‘Christine’ takes a hit
Join Date: Apr 2020
Location: Middlesbrough
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Its probably possible that a couple of guys on here are old mates of mine so will know that what I say is the truth. I was part of 2 of the accidents that (SWMNBN) was involved in.
The head trap incident took place in HMF hangar in Laarbruch in 98. SWMNBN was in the hangar after being road moved back from a detachment to Norway, where it had flown into telegraph wires , low level in a fjord. It had been in repair state for many months.
I was working in an opposite jet, refitting titanium heatshields in the engine bay (wing off-engine out).
SWMNBN was undergoing final undercarriage functional tests. There were 3 engineers working, a young lad in the cockpit retracting the UC, a corporal on headset giving verbal commands, and a sergeant acting as independent checker.
The UC had been cycled several times and everything was working ok, but on this particular attempt, as stated by Teamchief earlier, the legs came down, but the nose leg doors remained open. This normally points to a microswitch that sends the signal to shut the doors, once the leg is down, and centred, thus protecting the UC bay from damage when landing in the field etc. Lots of fragile hydraulic components.
For some unknown reason, the Cpl ended up in the nose UC bay, and must have knocked the microswitch , which sent the signal to the hydraulics to shut the doors.
I heard the bang as the SNCO pulled the door release handle, which luckily, was right next to him. This blew the doors open and the Cpl fell out, suffering massive head trauma.
I jumped out of my aircraft, and for the next hour or so, held the top of his head on until the German emergency services got him stable to move him to hospital.
Luckily he (PF) survived, and as Laarbruch shut down, he remained in hospital in Germany for many months. He returned to Cottesmore after recovering.
SWMNBN was eventually flown back to Cottesmore after being certified fit to fly, and I believe took a birdstrike on its return journey.
A few years later, on detachment to Cold Lake Canada, I was part of the airframe team, responsible for the wing removal, jacking and levelling of the aircraft for an engine change. The engine had been changed overnight and as the day shift, we were putting the wing back on.
We had a Canadian marine crane driver who was unfamiliar with the procedure. He was fully briefed and hand-signals and procedures were confirmed. We had fitted 5 out of the 6 bolts that held the wing to the fuselage, but the last bolt was being a pain in the arse, and wouldn't line up.
We gave the crane driver a signal to slew the crane ever so slightly and for some unknown reason, decided to jib the crane on a monumental scale.
The crane pulled the aircraft heavily to the side and it fell off its jacks, landing on the hangar floor and damaging the nose, nose UC doors and various other lower panels.
A sooty (engine techie) was underneath at the time, doing the final valve connections to the engine, when he heard the crack of the jack legs, and luckily rolled out of the way before the aircraft hit the floor.
We once again repaired the aircraft, with a team of specialist structures lads, and the aircraft flew home. I believe it suffered a birdstrike on its home journey.
The final nail in coffin was the Mortar attack that damaged it beyond economical repair.
I had left the squadron by then so cannot comment on events.
All I can say, is that I am the person who gave her the nickname of "Christine". I was brought up in a family of rock n roll fans who loved that Stephen King film. I was made to watch it loads of times and i've read the book several times also, so it seemed fitting to call this aircraft that name.
I have no proof but I'm sticking to my story and if someone else comes forward as to who gave her that name, I'm willing to listen.
The head trap incident took place in HMF hangar in Laarbruch in 98. SWMNBN was in the hangar after being road moved back from a detachment to Norway, where it had flown into telegraph wires , low level in a fjord. It had been in repair state for many months.
I was working in an opposite jet, refitting titanium heatshields in the engine bay (wing off-engine out).
SWMNBN was undergoing final undercarriage functional tests. There were 3 engineers working, a young lad in the cockpit retracting the UC, a corporal on headset giving verbal commands, and a sergeant acting as independent checker.
The UC had been cycled several times and everything was working ok, but on this particular attempt, as stated by Teamchief earlier, the legs came down, but the nose leg doors remained open. This normally points to a microswitch that sends the signal to shut the doors, once the leg is down, and centred, thus protecting the UC bay from damage when landing in the field etc. Lots of fragile hydraulic components.
For some unknown reason, the Cpl ended up in the nose UC bay, and must have knocked the microswitch , which sent the signal to the hydraulics to shut the doors.
I heard the bang as the SNCO pulled the door release handle, which luckily, was right next to him. This blew the doors open and the Cpl fell out, suffering massive head trauma.
I jumped out of my aircraft, and for the next hour or so, held the top of his head on until the German emergency services got him stable to move him to hospital.
Luckily he (PF) survived, and as Laarbruch shut down, he remained in hospital in Germany for many months. He returned to Cottesmore after recovering.
SWMNBN was eventually flown back to Cottesmore after being certified fit to fly, and I believe took a birdstrike on its return journey.
A few years later, on detachment to Cold Lake Canada, I was part of the airframe team, responsible for the wing removal, jacking and levelling of the aircraft for an engine change. The engine had been changed overnight and as the day shift, we were putting the wing back on.
We had a Canadian marine crane driver who was unfamiliar with the procedure. He was fully briefed and hand-signals and procedures were confirmed. We had fitted 5 out of the 6 bolts that held the wing to the fuselage, but the last bolt was being a pain in the arse, and wouldn't line up.
We gave the crane driver a signal to slew the crane ever so slightly and for some unknown reason, decided to jib the crane on a monumental scale.
The crane pulled the aircraft heavily to the side and it fell off its jacks, landing on the hangar floor and damaging the nose, nose UC doors and various other lower panels.
A sooty (engine techie) was underneath at the time, doing the final valve connections to the engine, when he heard the crack of the jack legs, and luckily rolled out of the way before the aircraft hit the floor.
We once again repaired the aircraft, with a team of specialist structures lads, and the aircraft flew home. I believe it suffered a birdstrike on its home journey.
The final nail in coffin was the Mortar attack that damaged it beyond economical repair.
I had left the squadron by then so cannot comment on events.
All I can say, is that I am the person who gave her the nickname of "Christine". I was brought up in a family of rock n roll fans who loved that Stephen King film. I was made to watch it loads of times and i've read the book several times also, so it seemed fitting to call this aircraft that name.
I have no proof but I'm sticking to my story and if someone else comes forward as to who gave her that name, I'm willing to listen.
I cannot personally confirm the details of the story, but it aligns with everything I had heard about Christine over my (very long ) association with the Harrier, apart from the naming of the aircraft, I hadn’t known how that had come about.
A friend of mine was Deps AEO on a Stovie Sqn and, one evening after night flying at VL, there was much pushin', shovin' and general agro trying to get all the jets to where they should be in the Shed to recover them for the flypro the following day, the SHARs having gone TU in style and considerable numbers during the course of the day. Trying times for Deps trying to keep the show on the road in amongst birds going sick up the ying-yang. 
Eventually, a weary Deps agreed to some non-standard parking for a sick jet outside the Sqn buildings adjacent to the Shed so it could be worked on there with access to power and stuff even though there was no room at the inn so to speak. Tired and fed up, Deps finally decided to call it a night, jumped into his pride-and-joy hot hatchback, engaged reverse and was doing quite well until a SHAR Tailplane appeared through the rear window of said HHB, it's appearance announced in a snow storm of shards of broken glass!!!
Yep, got it in one. As he said in the bar recounting the event a few days after, "What made it worse was I'd authorized the jet to be parked there! And how did I not see something that big parked right behind my car????". As consolation, I bought him another beer, there being nothing else I could offer the poor chap! AS, if you see this, hiya Mate! Hope all's good! Looong time no see!
H 'n' H
Eventually, a weary Deps agreed to some non-standard parking for a sick jet outside the Sqn buildings adjacent to the Shed so it could be worked on there with access to power and stuff even though there was no room at the inn so to speak. Tired and fed up, Deps finally decided to call it a night, jumped into his pride-and-joy hot hatchback, engaged reverse and was doing quite well until a SHAR Tailplane appeared through the rear window of said HHB, it's appearance announced in a snow storm of shards of broken glass!!!
Yep, got it in one. As he said in the bar recounting the event a few days after, "What made it worse was I'd authorized the jet to be parked there! And how did I not see something that big parked right behind my car????". As consolation, I bought him another beer, there being nothing else I could offer the poor chap! AS, if you see this, hiya Mate! Hope all's good! Looong time no see!
H 'n' H
