Borneo Escort - Javelins
Thank you for your kind words SP and for explaining the PPRuNe system for posting our pics. It appears to be what all engineers aim for but sadly rarely manage, ie to be entirely pilot proof! 
I'm afraid my pics, having started out as Agfa 35mm slides, suffered the ravages of time by the emulsion eating bugs before rather too late being scanned into a digital format. Exposure settings on my Yashica J5 SLR were mainly by guess and by God, the built in exposure meter being both erratic and somewhat creative, as can be clearly seen (Bad workman? What's that got to do with it?). Fitter2's glorious pic from the same era of cruising down the river shows what could be achieved in the hands of a competent photographer.
I would encourage anyone harbouring any Borneo Confrontation era pics to post them here (with or without Javelins, if the OP won't mind too much) as taking a picture back then was a calculation of cost (for film and processing) and ensuring you still had sufficient unexposed film in the camera to capture future unexpected opportunities before being able to replace the full cassette with a new one. You never know, yours might become the future iconic pic of that campaign, much as the one of the two soldiers and two girls paddling in the Trafalgar Square fountains became the one for London VE Day celebrations!
I'm afraid my pics, having started out as Agfa 35mm slides, suffered the ravages of time by the emulsion eating bugs before rather too late being scanned into a digital format. Exposure settings on my Yashica J5 SLR were mainly by guess and by God, the built in exposure meter being both erratic and somewhat creative, as can be clearly seen (Bad workman? What's that got to do with it?). Fitter2's glorious pic from the same era of cruising down the river shows what could be achieved in the hands of a competent photographer.
I would encourage anyone harbouring any Borneo Confrontation era pics to post them here (with or without Javelins, if the OP won't mind too much) as taking a picture back then was a calculation of cost (for film and processing) and ensuring you still had sufficient unexposed film in the camera to capture future unexpected opportunities before being able to replace the full cassette with a new one. You never know, yours might become the future iconic pic of that campaign, much as the one of the two soldiers and two girls paddling in the Trafalgar Square fountains became the one for London VE Day celebrations!
Fitter2's glorious pic from the same era of cruising down the river shows what could be achieved in the hands of a competent photographer.
Not many of my slides from a detachment to the 66 Sqn Belvederes have survived. I was fairly newly arrived on AEF 390MU and still with white knees & issue KD sent to Kuching to help 66 Sqn catch up on modifications and a bit of Cat 2 Assist. There was rarely a day off but on one occasion the Sqn arranged a boat trip, ostensibly to a beach on the coast for b-b-q etc but the driver ran us aground on a sandbank in the middle of the river... Another trip was a lengthy one in the back of a 3-Tonner to a lake in an old quarry some distance up country - said to be the only swimmable fresh water lake due to bugs & bacteria being killed off by the arsenic content of the water. A week or so after the lake trip a rumour went around that the Indonesians had attacked a small base of Australian troops situated near the lake and that they had suffered casualties. No idea whether or not there was any truth in the rumour but it was a hot one at the time.
The photos are from my half-frame Olympus Pen-F, on Agfa slide-film. Apologies for the quality!
The photos are from my half-frame Olympus Pen-F, on Agfa slide-film. Apologies for the quality!
Fitter2, your 4 ship Belvedere flypast jogged memories! Turning up as usual at the Sqn HQ and somewhat bleary eyed we were informed that we would all be airborne within the hour for a formation flypast of HQFEAF. Evidently the boss had been incautious enough at a FEAF Guest Night to boast that he could get all five aircraft presently on the line at Changi airborne if he so wished. The CinC thought that would be a very good idea and looked forward to seeing them the next morning. Frantic efforts by the night shift First Line Ground Crew had them all serviceable and available in time and the Boss made sure that a photographic evidence was obtained for the record. Nonetheless, I suspect a lesson was learned! :-
Sorry OP , mega drift. Singapore not Borneo. Hastings not Javelins. Back to the thread, quick someone!
Sorry OP , mega drift. Singapore not Borneo. Hastings not Javelins. Back to the thread, quick someone!
Javelins were prone to this. I believe 18 were destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair during its career.
If you look at the film at 0.17 you will see an airman pick up an access panel cover off the ground and fit it underneath the plane. I guess that this panel was left off during engine start to allow his colleague to come with his fire extinguisher if necessary.
I hope someone on this thread can confirm...
If you look at the film at 0.17 you will see an airman pick up an access panel cover off the ground and fit it underneath the plane. I guess that this panel was left off during engine start to allow his colleague to come with his fire extinguisher if necessary.
I hope someone on this thread can confirm...
I hope someone on this thread can confirm...
My one and only flight in a Hastings was from Changi to Butterworth when I was doing my bit in confrontasi!On arrival at Butterworth a movements officer boarded and said "what are you lot doing here!!"
There were a couple of Javelins parked near transit flight pan I assume they were 60 squadron and had missiles fitted.As for Avpin I spent two years on Hunters (Aden)and do not recall any major Avpin incidents?
There were a couple of Javelins parked near transit flight pan I assume they were 60 squadron and had missiles fitted.As for Avpin I spent two years on Hunters (Aden)and do not recall any major Avpin incidents?
Spot on; being a fairy rather than a sooty, the precise details of what lived inside that panel were mysterious, but that was where an Avpin explosion would occur if it happened, and where to squirt the CO2. Once both Sapphires were spinning up, one of us ( + 1 at night to hold a torch) dived underneath to secure 22 Dzus fasteners. Earlier marks had cartridge start, producing great clouds of black smoke.
The large access panel had a small hinged panel, secured with only 2 fasteners, inset in it. This hinged panel was originally left open during start-up (not at Kuching!) to allow a quick shufti to check no Avpin fire existed after starting No.2 engine.
Following a series of starter bay ( No.1 service bay) fires at Tengah and elsewhere, there was an instruction issued that the large access panel was not to be fitted until after a visual check for Avpin leaks/fire (i.e. starter crewman was supposed to stick his head inside the opening ) had been made. Not many starter crew personnel 'volunteered' to place their head in the dragon's mouth but the large opening made it more likely that a fire could be spotted from outside.
I expect there is a former Javelin man somewhere claiming to hold the world speed record for securing the fasteners!
As for Avpin I spent two years on Hunters (Aden)and do not recall any major Avpin incidents?
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The Last Javelin
Tengah, Spring 1968. The lsat intact airframe being towed to the Fire Section training area. Apologies for quality ... using an 8mm Minolta pocket camera!
What a sad set of photos, MPN11. So many RAF aircraft ended their days thus. I remember as a CCF cadet seeing a pyramid of Bristol Brigands piled high at RAF Colerne awaiting their fate at the hands of the scrap merchant. The other possibility of course was for Fire Training as per XH 908. At least there was a final duty that could be performed there in honing skills that might someday save lives. That was the chosen role for Hastings C2 WJ 340, which my crew delivered to RAF Strubby on 6th Feb 1968. We taxied into the parking area with only the outboards running for ground manoeuvring as was standard practice, but a C/Tech there frantically indicated for us not to shut them down as we came to a stop and set the parking brake. The ladder was lowered from the main door, he clambered aboard and came forward to the Flight Deck. "Could you taxy back the way you came in, Sir, but where the taxy way turns to the right take to the grass on the left and aim for a large gap in the hedge. In the field beyond you'll see the burned out remains of a Canberra, just shut the aircraft down next to it and I'll follow in MT to bring you all back here to await the aircraft coming to collect you".The Shut Down checks were performed for the last time, 'nothing further to report' entered in the F700, and thus ended the last flight for her, and for me on type...
To make amends for yet more blatant drift here is a photo of a Borneo DZ though its name eludes me, anyone?
To make amends for yet more blatant drift here is a photo of a Borneo DZ though its name eludes me, anyone?
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Cheers, Chugalug2. Perhaps the worst aspect was scrapping them on F Dispersal, in full view in front of the Officers Mess, where we could sip (chug?) our Tiger while watching a swarm of locals having at them with pickaxes and sledgehammers. It seemed so undignified and horribly public.
Chugalug. How about Pensiangan? The DZ was over the river to the west of the village. It meant that the Gurkas there had to ferry everything across the river. Unfortunately one of them was drowned in 1966
Entirely agree, MPN11. Whether we flew these aircraft, maintained them, controlled them, or simply had them as a constant background to our own job, one grew to have an affection, a respect, or even a love hate relationship with them. Whatever one's feelings, they bore some emotional content. To see them strewn around like so much carrion to be picked at was saddening for all but the most retentive bean counters.
FED, might be but it doesn't ring a bell with me. Here's another, likewise on a river bend (good defensive position?), but smaller and almost hiding a little friend? No high viz dayglo panel though, so not sure if we were dropping or just passing by....
FED, might be but it doesn't ring a bell with me. Here's another, likewise on a river bend (good defensive position?), but smaller and almost hiding a little friend? No high viz dayglo panel though, so not sure if we were dropping or just passing by....
