Global Aviation Magazine : 60 Years of the Hercules
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Gentlemen ...
I'm shocked and somewhat traumatised having just seen the standard of crew flying rations available on the A400M
Following the delectations of Doug's 'Haute Cuisine a la Albert avec sautéed Roach' ... How will the crews of today cope with such hardship ...
Members who have a delicate constitution are warned that the following images may cause some digestive distress ...
Plastic cutlery and a serviette instead of Blue Kimwipe ... What next ?
Best ...
Coff.
Sorry for the slight Thread Drift
I'm shocked and somewhat traumatised having just seen the standard of crew flying rations available on the A400M
Following the delectations of Doug's 'Haute Cuisine a la Albert avec sautéed Roach' ... How will the crews of today cope with such hardship ...
Members who have a delicate constitution are warned that the following images may cause some digestive distress ...
Plastic cutlery and a serviette instead of Blue Kimwipe ... What next ?
Best ...
Coff.
Sorry for the slight Thread Drift
Crikey R4, he never managed a smile on any of the dets I did with him, and I did a few. Fine airframe driver though IMHO! Congrats to him.
The link to the on line article ; http://www.gapan.org/press-pages/pre...-9-march-2015/
Coff, not sure what the muck is in your photos, but it looks like the Nav Kit has improved since Doug operated with his magnetised needle and stopwatch
. One thing for certain, none of those instruments would buy you a beer on the night stop.
Smudge
The link to the on line article ; http://www.gapan.org/press-pages/pre...-9-march-2015/
Coff, not sure what the muck is in your photos, but it looks like the Nav Kit has improved since Doug operated with his magnetised needle and stopwatch
. One thing for certain, none of those instruments would buy you a beer on the night stop.Smudge
Last edited by smujsmith; 15th Aug 2015 at 07:30.
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Some of the old Nav equipment was vague but at least you could watch it leading you astray. An Ascot crew of 6 was much more of a party when down the route.
4Dy of course was always much admired for his intricate, all inclusive training sorties which in the summer months could include a sunset and a following sunrise. Epic
4Dy of course was always much admired for his intricate, all inclusive training sorties which in the summer months could include a sunset and a following sunrise. Epic
Good comment Doug, and nice to see you still have your primary navigational instrument !!
Whilst electric Betty never bought me a beer down route, you certainly did, There's no substitute for a proper Nav !! How does this sound for a 4D deployment in GW1. Deployment to Abu Dhabi, with various activities related to shakeyboats and even shakier Hereford people (least said the better). We depart Lyneham and flag Akronelli for Abu Dhabi, it was a long trip in the hammock, and both of us GEs looked forward to seeing the hotel that was to be our home for the following four weeks. 4D was Captain, and seemed to enjoy returning from ops, as we performed the A/F servicing, to inform us that the plan for the standard 26K fuel load, was to be changed to 62.9K (until it leaks ISTR) and by the way, do a B/F we depart in an hour. Off we went to Diego Garcia,(DG) flat floor, our pax and cargo offloaded , life was never more sublime in the hammock, until the Loady and myself swapped jobs for 6 hours. DG was a 14 hour chance to sleep, by now I'm like a thing on a spring, my body and brain can't agree whether I should be sleeping or awake, the matchsticks in the eyelids ensured I was available for the transit DG to Riyadh after our downtime. On arrival at Riyadh, we carried only an RN sub Captain as Pax who was escorted to a "Briefing, we were told that Hotac accommodation was not available, bed down on the aircraft and make do, departure for DG in 12 hours. Now we are competing for the right to sleep in our own hammocks, though our Nav, one R4 C***man as I recall remained strapped in front of his Doppler throughout, thank goodness we had some DFs on board, there's at least one poster who must remember this trip (DC) ! On it goes, we take the submariner back to his boat, enjoy a few beers in the wardroom, and 14 hours ground time before departure. My fellow GE and myself just didn't know what time or planet we were on, so wandered the island getting only a couple of hours kip, back on Albert, concerned that we might miss call and credibility. The last leg was a straightforward DG to Abu Dhabi. On landing, and looking forward to arriving finally at our HOTAC in the near future, we were informed, by none other than 4D that 26K was the fuel load, take off at OFFS next morning to do some HALO drops. I know what I felt like, what 4D and the rest of the operating crew felt like, I hate to think. Professionals all, there were no complaints.
I'm damn sure that Doug as a Nav can come up with the hours required to fly that schedule, I, to this day have no idea of the hours, and hours, and hours we spent, at the start of that det in the aircraft. 4D, as always just "kept on truckin" as some say, a fairly standard deployment continued for the rest of the month, with a mishap that led to my eventual medical discharge just before our return in time for the new year. A memorable Christmas Day Dinner, after collecting "A senior officer as guest of honour " from Riyadh was well enjoyed. Hours? As can be seen, 4D knew how to accumulate them, and never refused an opportunity. As an aside, I well remember our Captain giving us a guided, low level tour of the Radfan etc, whilst giving us his history of flying Defenders around the same area, in a previous existence. As always, apologies for the long post, I do try
Smudge
Whilst electric Betty never bought me a beer down route, you certainly did, There's no substitute for a proper Nav !! How does this sound for a 4D deployment in GW1. Deployment to Abu Dhabi, with various activities related to shakeyboats and even shakier Hereford people (least said the better). We depart Lyneham and flag Akronelli for Abu Dhabi, it was a long trip in the hammock, and both of us GEs looked forward to seeing the hotel that was to be our home for the following four weeks. 4D was Captain, and seemed to enjoy returning from ops, as we performed the A/F servicing, to inform us that the plan for the standard 26K fuel load, was to be changed to 62.9K (until it leaks ISTR) and by the way, do a B/F we depart in an hour. Off we went to Diego Garcia,(DG) flat floor, our pax and cargo offloaded , life was never more sublime in the hammock, until the Loady and myself swapped jobs for 6 hours. DG was a 14 hour chance to sleep, by now I'm like a thing on a spring, my body and brain can't agree whether I should be sleeping or awake, the matchsticks in the eyelids ensured I was available for the transit DG to Riyadh after our downtime. On arrival at Riyadh, we carried only an RN sub Captain as Pax who was escorted to a "Briefing, we were told that Hotac accommodation was not available, bed down on the aircraft and make do, departure for DG in 12 hours. Now we are competing for the right to sleep in our own hammocks, though our Nav, one R4 C***man as I recall remained strapped in front of his Doppler throughout, thank goodness we had some DFs on board, there's at least one poster who must remember this trip (DC) ! On it goes, we take the submariner back to his boat, enjoy a few beers in the wardroom, and 14 hours ground time before departure. My fellow GE and myself just didn't know what time or planet we were on, so wandered the island getting only a couple of hours kip, back on Albert, concerned that we might miss call and credibility. The last leg was a straightforward DG to Abu Dhabi. On landing, and looking forward to arriving finally at our HOTAC in the near future, we were informed, by none other than 4D that 26K was the fuel load, take off at OFFS next morning to do some HALO drops. I know what I felt like, what 4D and the rest of the operating crew felt like, I hate to think. Professionals all, there were no complaints.
I'm damn sure that Doug as a Nav can come up with the hours required to fly that schedule, I, to this day have no idea of the hours, and hours, and hours we spent, at the start of that det in the aircraft. 4D, as always just "kept on truckin" as some say, a fairly standard deployment continued for the rest of the month, with a mishap that led to my eventual medical discharge just before our return in time for the new year. A memorable Christmas Day Dinner, after collecting "A senior officer as guest of honour " from Riyadh was well enjoyed. Hours? As can be seen, 4D knew how to accumulate them, and never refused an opportunity. As an aside, I well remember our Captain giving us a guided, low level tour of the Radfan etc, whilst giving us his history of flying Defenders around the same area, in a previous existence. As always, apologies for the long post, I do try
Smudge
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Smudge
There was a document called Group Air Staff Orders which covered the length of crew duty days and the minimum crew rest times for sustained operations. They could only be exceeded with express permission from Group (or FATCOCK as you prefer to call them) There are exigencies for wartime considerations of course. The secret is when to push on and when not to. You don't get brownie points for causing a disaster through crew fatigue.
Like our lady eng in Darwin. The captain didn't want her to go sick. I told her to do just that. You need three for a mutiny.
I try not to make decisions anymore.
There was a document called Group Air Staff Orders which covered the length of crew duty days and the minimum crew rest times for sustained operations. They could only be exceeded with express permission from Group (or FATCOCK as you prefer to call them) There are exigencies for wartime considerations of course. The secret is when to push on and when not to. You don't get brownie points for causing a disaster through crew fatigue.
Like our lady eng in Darwin. The captain didn't want her to go sick. I told her to do just that. You need three for a mutiny.
I try not to make decisions anymore.
Spot on as always Doug,The start of the det I just posted was my second, with the same crew in two months. I certainly was grateful to be part of a team with some seriously good operators in the "front carriage". Certainly, every part of that trip was a wartime exigency, GASOs went out of the DV window ! I believe the sub captain was briefed to do a survey of Kuwait beaches with a view to an attack via that route. Our Eng in Darwin was well advised IMHO, as I would hope you would value my opinion (back in the day) on aspects of serviceability, that might affect onward progression. Oddly, in 6 years as a GE, I believe our slight delay in Sydney was my one and only time of causing a diversion and delay. Though, in fact, it wasn't me or TT but a badly leaking rear GITZ. I will relate a further experience during the GW1 conflict, where on Det with an SF crew, I was denied the opportunity to address a problem on a degrading engine performance, which would take little more than the removal of four fasteners and a "dusting" of the component. So three weeks in to the four week det and our leader collars me one day and says, "I hope you will fix No3 before we return to LYN, but only on the night before return". Why says I, if you've carried it for four weeks, you can surely take it home. The aircraft of course returned to full performance, engine wise, prior to our departure for home. It could have performed to spec throughout the det. Given some reciprocal faith in professional competence.
That compass is "the dogs gonads though", I once bought a Nav, whose crew was unfortunate enough to have me as their allocated GE, a 400 degree, Asian compass, honestly gov, I thought 400 as opposed to 360 would be more accurate. He did not appreciate it. Despite the fact that uncannily, there was no northing on the dial, but Mecca's relative bearing was always present.
Smudge
Last edited by smujsmith; 15th Aug 2015 at 21:19.
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We had a brief glimpse of a C130J Friday evening at the tattoo 75th commemoration of the B of B
https://youtu.be/HR7q2XBsWdE
https://youtu.be/HR7q2XBsWdE
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Fly By
That was indeed a fleeting glimpse of the departing "J" into the sunset.
It's a pity that the "curtain raiser" couldn't have been the Falcons (The Premier Free Fall Parachute team) It could have been a hit.
Some years back, after dropping the Falcons into the Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego the customary "DZ FlyBy" was orientated along the football field axis of the arena which was a horseshoe shape. We entered the open end of the horseshoe to overfly the impact point and were immediately impressed with the immense height of the far end tiers of seating benches. There ensued a very positive change of attitude and application of power. "Call the torques Eng" request was laconically replied to with " 24, 25, 26...." (only kidding)
The crowd went wild. The organisers - less so.
We were invited back the next year with the proviso that the " Yee Ha rip **** departure" was cut from the display.
It's a pity that the "curtain raiser" couldn't have been the Falcons (The Premier Free Fall Parachute team) It could have been a hit.
Some years back, after dropping the Falcons into the Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego the customary "DZ FlyBy" was orientated along the football field axis of the arena which was a horseshoe shape. We entered the open end of the horseshoe to overfly the impact point and were immediately impressed with the immense height of the far end tiers of seating benches. There ensued a very positive change of attitude and application of power. "Call the torques Eng" request was laconically replied to with " 24, 25, 26...." (only kidding)
The crowd went wild. The organisers - less so.
We were invited back the next year with the proviso that the " Yee Ha rip **** departure" was cut from the display.
Doug: Very neat, indeed. The Fly By biz started in the Argosy era with the Falcons - can anyone claim an earlier date than 5 June 1968 at Cranwell? A somewhat spontaneous and improvised procedure that afternoon, as I recall.
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Early Falcons
I dropped the Falcs at Weston on the Green on 22 may 68 with W*n D***d but no DZ inspection because of the crash at El Afrag on 8 May 68.
ICM check PM
ICM check PM
Last edited by Dougie M; 20th Aug 2015 at 14:06.
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Falcons
Whatever Fly by or DZ "inspection" was carried out. Nothing was lower than the Falcons "Dirt Dive"
We did a spoof one off the ramp on the ground with the crew all tugging each others' flying suits and nodding and smiling at each other. It didn't amuse the jumpers.
We did a spoof one off the ramp on the ground with the crew all tugging each others' flying suits and nodding and smiling at each other. It didn't amuse the jumpers.
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Doug,
I used to enjoy waiting till the precious sun gods were deep in thought as they did their "dirt dive" then grab one of their suits where they didn't expect it. Was priceless seeing the total confusion on the faces .
I used to enjoy waiting till the precious sun gods were deep in thought as they did their "dirt dive" then grab one of their suits where they didn't expect it. Was priceless seeing the total confusion on the faces .
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I did just the one trip with the "mighty" Falcons. They were not impressed when I told them to take their flares out of the back of the landrover and stow them on the floor. I also told them they could not sit in the landrovers for take off!!
I think that someone had been indulging their bad habits.
Nevertheless I never got another Falcons trip.
I think that someone had been indulging their bad habits.
Nevertheless I never got another Falcons trip.
Ahh chaps,
Just like your average "Falc" I too once believed that having completed my GEs course, that I alone was all that the Albert fleet ever needed. Obviously, I was not available for every route flown by Lyneham, and therefore could not be held responsible for a few "cock ups" made here or there (particularly the ones in my immediate proximity)! Bottom line boys, I liked the Falcons, one of whom offered to lend me his comb, despite my being balder than a plucked ducks bottom, I liked them because, like the Red Arrows, the public identified them as the epitome of the RAF, and, when I stood behind the Captain for the fly by, if I managed to beat the Loadie, I was chuffed to think I had helped engender the public belief. Just like all of the RAF trades (I offer M**k L***y as the GE example) "Prima donnas" often came to notice. The Falcons had them, as I'm sure we all know.
Dougie, I remember my one and only El Centro Det, when myself and the other GE attempted to take the Michael out of the Blue Angels formation see off team. With Halton precision marching, the wielding of the marshalling baton and the respectfull salute to our comrades who were about to fly the staggeringly beautiful Albert to Holtville strip, we found ourselves surrounded by blue suited Blue Angels ground crew as we put the ground equipment to bed in preparation for our drive to Holtville strip, collecting the days rations on the way. A sense of humour would have come as a bonus, but unfortunately the U.S. Navy/ Marines had ensured these chaps were bereft, and so, we were made aware of our status as guests, visitors, and informed how we should respect our hosts. Well, we took that to heart and ignored it as usual. Losing one of their Huffers at Holtville added insult to injury I suppose. Crikey, I think I've typed too much already. Keep posting all, the thread is looking more like a source of reference for Albert Boys every day.
Ksimboy, I once got in a lot of bother trying to join in the "dirt dance" with Herefords finest "Air troop", no violence was offered, but I never, ever considered it afterwards.
Smudge
Just like your average "Falc" I too once believed that having completed my GEs course, that I alone was all that the Albert fleet ever needed. Obviously, I was not available for every route flown by Lyneham, and therefore could not be held responsible for a few "cock ups" made here or there (particularly the ones in my immediate proximity)! Bottom line boys, I liked the Falcons, one of whom offered to lend me his comb, despite my being balder than a plucked ducks bottom, I liked them because, like the Red Arrows, the public identified them as the epitome of the RAF, and, when I stood behind the Captain for the fly by, if I managed to beat the Loadie, I was chuffed to think I had helped engender the public belief. Just like all of the RAF trades (I offer M**k L***y as the GE example) "Prima donnas" often came to notice. The Falcons had them, as I'm sure we all know.
Dougie, I remember my one and only El Centro Det, when myself and the other GE attempted to take the Michael out of the Blue Angels formation see off team. With Halton precision marching, the wielding of the marshalling baton and the respectfull salute to our comrades who were about to fly the staggeringly beautiful Albert to Holtville strip, we found ourselves surrounded by blue suited Blue Angels ground crew as we put the ground equipment to bed in preparation for our drive to Holtville strip, collecting the days rations on the way. A sense of humour would have come as a bonus, but unfortunately the U.S. Navy/ Marines had ensured these chaps were bereft, and so, we were made aware of our status as guests, visitors, and informed how we should respect our hosts. Well, we took that to heart
and ignored it as usual. Losing one of their Huffers at Holtville added insult to injury I suppose. Crikey, I think I've typed too much already. Keep posting all, the thread is looking more like a source of reference for Albert Boys every day.Ksimboy, I once got in a lot of bother trying to join in the "dirt dance" with Herefords finest "Air troop", no violence was offered, but I never, ever considered it afterwards.
Smudge