MRD's
 

Anyone else have memories (fond or otherwise) of spending a winters morning sat in a wooden cabin with a dodgy derwent either side of you and a fuel bowser just behind you? It wasn't too bad if the cabin heater worked and I personally would have felt better if the JPT and RPM gauges worked :rolleyes:

I have less than fond memories of them burning holes in tarmac, hurling bits of concrete all over the place, and destroying airfield lighting ;)

happy days ! especially in formation !

Machine Runway Destroyer, not Machine Runway De-icer.

Bowser pushing contests at Linton when it was icy, and the fact that being a trained operator got me off station duties at Lossie means I have fond memories of them!

"Yes, I remember it well" (in fake French accent!)

Oui mon cheri.... :p

OPPS
 

I remember, like clarkieboy, the sport of bowser pushing and the abuse delivered by the MT driver! However, in a later life I was the EA for MRDs and Derwents. A signal from Leeming requested instructions on recovery of said engine that had shed part of a blade (outside normal limits, dimensions provided); simple response ‘dimension accepted smooth edge and blend as per AP’. Though no more until late September when a letter from Commandant CFS arrived thanking me for authority to permit the Meteor of the Vintage Pair complete their display season!

I was on Jags when I first encountered MRDs so running Derwents at limited RPM felt like an upgrade on ground running Adours at full reheat :E

I did have one scary moment at Laarbruch when a weld failed on one of the two mounts that attached the engines to the bowser. The bowser had been reversing at the time and the engine/cabin assembly swung round 45 degrees to the bowser. Luckily the fuel supply was flexible and I quickly shut down the Derwents.

Great fun to play with and a total waste of time. One of the many methods to try and get rid of the snow before it melted. As a skilled operator with the help of a cooperative bowser driver you could do some fantastic damage or create much havoc. Plus as a bonus as pointed out above all that and no station duties.

You mean the two noisy fuel leaks pushed by a bloody bowser full of fuel - oh yes.

Fortunately never in anger, only checked out by it when at Lyneham.

Apparently melting the tar between concrete blocks and blowing bits of tarmac all over the joint was obligatory :sad:

We may all laugh, but I have a very good recollection of getting airborne from a a N. Yorkshire flying training base, in the depths of a very snowy winter, at the height of the Cold War, and looking down on a snow covered Yorkshire and being able to navigate using the black strips of runway (Linton, Fenton, Leeming, a Elvers, HOSM, Dishforth, Topcliffe, Finningley, etc), the A1 and the major rail tracks. All the runways were clear thanks to the efforts of MRDs and snow clearing teams. What happens nowadays??

I remember the training course well, quick look at it, pointed out the pertinent bits, up, down, faster, slower, etc.. MRD qualified with out even getting in it lol.

Nothing happens nowadays, we don't have any runways any more !!!

Remember one morning somewhere where the hot blast got under a piece of thin ice the size of a tennis court and sent it whirling away. Would probably have cut you in half if it caught you end-on, but IIRC, no harm to man, beast or Meteors !

Roland Pulfrew,

"Dishforth, Topcliffe, Finningley, etc), the A1 and the major rail tracks. All the runways were clear thanks to the efforts of MRDs and snow clearing teams".

(Plus about £800's worth of Urea per application !)

D.

MRD's
 

Ahh, yes. MRD's.
Sat inside a 'sound-proof' box with a dodgy comm to the bowser driver only (he spoke to Ops so had the radio) with a GUO Derwent Mk 8 either side waiting to shed their turbines and take you out in stereo. The only device I can think of where the operator of engines multiple had no control of direction or brakes, but could remotely reverse a full bowser.:O

For a number of years, I had the dubious pleasure of maintaining the two at Valley, coupled with giving training to reluctant 'volunteer' operators. The rules in those days limited the running of Her Majesty's engines, whether installed on aircraft or otherwise, to SNCO airframe and Electricians, and Engines, all ranks above JT. The Ground Use Only Derwent's differed from the fliers due to lack of altitude compensators, and more worryingly, no acceleration control units. Hence the important part of the brief "NO slam accels", often totally ignored by the 'trainees'. The resonance vibrations and long licks of flame out of the 'snoots' certainly caught everyone's attention. If you forgot to switch on the Nitrogen bottle, you couldn't raise the Machine, and further melting of all things tar was guaranteed. If we couldn't get a hold of a Houchin, the poor MRD would complain noisily and visually on initial start when using a Trollyacc. Never remember using this pair in anger, but, as mentioned above, excused all other Station Duties.::ok:

The only jet engine I ever worked on where the book said if the turbine to shroud clearance was below minimum due to blade creep...install a wider shroud.:uhoh:

I used to know the poor chap who welded up all 75 pairs of exhaust snoots. Even he admitted it had a detrimental affect on his mental stability.

Happy days.

RRNemisis,
The unintended consequence of an innocent decision. Something most of us can relate to.

Camlobe

I remember seeing an MRD lift great slabs - 100's of square feet - of icy bubbles off the Pans at Shawbury and then breaking up to fly dozens of yards towards the middle of the airfield (luckily!)

I also remember seeing the slabs of smooth ice it created once it had moved away and the water re-froze...

I seem to recall that we had to clear the runway centreline first. So when the runway was sloped, the water used to run to one side and freeze. No so easy to blow it away then.

1963 Operating a MRD to clear a taxiway running parallel to the public road at Wyton. Very effective (I was an ace!). Closely followed by council snow blower sending it all back onto the taxi track. You couldn't make it up.

Remember one Jan 1st at Laarbruch, as the duty MRD operator very bleary eyed and with the hangover from hell melting the piano keys off the runway and burning the clutch out on the bowser all before lunch!