Article on "BN" - sole survivor of the 1982 Falklands conflict and its exploits since - including its pilots being awarded 4 x DFCs.

The Amazing Tale Of Bravo November, The British Chinook Helicopter That Refused To Die (thedrive.com)

I worked with many of your old mates too at Odiham, Gutersloh and even at Laarbruch. Great people.

Mrs 4ma was doing her PA to the Station Commander stuff when she took a call from Boscombe Down asking her to kindly inform the Station Commander that one of the new Chinooks had inadvertently dropped an underslung load from the centre hook during lifting trials and would he be so kind as to return the call.

Heard about the very nice tool kits but I don't recall them even getting as far as Supply Sqn. Can't have been us anyway, as our resident tea-leaf had already been sent down for three and a half years a few months earlier. There were no dodgy practices and everything was squeaky clean and legit such was the impact of the earlier goings-on.

There are other, more workaday, reasons to praise BN too. That airframe was the initial development and trials platform for the FADEC engine controls as a Mk1 (not without incident!), and I believe was then the first Mk2 conversion and supported the technical recovery after the tragedy on the Mull of Kintyre - so a legacy that flowed into the entire fleet.

The information board when the aircraft finally makes it into well-deserved museum retirement will be rather large, if there's any justice!

I remember that incident with the Stores hasp and clasp.. As for Chinook loads, I think we had a Humber pig / Saracen or similar to use as an underslung load and because the Chinook having not being cleared to lift the weight of it we were tasked to saw lumps off it to bring it into the lifting capability at the time... After a lot of sweat, blood and tears it was Armour plating one... box of hacksaw blades zero and that idea was binned.


So many good people gone sigh.... Arthur ( 1/2R ) Mitchell, Chris Taylor.... remembered at this anniversary.

H-47ER
 

Re our approval purchase of Boeing H-47ER


https://www.dsca.mil/press-media/maj...nd-accessories

In todays news Ben Wallace threatened to can it due to rising costs officially, but its been implied that two years ago when he gave the ultimatum to the states, it was personal. He felt that DC blocked his ascension to be NATO Secretary.<br /><br /><a href=

"https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12475593/Ben-Wallace-threatened-cancel-Chinook-deal-soaring-2-3bn-costs-White-House-blocked-bid-head-NATO.html">

There are many servicemen/women and civilians who owe their lives to the Chinook and the crews who fly and maintain them.

The thinking is that Shapps "dropped" that story to denigrate his predecessor. But politicans wouldn't stoop so low, would they?

Grant Shapps? The man who airbrushed his (ex) Prime Minster out of a picture on his FaceBook page???

Shirley not...................................

I was based at Odiham in 1979, prior to the RAF taking delivery of its first Chinooks. The US Army had a temporary detachment of them up at the airfield (although I seem to remember them being grounded for a while due to a fleet safety check being required).

I was queuing in the local village butchers shop when a couple of them flew over, rattling the windows. The old lady in front of me said in a very loud voice “I’m so glad those noisy things aren’t based here….”

”Oh dear!” thought I. :oh:

IIRC It was a combining box fault.... I say fault, because it was I was led to believe poor maintenance, the shafts that plug into the box were designed to be rotated and when the correct phasing was attained they would spring in and I think a 5/16 bolt held it in place.
Some of the US military were rotating them to where they thought it should be, then as the shafts had a flange on them used a bar against a frame to force them in and put the bolt in, this caused an enormous amount of strain on the bolt and one let go, dephasing the rotors which hit then sailed through the fuselage decapitating a crewman.
The US decided it was the bolt intially and they decided a bigger bolt was the fix, the rep reamed the bolt holes on two at Odiham with it in a drill! promptly wrecking two boxes before the crews stopped him doing the third. Two sat there for ages until the boxes were replaced.
That is what I was told at the time.
One of them had the oleo's stuck at full extension on one side and sat on the ground at an odd angle.