Chinook, the Early years...Big Pics
 

Found some old negatives I thought had gone many moons ago, these are not cleaned up and have been scanned by me, so quality is not that good, but the will give you an insight into the early years of the Chinook... Indeed the two metal bladers in the images where the only two Chinooks in RAF service at the time and were new to the OCU, that is how early these are...:ok:
Pilot in one of the ground shots in the cockpit and indeed the flying shot is C**** T***** and the folks at the rear are being shown round by the Boeing guys.


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Wow!




A Work-Platform Rover!

Lightweight no less, with helistart :)

You must have seen one of those before.

Spent quite a few dark evenings slipping off them! and then trying to degrease them....

But thanks for showing the pic. Oh, I remember those nice clean Chinnies too.

Great pics!

Haven't seen an RAF hanger that clean or free from clutter for a while!
I assume they were taken at ODI in 81?

Loved the haircuts and denims too!

No yellow vests or ear defenders in sight………they were the days………pardon? :rolleyes:

Great pics, thanks for posting:D

Great pics... Quite strange really in a way too seeing those unmodified basic aircraft... No one had any inkling of what was but a few months away... The Falklands War.. and all that was to mean for the newly born Chinook force... And how it was just a precursor for the many continuous years of operational battle hardened service to come.
Good to see CJ there too... He did his bit to help get it started on the right track too RIP.

CJ? RIP?? Are we talking Ch** Ta****

I wonder if those two went to the Falklands and were on the Atlantic Conveyor.

No. We collected chinooks at the time and some transferred over to 18 as their crews trained on them, but they were original OCU aircraft and stayed on the OCU.

Flirty Gerty and Firey Fred as they were known, named by sadly the late Arthur Mitchell, a true Gent.

Regrettably C T passed away a year after taking redundancy in the mid 90's. We worked on the Chinook MLU, just the sort of bloke you needed on that sort of project. RIP indeed.

I didn't know, I used to get on with him very well, such a shame he was one of the good un's :(

Same happened with Arthur, went within a year of leaving... Again I only learnt about it many years later, I wonder how many others I served with have gone on to pastures new :(

That is a shock, I was unaware that CJ had passed away. A true Gent liked and respected by all who knew him.:sad:

500N

FF serial number ZA672 was involved in the Hannover crash with the sad losses and FG serial number ZA673 was destroyed near Sangin in the summer of 2009 all escaped unhurt.

I believe these were the 3rd and 4th aircraft delivered to the RAF, ZA670 & 671 (the first 2) are still with us and will soon be seen as MK4s.

Thank you to all who answered my question. The only reason I asked was because I still remember the Falklands War on TV every night.

After Nutloose's reply, I googled ZA673 and saw that it was destroyed in Sangin. Glad all were OK. Sorry to hear about the other one.


Out of interest, is the famous BN the only one of the original's left ?

If you follow the link to the ZA page of this website, UK Serials and scroll down to ZA670 - 721 you can see what happened to all of our first 33 aircraft. By clicking on the 'i' at the end of each row you will get an explanation of the fate of the airframe. One third of the original delivery have been written off to various accidents or incidents.

The newer airframes can be found in the ZD and ZH pages.

Having followed the aforementioned link, do I see correctly that Bravo November is still alive and well and doing her duty? Is there any historical precedent that she might at least be allocated a "safe" home based OCU role? Would hate to see her lost after such a distinguished career. In a country really struggling to find Greatness of late, this is the kind of thing we really need to be protecting.

Thank you for the link.

Agree Coochycool, with all the comments about the lack of other aircraft kept from previous wars, it would be nice to see BN kept.

Yep, seem to remember first 2 went direct to Boscombe for trials and acceptance, when done they arrived Odiham, the first 2 at Odiham were FF and FG however.

Thought plans are BN will go to RAF museum, if it survives to retirement. Which one cannot see anytime soon.

SRENNAPS.... No need for A tabbard, after degreasing that hangar several times by opening a couple of 45 gallon drums of trichlorethylene and rolling them the length of the hangar, then using squeegees to sweep the contents down the hangar and into the drains, one can only assume they deemed a tabbard pointless as our life expectancy wasn't that great.

RetiredSHrigger, I was as shocked as you at the sad news, I never knew :(

If my memory serves me correctly, BN has been out to Afghanistan and is mentioned in one of the books to rise from there (Immediate Response _ Maj Mark Hammond?)

For those interested in BN, I would suggest watching the Discovery Channel on 27 March when a new programme about the Falklands will be screened. I believe it includes interviews with air and ground crew who were involved with BN.

While everyone would love to see BN protected from ops, it isn't practical
given the size of the fleet. Saddest thing is that the brass plaque no longer sits at the end of the centre console.

Great pictures there, really clear scans, thanks for posting those.

As for the numbers on that linked website, there are also some new ZK ones too.

But even more in interestingly are the XV ones marked as "canx" (cancelled presumably?). Would this have been in the 1960's?
What mark of CH-47 would these have been?
What was procured instead, or did we just make the Wessex soldier on for a few more decades before coming round again to the correct decision eventually?

We had the Boeing team with a Chinook at Tern Hill in 1965 prior, so we thought, to them being delivered to the RAF. They were supposed to replace the Bevelgear as our twin rotor replacement.
Bunny Austin was in full swing during the occasion as he had just done a tour in the USA.

Great pics,given my memory bank a shock-joined 18sqn 30 years ago tommorow! Recognise Geordy c***& acouple whose names have faded,our paths must have crossed.:ok:

Geordie C*** Duncan Sto*** Pete Kav*****

other one I cannot remember

one of the landie is

Frazier McD*****

Dick Set***? If memory serves,saw him at the 20th anniversary

BN and it's latest scrape (when hit by SA fire and the driver took shrapnel to the sweede back in 2010) is documented in Mike Brewer's "Frontline Battle Machines" which gets a regular airing on the Discovery Channel.

I'd also heard the rumor the cab has been earmarked for the RAFM should it survive to retirement.

27 years old: the Chinook from the Falklands STILL serving in Helmand

By Peter Almond

Last updated at 9:58 PM on 18th July 2009

It is an RAF legend - children scramble around a copy of it at the RAF Museum in Hendon, and Baroness Thatcher has been photographed with it.
But Bravo November, a remarkable Chinook helicopter which first saw service in the Falklands, is still going strong on the battlefields of Afghanistan.
The 18-year-old soldiers boarding it in Helmand know only from a small brass plaque inside that this helicopter is a nearly decade older than they are - and it's still not ready for retirement.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/...54_468x326.jpg Valiant veterans: A Chinook drops off British troops in Afghanistan

Bravo November - named after BN, its original identification tail number - is probably the most remarkable RAF aircraft of the last 30 years.
It won its first Distinguished Flying Cross for pilot Squadron Leader Dick Langworthy in May 1982, when it was only two months out of its packing crate at RAF Odiham, Hampshire.
It won its second DFC for pilot Sqn Ldr Steve Carr on the opening night of the Iraq War in 2003, and its third for pilot Flight Lieutenant Craig Wilson in Afghanistan in 2006.
Now officially known as ZA718, Bravo November still holds a world record for carrying the largest number of troops in a single flight.
'Bravo November is a hugely significant aeroplane to the RAF,' said retired Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Johns when he opened an exhibition honouring it at the RAF Museum on the 25th anniversary of the Falklands war.
'The RAF almost never singles out individual aircraft for tribute. But Bravo November is exceptional.'
But is its survival just down to luck? Certainly it seems to have been lucky in the Falklands.
It was away on a flight test when an Argentine Exocet missile sank its transport ship, the Atlantic Conveyor, along with all four of the other Chinooks on board.
Bravo November went almost immediately into action after the first British troops landed on the Falklands, initially carrying 105mm guns to support SAS troops on Mount Kent who were under fire from Argentine artillery.
On a later mission it ran into a snowstorm on its way back to San Carlos Water. The crew's night-vision goggles failed and the helicopter crashed into the sea at 100 knots. Water poured over its cockpit and the two engines started to 'flame out'.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/...77_468x324.jpg Service record: Bravo November during the Falklands War

But luck was with pilot Dick Langworthy and his co-pilot Andy Lawless. Their controls had been set to climb, and with the twin rotors flailing, the helicopter leapt into the air like a cork from a bottle.
Slightly damaged, and without spare parts or adequate lubricants, Bravo November managed to hold together for another vital two weeks, delivering troops and supplies wherever they were needed.
At one point Bravo November rushed into battle with 81 troops jammed inside. It was twice the normal maximum load - a feat that to this day stands as a record for a troop-carrying helicopter anywhere in the world.
By the time the Argentines surrendered, Bravo November had flown for 109 hours and carried 1,500 troops, 95 casualties, 550 prisoners of war and 550 tons of cargo.
It also served in Northern Ireland, Lebanon, Germany and Kurdistan.
At the start of the first Gulf War in 2003, Bravo November took the first Royal Marines on to the Al-Faw peninsula to seize vital oil-pumping facilities. Any one of the five Chinooks on that first British attack could have led the way.
But either by luck, coincidence or the scheming of RAF engineers, the lead commander, Sqn Ldr Steve Carr, found himself flying Bravo November.
Three years later, on the night of June 11, 2006, Flt Lt Craig Wilson was captain of Bravo November in Helmand when he was ordered to recover a casualty at a landing site.
Even though he had done little night flying in the country, he flew at 150ft, made a precision landing and recovered the casualty.
A few hours later he was back on another evacuation mission, although this time he was forced to delay his landing while an Apache gunship suppressed enemy fire.
After this, despite having been on duty for 22 hours, Flt Lt Wilson volunteered to deliver reinforcements to threatened troops. He brought back two wounded soldiers, saving their lives. His actions earned him the DFC - Bravo November's third.
Curiously - or out of concern for ending Bravo November's 'luck' - no mention of this award was made at the Falklands 25th anniversary the next year.
And today, after many months of deep maintenance back in England, Bravo November is back in Afghanistan quietly doing its job - several times narrowly dodging Taliban bullets and rocket-propelled grenades.
'It just always seems to be there when you need it,' said Wing Commander Andy Naismith, former commanding officer of Bravo November's 18 Squadron. 'It never lets us down.'


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Well I know what you boys are like when the wife goes out to work and youre free to play.......

At the risk of really....really upsetting some folks....back in the late 60's using "A" model Chinooks with Dash 7C engines...we used to carry 70+ Troops.....and up to 130 Vietnamese civilians.

Flat assed stupid it was.....but then we did some crazy things back then.

My unit lost an aircraft at a place called Song Be....with much loss of life of Vietnamese Troops and some American Advisors along with the FE who died rescuing those unable to get out of the aircraft on their own.

SP5 Wayne Allums died saving lives during a time of killing.

The aircraft had an engine problem of some sort....was unable to return to the airfield and rolled down the side of a canyon before catching fire and burning to ashes.

BN definitely proved what Chinooks are all about.....and Chinook crews!

The method used to load the civilians (rice harvesters)...was to jam as many as you could standing up...seats folded up....hook door down....load up the ramp with as many as you get on the thing....roll forward...jam the brakes on...and raise the ramp. Almost like flying Ryanair!

Boeing CH-47A Chinook helicopter 66-19029.

Patron was an Advisor to the ARVN unit.....not a Pilot.

Courtney


He had heard you, being a FJ boy needed some new high heels and moisturiser:O

Very high heels in Courtney's case.....;)

L'Oreal. Because I'm worth it!

Without wishing to knock our American Chinook pilots Vietnamese civilians, as SAS knows, are a damned sight lighter than Western troops, especially when they are two thousand miles from a NAAFI. When BN was packing them in it was going there; and it had to come back. With Vietnamese civilians it was just coming back.
Offshore China; the average weight of a male offshore worker was 130 lbs.

FED.....the average American Army Paddy Thrasher weighed a bit more than the Chinese Offshore Hand.....the OAT in Vietnam was a tad higher than in the the FI....and the "C" model was much stronger than the "A".

The Chinook crews and BN did an amazing job in the FI....but the point I am making is it has been done before other places by other folks as well. What we do in War Time....when the rule book is thrown away...is a heck of a lot different than during Peace Time.

If my memory serves me right....BN flew something like 134 hours while doing her thing in the FI....which shows how tough the old girls are when the chips are down. That would have been about a five week amount of flying for a Chinook in my time.....with a fully operational maintenance section and adequate stores on hand. That makes BN's feat all the more remarkable.

to complete the story..............
 

AFAIK the story re hitting the sea after placing the light guns at Mt Kent one of which jammed between the ramp and the hydraulic pipes above it, after they took off low level they hit a snow storm, hit the sea, the engines ran down, the collective was pulled to get the engines working again but meanwhile Andy Lawless (LHS) thought he was going to die so he released his left hand cockpit door, the crewman on the ramp, still without harness secured was washed forward into the cabin by the force of the undertow of all the water, lost his helmet and then decided to jump out of the aircraft via the forward rt hand door but was stopped from doing so by the other crewman as the engines had powered up and the aircraft was now at about 1500'!!
Some 8 yrs after the event I was in the crewroom at 78 Sqn when the phone rang. 'Hello is that 78 Sqn?' 'Yes' 'Is there anyone who knows anything about Chinooks there?' 'Yes I do' 'Well I'm the manager of Teal Inlet and I've just had the Chinook door from BN washed up on my beach!'
Prince Philip visited us at MPA the following week and he was well impressed and Andy Lawless was no longer 'door-less'. :ok:

Anyone know where it is now? Squadron trophy?

Dundiggin, I am doing a 200mm resin Para figure from the Falkands, (I do them as a relaxation and love the painting of them) and a Para who was there during the war is giving me some advice, he wrote of the door and I have repeated it here



Ohh and the figure, off topic but.....

WIP

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:)

Not all Sqn trophy's from that time went down well, I believe a certain life ring being one such item.