RAF to retire Tucano
SWB
A few years back 1 FTS consisted of 1 Sqn and 2 Sqn (not real Sqns but FTS Sqns). 2 Sqn are the blue badges. I was in 1 Sqn and the badges (not shown) were blue/red/yellow.
Sometime in the 2000s these because 72 and 207 Sqns. The red and yellow badges are 207. 72 will shortly reform at Valley.
BV
Sometime in the 2000s these because 72 and 207 Sqns. The red and yellow badges are 207. 72 will shortly reform at Valley.
BV
Wot he said, thanks BV, sorry SWB. I’d left before they got Sqn numbers. That explains the blue badges I remember being on the same board as the red ones then, and I think Keren being on both.
A couple of things from a retired Tucano EDIT Technician (the RAF's Engineering Development Team at Scampton in the early 90's). Some things only become apparent from the perspective of a new career:
The Embraer Tucano's wing and main gear were taken directly from the Piper Navajo. Embraer produced the Navajo Chieftain under licence in Brazil. (Embraer had obviously built too many Navajo wings).
More significantly; like most of the aircraft systems, Shorts undertook a complete re-design of the Tucano's hydraulic system (for some reason) using components of their own choosing. None of we technicians could ever understand why they installed a hydraulic reservoir vertically with its "suction" port at the top; it guarantees that, if there is any air in the system, that will be drawn into the pump in preference to hydraulic fluid. And why was it so big? Years later, I'm a Licensed Engineer learning the ropes on my then (Scotland's) airline's Shorts 360. I'm inspecting the hydraulic system, and there's the same reservoir, but in its intended, horizontal, orientation with the suction port at the bottom. (Shorts had obviously made too many 360 reservoirs. And it wouldn't fit in the Tucano's hole the right way up).
The Embraer Tucano's wing and main gear were taken directly from the Piper Navajo. Embraer produced the Navajo Chieftain under licence in Brazil. (Embraer had obviously built too many Navajo wings).
More significantly; like most of the aircraft systems, Shorts undertook a complete re-design of the Tucano's hydraulic system (for some reason) using components of their own choosing. None of we technicians could ever understand why they installed a hydraulic reservoir vertically with its "suction" port at the top; it guarantees that, if there is any air in the system, that will be drawn into the pump in preference to hydraulic fluid. And why was it so big? Years later, I'm a Licensed Engineer learning the ropes on my then (Scotland's) airline's Shorts 360. I'm inspecting the hydraulic system, and there's the same reservoir, but in its intended, horizontal, orientation with the suction port at the bottom. (Shorts had obviously made too many 360 reservoirs. And it wouldn't fit in the Tucano's hole the right way up).
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IRA, Shorts
DD's comments re the Tucano are certainly interesting and news to many I suspect. . Those of us who left the Service and worked in Industry could doubtless also make similar observations along the lines of the philosophy of " We make aeroplanes,only in order to make a profit" .
I suspected that a compendium of these tales would fill a very substantial book and raised this topic years ago with a now deceased well known test pilot.
He agreed totally and added that the subsequent series of court cases brought against the author would also make fascinating reading.
I suspected that a compendium of these tales would fill a very substantial book and raised this topic years ago with a now deceased well known test pilot.
He agreed totally and added that the subsequent series of court cases brought against the author would also make fascinating reading.
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Tucano ; gone but not forgotten....
Well this was the day the RAF retired it's Tucano fleet and the four final Tucano students of 274 BFJT course were awarded their wings by ACM Mike Wigston CAS .
Quite a bit about the day has appeared on social media and also featured on BBC Look North from Leeds again and is available to view on the BBC iPlayer from 09:20 ;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...-news-25102019
and Linton's Twitter feed ;
https://twitter.com/RAFLintonOnOuse
Quite a bit about the day has appeared on social media and also featured on BBC Look North from Leeds again and is available to view on the BBC iPlayer from 09:20 ;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...-news-25102019
and Linton's Twitter feed ;
https://twitter.com/RAFLintonOnOuse
Avoid imitations
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I couldn’t help thinking that OC 72 Sqn would be really impressed to be captioned, as he was, merely as “Flying instructor”.
Thread Starter
Good old ZF135 - "T1", the first of 130!
It hardly seems like 30 years ago that the Tucano entered service but, apart from the BBMF's Chipmunk(s?), that's the last aircraft out of service that I ever had my hands on. It does still amuse me that, as an engineer, I wrote a good chunk of the CA Release. It also still annoys me that the first aircraft lost was due to runaway trim at high speed, and a certain Wg Cdr had previously refused my suggestion to put a note in the Aircrew Manual (Topic 15?) recommending to reduce speed at once if that occurred, on the grounds that "every pilot knows that"!
One lovely argument with Shorts was about sealing the airframe against water ingress. They originally used some blue compound (PX24, IIRC) which was a permanent one-time use sealant. After dowsing the aircraft with water they removed all the panels (breaking the seal) to check that no water had got in. Satisfied, they then replaced all the panels and couldn't understand why it leaked the next time it was left in the rain...
It hardly seems like 30 years ago that the Tucano entered service but, apart from the BBMF's Chipmunk(s?), that's the last aircraft out of service that I ever had my hands on. It does still amuse me that, as an engineer, I wrote a good chunk of the CA Release. It also still annoys me that the first aircraft lost was due to runaway trim at high speed, and a certain Wg Cdr had previously refused my suggestion to put a note in the Aircrew Manual (Topic 15?) recommending to reduce speed at once if that occurred, on the grounds that "every pilot knows that"!
One lovely argument with Shorts was about sealing the airframe against water ingress. They originally used some blue compound (PX24, IIRC) which was a permanent one-time use sealant. After dowsing the aircraft with water they removed all the panels (breaking the seal) to check that no water had got in. Satisfied, they then replaced all the panels and couldn't understand why it leaked the next time it was left in the rain...
It also still annoys me that the first aircraft lost was due to runaway trim at high speed, and a certain Wg Cdr had previously refused my suggestion to put a note in the Aircrew Manual (Topic 15?) recommending to reduce speed at once if that occurred, on the grounds that "every pilot knows that"!
I once made the same inadvertent trim input during the CA Release trials and I wrote it up saying that ".. if it happened in service it would not be a problem as you would notice the higher pull force during the dive pull out and all you had to do was to retrim nose up". How wrong I was! We continued to see it happening occasionally during inverted spins and it became a big pre-flight briefing point.
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I see a few rather senior Officers have been quite sad about the Tincan retiring.
Yeah, at least they got to the frontline in 4 years. Some of them are responsible for screwing over my generation, and most of the next, by not speaking up about UKMFTS.
Cheers "Sirs."
Yeah, at least they got to the frontline in 4 years. Some of them are responsible for screwing over my generation, and most of the next, by not speaking up about UKMFTS.
Cheers "Sirs."
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Now Tuesday; just taken t'dog for walk. Eerily quiet in Nth Yorkshire's airspace - can't get used to it!! Would the Lakenheath wing like to re-commence their ACM/ACT activities over the Linton bullseye please?
When I controlled in the NJRSA from Lindholme in '73, we were always getting 'incursions' (well not really incursions but training traffic wasn't 'supposed' to operate there) from the V of Y training area, but now all the training units seem to have gone in fact, is it even called the V of Y training area nowadays?.
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Chev,
No, just checked. All the AIAAs appear to have been disestablished; dunno when that was from though. Hardly surprising when you recall that all the FTS have gone from the VoY: CF - closed as an FTS/RLG, FY - closed as a FTS, LO - closed as an FTS, TP - closed as a RLG, DH closed as a RLG, LI no longer a FTS/home of CFS. The Yorkshire (esp North) economy has really taken a hammering in realising the so-called 'peace dividend'.
No, just checked. All the AIAAs appear to have been disestablished; dunno when that was from though. Hardly surprising when you recall that all the FTS have gone from the VoY: CF - closed as an FTS/RLG, FY - closed as a FTS, LO - closed as an FTS, TP - closed as a RLG, DH closed as a RLG, LI no longer a FTS/home of CFS. The Yorkshire (esp North) economy has really taken a hammering in realising the so-called 'peace dividend'.
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Nice touch that the last Tucano down was the first production aircraft. Whatever the pros and cons of the aircraft, it gave good service for 30 years and was fun to fly. Let’s hope that the Texan gives similar service. Good luck to 72 Sqn for their future.
Thread Starter
One other interesting aspect of the Tucano is that it was cleared in service for intentional inverted spinning. No type currently in UK military service is and I am not sure which the previous type was, perhaps the Vampire T11 or Piston Provost? The reason why it was cleared was because it was considered that if an inadvertent spin occurred during aerobatics there was a relatively high probability that it would be inverted.