Grey Ladies
 

Nah! Glue went out with wooden, fabric covered aircraft. Dope was better! But hydraulic fluid can be quite halucagenic if snorted properly!

I do remember a Shack taking off at the end of the display in 1964/5 and arriving back the following day at the start of the display having supposedly been on patrol in the mean time!

Once did a BK-Machrihanish-BK round trip in a similar timescale (without vipers)

I believe this was the only image of them doing their famous night time loop

http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/f...tion/loop1.jpg




:rolleyes:

Shack 37

From: Hauptmann Brat, Luftwaffe.

Mein dear Hr Shack, if you vos indeed making zis flug as you claim, how vos you doing it vizout vipers? Ze sea-spray at low level vill reduce your wisibility!

I am smelling a rat; zis is all Tommy-rot!

HB

"I do remember a Shack taking off at the end of the display in 1964/5 and arriving back the following day at the start of the display having supposedly been on patrol in the mean time! "

That was the one which did the singleton display over Rockall. Particularly spectacular in '64, when the Northern Lights were at their best.

HB. Wasn't the Aerodyne supposed to film the Rockall display that year? Rumour was that the sun-spot activity which produced the superb Northern lights upset so many of the Aerodyne's systems that they could not find Rockall.

The most advanced feature of the Aerodyne was the Wing-Warping system; this was designed to be impervious to any extraneous influences. Unfortunately, these safeguards were so efficaceous that this included pilot control inputs, resulting in yet more attrition in this troubled fleet.

Regarding navigation, it was often said that the Aerodyne crews could not find rockall, even in unlimited visibility..............

HB

I remember some Shack Navs who had the same problem!!

Anyone else remember the characterful Nav, F E, who spent all his spare time on Gan taking sun and star shots. He was convinced that Gan had been misplotted on his maps and charts!

Was it on the 3rd or 4th pass in front of the crowd that The Grey Ladies did the simultaneous "Scanner to Attack" move? Needed very precise timing due to the increased drag!

shacks
 

i can remember being at masirah in the Met Office when one landed late pm allegedly all the way from iceland
I used to help run civvie bar and would meet aircrew and lock them in storeroom come back in morning tot up number of cans and skipper would pay up
only place they could unwind as a crew

Herr Brot, windows open, heads out (with goggles of course). The goggles did have vipers.

You are smelling die Bratwurst not the Tommy rot.

Vipers? What vipers?...
 

...lining up for take off at BKY in our Mk2 Shack with a 203 a/c on the marshalling point to follow us.
Sgt co-pilot asks ATC for permission to start the vipers. ??? ATC says "But you're a Mk2??"
"I know" says our lad, "it's my vindscreen vipers" His giggles stifled by captain clattering him round the side of his bonedome. CRM?? WTF are you talking about?

The Ancient Mariner

Of course, part of the original plan for the 24-ship loop, was that once established in the loop, all 24 aircraft would simultaneously discharge their 'Flare and Flash' pyrotechnics.
IIRC this part of the display was cancelled as Higher Authority were concerned that such an illumination appearing suddenly over SE England would be reported by the Royal Observer Corp as the flash from a nuclear detonation (this was in the depths of the Cold War) with potentially disastrous consequences.

S206

By the way, when was the 'D' notice on this episode lifted?

Fifteen minutes into Happy Hour, by the looks of the above.

Indeed - followed on the next pass by "Blue Silk to memory".

The other notable innovation was when the now-legendary steam trail was introduced in 1967. The hot water boiler would be switched on 5 mins prior to the display start time to ensure a full head of steam as the formation started the display.

When Grey 1 called "Steam on, Steam on - GO!", on a moonlit night lucky bystanders could witness the never-to-be-forgotten sight of 24 vapour trails describing a lazy loop as the ghostly Grey Ladies formation soared into the heavens.

"Scanner to Attack" was used on the "downhill" part of the loop, to avoid excessive speed build up. As oldog says, timing was crucial, and the call was actually made by Grey Leader's radar operator.
HB - can't find your other thread about the Wiggins Aerodyne. Has it, like the Aerodyne itself, been consigned to the waste bin of history?

Oxenos

Good evening, my friend.

My inane ramblings regarding my beloved Aerodyne are scattered amongst other threads; I have the dreadful habit of sneaking the Old Girl into almost any topic, as she is a most versatile beast indeed. I am fairly sure that I drive the rest of the Pprune community to distraction with this foible of mine; if I were to start a 'Wiggins Aerodyne' thread, I fear that I would be evicted from same.........

If you are determined to reduce yourself to a soporific state, you will find my other posts when you click on my name, adjacent to this humble missive. I can accept no responsibility for any brain damage incurred by your good self...........

HB

This thread...
 

....has a distinct "other-worldly" quality to it, which makes it a pleasant change from the acrimony and bitching one finds in so many other topics.
Thanks Pete.

The Ancient Mariner