OPeration Corporate AARI'S
 

As far as my research into Operation Corporate, I am trying to clear up a bit of confusion regarding the AARI's that flew with the Vulcans. Please can you Help


My list so far is


Flt Lt Dick Russell Black Buck 1 Flt Martin Withers
Flt Lt Pete Standing Black Buck 2 Sdn Ldr Reeve
Flt Lt Ian Clifford Not Known
Flt Lt Paul Gausden Not Known
Flt LT Gardiner Not Known


I have read most of the books and Magazine articles on Corporate and have run out of ideas except seeing the Form 540 at the National Archives
Many Thanks for any help


Manxman57 /Roger Brooks

Form 541 is the one you need with crew lists per sortie.

See PMs for ...........

Thanks Pontius
I directed Roger here from the Key Publishing site in the hope yourself and TTN etc. would be able to help.
Cheers
Jon

Black Bucks 4, 5 and 6 all flew without an AARI. Flt Lt Brian Gardner was the third pilot or 6th crew member and he was a Vulcan captain from No 9 Sqn (attached to the crew of No 50 Sqn).

Air 27/3579 (the 50 Sqn 540/541) offers some insights, but confuses as well as helps if taken at face value.

For Black Bucks 4, 5 and 6 the crew (spelling below is as it is in the document, BTW) list is:

Sqn Ldr CN McDougall (Captain)
Flt Lt Gardner (co-pilot)
Fg Off CCM Lackman (3rd pilot)
Flt Lt DA Castle (Radar)
Flt Lt B Smith (Plotter)
Flt Lt R Trevaskus (AEO)

Annex C of the 540 for May 82 describes BB4, and describing the start of the sortie, the author (unnamed, but I presume Flt Lt Gardner) says 'As AARI, I was flying from the right hand seat' - I assume that this was Flt Flt Gardner, but cannot be certain.

For Black Buck 5, the crew is listed as above, minus Flt Lt Smith. Since he is mentioned in Annex D of the 540 as being part of the BB5 crew, as well as being name-checked in Dave Castle's chapter in Vulcan Boys, I'm assuming that this was an omission by whoever complied the 540...

And for Black Buck 6, the same crew again - and again, Flt Lt Gardiner [sic, note changed spelling] is described in Annex A of the 540 for June - as the AARI.


Black Buck 7 was flown by Martin Withers' crew, of course.

Flt Lt Clifford is listed as being the 6th crew member of Sqn Ldr Montgomery's crew.

And finally, but by no means least, Flt Lt Gausden is listed as the 6th member of the McDougall crew by the 540, but as we have seen, Flt Lt Gardner was in that position for BBs 4,5 and 6. I think I am correct in saying that he was the Ppruner 'Art Field', who is sadly no longer with us?

Forms 540 are not necessarily always accurate as the one mentioned above proves. Brian Gardner was not a Victor AARI but a Vulcan pilot and 9 Sqn captain. He was the third pilot and Chris Lackman (now deceased - see the thread on the Abingdon air show accident) was the crew's co-pilot. This 50 Sqn crew was the only crew that flew without an AARI - and they flew 3 of the 6 Black Bucks.

Archimedes asked Correct. Paul passed away in August 2013.

Darvan - agreed; my puzzlement lies in the comment by the author of the report of BBs 4 and 6 about being an AARI, hence my observation that the 540/541 confuses as well as helps.

Would someone decode AARI for me please? Thanks.

CG

Charlie,

Air to Air Refueling Instructor.

Operation Corporate AARI's
 

I would like to say a big thank you for sorting this for me as trying to obtain access to the 540 and 541 is rather hard and long winded. I spent 12 years with the tanker fleet and ended up as a Crew Chief on both the Mk 1and 2 tankers. My first overseas flight was with Bob Tuxford on Completion of his Captains Course to RAF Akrotiri and return.


Thanks again


Roger Brooks
Author Handley Page Victor Volume 1 & 2 Published By Pen and Sword

Wg Cdr Colin Seymour flew AAR Support for MRR (Maritime Radar Recce) Nos 1 & 2, and as Primary on MRR 3. He then flew twice
on Blackbuck 1, as well as Blackbuck 2, before tanking the first wave of Vulcans back to UK on 7 May.

He was called back to ASI a few days later to replace Flt Lt Ian Clifford who had become unavailable.

I do not know if he flew with the Vulcans.

Hello Roger. I've come late to this thread, but wouldn't have been able to help anyway as I was out of the game by the time these events occurred. Glad you got your info.

Its funny how your perspective changes as you get older. When I saw Dick Russell on the programme about Black Buck One a while back he seemed younger than I remembered him when I was on 214 in the 70s. But of course I was a fresh faced young lad then and he was an ancient grizzled old flight lieutenant of at least 40!

Manxman57 (and Archimedes), I can add a little further clarity to your enquiry. I have a copy of Annex E to the RAF Waddingtom Form 540 for May 82 (for Black Buck 4) right in front of me at his minute. The author does clearly state 'As AARI I was flying from the right hand seat'. I believe the author would have been Chris Lackman who was the mission co-pilot (The F540 compiling officer was usually a junior officer on the squadron). Only Chris and Brian Gardner sat in the right hand seat on BBs 4, 5 and 6; Neil McDougal never got out of the left hand seat - not once. I guess Chris meant to write and should have written, 'As the AAR pilot....', NOT 'As the AARI....', as he most definitley was not an AARI. Of course there is a chance that Brian composed this narrative for the F540 (but he too was not an AARI). But just to add a tiny bit of confusion, the signature at the foot of the document belongs to Neil McDougall!

It just shows that even Forms 540, written in the immediate aftermath of an event when memories are fresh, do not always tell the truth.

Thanks BIGGUS, I thought as much; or maybe that it was too simple!

CG

Tanker Trash 214 Squadron
 

You and I must have been on 214 at the same time I was on the Engineering side as a Sgt Engines ending up as a Crew Chief on 214 and later on the K2 Fleet with 55 and 57 I left the RAF 1980 for BP in London
a small world.


Roger

OPeration Corporate Flt Lt Ian Clifford
 

This name appears in Vulcan 607 on a few occasions any ideas who he was,
Not Victor as far as I can see.


Roger

He was Victor K1/K1A initially as a co-pilot starting in 1967 then as a Captain. He left the RAF (not sure if it was his 8 yr point or whether he took redundancy) but rejoined as a Fighter Controller (could have been Air Traffic) He subsequently returned to flying duties on Victor K2s
I'll leave it for someone else to explain re Op Corporate

manxman - check your PMs