Well done guys! Nearly two pages of great stories in just a day! Keep it up!

And no sign of Krystal! Bet he does not have any interesting stories!

Definitely not a towing accident but a the soon to be ex of a colleague of mine managed to wangle a visit to the AFS with her daughter in deepest darkest Cornwall one weekend.

Whilst taking a fire fighting appliance for a spin down the runway, trying to impress the guests with the performance, they managed to tip it on its side while trying to negotiate a corner too quickly.

My e-mail to some squadron mates who were embarked at the time, comically describing the incident, brought them much mirth, but the view of the Station CO (and my colleague) was, understandably, less jovial.

Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub, of Middle Wallop's fire station rolled a brand-new appliance in 1988.

They learned about 'free surface effect' from that.

ISTR (a long time ago) an incident at MPA early 86 when a Land - Rover based appliance was rolled

Waddo 1967/8 One open to the elements David Brown tractor. Depart cylinder compound with lots of air and nitrogen trollies in tow, arrive D (line ground equipment) dispersal with lots of trollies, minus one in tow.

Apparently it decided it did not want to travel at a sedate pace to the other side of the airfield and left us somewhere near the flt sim.

Same period S****e C*****S delivering one bottle trolley hitched to the rear of a Bedford RL. Bedford halts at dispersal STOP line, trolley continues, passing the Bedford, continuing under Vulcan until meeting with a pair of steps complete with unwary rigger stood atop it.

Hunter
 

8sqdn Khormaksar c1963.forget the reason but a gang of us were bringing a Hunter up from ASF back to the squadron towing with a land rover when the towing arm shear pin went ,like stories before this it had no brake pressure,a shout went up "the towing arms broke".Driver brakes the land rover and the Hunter carries on into the back of it which was empty as we had all jumped over the sides!!!Worse than this ,same land rover two of us detailed to pick up a drum of AVPIN using a gun pack trolley,on the return with the AVPIN in the trolley we were waved down by another vehicle"sparks coming fom your gun trolley mate".We stopped and found that the gun trolley hydraulics had lost pressure and the AVPIN drum had been rotating on the road causing the sparks!!!There were slight flats on the drum!!Hate to think what would have happened if it had ignited!!Well,I probably wouldn't be telling this story!!

ISTR an Argosy incident at Cottesmore (or was it Benson?).
Aircraft towed from hangar, turned right up slight slope and stopped.
Towbar disconnected and hairyplane, neither chocked nor braked, rolled back, caught stbd. wing on hangar, swung to stbd., re-entered hangar and was stopped when stbd. tail boom contacted hangar wall.


Non aviation related incident: Bas asks Mrs Bas to tow him in car. Towline made fast at both ends and loosely flaked out between vehicles.
Bas: "OK, when I give you a toot, off you go." She did - drove off normally :{

Bit of a lack of pre work brief there Bas :)

Yes, I learnt about briefing from that :(

I'm surprised we've got this far without mention of the perils of winter towing Vulcans at Goose Bay (are all the ex-V-Force guys still waiting for the nurse to give them their morning medication?).

It was along time ago, so I'll keep it vague. Taxiway/runway snow and ice clearing was a problematic topic during winter months at Goose, indeed most likely a futile gesture to attempt it. Likewise, no external parking for aircraft, everything would be frozen solid.

So the procedure was to start up the Vulcan in the Hangar (and they were big, warm hangars), attach the tug (Douglas Taskmaster, I think), and, generally, push the Vulcan out onto the apron. Either way - push or pull - there was 50/50 chance that once the tug was on the apron surface it's mighty efforts would be overcome by Olympus power. The results were unpredictable; staight back the way you came, a little bit sideways, wheels rotating but no movement. Throw into the mix the Vulcan's balletic properties on permafrost surface and you had a recipe for disaster (or certainly lots of fun...). Thankfully I experienced this only occasionally, and then passing through to sunnier climes; mind you Ellsworth AFB (Rapid City, South Dakota; tried it once, that was enough) could have equally savage conditions and nowhere to shelter the aircraft, or self (with winds of about 30-40kts and minus temperatures greater that of our combined IQ/shoe size).

Where was I; oh yes, come on V-Force crews and RAF Goose Bay support folks, contribute to the big picture about the fun to be had towing aircraft in adverse conditions:ok:

Mister B

Hawk v Hunter
 

TWU Brawdy 1980, Hunters already out in the fresh air ready for the first wave with the new Hawks still being assembled. A Hawk with brakeman was being towed out behind a row of Hunters when the shear pin broke. Unfortunately the brakes accumulator had not been charged so the presence of the brakeman served no purpose and he became merely a spectator in the ensuing contretemps. Due to the slope of the ASP the Hawk gathered momentum, altered course to port and crunched into the back of two T7s damaging the tailpipe of one and the aileron of the other. Serviceable T7s were like gold dust so there was much hand-wringing until our Hunter SEngO appeared on the scene and said 'no worries' I'll have them both back by lunchtime and he did. The aileron was easily removed and a new one installed and the damaged tailcone was simply unbolted and replaced with one from one of our many hangar queens. The Hawk? Out of action for several weeks because the damaged skin and honeycomb of the leading edge had to be rebuilt. Definitely one up to the old school.

There is also a serious moral: Brakemen are only as good as the brakes!

Thanks Newt for starting this thread so we can get back to celebrating the fact that a Lightning is flying again.

Late '70's at a secret base in North Wales. Camlobe is enjoying a week on Station towing Team. This fine band of men was drawn from all sections of engineering from around the unit. One JNCO I/C, one tractor driver, one brakeman (camlobe) and two wingtip men. Half way through this wondrous week of fun, the message on the Storno states "Practice fire, practice fire, practice fire, Gaydon Hangar".

In accordance with our brief, we abandon the aircraft we are moving, chock it and off we go max chat with the tow bar bouncing along merrily.

Organised chaos ensues as all available personnel are removing aircraft as fast as possible from the "burning" hangar. Camlobe vaults into the front cockpit of one steed after checking seat pins, one wingman is pumping the Hydraulic hand pump furiously as we are well below operating pressure, the JNCO is using our tow bar as a sterling bar, and the aircraft is pulled into the middle of the hangar. Camlobe closes the canopy down to a one inch gap, again as briefed, and the aircraft is pushed rear wards out of the eastern end of the hangar...down the slope...towards the blast detuner. Harry hand pump is still beavering away like a demented banshee (fortunately) and the multitude of leading edge pushers ease off. The JNCO is now at a light gallop trying to keep up with the increasing pace of the aircraft. In the rear view mirrors, I can see the detuner getting closer (objects may be closer than they appear) and am starting to feel concerned. So are the guys following the leading edges as they back further away.

A standard point in any brief about moving aircraft is the use of brakes, and the use of the word "brakes". If heard, the brakeman applies them, but on no account should he operate them UDI. (Certain exceptions apply). Because the brakeman cannot see everything around the aircraft, he relies on the JNCO and the other members of the towing team to instruct when to apply the brakes. "Brakes" will be called in a clear voice accompanied by the visual signal of a fist clenched.

With the increasing rearward speed of the aircraft, anticipation of instruction was heightened. And through the small gap of the open canopy, camlobe heard someone say "brakes".

The brakes were positively applied...and the view from the cockpit changed quite dramatically. Firstly, the JNCO disappeared...then the hangar disappeared...then it all came back into a view with a thump. The JNCO was running away from the dropping tow bar towards the hangar...right into OC Eng Wg dressed in his Number 1's, who witnessed everything. After the third bounce, the JNCO, who had the thoughts of career cessation, ran back and started screaming unimaginable thoughts and questioning my parentage.

After a couple of seconds of his tirade, I merely mentioned that I had acted as briefed, and having heard someone say "brakes", I applied them. I acknowledged that it may have simply been one of the leading edge escorts saying "you think he would have put the brakes on by now" but I wasn't in a position to judge.

As OC Eng Wg invited the JNCO to his office, I surveyed the scene. The strakes weren't even scratched, the nose wheel and door weren't damaged and the rudder missed the detuner by about four feet.

Too close for comfort, but nobody hurt.

P.S. I think it is nice to see a Lightning flying again.

Camlobe

Anyone know why the bowser knocked the tail off a Phantom at Leuchars not long before the fleet retired?
Istr it was due to the drivers feet being slippy with fuel but stand to br corrected.


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The main one i remember was at Lyneham.
Moving a herc onto one of the bays where things that go bang can be loaded. It was early morning and decidedly dark. I was sat in the Eng seat running the APU so we had power for lights and brakes. We were quite merrily being towed at 'steady pace' by gold Dick (we could probably have a thread dedicated to him on here) when the guy on brakes in the pilots seat said "what wa".
Thats as far as he got into saying "what was that" when there was a decidedly loud bang and some noise from the back of the plane. We had to use the radio to get the tug to stop so we could see what the hell had happened.

Someone had left a portable lighting rig out in the middle of the airfield, extended.... and we had towed the plane straight through the extended arm of the rig. It was the fastest leading edge change i'd ever seen so the plane made the slot with no delay.

We never did find out who left the lighting unit extended in the middle of the airfield.

An ex colleague of mine on Lightnings was tasked to bring in the power sets post flying, hooking up a power set he thought, ohh i'll make a power set train and hook them all up to each other, so off he sets with his train in tow, coming to a Lightning he slows down and watching his first power sets glide effortlessly under the wing he put his foot down to be greeted with an almighty bang... the last power set on his train was sporting an extended exhaust system that didn't quiet fit under a lightning wing.. :E


.

At Lyneham in the 60s Britannia Base 3 (Major) servicing was carried out in the North end of J1 Hangar. There was a purpose built multi story servicing dock built within the hangar which had 4 inches of clearance around the fuselage. The put the aircraft into the hangar required a 90 degree turn with the inner wingtip just 6 feet from the hangar. The Lyneham tug drivers rarely needed to reverse whilst putting an aircraft in. Respect.

Snaking again
 

Friday afternoon, get the Bucc back to the Squadron post servicing in ASF.
Long haul back to the Squadron so a bit of speed required :} .
As the Taxi-way is not on the flat, on the down hill sections said Bucc is pushing the tractor and a bit of snaking occurs.
Get to the Squardon, who gave us grief for bringing it back on a Friday plus the message to ring Air tragic control for a B*****king

Towing a Hunter T-bird and the cable on the towing arm, which operates the jaws to disconnect the towing eye, gets trapped within the giant spring which compressed while going around a corner, shortened cable now works as advertised and opens the jaws and the tractor and towbar part company.
both stopped without any damage.

Icy day in the Falklands, tractor would not push the F4 into the HAS, whilst OC Eng not looking got a second tractor to push the first one and managed to get A/C safely to bed - with only minor paint scratches to both tractors. ;)

Odiham, late 80s

An imminent squall is forecast with high winds and the decision to taken to tow the wokkas into the hangar.
By the time the towing team has hitched the beast to the Unimog the winds are upon us. The rotor blades have not been tied down but the towing starts. After a short change of direction one blade is now presented side-on to the wind. Result? Blade rises to the vertical, pauses and then descends with an almighty crash. "Ah," think I, "that'll be a lesson in bladesailing for the towing team then." Unfortunately the message didn't quite get through. After a brief delay the towing continues until the aircraft has turned through a further 60 degrees, presenting the next blade to the wind. Guess what? Now both front and aft gearboxes need inspections following the shock loading...and one needed changing ISTR!

You just reminded me we used to open the hangar doors at Coningsby by pushing them with a Land rover bumper. Lot easier than winding that bloody handle.

The first Vulcan for 617 Sqdn. arrives at Scampton. Everyone turns out to watch it taxying towards ASF. Sgt detailed by crewchief to marshall it the final 50yards or so. As it turns to park, in between the hangars, the starboard wheels cut across the grass and sink! Thankfully a quick blip on the throttles and it clears, no problem. Who was watching the starboard side...Wing Commander OC Eng, Wing!:O

camlobes story reminds of something similar that happened to me whilst on 203 Sqn Nimrod MR1s. Sat on brakes as we were towing the aircraft back onto the pan, all going well with me listening intently for the instructions from the I/C towing team as camlobe stated the brief the brakeman is always given is do as the I/C tow tells you. So there I was enjoying the Maltese sun when I thought that was odd we are moving backwards, still I heard nothing and assumed all was under control, had a look out the window and thought ' I hope the wingtip bloke and I/C has noticed how close the LH wing is to the hangar stanchions, when a rather frantic person (i/c tow) loomed into view screaming for brakes, which were duly applied before the aircraft hit said stanchion. At the wash up it appears the tug driver had lurched a bit while starting up a slight slope and broke the shear pin, this was my fault apparently for not realizing that and putting the brakes under my own initiative.

I actually have seen and been involved in a number of towing incidents with Tornado (including a 'I learnt about speeding on a wet & negative camber taxiway in the dark) and Chinook over my 30 years of being brake man, tower and I/C, Some involving Air logs trailers and runway RHAG engagement at St Athan, some involving ATC and Victor tanker landing while we were trying to recover a Tornado of the runway at Marham.

It does make the handle spin quite fast though!

Airline, sadly no longer with us, moving the staging around the aircraft, bod in charge cannot be heard over the noise of the wheels etc, so has a cunning idea and buys a whistle, briefs the team, one blow to stop. Off they go when suddenly lots of frantic whistle blows heard and team stop pushing thinking WTF, checking they find they have wheeled it over his foot breaking his toes.. :E

The Valiant's towbar was attached to the forward fuselage, not the nosewheel assembly. This meant that somebody had to be in the left hand seat to steer it behind a tug. If the tug didn't have 110 volts you had no electrical power to steer it. Then a Houchin power unit had to be plugged in and towed by another tractor alongside the aircraft.

A compass swing required a navigator and co-pilot to be in the cockpit. The co-pilot to steer and call out the landing compass headings and the navigator to adjust the compasses.

When, not if, a Valiant under tow got its nosewheel out of sequence with the tug there were black tyremarks all over the place.

At Bassingbourn in the early '60's a Canberra went wheels up into the overshoot.
After air bags had raised the a/c, trackjacks were located under each wing and hitched up to a tractor ready to tow a/c away. Just prior to this the F/Sgt in charge detailed an airman to sit in the cockpit. As the tractor driver was given the signal to move off the F/Sgt shouted at the airman in the cockpit, ''brakes off''!

Old habits......!

ATC towing story, during a Part 1 Mineval at a major bomber base south of Lin***n.

Certain "things" had to be moved from "a certain location" to the various dispersals in order to "generate" certain other "things". Nothing must impede their stately transit, or people will be "exercise shot on sight". One small snag ... it was 10/10 fog of the densest quality that Lin***shire can provide. So ... the Local Controller, using a Storno on the Blue Channel spent the next hour or so directing 'ground traffic' by guesswork and "Have you passed the PAR yet?" to ensure the convoys proceeded uninterrupted from "there" to "somewhere else".

At some stage, Big John Stn Cdr called the Tower to ask why it was taking so long to get "things" to designated dispersals. SATCO was required to ask him to look out of a window and see the reality. He gulped, and accepted reality ... he was a great Boss :D

It was a slow, but safe, generation exercise and IAW SOP :cool:

Not if you take it out first...:)

Turns out that going across the grass isn't a short cut...

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...ps2910ba40.jpg

Another one...
 

After a morning giving the pre-winter MRD training to Trades, Aircraft, Group 1, (engines-J/T and up, riggers and leckies-Sgt and up), camlobe is using a Land Rover Lightweight booked out from MT specifically for towing a Houchin to and from the Blister hangar where the MRD's were housed. However, this was the late '70's, and we still had a mix of RAF and NATO towing pins on the Land Rovers and towing eyes on ground equipment. Sure enough, the Lightweight was NATO and the Houchin was RAF. So, the jaws of the NATO hitch wouldn't fit in the ring of the Houchin. No problem, thinks our self-declared hero. This rope lying around will suffice. Five minutes later, the Houchin is 'secured' to the Lightweight by a method not recognisable by any Boy Scout or matelot. Training finished for the morning, time to return the Houchin camlobe scrounged Camlobe passes through the north gate, waving to the familiar face in the guard post and turns right onto the public road. Due to the incredible amount of shouting and whistling, camlobe decides to stop and investigate. Climbing out of the Landy! camlobe turns round to see...no Houchin. Camlobe's guard mate runs up and uses sign language while he catches his breath. For a couple of seconds, an episode of charades ensues. It turns out, when camlobe turned right onto the public road, the Houchin, now free of restraint, continued onwards in a forward fashion...straight towards one of the lakes popular with fishermen.

The guard deserted his post and assisted camlobe to try and recover the Houchin. Eventually, using the rope to pull the Houchin backwards, the Houchin is recovered to the public road. The guard returned to his post and let through the queue of cars that had built up. Camlobe makes sure of the rope securing and returns the Houchin slowly, after washing off the various bits of mud and undergrowth.

Camlobe is then stopped by the Padre. After a short chat, camlobe offers his services to carry the Padre's firewood collection to the bonfire sight before returning the Lightweight to MT. The bonfire sight is at the bottom of a slope. No problem, thinks our fool of a hero. After driving to the bottom of the slope, camlobe then unloads the firewood. Attempting to drive away back up the slope merely spins the rear wheels. Ahh, well, I'll try four-wheel-drive. Yellow knob depressed, and away we....slip. Ok, Red lever rear wards and that will sort it. Nope. The Lightweight is now covered in...yes, more mud and undergrowth. Walk forever to find a phone, call MT and wait for assistance. After recovery, camlobe washes the Lightweight and returns it to MT. OC MT doesn't get angry with me for my unauthorised trip to assist the Padre. Normally any and all unauthorised trips are automatically chargeable offences. My best guess is OC MT is a religious sort of chap, and possibly feared a bolt of lightning.

So, why did the Landy spin the rear wheels only? Because MT in their wisdom had removed all the front propshafts because the Linies kept breaking them...while towing trains of N2 bottles in four-wheel-drive!

Just another day in a blue suit.

Camlobe

Apart from being the driver of a pirouetting tractor and Jag combination between one and two hangar at Lossiemouth; the other notable towing debacle was at a south clutch station in the early eighties in a group of HASs where the Jags were loaded with weapons I can neither confirm nor deny their presence on Federal German soil. The power failed in one HAS, choice of options: get a spare aircraft and up-load (not likely on a Sunday) or move the loaded aircraft to another HAS. After much discussion by the Stn Execs approved the move the aircraft ’as casually as possible’. Tractor attached Pilot as brakeman; as I pulled the aircraft out thirty plus RAF Plods shoulder to shoulder were providing a barrier to stop people seeing the weapon. As we moved the police cordon shuffled in a scene reminiscent of a Keystone Cops movie and note as casual as planned!

The odd towing tale.
 

A few memories involving towing and the attempted towing of aircraft ..

Jaguars, as already mentioned, the tow bar had a shear pin that would fail if overloaded in a tight turn at too fast a towing speed. One early morning, 54 Sqn tow team pulling a GR out of 1 Hangar at Colt, way too fast and in a turn. Shear pin fails and the Jag goes off on a tangent, no braking apparent. Suddenly Electro Hydraulic pump powers up and aircraft bunts down on its nose oleo as the aircraft skids to a halt. Vendee has already explained what didn’t happen. That was in the late 90s.

Wittering in 1990. I’m up with RSS doing repairs to wings in the wing bay. Had to pop around to see another of our teams working up at the OCU. Around the corner I walk and find a GR3 stopped with a unimog very close to the cockpit, its windscreen smashed by the pitot probe. Around the corner comes Simon, a guy that I had just done TMT with and was on the OCU. “What happened mate?” “We towed the aircraft out, stopped, disconnected the tow bar and realised there was no brake accumulator pressure”. The OCU hangars were on a slope, so the aircraft had started to move. The tower realised the only thing to do was to use the tow bar on the unimog as a chock. It worked but the aircraft caught the windscreen. I believe OC MT wasn’t very pleased.

The last one was a farce. Lossiemouth in 1986. The Flight Sargent of the bays and VASS (surname sounded like D*** Head) asks the Chief who ran VASS to move the old Argosy that was on the grass near the lighthouse over to the burning. The Chief replies “bad idea, it’s been raining solidly for 4 days!” only to be ordered to send a team from VASS to do it. The VASS team goes to the other side with the big tug master, only to get halfway across the grass before the tug sinks 18 inches to its chassis. Radio calls gets the other VASS tractor across with a winch. That tractor even with a snow plough on it does a great impression of a plough trying to winch the tug out. Even EOD get involved with their AFV. It’s standing on the back of its tracks trying to pull the tug out with no effect. By this time the rest of the lads from MCSF had been called over with shovels and boards. We dug trenches for the wheels and laid down boards in between and ramps out the back. Then the tug was then driven out slowly with boards placed in front of its path back to the taxi way. We were covered in mud and the Flight Sargent wasn’t seen at the beer call that evening..

Funny how you remember a/c numbers, XV 307 brings back a terrifying moment as my pension was due in a couple of months; winter 89/90, towing 307 to bay 43 at Rompers, directly in front of ops, wet night. Little Annie on the brakes; as the chocks were put in, I shouted breaks off. The tug had been disconnected and 3 of us had hold of the towing arm. As Annie let go the brakes the bl##dy kite jumped up and pushed the nose wheel chocks out of the way and headed off towards the Bund Road Fence.... fortunately Annie was on the ball and leapt back into the seat and screamed down the back for more pressure of which there was not alot. fortunately the guy on the pump gave it all he had and Annie had the sense to wait before having another go at the pedals. She banged on the brakes and 307 fortunately shuddered to a halt mere inches from chain link and concrete posts. CHOCKS IN shouts I before almost collapsing in a heap of relief...... unfortunately the lads on the towing arm had seem me vainly tugging on the arm trying to stop Albert + 34k from rolling down the hill. Annie was a stroppy moo but I could have klissed her that night!
Had to laugh at the comments regarding bottle trolleys at Waddo. In the early 70's there were 22 nitrogen trolleys on the line and they were constantly having to be topped up at the weir (spelling?) the line tractor had a rev counter that basically said 19 mph per thousand revs; what nobody said was you cant make the tractor rev counter hit the stops at 2000 rpm with just the judicious use of a safety raiser handle jammed on the throttle cable. When you are towing perhaps a dozen trolleys and supper and the Raven club disco were about to start and it is peeing down or just Waddos brand of freezing fog surrounding you, 4 tons of tractor + trolleys could be a very interesting ride at around 40mph or so..........
Also remember back at Rompers when told to closr the hangar doors in J2 when just as the nose dock door was nearly closed, XV 177 jumped 4ft side ways to attack the door honest.......

If it's not too far off thread (and admittedly no aircraft are involved), the second part of my #4260 (p. 213) on the "Pilots Brevet in WW2" Thread, may amuse. It was about a tractor tow which bid fair to put a whole runway u/s !

D.

Sorry guys, I just have to ask the question! Why do tow bars have shear pins?

Standing by for incomers:ok:

Because some aircraft have limits on the left/right travel of the nose gear. Better to break the pin than break the oleo.

They are a failsafe, better the pin shears when you overload the arm than you tear the U/C leg out of the airframe. They are not just for side loadings either, but also for fore and aft.

Sheer pins
 

Newt,
As ShyTorque and NutLoose have referred, the sheer pin forms the weak link when towing, but only really effective when pulling. You can sheer the sheer pin when pushing, but you may not notice until the prime mover stops and the A/C continues. The sheer pins were manufactured from a fairly hard aluminium alloy and had a hole drilled through the centre. One end had a 'head' like a clevis pin, and the other end was cross-drilled for a split pin or similar to prevent the sheer pin from jumping out. They are manufactured in different ratings to reflect the weight of the aircraft being towed, and the ratings are identified by stamps on the head.

So, if the correct pin is fitted, can you damage the aircraft? Well, yes. In the incident Wensleydale referred to earlier, Shackleton AEW II WL 756 had its tail wheel assembly, including surrounding structure, ripped out. The correct rating sheer pin was installed in the tow bar at the time.

The aircraft were being put away into K17 hangar, a building that could accommodate three Shacks...if done correctly. 8 Sqn line had a Douglas Medium tractor (max tow weight 100,000 lbs) and the SOP was to tow the first one into the hangar, and at the last minute, swing the tractor to one side, just missing the far-end doors. This would ensure the tail of the aircraft would be as close as possible to the doors thereby leaving enough room to get another two Shacks into the hangar. If the first one wasn't in far enough, the third one would have its nose sticking out the other end.

On this particular occasion, the Douglas was U/S, so '56 was being towed in by the station Tug, a vehicle that due to its size was unable to do the 'Douglas swing'. The towing party stopped and opened the two centre doors to allow the Tug to drive straight through. Doors open and tug moves forward. Because the NCO I/C hadn't requested "brakes ON", he didn't request "brakes OFF" either. The awfully helpful chap in the cockpit had decided to play safe when the aircraft came to a halt and put the brakes on, just to be safe. Due to the noise of the Tug running in the hangar, none of the external towing team heard the air brakes operate (loud hissing like a lorry) and therefore were none the wiser. Because the Tug applied an even and smooth pull, and because the Shack towing arm had a very big spring, the forces wound up until the tail wheel structure overloaded. Fortunately, the bomb doors were fully open, and the aircraft settled onto the rear of the bomb doors. Because the bomb doors were hinged off the strongest longitudinal part of the aircraft, the longerons, the weight of the aircraft was supported by this strong path, thereby preventing major crush and ripple damage to the rear fuselage.

A sheer pin will fail quickly if subject to a 'snatch' load, and more slowly if the overload is gradual. I think most of the contributors in these pages have seen sheer pins in an almost 'S' shape when removed.

Camlobe

Shackletons can still be difficult due to how fragile the tailwheel is.. it doesn't take much effort to break one, and they're not that solidly attached!

There are numerous photo's of MR2 aircraft sat on their tailfins without being towed, and looking through the paperwork both tailwheel oleo and the bearing blocks for the torque tube have an SI regarding stress cracking. Our WR963 split her tailwheel oleo leg from top to bottom last year, partly caused by getting stuck in a rabbit hole in the soft sand on the grass area at Coventry Airport.

As the tug moved the aircraft forward to go off the grass towards the ramp, the ground just caved in below the starboard mainwheel. Our tug is an old Fleet Air Arm deck tug, and as a result it isn't really equipped with tyres for the job, so we were very happy when Air Atlantique's old David Brown tractor took over and gently hauled her out of the hole.

The shear pin in the towbar didn't let go, but the tailwheel casting did. :ooh:

peppermint_jam's photo I thought was going to be of the German Tornado at St Athan post Air Show day in I think 93, but it was not allthough looks exactly the same state regard sinking as that one did. The background for the St Athan one was the towing teams are directed which aircraft and what order that the aircraft where moved from the static line to the active line for dispatch.

The Tornado's had to be moved first but there was not enough wing tip clearance between the RH wing tip and the nose of the other aircraft on the only route that could be used, when requesting advice it was basically sort it out, so as it had been a lovely sunny period the airfield grass was dry and earth solid provided you made sure the RH wheel was at least 3 foot onto the grass, 2 aircraft had been moved with success in this manner, but the third the RH mainwheel was moved the minimum amount off the taxi way and immediately sunk in one of the few soft spots around, it ended up like the one in picture above.

Several hours later when the wheel ended up bogged down even more by trying to pull it out with larger and larger vehicles (pushing and pulling) and the towing rescue sling, one full defuel once all the kit was assembled to empty the wing tanks, then somone listened to those that would have removed the aircraft hours earlier by digging a trench and laying a sheet of runway repair plate down, within 15/20 minutes after doing this the aircraft was successfully returned to the flight line and departed post refuel.

The debrief took a long time as well, as apparently it was my fault for succesfully doing it that way with the other aircraft.

Another one #2
 

Late '80's, Lossiemouth.

"EMERGENCYSTATETWO, EMERGENCYSTATETWO, EMERGENCYSTATETWO, JAGUAR AIRCRAFT TWO POB, WITH NOSE UNDERCARRIAGE PROBLEMS"

All sections empty to watch the unfolding drama. Front seater elects to remain on board to assist rear seater (experience had apparently shown that the forward fuselage distorts, possibly affecting ejection of the front seat). Beautiful clear day. Over the hedge and the canopy is jettisoned, landing inside the airfield boundary. The most gentle contact of the mainwheels, and one of the most bizarrely beautiful sights entertain the onlookers - the graceful look of a Jaguar, mains on the floor with nose gear out of sight. It looked just so right.

Back to reality, speed slows and gravity takes over. The nose of the Jag is brought into contact with the Tarmac smoothly, and the aircraft slows and stops on the centreline. Two bods out safely on the grass and fire crews attend. Station personnel applaud, glad of the safe outcome, and impressed with the brilliant job done by these two fine aviators.

Then the recovery of the Jag.

226 send a team to recover the aircraft. MT crane lifts the nose and the tracks are positioned underneath. The tracks are connected to the tractor by a chain, and the SNCO I/C the move walks quickly beside the aircraft while SAC Bloggs is sat on the brakes. All's well until they are moving along the taxyway past the Great Eight...where the taxyway dips. The whole line shift in Eight including JENGO and SENGO are at the window to see how the 226 neighbours are going to "cope-with-the-slope". We are not disappointed.

The tractor (MF 40 IIRC) continues at it's fixed fast walking speed accompanied by its escorting SNCO. The Jag starts accelerating...

Bloggs the brakeman cannot steer away from the tractor because...the steerable nose wheel is in bed. The sound of the dragging chain alerts the SNCO that all may not be well. The wingtip guys, residing in the tractor, alert the tractor driver of the impending pitot tube coming his way.

At the same moment, the brakeman stands on his pedals while the tractor driver accelerates.

The tracks didn't get completely dragged out from under the Jag nose, but it was awfully close.

MT crane called again, nose re-lifted, tracks placed, and loads of 226 personnel escort the unfortunate Jag and it's recovery team home. And the whole station saw it.

We sat down again and had another coffee.

Just another day in a blue suit.

Camlobe