Global Aviation Magazine : 60 Years of the Hercules

[DeanoP]

Albert Pumping Gas. Mount Pleasant

Marvellous artwork, very evocative. Anyone know who drew it?



1312 Flight personnel May 1990 with Crew Nos: 75, 76,77. Albert dispersal Mount Pleasant




Flying suit badge.



'Bluey' stamp

[smujsmith]

Thanks for that Coff, now we need a Nav to decide which is the most southerly of the two bases. Now, Where's DougieM when you need him ?

Smudge

[ksimboy]

Ooh, both Teri and Deano look really young there lol.

[Checks Complete]

Polar Trip

Did a trip July 1983 XV 183 Elmendorf-Bardufoss via North Pole. Not quite sure whether we went exactly over the North Pole, pre SCNS, Omega only Gyro Nav and single line mpp's but it was pretty close.

[Dougie M]

Norf and Sarf

R4's trip to Teniente Marsh (no relation) was 62deg South. I also did the Elmendorf (62 N) - Bardufoss (69 N) gyro leg after an exercise in Alaska. I was likewise unsure we went directly over the pole but as near as. There was no "needle swing" overhead because the mag. pole is 300 miles away and your compass heading on gyro is whatever you want it to be. I get lost with Tom Tom now.

[CoffmanStarter]

And you were flying upside-down too Dougie

[R4H]

Cartoon drawing

Tanker plus F4s. Herc looks like those drawn by Frank Cooper.

[R4H]

Gyro Nav

A black art as far as I as a driver was concerned. Ac locked to heading bug, bug nowhere near top of HSI. Nav changing grids! Too confusing as a compass was put to mag then compass swung to new grid etc - go for a walk in freight bay then come back when all was sorted. Don't give me a heading to fly just tell me so many degrees to right or left. Did approaches into Resolute Bay and Hall Beach with compasses on all sorts of settings, heading bug somewhere around the 8 o'clock position on HSI and my track line coming in from behind ac symbol. approach plates on True North. 25 or so degrees West degrees of deviation! Night. Nav chuckling. Thank heavens for ADF/NDB pointing towards the field as otherwise I had no way to tell which direction I was pointing or which way to turn.

[CoffmanStarter]

R4H ...

If you don't mind ... I'd like to ask our Albert Navigators to explain a little of the mysteries you mention

I'm genuinely interested (albeit a slight bit of thread drift ... pun fully intended there) ... please note bog standard Northern Hemisphere Rhumb Line Pilot Navigation is the limit of my experience

Cheers ...

Coff.

[smujsmith]

Oh Coff, you are indeed a brave bloke. Nav speak is simply beyond human capacity sir. That's why they were allowed to drive the HSI for the pilots to follow.

Smudge

[DeanoP]

1312 Flight Crew Room July 1990

Luckily my crew's Albert is on the right going home. One month to go!! It was a bit depressing moving your a/c homewards a week at a time.

[DeanoP]

Argentinian Invasion Crew - Equipo No 77 Julio 1990

Tasked to simulate an Argentinian Herk landing at Mount Pleasant to exercise the airfield defence teams. Just a taxy around to the runway and then lying down in the snow and then strip searched, apart from Eva Peron. Not really, it was all very gentle and passed away a wet, windy and cold afternoon.


Maestro de Carga 'Eva Peron' bottom left. (Teri Davis)


Copiloto y Ingeniero 'Diego Maradona'(Paul Margetts y Mick Boulton)



Vasco 'Gerneral Galtieri' (DeanoP)



El Capitano 'Ossie Ardiles' (John Ford)

[ancientaviator62]

Dean,
wonderful pics . You all looked much better in your make up ! When were all your pics taken ?

[smujsmith]

AA62, pretty standard crew grooming circa 80/90s surely ?, they look like most of the crews I went down route with. Except for R4H who not only grew his own moustache, but often proffered a cigarette to a lowly "hanger on". No disrespect meant gentlemen, a fine sight you all make.

On the subject of Albert Cartoons, I offer this as yet another example;

This was the result of yet another example of Alberts capacity to enable the RAF to continue operations in awkward times.

Smudge

[R4H]

Facial hair

Cope Thunder, Fairbanks, Alaska. Crew decided to have a moustache growing competition. I was exempt as I already had one. Can't remember the prize - probably a slab. They gradually gained some form of darkening of the top lip all except Loadie, Jimmy O, who had a faint smattering of bumfluff. One by one they grew tired of the growth and itches and shaved them off, all except Loadie who won!!!!
On one Det, and with copious amounts of rum having been quaffed, I agreed to shave moustache off for a considerable crew cash gift to a charity collection, only to forget that we had been in the sun for about a month! Result, a tanned face and a white top lip!!!!!!

[smujsmith]

Albert names

Just a quick question, not sure if it's been discussed before. If so I apologise for repeating. I was reading another thread where some are questioning the naming of the A400M aircraft. I recall that on posting to Akrotiri in March 73, 70 Sqdn had a mix of Argosy and Hercules, I'm sure they all carried individual names, the Alberts names like Heracles, Hyperion etc. Anyone have any info on what names were used and whether any other operating squadrons used names on Albert. Also, I assume 70 stopped the practice when the aircraft were centralised at Lyneham.

Smudge

[aeroid]

Albert and QE 2

Sorry to change the subject but in todays TIMES, page 70 there is an obit for Major Richard Clifford. Read down to para 4 and there is the briefest of mentions of a little op involving S/L George Bain and crew in 1972 dropping some bomb disposal experts to the QE 2 in mid atlantic. Anyone know the rest of the crew? Was that GB the instructor from Thorney?

[DeanoP]

Albert and the QE2

Found this from the QE2 story. Adds a bit more meat to Aeroid's info. I think that you are right about George Bain (ex TI instructor). Trawling my memory cells for the Nav's name.

'Major Richard Clifford of the Royal Marines, who has died aged 69, was a Special Boats Service officer who parachuted into the sea after a bomb-scare in Queen Elizabeth 2.
On the morning of May 18 1972 Clifford was the officer commanding 2nd Special Boat Section when he was told to prepare two men to parachute into the sea. No name or location was given and Clifford decided go himself taking Corporal Tom Jones as his number two. They flew by helicopter from Poole to Lyneham to meet the rest of their team, ammunition technical officer Captain Robert Williams and SAS Sergeant Cliff Oliver.
Williams had never jumped before and Clifford had brought spare equipment for him. By early afternoon they were airborne in a Hercules transport aircraft and 15 minutes into the flight their mission was revealed to them: to locate and defuse several bombs feared to be hidden and set to go off in a matter of hours aboard Queen Elizabeth 2, the world’s best-known trans-Atlantic liner.
As their aircraft was buffeted in turbulent weather, Williams, who was violently sick, was briefed by Clifford on what to do. Jones and Oliver would drop into the sea with the bulk of the equipment, while Clifford would jump with Williams and ensure that he did not drown when they hit the water. Once over QE2 they found every parameter for parachuting into the sea was out of limits. They could not see the ship at 1000 ft range, the cloud base was 300 to 400 ft, the wind was blowing at more than 20 knots, and there were 5 ft waves. The pilot agreed to fly the Hercules in low so he could sight QE2, then open the throttles and climb very steeply through the cloud to a dropping height. It would be difficult and dangerous, but the Special Forces men agreed to jump “blind” into the ocean.
They hit the water hard, but despite the heavy swell they were quickly picked up by one of QE2’s boats. Meanwhile, aboard QE2, her master, Captain William Law, had announced the bomb threat to the astonished passengers and told them a British bomb disposal team had arrived.
Cartoon showing Special Forces parachuting into the sea next to QE2
Cartoon showing Special Forces parachuting into the sea next to QE2
Williams now took charge, but before the team started work, Clifford presented Law with a copy of The Daily Telegraph which he had stuffed inside his drysuit. Three suspicious suitcases, which Law’s crew had found, were examined and one was blown open, but they contained only books and dirty laundry.
The FBI advised the full evacuation of QE2 during a stop at Cherbourg but the Cunard company and the ship’s master were so satisfied with the work of the Special Forces that it was decided to continue the voyage to Southampton. Later the threat was found to have been a hoax.
All four men were awarded the Queen’s Commendation for their courage and determination in the face of unusual and hazardous conditions, and the incident inspired the film Juggernaut (1974), starring Richard Harris and Omar Sharif.
Richard Cormac Clifford was born on May 19 1946 in East Africa, where his father was in the Colonial Service, and educated at Stowe. He was commissioned into the Royal Marines in 1966.
His first appointment was as a rifle troop commander in 40 Commando during Confrontation in Borneo, and he then passed the gruelling test to join the Special Forces in 1968. In 1969-71 he served at HMS Jufair in Bahrain and in the Amphibious Training Unit – he commanded 3rd Special Boat Detachment. He also helped to train members of the Iranian armed forces in Special Forces work. In 1971 Clifford commanded an SBS unit based on Gibraltar.
He was a company commander in 42 Commando in Northern Ireland in 1975, and for the next twenty years Clifford served almost continuously in the SBS'.

[Harry Lime]

QE drop Herc Crew

Flt. Lt Paddy Quaid was the Air Eng on the drop. A few months later he did my Final Handling Check at Topcliffe and paved the way for my future career in the Air/Flt Engineer world. My RAF career was simply as Aircraft Apprentice at Locking in 103rd Entry, a couple of ground postings before going to Topcliffe for Air Eng training. Was on 47 Sqn from '73 to '77 before leaving to join BA on the 747 Fleet. Twenty three very happy years later I retired and now reside in Spain.

During my service with the RAF there were no serious wars as such, so posting here on this thread in the company with some brave souls I recognise (I think), I feel a bit of a 'Flying club ' type. My one exciting moment was when landing at Aldergrove one dark and dirty morning, - were they ever any different, we were greeted with "Check the aeroplane for bullet holes. There are reports they were firing at you as you came over the hedge." Of course being the Air Eng my job was to crawl on my back under the low slung belly of the beast in "The early morning rain", whilst greater mortals than I scanned the wings and empanage replete with brollies. I tell you it's true what they say, War is Hell!

One other story I can recall was being told somewhere along the way that if we completed twenty eight landings at Salalah we would be given the GSM with Dhofar clasp. After I had done twenty five landings the rebels gave up and I left with a clean breast!

To all and any contributors/readers, you may remember me as the Irish Eng from long ago. Looking at the photo of the 'Rhodesia' crew, I recognise four of the five and remember good times with all of you , and more.

[CoffmanStarter]

Welcome Harry ... Good to have you contribute ... If you have any pics you'd like to share, I'll gladly help ... Just PM me