Foam Carpets
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Foam Carpets
No ... nothing to do with Allied Carpets fitting you're gaff with a new Axminster !
IIRC the RAF had a Foam Carpet Laying capability from the mid/late 60's onwards. I seem to remember that Manston and Leeming, as MDA's, in the 60'/70's were responsible for providing runway foam carpets.
Do we still have this military capability in the UK ?
I was wondering if any PPRuNer's, either air or ground crew, would like to share any stories, historical or technical information ... perhaps hearing form anyone who might have put-down in form.
I know Manston was kept reasonably busy during the late 60's and 70's ... a regular customer "type" being the Beagle Bassett CC1 ... along with one or two Canberra's ... plus a few civil passenger aircraft with a dodgy undercarriage (or faulty bulb in the cockpit !).
Here is an official pic of a foam landing by XM244 on 9 June 1965 at RAF Manston. The emergency landing, undertaken in bad weather by Flt Lt Ron Ledwidge and his navigator Flt Lt Martin Fortune, was caused, I understand, when a faulty hydraulic sequence valve prevented the port undercarriage leg from lowering. Both crew survived thankfully.
I do remember a rather humorous incident at Manston where a rather over-weight MOD Plod tried to chase after a local tomato grower who was attempting to nick buckets of foam during the clear-up hose down. Apparently one of the constituents of the foam was sourced from ox blood ... which worked a treat on tomatoes ... that is until an additive was introduced to prolong the shelf life of the foam ... which was poisonous to tomatoes
Best ...
Coff.
IIRC the RAF had a Foam Carpet Laying capability from the mid/late 60's onwards. I seem to remember that Manston and Leeming, as MDA's, in the 60'/70's were responsible for providing runway foam carpets.
Do we still have this military capability in the UK ?
I was wondering if any PPRuNer's, either air or ground crew, would like to share any stories, historical or technical information ... perhaps hearing form anyone who might have put-down in form.
I know Manston was kept reasonably busy during the late 60's and 70's ... a regular customer "type" being the Beagle Bassett CC1 ... along with one or two Canberra's ... plus a few civil passenger aircraft with a dodgy undercarriage (or faulty bulb in the cockpit !).
Here is an official pic of a foam landing by XM244 on 9 June 1965 at RAF Manston. The emergency landing, undertaken in bad weather by Flt Lt Ron Ledwidge and his navigator Flt Lt Martin Fortune, was caused, I understand, when a faulty hydraulic sequence valve prevented the port undercarriage leg from lowering. Both crew survived thankfully.
I do remember a rather humorous incident at Manston where a rather over-weight MOD Plod tried to chase after a local tomato grower who was attempting to nick buckets of foam during the clear-up hose down. Apparently one of the constituents of the foam was sourced from ox blood ... which worked a treat on tomatoes ... that is until an additive was introduced to prolong the shelf life of the foam ... which was poisonous to tomatoes
Best ...
Coff.
That'll be the R W who won a well deserved AFC for barrel rolling upwards with a jammed aileron and getting his non-ejection seated navigator out safely before ejecting himself
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The foam carpet kit was still at Leeming in the spring and summer of 1979. AFAIK it was not used during that period, though it might have made some of my landings a lot safer 
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The last foam lay at Leeming was in the early 90's (or late 80's) AFAIR. Mid Friday afternoon for a Hawk with a stuck U/C leg.
The GEF boys removed the RHAG cables, the Fire Section promptly laid the foam strip whilst the Hawk slowly orbited in the overhead.
When everything and everyone was in place and ready, the Hawk guy thought "Bugger that" and returned to Valley where he recycled the U/C and got 3 greens!
Later it turned out the the Fire Section had 'over egged' the mixture and the foam stuck to the runway like glue.
Leeming was Black for days.
They binned the foam capability after that!.
The GEF boys removed the RHAG cables, the Fire Section promptly laid the foam strip whilst the Hawk slowly orbited in the overhead.
When everything and everyone was in place and ready, the Hawk guy thought "Bugger that" and returned to Valley where he recycled the U/C and got 3 greens!
Later it turned out the the Fire Section had 'over egged' the mixture and the foam stuck to the runway like glue.
Leeming was Black for days.
They binned the foam capability after that!.
Last edited by taxydual; 16th Nov 2012 at 12:41. Reason: Dodgy on the decade
I remember a DC4 did a wheels up landing in the foam at Manston in the late 70s.
We caused more damage getting it off the runway than it did landing on the foam. We got a big crane to lift it onto a trolly but as soon as it was lifted the strops tore through the wing down to the spars.
Another was a small twin engined aircraft with two prop blades that the nose undercarriage remained retracted. The pilot landed, switched off the engines, then turned the props over so that they were parallel with the wings. He then dropped the nose into the foam. The only damage was a slight scuff on the nosewheel door.
The pilot was also quite impressed to have all the emergency services and the SAR helicopter waiting for him as well as the foam.
We caused more damage getting it off the runway than it did landing on the foam. We got a big crane to lift it onto a trolly but as soon as it was lifted the strops tore through the wing down to the spars.
Another was a small twin engined aircraft with two prop blades that the nose undercarriage remained retracted. The pilot landed, switched off the engines, then turned the props over so that they were parallel with the wings. He then dropped the nose into the foam. The only damage was a slight scuff on the nosewheel door.
The pilot was also quite impressed to have all the emergency services and the SAR helicopter waiting for him as well as the foam.
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I was once fortunate enough to have a night stop in Manston when one of the engines of my Lynx over-temped on start - the protection system didn't.
Me and my Aircrewman were invited to a disco at the RAF Fire and Rescue school that night where most of the guys were wearing t-shirts with "don't foam us - we'll foam you" emblazoned on the front
Me and my Aircrewman were invited to a disco at the RAF Fire and Rescue school that night where most of the guys were wearing t-shirts with "don't foam us - we'll foam you" emblazoned on the front
Last edited by Wizzard; 16th Nov 2012 at 15:14.
Apparently one of the constituents of the foam was sourced from ox blood ... which worked a treat on tomatoes ...
slightly off-topic, but the museum at Manston is well worth a visit - lots of stuff from the Fire Training school and lots of old Fire-section kit. It's also got the old incident board for the runway foaming rig that shows all the incidents when the runway was foamed inc details of the aircraft and nature of the emergency.
OH
OH
One of the Kinloss Nimrods used the foam at Leeming with a Nose Sequencing Valve failure. After landing, I believe they jacked it up, unlocked and lowered the nose gear and ferried it gear down back to Kinloss - I think the same afternoon. I can't remember if there was any damage at all. Maybe a bit of paint on the radome. Some one here might have been on it at the time?
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There were never any definitive answers as to the efficacy of a foam path, and the results were largely comforting for the pilot; in other word foam paths were largely a waste of time and effort, which is why the practise died out.
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RAF Tengah, 29 Apr 68, XR808 with blown tyre(s) putting the port bogie on a foam carpet.
This was a trooper flt ex-UK and had one or more tyres blow taking off from Gan.
IMG_0001 by Janner88, on Flickr
IMG_0002 by Janner88, on Flickr
IMG_0003 by Janner88, on Flickr
IMG_0004 by Janner88, on Flickr
Apologies for the poor quality.
More on that incident here:
Incidents and Accidents
This was a trooper flt ex-UK and had one or more tyres blow taking off from Gan.
IMG_0001 by Janner88, on Flickr
IMG_0002 by Janner88, on Flickr
IMG_0003 by Janner88, on Flickr
IMG_0004 by Janner88, on Flickr
Apologies for the poor quality.
More on that incident here:
Incidents and Accidents
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Tashengurt ... I think it was more a "trespassing on MOD land thing" than actually nicking buckets of depleted foam ... still funny to watch though 
Samuel ... I thought as much ... some Bean Counter probably did a CBA resulting in the end of Foam Carpets ... irrespective of the comfort afforded to military aircrew with them knowing that, as a last resort, they could put down in foam !
Lauriebe ... Thanks for sharing the VC-10 pics ! The Foam Bowser never changed ... apart from painting it green with a yellow horizontal band in the mid/late 70's !
Samuel ... I thought as much ... some Bean Counter probably did a CBA resulting in the end of Foam Carpets ... irrespective of the comfort afforded to military aircrew with them knowing that, as a last resort, they could put down in foam !
Lauriebe ... Thanks for sharing the VC-10 pics ! The Foam Bowser never changed ... apart from painting it green with a yellow horizontal band in the mid/late 70's !
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Following the disastrous fires aboard a USN Carrier off Vietnam, the USN invested heavily in investigating foam compound, and in conjunction with the [then] 3M Company came up with AFFF, [aqueous film forming foam] which was far superior to the standard protein-based compound in doing what it was intended to do, control fuel fires. AFF has been the standard for a few decades now. It was thinner but had a capillary action on fuel which prevented re-ignition. Coincidentally, and I seem to recall that it was the USN again, a study was carried out of aircraft events involving foam paths, and the conclusion reached was that there was no proven benefit that a foam path worked! The results were inconclusive!
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5aday - Nimrod on foam at Leeming
5aday - you are talking about XV239 on 6 May 1974 flown by 120 Sqn Crew 7 (Capt-Flt Lt K Maynard). The aircraft was about to land at Kinloss but suffered an undercarriage indication warning problem, so the aircraft was diverted to RAF Leeming where it made a nose undercarriage leg retracted landing on foam. The fault was due to a nose undercarriage sequence valve problem which started lowering the undercarriage out of sequence and jammed it on the port undercarriage door which would not allow the nose undercarriage to fully lower. The damage was confined to the underside of the radome, bulkheads and radio and electrical equipment and was assessed as Category 3. The aircraft recovery team jacked up the nose, temporarily repaired and made safe as required, and the aircraft was flown back to Kinloss on 12 May with the undercarriage locked down, for a full investigation and repair action to be carried out. The return flight was made by Flt Lt R Curran from the Kinloss Wing Standards Flt.