were a guy called Allison, I think he was replaced by a guy called Clark who was a really nice bloke. I also remember one of the Wg Cdrs there was called Danny Lavender, maybe OC29? We said hello at some beer call or other and finished up spending the rest of the night talking about flying (I fly gliders and George Lee the then World Glider champ was a Toom pilot) Top bloke.
The F4 was a cogs and knobs kite, it was pre IC electronics which made it interesting to work on. You could actually figure out faults without plugging the bloody thing into a computer. I used to alternate between working out on the line where my main raison d'etre was to run up and align the INAS before the crew arrived, and working in the shed which was more interesting technically but not as much of an adrenaline rush as standing next to 2 speys when they are winding up and you are 'Man 1'. Some of the boxes were a pain to get to, I remember the rear bang seat had to come out if you wanted to change the Weapons Computer, and a lot of time was spent upside down inside the rear cockpit which was the only way to get at some of the stuff with any degree of success. The rate gyro's needed an enormous panel taking off inside the wheel well which was a real pain of a job. Another bad one was harmonising the ODU for gun shoots. There was a device called the BIL (Boresight something or other) which had to be fitted into the nose gear compartment. There were 2 bolts holding it place, the bottom bolt was easy to fix but the top one needed the fingers of a child to squirm through the pipes to get your hands on it. Sometimes the thread would just start immediately, other times you would be there for 15 minutes without any luck, grinding the skin off your hands. As a result, most alignments were done without the top bolt in place, so some of the ex pole stirrers here may now have a new excuse for not hitting the banner..........oddly enough, in later years I was at 30 MU, Sealand and my job was to refurbish and repair ODU's, including the little joke thing that was fitted to Navy Tooms, the OSA. You would have been better off with a chinagraph cross on the windscreen. So I suppose as I was the only guy in the RAF doing that job that most of the jocks here have at some time or other looked through one of my lovingly rebuilt masterpieces...!
Prangs I remember were the CO being killed just before I arrived. Hit a crop sprayer. Several jets came down during my time there but as I remember, all the crews banged out safely. One that springs to mind is a jet that lost it's outer wing, maybe in a mid air. One that I saw was XV415 that crashed after a roller. I was strapping somebody in and I glanced up as it lifted off, there was obviously something wrong as it was leaving a trail of crap behind it, then two parachutes appeared. I remember thinking that they must be dropping flares, you just never expect to see a plane crash. It slowly rolled and crashed into the Witham round about Tatty Bridge. Apparently bits of it came to rest in an old dear's garden and when the fire crews got there they realised she was as deaf as a post. 'An aircraft has just set your garden on fire' shouts head fire person into her ear, 'Oh, I thought I could hear the dog barking' says old lady.
I was there in '76 when the Queen came to visit, can't remember why now but it was that blazing hot summer and her plane was late. Guys were flaking out all over the parade ground because no one had the wit to stand everyone at the easy and relax for a while. As I remember a jock called Dave Roome was the officer who was standing right in front of me on the parade ground. He was trying to say to us out of the corner of his mouth 'Sway on your balls lads, keep the circulation going'. I whispered back 'Well if you're going to flake out sir, fall forwards not backwards because your scabbard is pointing directly at my balls.' Some of the guys were making soft farmyard sounds to try and set Dave's shoulders shaking but he stood stalwartly, defender of the realm.
Anyway, some great memories on here, glad to see the plumbers are still shirty! (would that be Graham Marriot perchance?....) It's about 5 years since I last poled a glider around, as something called Golf came into my life. Also my son lives in Oz now and the yearly trek out there cattle class is enough flying for anybody. But I would like to leave you with a little tale of synchronicity...Since leaving the mob some years ago I became a professional musician, yes you say, a natural progression from aircraft engineer, but I digress. I became aware of a custom guitar maker called Neil Morgan who makes the most superb instruments. I finished up getting to know Neil and have done the Wembley Guitar show with him. He's not a musician by trade, he's a senior 747 captain. Which I thought closed some kind of circle. Strange uh?
Right, now I must search out the Lightning and Harrier threads.
Last edited by thing; 10th Sep 2006 at 17:29.
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Sebastopol
Someone mentioned the Sebastopol earlier on. It closed a few years ago but has now reopened if anyone's interested, they do an excellent steak and ale pie. I remember the Seb from the early 70's when Adrian and Pixie ran it. Adrian was an ex Sqdn Ldr and had the largest array of weapons I've ever seen hung up inside the pub. Every type of gun you could think of with it's attendant ammunition. Wouldn't do now of course but I have to keep reminding myself that this was 30 odd years ago.
Also does anyone remember Paddy Doran who ran the (White Hart?) at the end of the camp road? He was ex WO of the airmen's mess and had two gorgeous daughters one of whom I had the pleasure of escorting out at one time. What a dream that was, having a girlfriend who's dad owned a pub within staggering distance of your pit. The other pub I frequented was the Windmill, mainly because of the splendid landlady and the Black Horse in Tatt village, it being a motorbyke sort of place, and I was heavily into my bikes at the time. I can still smell the Autumn air riding back from the pub which started to tinge with burnt Avtur as you turned off the main road to the camp. Great days to be 18, own a fast bike, be solvent and have the whole world at your feet. Is it just me or was life more exciting back then?
Also does anyone remember Paddy Doran who ran the (White Hart?) at the end of the camp road? He was ex WO of the airmen's mess and had two gorgeous daughters one of whom I had the pleasure of escorting out at one time. What a dream that was, having a girlfriend who's dad owned a pub within staggering distance of your pit. The other pub I frequented was the Windmill, mainly because of the splendid landlady and the Black Horse in Tatt village, it being a motorbyke sort of place, and I was heavily into my bikes at the time. I can still smell the Autumn air riding back from the pub which started to tinge with burnt Avtur as you turned off the main road to the camp. Great days to be 18, own a fast bike, be solvent and have the whole world at your feet. Is it just me or was life more exciting back then?
Thing,
I enjoyed reading your piece. I must have been there at the same time, as student pond life, as I fondly remember all the names you mention.
I can't say I enjoyed 228 OCU as a stude, partly because it was very hard work and it took me a little while to get up to speed with the jet, but when I went back a few years later on the QWI staff I had a great time. I certainly don't miss all the cold war exercises from the time - running around in gas masks and the hooter going off at 2am every other week. However, I did enjoy the mighty F4. In it's day it was THE jet.
Stay well.
I enjoyed reading your piece. I must have been there at the same time, as student pond life, as I fondly remember all the names you mention.
I can't say I enjoyed 228 OCU as a stude, partly because it was very hard work and it took me a little while to get up to speed with the jet, but when I went back a few years later on the QWI staff I had a great time. I certainly don't miss all the cold war exercises from the time - running around in gas masks and the hooter going off at 2am every other week. However, I did enjoy the mighty F4. In it's day it was THE jet.
Stay well.
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Fascinating post there Thing - this is a great thread for someone like me who has always loved the aircraft but saw it from the other side of the fence as it were.
When I was a kid Robert Prest's fantastic book was rarely in the library near my home and it was usually yours truly who was reading it over and over. I'm interested to know what the background to the book was, if anyone can shed any light? Did you guys all know that he was going to be publishing the book? Does anyone have a photo of the man himself?
It's a wonderful read and still one of the best books about flying full-stop I believe.............damn, I might just have to read it again now!
Thanks
Gareth
When I was a kid Robert Prest's fantastic book was rarely in the library near my home and it was usually yours truly who was reading it over and over. I'm interested to know what the background to the book was, if anyone can shed any light? Did you guys all know that he was going to be publishing the book? Does anyone have a photo of the man himself?
It's a wonderful read and still one of the best books about flying full-stop I believe.............damn, I might just have to read it again now!
Thanks
Gareth
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Mark Hanna
Some of the guys mentioned the late Mark Hanna in their responses.
I was lucky enough to go to G Del Colle with 56 Sqn on their exchange with the Italian F104s. My SATCO (Big Fat Moff) thought that as I spoke 'some' Italian, I could be of help to the sqn! Ali McKay (top guy), who was then OC 56 Sqn, thought that was a good idea, so off I went. Ended up being the ops clerk/assistant for the det and tried to help out where I could on the language front. The aircrew could not have been more helpful or tolerant, as I stumbled about trying to do the best I could. Anyway, I digress.
The last day of the det dawned and the F4s taxied out to depart back to the Wattisham. All proceeded to depart in fairly sporty fashion as was/is the norm with these things. One in particular sticks in my mind. The F4, piloted by Mark, came snorting across the pan, burners in, at v low level. So low in fact, that most of the jet was obscured from our view by the tails of the parked F104s in front of us! Those of you who are faimliar with the F104 will know just how small the tail is. Absolutely awesome, but had some the Italians jumping up and down in a mixture of joy and sheer fright!
Back at Wattisham, we were regularly treated to Mark flying the F4 with style. When an F4 departed RWY05 and at fairly low altitude commenced a perfect slow roll, it could only have been one pilot. The fact that he did it in an F4 in Delta fit made it all the more impressive!
Apologies for the slight thread creep here. I'm merely an air trafficker and rarely venture in to talk about the abilities or otherwise of pilots. But for me personally, Mark and his father Ray, were 2 of the finest pilots I have ever seen. Artists at work. RIP.
WJMcP
I was lucky enough to go to G Del Colle with 56 Sqn on their exchange with the Italian F104s. My SATCO (Big Fat Moff) thought that as I spoke 'some' Italian, I could be of help to the sqn! Ali McKay (top guy), who was then OC 56 Sqn, thought that was a good idea, so off I went. Ended up being the ops clerk/assistant for the det and tried to help out where I could on the language front. The aircrew could not have been more helpful or tolerant, as I stumbled about trying to do the best I could. Anyway, I digress.
The last day of the det dawned and the F4s taxied out to depart back to the Wattisham. All proceeded to depart in fairly sporty fashion as was/is the norm with these things. One in particular sticks in my mind. The F4, piloted by Mark, came snorting across the pan, burners in, at v low level. So low in fact, that most of the jet was obscured from our view by the tails of the parked F104s in front of us! Those of you who are faimliar with the F104 will know just how small the tail is. Absolutely awesome, but had some the Italians jumping up and down in a mixture of joy and sheer fright!
Back at Wattisham, we were regularly treated to Mark flying the F4 with style. When an F4 departed RWY05 and at fairly low altitude commenced a perfect slow roll, it could only have been one pilot. The fact that he did it in an F4 in Delta fit made it all the more impressive!
Apologies for the slight thread creep here. I'm merely an air trafficker and rarely venture in to talk about the abilities or otherwise of pilots. But for me personally, Mark and his father Ray, were 2 of the finest pilots I have ever seen. Artists at work. RIP.
WJMcP
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Hi
MAXBURNER
It certainly was a beast, I was never lucky enough to fly in one but some of my mate's had jollies. Apparently it wouldn't go supersonic in level flight with a SUU-23 fitted, did you have to go into a shallow dive? I remember stude aircrew getting chopped, one day they are there, the next they're not. Mind you, some of them were bloody hopeless. There was one guy I remember who couldn't even taxi the thing. Then there was the hero who decided max mil was the way to get the beast rolling on the pan. I could go on but I don't know who's reading.........
GARETH
Bob Prest was the son of a Nigerian diplomat I believe, I read the book when it first came out. It is well written I must admit, but as a non operator, I couldn't vouch for the accuracy of it. More than anything I think it captures that period quite well. I don't know what official reaction to it was, don't forget I was a lowly erk and not privy to those sort of things! If you weren't in the RAF then you have to understand that it was very much an insular job, in that we didn't really know what the aircrew got up to, and I suspect they didn't know what we got up to. Not for any other reason than it's pretty intense being a fighter jock, it's also pretty intense fixing them, the Toom shed was nearly always a 24 hour operation, the radar guys in particular working very long hours. You were too knackered for any sort of interaction at the end of the day, although there were always plenty of beer calls where you could get to hear a few flying stories.
WEE JOCK
Talking about 104's, I was in Decci on Harriers when the 104's were there and there was a tale, whether apocryphal or not I don't know, of the Italian sentry (God those buggers were poorly paid, they used to hang around us for beers in the bar) who was bored early one morning guarding a flightline of 104's and took a swing on the pitot tube of one. Of course he bent it, and Italian logic being what it is, he decided that if he bent all of the other pitot probes then no one would notice.......
It certainly was a beast, I was never lucky enough to fly in one but some of my mate's had jollies. Apparently it wouldn't go supersonic in level flight with a SUU-23 fitted, did you have to go into a shallow dive? I remember stude aircrew getting chopped, one day they are there, the next they're not. Mind you, some of them were bloody hopeless. There was one guy I remember who couldn't even taxi the thing. Then there was the hero who decided max mil was the way to get the beast rolling on the pan. I could go on but I don't know who's reading.........
GARETH
Bob Prest was the son of a Nigerian diplomat I believe, I read the book when it first came out. It is well written I must admit, but as a non operator, I couldn't vouch for the accuracy of it. More than anything I think it captures that period quite well. I don't know what official reaction to it was, don't forget I was a lowly erk and not privy to those sort of things! If you weren't in the RAF then you have to understand that it was very much an insular job, in that we didn't really know what the aircrew got up to, and I suspect they didn't know what we got up to. Not for any other reason than it's pretty intense being a fighter jock, it's also pretty intense fixing them, the Toom shed was nearly always a 24 hour operation, the radar guys in particular working very long hours. You were too knackered for any sort of interaction at the end of the day, although there were always plenty of beer calls where you could get to hear a few flying stories.
WEE JOCK
Talking about 104's, I was in Decci on Harriers when the 104's were there and there was a tale, whether apocryphal or not I don't know, of the Italian sentry (God those buggers were poorly paid, they used to hang around us for beers in the bar) who was bored early one morning guarding a flightline of 104's and took a swing on the pitot tube of one. Of course he bent it, and Italian logic being what it is, he decided that if he bent all of the other pitot probes then no one would notice.......
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GARETH
Bob Prest was the son of a Nigerian diplomat I believe, I read the book when it first came out. It is well written I must admit, but as a non operator, I couldn't vouch for the accuracy of it. More than anything I think it captures that period quite well. I don't know what official reaction to it was, don't forget I was a lowly erk and not privy to those sort of things! If you weren't in the RAF then you have to understand that it was very much an insular job, in that we didn't really know what the aircrew got up to, and I suspect they didn't know what we got up to. Not for any other reason than it's pretty intense being a fighter jock, it's also pretty intense fixing them, the Toom shed was nearly always a 24 hour operation, the radar guys in particular working very long hours. You were too knackered for any sort of interaction at the end of the day, although there were always plenty of beer calls where you could get to hear a few flying stories.
Bob Prest was the son of a Nigerian diplomat I believe, I read the book when it first came out. It is well written I must admit, but as a non operator, I couldn't vouch for the accuracy of it. More than anything I think it captures that period quite well. I don't know what official reaction to it was, don't forget I was a lowly erk and not privy to those sort of things! If you weren't in the RAF then you have to understand that it was very much an insular job, in that we didn't really know what the aircrew got up to, and I suspect they didn't know what we got up to. Not for any other reason than it's pretty intense being a fighter jock, it's also pretty intense fixing them, the Toom shed was nearly always a 24 hour operation, the radar guys in particular working very long hours. You were too knackered for any sort of interaction at the end of the day, although there were always plenty of beer calls where you could get to hear a few flying stories.
Cheers
G
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thing, good stuff, and I can add a few bits.
Arthur Vine's son used to fly Shacks at the same time, and I understand that it was a tad embarrasing for him to tell people, when asked what his dad did, that his father flew fighters!
Midi Hopper (nav) had a terrific scheme for avoiding FOD in the cockpit: he tied his pencils, protractors, rubbers, etc to bits of string which he taped to his helmet a la Oz cork hat. Looked amazing but not sure how well it worked.
Bob Prest's book, fun though it was, didn't go down very well with the navs, who get about 2 mentions in all. Good pilot, though. My dad employed and then sacked his brother, who then tried to sue for wrongful dismissal and lost.
The Phantom could easily go supersonic with the gun pod on, and with lots of other things on too.
Was your SATCO's first name I**? If so, he was a really good egg and air trafficker. I have often wondered where he ended up.
The Queen and Prince Phillip were at Coningsby in '76 to review 56's standard as the Squadron was reforming. After the parade Prince Phillip went to 41 Sqn first, where he wanted to change into his second No 1 jacket, it being more comfortable than the parade one. Unfortunately his aide had left that jacket on the aircraft so, while he sprinted off to get it, Phillip was chatting happily to the crews and twanging his braces. Later, in the OM (and you had to pay for the priviledge of dining with HM) we were all gathered up in the dining room and the sliding doors to No 2 Ante Room were opened to reveal the Royal Party about to enter. As they approached the dining room, HRH spotted a medal of some sort on someone's chest and shot off at a tangent to inspect it. HM huffed and said in irritation, 'Now where has that man gone?' They were both brilliant, by the way, spending quite a bit of time chatting to us spread over 2 ante rooms.
This reminds me of Princess Margaret's visit to Bruggen the year before. (Stop me if I have posted this before but I can't be bothered to look.) After the parade and aircraft and installations inspections, we repaired to the OM for drinks and lunch. (Did you know you had to pay for the priviledge of dining with HRH - 3 times in this case to include 2 practice lunches?) So there we were with our warm G&Ts and horse's necks (without ice as that was reserved for the wheels) waiting for the Big Entrance. The chief steward was also waiting, behind the scenes with a selection of spirits in crystal glasses with plenty of ice but the mixers still in the bottles to maximise the fizz - and, of course, the obligatory Chesterfield 100s (specially ordered, min NAAFI order 5000, apparently). Anyway, the Royal Party approached the bar door at which point the mixer bottles were opened, but one exploded all over the tray. Frantic cleaning up began as the Staish - unaware of this ghastly turn of events - turned to HRH and asked if she would care for a drink whilst gently waving in the direction of where the chief steward was supposed to be standing with his tray of chilled apertitifs. Shock, horror, there was nobody there, and a deathly silence descended on the room. Fortunately one of the stewards serving us was sharp enough to spot the CO's dilemma and flew across the room with his tray of warm drinks almost vertical, slopping all over the place. So the day was sort of saved but HRH was stuck with a warm, 45 minute old G&T with no ice until the pukka version arrived some time later. We didn't dare laugh - well, you remember who the Staish was, don't you?
Arthur Vine's son used to fly Shacks at the same time, and I understand that it was a tad embarrasing for him to tell people, when asked what his dad did, that his father flew fighters!
Midi Hopper (nav) had a terrific scheme for avoiding FOD in the cockpit: he tied his pencils, protractors, rubbers, etc to bits of string which he taped to his helmet a la Oz cork hat. Looked amazing but not sure how well it worked.
Bob Prest's book, fun though it was, didn't go down very well with the navs, who get about 2 mentions in all. Good pilot, though. My dad employed and then sacked his brother, who then tried to sue for wrongful dismissal and lost.
The Phantom could easily go supersonic with the gun pod on, and with lots of other things on too.
Was your SATCO's first name I**? If so, he was a really good egg and air trafficker. I have often wondered where he ended up.
The Queen and Prince Phillip were at Coningsby in '76 to review 56's standard as the Squadron was reforming. After the parade Prince Phillip went to 41 Sqn first, where he wanted to change into his second No 1 jacket, it being more comfortable than the parade one. Unfortunately his aide had left that jacket on the aircraft so, while he sprinted off to get it, Phillip was chatting happily to the crews and twanging his braces. Later, in the OM (and you had to pay for the priviledge of dining with HM) we were all gathered up in the dining room and the sliding doors to No 2 Ante Room were opened to reveal the Royal Party about to enter. As they approached the dining room, HRH spotted a medal of some sort on someone's chest and shot off at a tangent to inspect it. HM huffed and said in irritation, 'Now where has that man gone?' They were both brilliant, by the way, spending quite a bit of time chatting to us spread over 2 ante rooms.
This reminds me of Princess Margaret's visit to Bruggen the year before. (Stop me if I have posted this before but I can't be bothered to look.) After the parade and aircraft and installations inspections, we repaired to the OM for drinks and lunch. (Did you know you had to pay for the priviledge of dining with HRH - 3 times in this case to include 2 practice lunches?) So there we were with our warm G&Ts and horse's necks (without ice as that was reserved for the wheels) waiting for the Big Entrance. The chief steward was also waiting, behind the scenes with a selection of spirits in crystal glasses with plenty of ice but the mixers still in the bottles to maximise the fizz - and, of course, the obligatory Chesterfield 100s (specially ordered, min NAAFI order 5000, apparently). Anyway, the Royal Party approached the bar door at which point the mixer bottles were opened, but one exploded all over the tray. Frantic cleaning up began as the Staish - unaware of this ghastly turn of events - turned to HRH and asked if she would care for a drink whilst gently waving in the direction of where the chief steward was supposed to be standing with his tray of chilled apertitifs. Shock, horror, there was nobody there, and a deathly silence descended on the room. Fortunately one of the stewards serving us was sharp enough to spot the CO's dilemma and flew across the room with his tray of warm drinks almost vertical, slopping all over the place. So the day was sort of saved but HRH was stuck with a warm, 45 minute old G&T with no ice until the pukka version arrived some time later. We didn't dare laugh - well, you remember who the Staish was, don't you?
Dog Tired
Ok. enuff, enuff. You are all kids.
I claim XV431 as my own (although someone else was the ultimate unlucky one).
Anyone remember when that hooligan Harrier reversed into me in 1972? The verdict of the GCM was most unfortunate.
What became of the harrier person?
Blaireau's evidence cannot be trusted, by the way, because is he knows too much...
I claim XV431 as my own (although someone else was the ultimate unlucky one).
Anyone remember when that hooligan Harrier reversed into me in 1972? The verdict of the GCM was most unfortunate.
What became of the harrier person?
Blaireau's evidence cannot be trusted, by the way, because is he knows too much...
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fantom
You have just given the game away and I now know your identity. Didn't you end up flying for Henry Ford? Somebody was asking after you on this site a couple of years back. I remember the Harrier incident well, being based at Bruggen at the time. The Harrier pilot was ..................... well, I just won't go there. Actually he was a good pilot - except when reversing!
And I have a feeling that J.. W..... claimed 431 later as his display steed. Or 432. Probably the latter. He made K.... G......'s feet bleed once when he foolishly went for a ride in the back during a practice.
Golf
Good thread, though. Would the P1154 thread been as much fun? And would the aeroplane?
You have just given the game away and I now know your identity. Didn't you end up flying for Henry Ford? Somebody was asking after you on this site a couple of years back. I remember the Harrier incident well, being based at Bruggen at the time. The Harrier pilot was ..................... well, I just won't go there. Actually he was a good pilot - except when reversing!
And I have a feeling that J.. W..... claimed 431 later as his display steed. Or 432. Probably the latter. He made K.... G......'s feet bleed once when he foolishly went for a ride in the back during a practice.
Golf
Good thread, though. Would the P1154 thread been as much fun? And would the aeroplane?
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Simon Dee
Thing "quote"
"made me want to join the RAF, as I vividly remember watching the Simon Dee show when he went for a supersonic flight in one of the first Tooms to be delivered to the UK"
Interesting that you were inspired to join the RAF
after seeing the Simon Dee show. He actually went for a flight in an RN toom out of Yeovilton. In return he invited a number of Yeovilton personnel along to see the show and I was one of them. Good show, both Lulu and Cliff Richard appeared. However the plane made the show and kept me busy for many years afterwards.
Sharmine
"made me want to join the RAF, as I vividly remember watching the Simon Dee show when he went for a supersonic flight in one of the first Tooms to be delivered to the UK"
Interesting that you were inspired to join the RAF
after seeing the Simon Dee show. He actually went for a flight in an RN toom out of Yeovilton. In return he invited a number of Yeovilton personnel along to see the show and I was one of them. Good show, both Lulu and Cliff Richard appeared. However the plane made the show and kept me busy for many years afterwards.Sharmine
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Thing "quote"
"made me want to join the RAF, as I vividly remember watching the Simon Dee show when he went for a supersonic flight in one of the first Tooms to be delivered to the UK"
Interesting that you were inspired to join the RAF after seeing the Simon Dee show. He actually went for a flight in an RN toom out of Yeovilton. In return he invited a number of Yeovilton personnel along to see the show and I was one of them. Good show, both Lulu and Cliff Richard appeared. However the plane made the show and kept me busy for many years afterwards.
Sharmine
"made me want to join the RAF, as I vividly remember watching the Simon Dee show when he went for a supersonic flight in one of the first Tooms to be delivered to the UK"
Interesting that you were inspired to join the RAF
after seeing the Simon Dee show. He actually went for a flight in an RN toom out of Yeovilton. In return he invited a number of Yeovilton personnel along to see the show and I was one of them. Good show, both Lulu and Cliff Richard appeared. However the plane made the show and kept me busy for many years afterwards.Sharmine
Anyway, thanks for the heads up, it was just a big noisy aeroplane to me at that age and at 12 years old jets = RAF and boats = navy.
Funnily enough my cuz has just moved across to the Navy from the RAF. She's an ATC type and is marrying a fishead. She was married to an RAF jock but sadly that didn't work out, so she cast her eye seaward. I didn't know you could transfer between services like that. I know you can be attached but didn't know you could do the full cross dressing thing.
ZOOM
Middy was/is a great bloke, when me and my pal were chasing after his daughters he always made us most welcome. I can still see him sitting there in his dressing gown smoking his permanently lit Dunhills. He used to go to work on this bloody ancient moped, most incongruous.
SATCO? I was a jet techy. Didn't know any ATC folk. Wouldn't have spoken to them if I did. Apart from my cuz obviously.
Last edited by thing; 12th Sep 2006 at 14:32.
Suspicion breeds confidence
F4 at MPA. 51°49'24.53"S 58°28'5.15"W Looks like they have adopted the unusual tactic of putting the gate guardian inside the main gate! That should confuse the Argies. Good looking facility by the way. Google Earth should give the Argie PIs something look at.
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Thing
Regards from another instie Phixer.
Replaced many an ODU when at LEU - pain in the a... of a job. Two people needed to lift it into the cockpit! Same thing with the big bolts on the side of the ODU as the harm fixture, either they took a thread straight away or you were there for ages with cramp in your fingers/hands. And as for the AOA indexer on the 4K's, I was that man with the spanner (11/32" ?)tied to my ovie's. Heaven help you if you dropped it behind the instrument panel. Did it once, lesson learned. Pain definitely focuses the learning experience, PC brigade are definitely missing a trick in today's educational establishments.
Would have appreciated it if more of you growbags had tied your pens and pencils to yourselves. Too many hours wasted doing loose article checks. Also, couldn't you guys just admit you couldn't hit a barn door with a SUU instead of making us harm and harm again with the banner remaining the safest thing in the sky?
Worst job I had was finding and fixing a broken wire on the CADC connector that was causing the gunsight reticle to wander off when the radar locked up on the target for range. Two days upside down in the back LH bottom corner of the rear cockpit. Fun.
Newbie's always got the piss taken by making them jump up and down on the wing to get a signal out of the roll rate gyro when doing AFCS functions - could simulate a signal by wiggling the nose for pitch and yaw channels but no way could the weight of the average JT make an impression on the MLG oleos to simulate a roll disturbance.
It was a good aircraft to work on looking back. Cursed it at the time but it had great systems to learn your trade on. AFCS, AJB-7, INAS - all good analogue sytems that you could follow signal paths through and diagnose faults without trying to read a 32 bit data word or have the machine tell you what to replace.
Enough to bring a tear to glass eye .......
Regards from another instie Phixer.
Replaced many an ODU when at LEU - pain in the a... of a job. Two people needed to lift it into the cockpit! Same thing with the big bolts on the side of the ODU as the harm fixture, either they took a thread straight away or you were there for ages with cramp in your fingers/hands. And as for the AOA indexer on the 4K's, I was that man with the spanner (11/32" ?)tied to my ovie's. Heaven help you if you dropped it behind the instrument panel. Did it once, lesson learned. Pain definitely focuses the learning experience, PC brigade are definitely missing a trick in today's educational establishments.
Would have appreciated it if more of you growbags had tied your pens and pencils to yourselves. Too many hours wasted doing loose article checks. Also, couldn't you guys just admit you couldn't hit a barn door with a SUU instead of making us harm and harm again with the banner remaining the safest thing in the sky?
Worst job I had was finding and fixing a broken wire on the CADC connector that was causing the gunsight reticle to wander off when the radar locked up on the target for range. Two days upside down in the back LH bottom corner of the rear cockpit. Fun.
Newbie's always got the piss taken by making them jump up and down on the wing to get a signal out of the roll rate gyro when doing AFCS functions - could simulate a signal by wiggling the nose for pitch and yaw channels but no way could the weight of the average JT make an impression on the MLG oleos to simulate a roll disturbance.
It was a good aircraft to work on looking back. Cursed it at the time but it had great systems to learn your trade on. AFCS, AJB-7, INAS - all good analogue sytems that you could follow signal paths through and diagnose faults without trying to read a 32 bit data word or have the machine tell you what to replace.
Enough to bring a tear to glass eye .......