SHFNI Stories!

[PTT]

Nope, I was assuming you meant the troop horn, which actually sounds like a vintage car horn. I know of at least one person who looked at his LHS in horror when he was reminded of the dual purpose of that button

[Tiger_mate]

Touch'e

[Dundiggin']

back in the olde days.........

Gentlemen...I am now about to make an admission ........ never to be repeated ... but in the days of the AAC Sioux helicopter in NI (Vne 80Kts? downhill!) ....... I remember (only once though! )...... a feeling of ... SYMP ...........SYMPAT...........SYMPATHY (there I've said it!) for the poor bastards in Siouxs setting off from Aldergrove - to somewhere out west into the teeth of THE inevitable, howling 40+kts prevailing westerly wind.
I genuinely thought that AAC pilots must have been selected for their particular resistance to scurvy!!!. Cpls being more resistant than Lts naturally of course!!

[Tiger_mate]

You must be really old!! 'Seldom' will be along in a minute to remind you that there is no place here for you after retirement.

You will be telling us stories about BEAVER next

PhamousPhotographer must be about due a photo or two...

[13,6]

Titular Error!

I am somewhat suspicious of people posting stories purporting to be about the old days sioux, beaver etc on a thread about SHFNI. I seem to remember it was called SHDNI when I was there in 1972 PP (pre puma)!

[Tiger_mate]

13,6

I am sure that AJ RIP used to tell me on frequent occasion that that was the diameter of the Bell 47 tail rotor. Why I needed to know really is one of lifes mysteries.

A timely reminder though for a toast this evening to: Absent friends. Happy New Year Ppruners

[BEagle]

You will be telling us stories about BEAVER next

Thanks to the flexibility of Teeny-Weeny Airlines, I managed to avoid flying to my 6 week holding posting at Wildenrath on the trooper from Lootnairpawt in 1975 and went by Beaver instead.

4 up, a whole load of wedding presents in the back (the whole reason for the AAC's trip...) and the trip from Valley to Wildenrath via Manston proceeded at a somewhat sedate pace. Great fun but it took AGES!

I'm not sure whether any rules were broken, but chugging along IMC at lowish levels without actually speaking to anyone did seem rather a strange way of operating.... Still, it was a Sunday and nothing much else was flying in that weather, I imagine.

Later in the 6 weeks, with the squadron's T-bird still tits-up, I had another excellent adventure with the AAC. Wildenrath - Gutersloh - Kempten - Neubiberg and back the reverse route on the following day. The task? Taking some empty barrels back to Munich from the previous year's Oktoberfest. Much more fun than hanging about with the Harrier force bona mates....

I'm told that, rehearsing for a Wildenrath Open Day, the AAC managed to drop its 'small containers' from a Beaver onto the Air Traffickers' rather gucci radio-equipped Land.Rover, flattening the cab and almost wiping out the ATCO inside. "Didn't know you hated us that much!", quipped the ATCO. "Leave us the keys, sir", said the Sgt Major - and the very next day the Land.Rover reappeared looking as good as new...

Except that it was a ringer. Same plates, same radio kit, but a few differences inside (such as twin tanks). Very definitely rules WERE broken to achieve that, but somehow they got away with it! No doubt it caused the MTO some issues though - assuming the story was actually true.

[diginagain]

Originally Posted by Dundiggin

.........but in the days of the AAC Sioux helicopter in NI.....

there was a suggestion that it might have been more productive to put the cabs onto a low-loader and drive them upwind.

[Kreuger flap]

Beagle, this thread is for stories about SHFNI not your rather tedious tales of Germany.

[PhamousPhotographer]

Sioux Memories

PhamousPhotographer must be about due a photo or two...

One, or three, for Dundiggin. A classic airframe - this one's XT811; along with the Wessex it epitomised 1970s heliops in the Province.







The location is obvious, but for whatever reason, presumably lack of hours, there was little activity that day so I didn't get any tasking shots of them and they left NI soon afterwards – I believe this was the last unit to depart. One thing that struck me was the level of maintenance and attention to detail that REME still clearly invested in what had by this time (Oct/Nov 1976) become a practically obsolete type. Immaculate. From memory there were six or eight others in the hangar in the background of the first view with one prepared for inspection and in Concours condition, and look at the other kit parked round the hls.

In case I don't get one – or two – more on before midnight, a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to you all.

[Wiretensioner]

Well said Kreuger! My thoughts exactly of someone else who thinks he's an expert on everything.

Wiretensioner

[BEagle]

Yes, as those with even the merest modicum of intelligence will undoubtedly have realised, I posted in the wrong thread. I mistook this for the 'Puma Crash Sentence' thread.

So I will merely wish you rude, grumpy old $ods a Happy New Year and leave you to your rivetting private tales of corrugated iron clad buildings, cloud covered hillsides, rain-soaked bogs and ancient, clattering devices so hideously ugly that the earth repels them.

Anyway, why dig in when you can Holiday Inn?

[Dundiggin']

Beags.......

Anything you post in whichever forum is bound to be interesting - so as far as I am concerned - you are forgiven.
Happy New Year to you and the memsahib and may you have many more of them...........happy New Years that is not too many more memsahibs!! Whatever floats yer boat mate.........
By the way Beagsy-babe......the fact that you have read this forum is strong indication of a secretly held, closet jealousy that you had in your wonderful whoopy doop flying career when you realised you did not possess the necessary natural skills to control these whirlygigs which (except for the Sioux in NI) gave all of us so much job satisfaction and so much fun. It's a bit like rugger buggers and footballers; rugger buggers are failed footballers cos they don't have the God given skillset!!
PS: I could tell some Beaver stories too but I won't in order to protect the innocent.......

[Tiger_mate]

Those Sioux photographs are a credit to Army Aviation and the techs that serviced them

I have been to that location hundreds of times and never once thought of the buildings that caused recirculation so efficiently as hangars in which aviation was once permanently based. Recirculation that added .5` pitch when lifting USL which I know having once been tasked to lifted the ATO (snooker) buggy to the other side of the tall trees to assess whether or not the briefed weight was incorrect. The ground was flat and free from obstructions the other side of the trees.

What was the purpose of the yellow band around the cockpit glazing?

[ShyTorque]

When the donk stops you're only ever going to go as far as what you see below the yellow band.

[handysnaks]

What was the purpose of the yellow band around the cockpit glazing?

It's what the army called an artificial horizon

Beags, anyone who has a good story about the Army Air Corps nicest unit is welcome to post on Rotorheads anytime!

[Davey Emcee]

ST That's the first time I've heard that,and don't believe it to be true. It was there to give a reference to the aircrafts attitude with the horizon.
Handysnaks you got ther before me.

[PTT]

Originally Posted by ShyTorque

When the donk stops you're only ever going to go as far as what you see below the yellow band.

Does that mean you could extend the auto by lowering the seat?

[Davey Emcee]

The only way to lower the seat on a Sioux was to lower the lever.

[Fareastdriver]

AAC Sioux helicopter in NI (Vne 80Kts? downhill!)

I remember being told about that after I had underslung a sickly Sioux (helicopter) back to Aldergrove from some field in county Antrim at about 120 knots. I had to slow down to that because the crewman was losing sight of it at the back of the u/s hole at 140. The information I had from the AAC was that it was fortunate that the bubble hadn't burst at that speed.
Had I had been trained on the Sioux I would have known but I was trained on Sycamores; so I didn't.