Airfix Shackleton AEW.2

[oldpax]

As a lec mech I remember doing "genny balances"cramped behind the navs seat with my "Avo"!!Breakers clomping in /out!!Water used to leak from the stbd pilots window to below the Engineers side panel causing numerous faults as the water entered the mass of 22 pin plugs lurking there!!

[tucumseh]

Nice photographs. When Nimrod AEW was cancelled, MoD quietly did a trawl for old Shackleton engineers to staff the AWACS programme. My boss went to Seattle for 4 years.

[BEagle]

Thanks for the piccies - they remind me of my one and only trip in an MR3 back in 1969, which was quite some experience. But I could still hear the engines hours after landing!

oxenos wrote:

As for being a spotter, I recall that the Kinloss seagulls could tell a Mk 3 from a Mk 4.

Perhaps they didn't want to be roasted by the Mk3's Vipers? We certainly used a LOT of runway even with 4 turning and 2 burning.

[turbroprop]

The old 8sqn caption "Eight Screws are better than Two Blow Jobs" used to raise a smile.

[Haraka]

IIRC it was the increased runway length requirements of the new (!) MR 3, over the 1's and 2's that necessitated the move from St Eval to St Mawgan.
Post the building of new MQ's, NAAFI etc. of course.

[oxenos]

Perhaps they didn't want to be roasted by the Mk3's Vipers?

The T.4s had long been gone from Kinloss before we first got "Viperised" Mk 3s.
And if you think a Mk3 with Vipers took a lot of runway, you would not have liked the Mk 3 without.

[Coops175]

A bit late on this, but I am looking for some help. My father was Wg Cmdr Malcolm Cooper who spent most of his service on Nimrods and Shackletons. My mother bought him the Frog 1/72 kit of a Shackleton for their first christmas together. My Dad has sadly passed away and I now have the model kit, but it has never been built. Does anyone know of anyone that is good with these kits who would build it for me. I think my mother would love to see it built. I would then donate it to Morayvia so others can get the pleasure from it.

[Linedog]

Dougal is WR960 and is in the Manchester Museum.

[Martin the Martian]

Coops, go to Coastal Command | IPMS (UK) for the Coastal Command Special Interest Group and contact them.

Alternatively, take a look at the IPMS branch listing at IPMS(UK) Branches | IPMS (UK) and see if there are any near to you.

[andrewn]

Hi Coops, if you dont get anywhere with the suggestions from martin then I'd be interested in taking this on. I wouldnt call myself a professional but am reasonably capable.

Let me know if you want to see some pictures of my work and i can email them to you.

[Valiantone]

Coops, while the kit is fairly good for its age the Frog version, being close to 50 now. It has been rebranded by at least three successive companies. Modelcraft and Revell + one other. I think.

I have built the kit several times, It has some (minor) issues and can catch out some that have not done it before from memory!!. Alas I'm not available at the minute builds wise

[Pontius Navigator]

Coops, worked with your Dad when he was at MOD and later my boss on 8. Great bloke nothing wrong with him at all*, one of nature's gentlemen.

* This is not damning with feint praise. He was very personable and I got on with him extremely well as I was in a specialist role working with him from station when he was at group or MOD, I can't quite remember which.

[Coops175]

Thanks Pontius. Met someone who worked with him last week. He used the word, Gentleman, too.
Andrewn, I will follow up on Martin's suggestion but if no joy will be in touch.

[chevvron]

Originally Posted by Willard Whyte

I know there are a few model builders out there, Airfix are releasing a 1/72 Avro Shackleton AEW.2 this year. Markings available for Dougal and Ermintrude.

Farnborough's Mk 4, which was delivered to Strathallan about 6 months after I was posted in, was called Zebedee. One of my air traffic control colleagues told me he went to Gibraltar in it and flew all the way backwards in the rear turret.
He also told me he'd been a Mustang pilot during WW2 and had been temporarily based a Funtington ( near Chichester) just before D -Day, but that's another story!

[Linedog]

Originally Posted by chevvron

Farnborough's Mk 4, which was delivered to Strathallan about 6 months after I was posted in, was called Zebedee. One of my air traffic control colleagues told me he went to Gibraltar in it and flew all the way backwards in the rear turret.
He also told me he'd been a Mustang pilot during WW2 and had been temporarily based a Funtington ( near Chichester) just before D -Day, but that's another story!

chevvron, I was groundcrew on 8sqn at Lossie for several years and all the Magic Roundabout figures were only applied to that sqns aircraft which were MK2 phase 3. We didn't have any MK4's.

[Shackman]

LD - Although we named them all after magic roundabout characters, Farnborough's raspberry ripple Mk 4 was named Zebedee for totally different reasons sometime in the late 60's. I was told the reason but have conveniently forgotten due to the mists of time, but I also had a Stn Cdr who was nicknamed Zebedee in the late 60's.

[Wander00]

Coops - was your Dad 88 Entry "C" Sqn at Cranwell, 63-65? If so I remember him well - great guy

[Wensleydale]

If I remember correctly - the Mk4s were used for pilot training during the early days of the AEW2? (and probably earlier). The name Zebedee was based upon the character's ability to bounce on landing!

[Lancman]

The Mk 4s were ordinary Mk 1s that had been partially stripped out to accommodate extra radar operators positions down the port side for training purposes.
To the best of my knowledge there was never a tail turret fitted in a production Shackleton. The Mk 2 had a pointy plastic lookout position in the tail where somebody could travel prone, but in that case he would be flying feet-first.

[Steve Bond]

Farnborough's T.4 was called Zebedee because of its bouncy nature when landing.