'Shackleton Boys'
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Canberra Australia
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January 1957 was a short flying month, starting with yet another Navigation Bombing System test flight in a Valiant. By now I was rapidly becoming the resident operational expert on the Mk10 autopilot and its coupling units for Nav/Bombing and automatic landing approaches. The Beverley was also receiving my attention with autopilot trials.
In January I flew a Mk3 Shackleton for the first time. Having previously flown some flights in a Mk2 Shackleton, it was interesting to fly the later model which had been fitted with a nose wheel. The cockpit had changed quite a bit, as had the fit out of much classified anti-submarine equipment. My mission was to drop some bombs at the Imber range for clearance purposes.
On my return to Boscombe Down I became intent on achieving a smooth touchdown and for some reason not clear to me I translated myself mentally into a Mk2 version with a tail wheel. Following touch down on the main wheels in a tail down attitude I waited for the non-existent tail wheel to contact the runway. Instead the nose started to come down against my control back pressure. With the control almost fully back I yelled a warning to the crew to brace themselves, as we were going over on our nose. As soon as I had yelled the warning I realised what was happening and could have bitten out my tongue for having been so foolish. The nose wheel hit hard on the runway with the crew asking whether the emergency was over yet. To the delight of the crew, I bought beers all round in the mess that evening.
In January I flew a Mk3 Shackleton for the first time. Having previously flown some flights in a Mk2 Shackleton, it was interesting to fly the later model which had been fitted with a nose wheel. The cockpit had changed quite a bit, as had the fit out of much classified anti-submarine equipment. My mission was to drop some bombs at the Imber range for clearance purposes.
On my return to Boscombe Down I became intent on achieving a smooth touchdown and for some reason not clear to me I translated myself mentally into a Mk2 version with a tail wheel. Following touch down on the main wheels in a tail down attitude I waited for the non-existent tail wheel to contact the runway. Instead the nose started to come down against my control back pressure. With the control almost fully back I yelled a warning to the crew to brace themselves, as we were going over on our nose. As soon as I had yelled the warning I realised what was happening and could have bitten out my tongue for having been so foolish. The nose wheel hit hard on the runway with the crew asking whether the emergency was over yet. To the delight of the crew, I bought beers all round in the mess that evening.
Joe Ashworth's book says WL748 was fitted with IR "during 67" and sent to 205 in the October, returning in Jan 69 with the equipment being removed in the June.
I flew it several times on 205, but the only trial I was due to fly on was cancelled at the last minute. The trials involved Gurkhas being sent to light small cooking fires in the jungle, to see if they could be detected through the tree canopy.
The Malayan emergency and Indonesian confrontation had not long finished, and the Vietnamese War was in full flow, so the idea of finding insurgents in the jungle when they stopped for a brew was attractive if a little unsporting.
Clearly not everything stops for tea.
I flew it several times on 205, but the only trial I was due to fly on was cancelled at the last minute. The trials involved Gurkhas being sent to light small cooking fires in the jungle, to see if they could be detected through the tree canopy.
The Malayan emergency and Indonesian confrontation had not long finished, and the Vietnamese War was in full flow, so the idea of finding insurgents in the jungle when they stopped for a brew was attractive if a little unsporting.
Clearly not everything stops for tea.
I remember the equipment on 205, there were only a few AeOps briefed on its use, and they kept it all very close to their chests. (knowledge is power!) There was some success, but I think the coordination with the ground proved difficult.
Thread Starter
Thanks to everyone who has contacted me, it has now been decided that 'Shackleton Boys' will go to two volumes! Great stories coming in, but still plenty of room for more, so please don't be shy!
Thread Starter
LAST CALL FOR NEW CONTRIBUTORS!
Thanks to the tremendous response to calls for Shackleton stories, there will now be two volumes of 'Shackleton Boys', with the first planned for publication in the late summer of 2018. There is still time for new contributions, so if you have been thinking about getting in touch, please do it!
Thanks to all who have helped out so far.
Steve
Thanks to the tremendous response to calls for Shackleton stories, there will now be two volumes of 'Shackleton Boys', with the first planned for publication in the late summer of 2018. There is still time for new contributions, so if you have been thinking about getting in touch, please do it!
Thanks to all who have helped out so far.
Steve
F135 and F126 are Nimrod camera fit, Shackleton was F97 night camera and F24 day strike camera also F117 hand held from beam window. Night camera was illuminated by photo flashes ejected from a rack on stbd side.
Re flares/flashes. IIRC the photo flashes were fired from a 6 cartridge dispenser in the roof aft of the galley, whilst flares (which burned for a bit longer) were fired from the 3 x 6 dispensers on the stbd. There was a rack alongside the dispensers which held (again IIRC) 124 flares and 18 flashes. The photo flashes were nasty little beasts with quite a recoil, and it was not uncommon to find the dispenser coming loose from its mounting in the roof, although I don't think any flashes were fired into the fuselage.
Photo flashes.....
.....were bloody lethal. The tube was about 9" long and after detonation by the firing cap the flash material pulled a rip strip and initiated the "flash" as it exited the launcher.
When I was on the Shack MOTU I was the radar operator one night and had just completed a run over the towed target when the door beside me opened and an ashen faced siggy held out a partially fired flash "It didn't go off boss".
It was teetering on falling out of the tube, the possible consequences of which gives me sweaty palms even now.
I VERY gently prodded it further back into the tube and told him to drop it out of the flare chute (hole in the floor). As soon as it hit the airflow it detonated with a frightening bang.
Thereafter I ALWAYS counted the bangs as flashes went off to be sure that they'd all worked as advertised.
After a long session of "flares and flashes" for pilot bombing, the back end of the a/c gave a good imitation of the gun deck of Victory at Trafalgar with the reek of cordite which clung to one's flying suit for ages.
The Ancient Mariner
When I was on the Shack MOTU I was the radar operator one night and had just completed a run over the towed target when the door beside me opened and an ashen faced siggy held out a partially fired flash "It didn't go off boss".
It was teetering on falling out of the tube, the possible consequences of which gives me sweaty palms even now.
I VERY gently prodded it further back into the tube and told him to drop it out of the flare chute (hole in the floor). As soon as it hit the airflow it detonated with a frightening bang.
Thereafter I ALWAYS counted the bangs as flashes went off to be sure that they'd all worked as advertised.
After a long session of "flares and flashes" for pilot bombing, the back end of the a/c gave a good imitation of the gun deck of Victory at Trafalgar with the reek of cordite which clung to one's flying suit for ages.
The Ancient Mariner
Further apropos the "hole in the floor".....
......when used for disposing of the ashes of someone's loved one. Basically NOT A GOOD IDEA.
The first one I experienced was on a really rough day off the NI coast near Rathlin (some family connection). For some reason we had to have the full funeral service conducted by the Padre in full rig. As the service proceeded the liturgy was interrupted by prolonged retching from the padre (he forgot how to switch his mic off) which triggered further retching further down the fuselage amongst the listeners. He then came to the "dust to dust etc etc" and indicated to empty the urn down the flare chute. The back draught filled the aft area with the earthly remains of whoever it was. Cue much coughing spluttering and spitting of said earthly remains and the whole thing descended into a black farce. Padre had to be laid down on a bunk to recover as we hot footed it back to BKY the get the hoovers out.
The procedure was suspended for a while until a better way was found.
The Ancient Mariner
The first one I experienced was on a really rough day off the NI coast near Rathlin (some family connection). For some reason we had to have the full funeral service conducted by the Padre in full rig. As the service proceeded the liturgy was interrupted by prolonged retching from the padre (he forgot how to switch his mic off) which triggered further retching further down the fuselage amongst the listeners. He then came to the "dust to dust etc etc" and indicated to empty the urn down the flare chute. The back draught filled the aft area with the earthly remains of whoever it was. Cue much coughing spluttering and spitting of said earthly remains and the whole thing descended into a black farce. Padre had to be laid down on a bunk to recover as we hot footed it back to BKY the get the hoovers out.
The procedure was suspended for a while until a better way was found.
The Ancient Mariner
Eventually a better way was found....
.......when asked to it from a Nimrod which also had a version of the "hole in the floor".
I used to ask the flight eng to put on about a couple of pounds of positive pressure differential to overcome the indraught and always had the ashes in a paper bag which shot out very cleanly and if family were watching on the ground they could see a grey puff appear below the aircraft as the bag burst in the airflow.
Later still a way was found to use a sonobuoy casing and the canister and contents went out of one of the fixed launchers.
I always found it a slightly impersonal procedure which I was happy to do if it made the family feel better.
Until..... I pickled the ashes of my best man, Crint, in beside the radar buoy in D801. That DID get to me.
The Ancient Mariner
I used to ask the flight eng to put on about a couple of pounds of positive pressure differential to overcome the indraught and always had the ashes in a paper bag which shot out very cleanly and if family were watching on the ground they could see a grey puff appear below the aircraft as the bag burst in the airflow.
Later still a way was found to use a sonobuoy casing and the canister and contents went out of one of the fixed launchers.
I always found it a slightly impersonal procedure which I was happy to do if it made the family feel better.
Until..... I pickled the ashes of my best man, Crint, in beside the radar buoy in D801. That DID get to me.
The Ancient Mariner
Rossian,
Were we on the same MOTU course then? I remember a similar occurrence with one of those flashes.
Memories of Crint and ashes, and all you said about the hole in the floor. He first had the 'honour' of sending the ashes through the hole in the floor necessitating a quick return to Changi and shower and change of flying suit. About six months later we did another one and he decided it would be better to throw them out of the beam window - well it would have been if we had closed the cockpit sliding windows; this time the whole crew (and aircraft) got the benefit.
Incidentally it was not much better on rotary - it didn't matter whether you were in the hover or moving forward, you still got grey dust everywhere.
Were we on the same MOTU course then? I remember a similar occurrence with one of those flashes.
Memories of Crint and ashes, and all you said about the hole in the floor. He first had the 'honour' of sending the ashes through the hole in the floor necessitating a quick return to Changi and shower and change of flying suit. About six months later we did another one and he decided it would be better to throw them out of the beam window - well it would have been if we had closed the cockpit sliding windows; this time the whole crew (and aircraft) got the benefit.
Incidentally it was not much better on rotary - it didn't matter whether you were in the hover or moving forward, you still got grey dust everywhere.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Deviation: on the Nimrod the launcher gate valve was opened and the ashes dropped through the Rotary launcher.
Later, in major servicing, there arose a question on why there was so much dust in the floor space below the rotary launcher. That, no doubt, is why a sonobuoy case was used.
Later, in major servicing, there arose a question on why there was so much dust in the floor space below the rotary launcher. That, no doubt, is why a sonobuoy case was used.
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The 8 Sqn method with ashes was to wrap the ashes in a rolled paper chart which was loosely taped. The whole "tube" was sent down the flare chute in the floor - the tube then disintegrated in the airflow and the ashes continued their descent to the Firth rather than blowing back into the aircraft. One Padre looked at this package and hoped that the tube blew open before we caused the "ecclesiastical equivalent of a bird strike" below us. The other snag with this method was to ensure that we made a big enough tube to hold the ashes, otherwise it was possible to have an overflow of ash in the crewroom before flight.
The 8 Sqn album contains a series of photographs from the dropping of the ashes of an ex- pilot leader on the Sqn, "Beerie" Wier. There are photographs of the pilot leader on his last flight in various positions on the aircraft before the service. I seem to recall that the crew wondered whether it was politic to claim rations for him, and a compromise was reached with the Catering Squadron by which a couple of extra Dairy Cream Sponges were consumed in his memory!
The 8 Sqn album contains a series of photographs from the dropping of the ashes of an ex- pilot leader on the Sqn, "Beerie" Wier. There are photographs of the pilot leader on his last flight in various positions on the aircraft before the service. I seem to recall that the crew wondered whether it was politic to claim rations for him, and a compromise was reached with the Catering Squadron by which a couple of extra Dairy Cream Sponges were consumed in his memory!
It was the much-beloved Beery who inadvertently caused a snowstorm in the beam area once during the disposal of ashes.
The ashes were being poured manually down the flare chute when Beery slid open the cockpit side window to knock the dottle out of his pipe against the fuselage.. causing the mother of all reverse air flows.
When we landed, the crew chief came on board and said the beam area looked like a farkin' Christmas grotto..
The ashes were being poured manually down the flare chute when Beery slid open the cockpit side window to knock the dottle out of his pipe against the fuselage.. causing the mother of all reverse air flows.
When we landed, the crew chief came on board and said the beam area looked like a farkin' Christmas grotto..
We used to fly with a beam window open, the flash misfires departed from there. There was an instruction to tape up the flash cartridge, and return it, nobody obeyed. I heard the story of Ray Hifle seeing a flash unit about to fall in during a firing, and he held it in place until the end of the firing and then lowered it into the aircraft.