Green Endorsements ?
Gentleman Aviator
Best - sort of - I ever managed was my "I Learnt About Flying from That" being published in Air Clues - and subsequently in the collected book!
Got £20 or £25 for that too - which was a lot of money in those days.... (I of FS at the time said the money was designed "as about the price of a barrel" which tells you how long ago it was! Wouldn't buy a round for that these days......
)
Oh - and an MiD when I was young and foolish!
Got £20 or £25 for that too - which was a lot of money in those days.... (I of FS at the time said the money was designed "as about the price of a barrel" which tells you how long ago it was! Wouldn't buy a round for that these days......
)Oh - and an MiD when I was young and foolish!
That's good - my Dad got one after a gear failure as a solo student on the first ever JP course - an actual endorsement, on a slip of paper in his logbook, and quaintly typed on a typewriter with a green ribbon, complete with classic typewritten uneven letters.
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Hand written badly in green ink!
I was awarded a GE back in 1968 for staying with a Lightning F3 that had a major control restriction. I had only recently graduated from Coltishall and probably knew no better. I couldn’t take the easy option at 10,000ft and just dump the ac in the North Sea. My approach was a straight-in from 50 miles. Thankfully all worked out in the end, but I did wonder as decended through 1500ft whether I had made the right decision. A few loose washers were found restricting elevator movement. The GE was hand written in green ink and was smudged, but still remains readable in my 1st log book.
I was awarded a GE back in 1968 for staying with a Lightning F3 that had a major control restriction........A few loose washers were found restricting elevator movement.
Okay, I believe you really; I guess it was a long time ago!
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Got two Greens many moons ago.
One for staying on the flight deck when the wire parted. It had a Gannet setting and my Scimitar broke it.
Two was for managing to control a Scimitar when the elevator jammed and then landing at high speed at a US airbase.
Those were the days.
One for staying on the flight deck when the wire parted. It had a Gannet setting and my Scimitar broke it.
Two was for managing to control a Scimitar when the elevator jammed and then landing at high speed at a US airbase.
Those were the days.
My last trip on my last day at work for Her Majesty; engine air test at 40k. Finished the data points and rolled on my back to descend back to sanity. Passing 250, stabilised c 70 degrees nose down, Mach 0.9ish and then discovered that the pitch controls had seized - absolutely solid! Cue expletive!
Luckily the Jumping Bean had a secondary pitch control in the form of the nozzle lever and I was able to arrest my descent by 100. Spent quite a while experimenting with nozzle/power combinations and managed to get configured and RTB from veeerry long straight-in for an "interesting" touch-down. Many hours being bored on CAP, trying to fly racetracks without touching the stick paid off eventually!
Green Endorsement? Na, traditional hose-down by the crash crew instead.
Swing the lamp.
Mog
Luckily the Jumping Bean had a secondary pitch control in the form of the nozzle lever and I was able to arrest my descent by 100. Spent quite a while experimenting with nozzle/power combinations and managed to get configured and RTB from veeerry long straight-in for an "interesting" touch-down. Many hours being bored on CAP, trying to fly racetracks without touching the stick paid off eventually!
Green Endorsement? Na, traditional hose-down by the crash crew instead.
Swing the lamp.
Mog
Gentleman Aviator
Just so I’m clear - there is also a Red Endorsement which ranks above the GE ?
My understanding is a Red Endorsement was for permanent removal from flying for disciplinary reasons.
Not quite sure why, 'cos I believe in those circs - in those days - they also took your logboks off you!
I hasten to add this is from crew room chatter/banter, not personal experience!
I have heard about log books being confiscated on the basis that they are the property of the Royal Air Force. The cases I have heard about were where flying hours were falsified by the hundreds.
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A Red endorsement is/was awarded for making a horlicks of it. I have my father's logbook which has a red endorsement of "Carelessness - Mishandling Controls" when he forced landed a Tiger Moth (T6688) on 20 April 1942. The endorsement was signed off by a Sqn Ldr and quoted an Air Ministry letter of February 1942 as the authority for the "award"
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My dad and his driver got a GE in 1973 on 809 Sqn whilst "enjoying the delights of the Atlantic Fleet Weaponary Ranges off Puerto Rico" in XT 284 when the port engine ingested the radome.
They jettisoned the wing stores and diverted to Roosevelt Roads and "typically RN we were back on Ark within the hour,courtesy of the COD helicopter which just happened to be picking up the mail and the Admiral's fresh milk! Arriving 5 mins late for the next briefing we were sent out for another sortie; 2" RP on the ships splash target. Great fun! In due course,after fretting about the 50,000 pounds worth of refuelling pod resting on the bottom of the range,their Lordships relented and instead of docking our meagre pay gave us a 'Green Endorsement' for Airmanship." (Thanks to the driver for this info)
They jettisoned the wing stores and diverted to Roosevelt Roads and "typically RN we were back on Ark within the hour,courtesy of the COD helicopter which just happened to be picking up the mail and the Admiral's fresh milk! Arriving 5 mins late for the next briefing we were sent out for another sortie; 2" RP on the ships splash target. Great fun! In due course,after fretting about the 50,000 pounds worth of refuelling pod resting on the bottom of the range,their Lordships relented and instead of docking our meagre pay gave us a 'Green Endorsement' for Airmanship." (Thanks to the driver for this info)
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Flt Eng Awarded Green Endorsement on a Brit
I was a Britannia sqn copilot in May 1973 with the rest of the crew being OCU instructors doing performance trials. We were doing a net flt path second segment climb out of shortly to be opened Seeb, Muscat, Oman.
With No 4 shutdown and feathered we applied full power to the other 3 engines, planning to climb like that for the max of 5 mins. After 4 mins we got alternator overheat warnings for the live 3 engines. Since this meant the alternators were probably throwing solder into the engines the drill was to shutdown an engine with such a warning. We idled two and the lights went out, relit the shutdown engine and then shut down one whose light didn’t go out........all in 1minute. Diverted to Masirah as Seeb had closed after we had left....and the first beer didn’t touch the sides.
Flight Engineer Paddy Tranter awarded Green Endorsement, Captain Dave de Berry awarded Queens Commendation.......me?.....another sugar lump in my tea.
Dave later checked me into Gib on my first Route Check as a captain. Landed at 1600 hrs on a sunny afternoon. Shutdown and within 30 secs the flight deck was empty apart from slowcoach me. Leaving the aircraft I found the crew lined up outside like a sword party at a wedding. Dave called crew to Attention, saluted me and then presented me with my Brit Capt’s Cat Card.
That moment meant more to me than when I got my Wings. I will never forget what a gent he was. Bless him.
With No 4 shutdown and feathered we applied full power to the other 3 engines, planning to climb like that for the max of 5 mins. After 4 mins we got alternator overheat warnings for the live 3 engines. Since this meant the alternators were probably throwing solder into the engines the drill was to shutdown an engine with such a warning. We idled two and the lights went out, relit the shutdown engine and then shut down one whose light didn’t go out........all in 1minute. Diverted to Masirah as Seeb had closed after we had left....and the first beer didn’t touch the sides.
Flight Engineer Paddy Tranter awarded Green Endorsement, Captain Dave de Berry awarded Queens Commendation.......me?.....another sugar lump in my tea.
Dave later checked me into Gib on my first Route Check as a captain. Landed at 1600 hrs on a sunny afternoon. Shutdown and within 30 secs the flight deck was empty apart from slowcoach me. Leaving the aircraft I found the crew lined up outside like a sword party at a wedding. Dave called crew to Attention, saluted me and then presented me with my Brit Capt’s Cat Card.
That moment meant more to me than when I got my Wings. I will never forget what a gent he was. Bless him.
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Dave Berry was CGI when I went through the Herc OCU. I still have a signed copy of 'Tales From The Crewroom'.
I later found a copy of his book 'Specialist Aircrew'.
The man was an absolute gent
I later found a copy of his book 'Specialist Aircrew'.
The man was an absolute gent
I have signed copies of both of Dave's books....and a letter from the man himself. We also spoke on the phone a couple of times. Great books and a thoroughly, thoroughly nice man! May I ask.....is he no longer with us? Apologies if that's a little off colour.
MD
MD
