Nimrod War Stories
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Did I ever tell you about the time we went to Nordholtz for the weekend?
To understand the word futile you have to see an entire Nimrod sensor team clearing a taxiway of hard packed ice with dingy knives........
Then again you probably haven't seen the same crew's pulling ability on the dancefoor of a German nightclub with about 5 litres of Affelcorn inside them or indeed the after party in the sauna back at the hotel.
To understand the word futile you have to see an entire Nimrod sensor team clearing a taxiway of hard packed ice with dingy knives........
Then again you probably haven't seen the same crew's pulling ability on the dancefoor of a German nightclub with about 5 litres of Affelcorn inside them or indeed the after party in the sauna back at the hotel.
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It's all a bit lame so far chaps.
No one got any Peace Corps in Grootfontein. Alligator in the pool. Peed on by Rhino. Arrested for shagging on Islamic public beach. Run over by golf cart. Run over in Golf cart. Bungee in the Bahamas. WW2 VC on aldis lamp at 40 west. APU fire with full torp load. "Brace Brace" as we touched down on the Spanish road. "If I'm not back by lunch time tomorrow send the police" Jousting on Mopeds. Burning pianos. Skiing down Etna.Puking on Nosewheel. Dumping fuel on the pan in Malmo, Blue Peter presenters titsoot type stories?
No one got any Peace Corps in Grootfontein. Alligator in the pool. Peed on by Rhino. Arrested for shagging on Islamic public beach. Run over by golf cart. Run over in Golf cart. Bungee in the Bahamas. WW2 VC on aldis lamp at 40 west. APU fire with full torp load. "Brace Brace" as we touched down on the Spanish road. "If I'm not back by lunch time tomorrow send the police" Jousting on Mopeds. Burning pianos. Skiing down Etna.Puking on Nosewheel. Dumping fuel on the pan in Malmo, Blue Peter presenters titsoot type stories?
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Run over by golf cart. - Yes
Run over in Golf cart. - Yes
"Brace Brace" as we touched down on the Spanish road. - not quite. More an airbrakes out and called for reverse as we soared over the road.
Burning pianos. - Of course.
Skiing down Etna. - No but plenty of Monte Carlo rally in hire cars type stories from Catania.
Puking on Nosewheel. - No. Peeing on mainwheel of P3C on Fincastle - Yes.
Dumping fuel on the pan in Malmo, - Gib actually...lots
Blue Peter presenters titsoot type stories? - Dirtbox Sarah Greene per chance?
Run over in Golf cart. - Yes
"Brace Brace" as we touched down on the Spanish road. - not quite. More an airbrakes out and called for reverse as we soared over the road.
Burning pianos. - Of course.
Skiing down Etna. - No but plenty of Monte Carlo rally in hire cars type stories from Catania.
Puking on Nosewheel. - No. Peeing on mainwheel of P3C on Fincastle - Yes.
Dumping fuel on the pan in Malmo, - Gib actually...lots
Blue Peter presenters titsoot type stories? - Dirtbox Sarah Greene per chance?
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Flaunt it on Fincastle in Perth to Big Chris W find out who is putting those stickers up, Chris passes me a sheet to spread.
CJ decides to run down the knockers with Hire car we and our Keo saved by storm drain. Cue co-pilot of the day to take keys and hide them under a bush in the bush TB any memories?
Taff vs Al, golf cart vs Firebird gutiest move I ever saw from my balcony man. Branters in lycra should never happen.
The Dr and any ladies of entertainment.
My schoolboy german being used to order Pussyman 3 for the syndicate.
Nairobi nuff said.
The parrot in the Brunswick Atrium poor Westers.
Geordie the Nav just for the record W*nker is not a joyous British Greeting.
TB snogging Indian lady menu so we can avoid Gib filth she was still on the SQN in 06.
Happy Days
Charlie sends
CJ decides to run down the knockers with Hire car we and our Keo saved by storm drain. Cue co-pilot of the day to take keys and hide them under a bush in the bush TB any memories?
Taff vs Al, golf cart vs Firebird gutiest move I ever saw from my balcony man. Branters in lycra should never happen.
The Dr and any ladies of entertainment.
My schoolboy german being used to order Pussyman 3 for the syndicate.
Nairobi nuff said.
The parrot in the Brunswick Atrium poor Westers.
Geordie the Nav just for the record W*nker is not a joyous British Greeting.
TB snogging Indian lady menu so we can avoid Gib filth she was still on the SQN in 06.
Happy Days
Charlie sends
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No. I have no memory of which bush in the bush I put the keys under. Did anybody find them? 
On a more 'operational' note...
...taking a joint staff course flying in the Moray Firth to demonstrate the 'Mighty 'Rod's' capabilities.
Setting up for a run of 3 on a fishing boat to demonstrate the photography, one of the Fish-head senior officers leaning over the shoulder of the camera operator rather enthusiastically. After landing he asks if anybody has seen HIS camera, as he thinks he may have dropped it out the window!!
On a more 'operational' note...
...taking a joint staff course flying in the Moray Firth to demonstrate the 'Mighty 'Rod's' capabilities.
Setting up for a run of 3 on a fishing boat to demonstrate the photography, one of the Fish-head senior officers leaning over the shoulder of the camera operator rather enthusiastically. After landing he asks if anybody has seen HIS camera, as he thinks he may have dropped it out the window!!
Last edited by thunderbird7; 9th Feb 2011 at 13:38.
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TB,
It may have been a different trip, but I thought he was a green army rodney that lost his new nikon point-and-shoot which his wife had bought as a birthday present only the month before!
As I said, possibly a different trip, but age and alcohol have taken their toll on the old grey matter
It may have been a different trip, but I thought he was a green army rodney that lost his new nikon point-and-shoot which his wife had bought as a birthday present only the month before!
As I said, possibly a different trip, but age and alcohol have taken their toll on the old grey matter
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Hoppy,
I thought we all agreed to never talk about 'that lady' in Grootfontein and the red-pump ever again
However all talk about RN's liberated spangly DJ from the Mt Kenya Safari Club is fair game as far as I'm concerned
I thought we all agreed to never talk about 'that lady' in Grootfontein and the red-pump ever again
However all talk about RN's liberated spangly DJ from the Mt Kenya Safari Club is fair game as far as I'm concerned
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Re: Greece Flypast
Fergineer,
are you referring to the Athens/Akrotiri trip which was a post-Fincastle "reward" (for being a UK comp)?
If so, that was an action-packed det... hotel on the airport threshold, red faces when half of us had no passports so major payoff to customs/immigration. Particularly memorable was the (wet?) crew throwing some local bully into the pool at the weekly hotel disco. Turned out to be the son of a crime boss, so on advice from local plods we left for Cyprus a day early as I recall.
are you referring to the Athens/Akrotiri trip which was a post-Fincastle "reward" (for being a UK comp)?
If so, that was an action-packed det... hotel on the airport threshold, red faces when half of us had no passports so major payoff to customs/immigration. Particularly memorable was the (wet?) crew throwing some local bully into the pool at the weekly hotel disco. Turned out to be the son of a crime boss, so on advice from local plods we left for Cyprus a day early as I recall.
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The Athens/Akrotiri trip -
almost right, but we went from Cyprus onto Athens...took the AOC along for the ride, Curtis I suspect, along with his ADC chappie (who was good fun and happily joined in the newly discovered sport of 'hedge jumping' in the Cyprus tranasit accomodation).
A few unfortunate points on it though - if I'm not mistaken... Kinloss gliding club had a fatal crash on the Sunday, as we were about to leave, and we did a vertical for the accident inquiry rather than the beat up planned. Stopped at St Mawgan to pick up AOC (night stop). Few days in Cyprus, went out to kite to transit to Athens and a Canberra lost an engine on take off - we delayed as a result of that fatal event. Late arriving at Athens (we were due to be at the Naval Attache's for drinkies at 8) so it was a very quick change at the hotel, then back on the bus... which a local madman drove at about 70 mph down alleyways.
Being NCOs we simply didn't know how to behave, A* B**e had to tell us to clear off once the obligatory drink and horse's doovers had been consumed. Back to the bar then....
Airshow, about the closest description I can fit to it is "absolutely nothing went according to the plan, apart from landing at the end of it".
Only got 2 days in Athens or so, then back via St Mawgan - as we approached the runway a flock of seagulls got airborne and totalled the searchlight cover, so we delayed a bit while a replacement was found.
Kin-Stm Nov 4 1980, Akrotiri on the 5th, Athens 7th, HAF Tatoi flypast and general mortaring of troops 8th, back to St Mawgan on the 9th, then onto Kinloss the same day.... XV246, which was the aircraft we flew on the Fincastle that October. (We'd flown 243 for the Airde-Whyte, so Andy L had to make a new set of tail markings up - the Falcon's head we used as a zap and crew badge).
Dave
almost right, but we went from Cyprus onto Athens...took the AOC along for the ride, Curtis I suspect, along with his ADC chappie (who was good fun and happily joined in the newly discovered sport of 'hedge jumping' in the Cyprus tranasit accomodation).
A few unfortunate points on it though - if I'm not mistaken... Kinloss gliding club had a fatal crash on the Sunday, as we were about to leave, and we did a vertical for the accident inquiry rather than the beat up planned. Stopped at St Mawgan to pick up AOC (night stop). Few days in Cyprus, went out to kite to transit to Athens and a Canberra lost an engine on take off - we delayed as a result of that fatal event. Late arriving at Athens (we were due to be at the Naval Attache's for drinkies at 8) so it was a very quick change at the hotel, then back on the bus... which a local madman drove at about 70 mph down alleyways.
Being NCOs we simply didn't know how to behave, A* B**e had to tell us to clear off once the obligatory drink and horse's doovers had been consumed. Back to the bar then....
Airshow, about the closest description I can fit to it is "absolutely nothing went according to the plan, apart from landing at the end of it".
Only got 2 days in Athens or so, then back via St Mawgan - as we approached the runway a flock of seagulls got airborne and totalled the searchlight cover, so we delayed a bit while a replacement was found.
Kin-Stm Nov 4 1980, Akrotiri on the 5th, Athens 7th, HAF Tatoi flypast and general mortaring of troops 8th, back to St Mawgan on the 9th, then onto Kinloss the same day.... XV246, which was the aircraft we flew on the Fincastle that October. (We'd flown 243 for the Airde-Whyte, so Andy L had to make a new set of tail markings up - the Falcon's head we used as a zap and crew badge).
Dave
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Hope this works,
for Fergie and Starter Crew, this ought to be most of the crew and groundcrew from that det...
Dave
for Fergie and Starter Crew, this ought to be most of the crew and groundcrew from that det...
Dave
Last edited by davejb; 11th Feb 2011 at 20:05.
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Ahhh memories
I have that same pic in the other room :-)
Didn't we also have a concrete frog on the Fincastle trip? Fergus, I think... who was to be deep-sixed after bringing no good luck whatsoever!
Re: the sad incident of the Canberra at Akrotiri... I remember that too. Watched it from the flight deck while fixing a snag just before crew-in. However, I thought that was on a Medex and it happened between the first MR of 2 getting off for Gib and us being delayed. Memory isn't what it was.
The flypast was as good as related on here. I managed to convince someone to let me ride along in the radar seat and was impressed at how we went up...
SC
Didn't we also have a concrete frog on the Fincastle trip? Fergus, I think... who was to be deep-sixed after bringing no good luck whatsoever!
Re: the sad incident of the Canberra at Akrotiri... I remember that too. Watched it from the flight deck while fixing a snag just before crew-in. However, I thought that was on a Medex and it happened between the first MR of 2 getting off for Gib and us being delayed. Memory isn't what it was.
The flypast was as good as related on here. I managed to convince someone to let me ride along in the radar seat and was impressed at how we went up...
SC
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Can anyone help me? I need a story or stories of Nimrod dropping dinghies to good effect! My book Nimrod Rise and Fall goes to the publisher very shortly but so far have not communicated with anyone who dropped a dinghy.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
The best case I recall was Norman Tench on the Fasnet race disaster when he dropped both ASR and both dinghy pairs. Norman unfrotunately passed away last year but maybe another crew member may help.
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Our crew dropped several dinghies onto a molasses tanker, the MV Victory, in February 1982. We dropped them across the tanker, which had broken into two pieces, so that the buoyant rope joining the dinghies would snag across the superstructure and thus be available to the remaining members of the ship's crew. I've got more details, and photos, if you wish.
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The Vulcan
Back in 1990 the Irving Forest sank in the North Atlantic.
From the marine accident report
aboard BT NESTOR by 1900 hours local time.
http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources...t_pub_1992.pdf
Unfortunately I do not have any photographs, but I can remember seeing them. Someone may have them somewhere.
Y_G
From the marine accident report
IRVING FOREST
a Bermudian Registered 8,100 tonne deadweight ship left
St John, Canada, on 6 January 1990 with 18 crew and one supernumerary (wife
of crew member) on board, carrying a cargo of wood pulp and newsprint. Her
first port of call was scheduled to be Rouen, France with an estimated date of
arrival of 14 January.
Late on the 10th, in mid-North Atlantic, during storm weather conditions of
St John, Canada, on 6 January 1990 with 18 crew and one supernumerary (wife
of crew member) on board, carrying a cargo of wood pulp and newsprint. Her
first port of call was scheduled to be Rouen, France with an estimated date of
arrival of 14 January.
Late on the 10th, in mid-North Atlantic, during storm weather conditions of
65
knot winds (Beaufort force 12) and 6-9 metre seas, the ship took a
starboard list of some 20 degrees, as a result of ingress of water into the
starboard side ballast tanks.
Early on the 11th as a result of the heavy list and the prevailing conditions the
ship suffered a total blackout which resulted in loss of propulsion. A deck
stowed container was lost overboard and subsequently three other deck stowed
containers were also lost.
By noon on the 11th the ship, in mid-North Atlantic without any power, was
listing to starboard. The Master sent out a distress call at 1210 hours
(1310 GMT) and as a result contact was made with BT NESTOR a tanker of
69,900 tonnes deadweight which was some 3 hours steaming time away from
IRVING FOREST.
Everyone was then mustered on the port side of the boat deck in their survival
suits and the Master's plan was to abandon IRVING FOREST on the arrival
of BT NESTOR which was estimated as 1615 hours local time.
During the preparations to abandon ship using the 20 man inflatable liferaft
stowed on the boat deck - portside - the 2nd Engineer's wife (the
supernumerary), the Chief Officer and a GP seaman were washed overboard.
Fortunately an RAF Nimrod aircraft had arrived over the ship at this crucial
time and they dropped an air-sea rescue pack including two inflatable liferafts,
one of which the three persons in the sea eventually boarded.
The remaining members of the crew subsequently left the ship by jumping
overboard while hooked onto the ship's liferaft painter, the liferaft having been
successfully launched into the sea.
All IRVING FOREST'S crew, including the supernumerary, were embarked
starboard list of some 20 degrees, as a result of ingress of water into the
starboard side ballast tanks.
Early on the 11th as a result of the heavy list and the prevailing conditions the
ship suffered a total blackout which resulted in loss of propulsion. A deck
stowed container was lost overboard and subsequently three other deck stowed
containers were also lost.
By noon on the 11th the ship, in mid-North Atlantic without any power, was
listing to starboard. The Master sent out a distress call at 1210 hours
(1310 GMT) and as a result contact was made with BT NESTOR a tanker of
69,900 tonnes deadweight which was some 3 hours steaming time away from
IRVING FOREST.
Everyone was then mustered on the port side of the boat deck in their survival
suits and the Master's plan was to abandon IRVING FOREST on the arrival
of BT NESTOR which was estimated as 1615 hours local time.
During the preparations to abandon ship using the 20 man inflatable liferaft
stowed on the boat deck - portside - the 2nd Engineer's wife (the
supernumerary), the Chief Officer and a GP seaman were washed overboard.
Fortunately an RAF Nimrod aircraft had arrived over the ship at this crucial
time and they dropped an air-sea rescue pack including two inflatable liferafts,
one of which the three persons in the sea eventually boarded.
The remaining members of the crew subsequently left the ship by jumping
overboard while hooked onto the ship's liferaft painter, the liferaft having been
successfully launched into the sea.
All IRVING FOREST'S crew, including the supernumerary, were embarked
aboard BT NESTOR by 1900 hours local time.
Unfortunately I do not have any photographs, but I can remember seeing them. Someone may have them somewhere.
Y_G
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Dinghy Drop
Most memorable dinghy drop I recall (and was involved in) was the one in approx 2001 out at about 25West in which a German-owned fishing boat had sunk and all but one member of the Spanish crew had perished. The survivor was found by 201/7 (captained by SJ), waving up at us as we carried out a search of the area. We dropped a dinghy on him and he clambered in after 12 hours of bobbing around in the Atlantic. His name?? Jesus (I kid you not). He had been the only one able to don a survival suit and that had saved his life. You should able to find it in press archives. One of the tabloids ran the headline 'Go on my Son' which was the quote the capt gave to the reporter when asked what he felt when the survivor clambered in to the dinghy.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.