RAF Chinook 40 Years
 

On this day 4 decades ago the first Chinook was delivered to the RAF and the rest is history from Falklands to GW1, The Balkans, Adghanistan etc.

Boeing: Celebrating 40 years of Chinook

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(Photos courtesy of Boeing)

Thing was though the late Eric ‚Winkle‘ Brown Went over to fly the prototype YCH-47A at Boeing Philadelphia in 62 (?) and MoD looking at procuring it in the late 60s but did not happen.

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cheers

Dick Forsyth talks about being the first RAF Chinook pilot.......

How time flies, I still remember it turning up as one of those on the OCU at the start of it all. Happy days, building the Tea bar out of redundant Chinook packing cases.. and each Chinook arriving with a superb set of thin Snap-On Spanners in a tool kit that were removed never to be seen again, along with the centre seats.. and the true RAF tradition of let’s cobble it together with what we have and redundant Andover long range tanks being installed in the cabs to increase the range.

I remember a few incidents we had in those days, an escape hatch window falling out over Southampton on one delivery, and corrosion found in a couple of early cabs, caused it turned out by the delivery crews practice of taking a car with them on the trip to the docks so they could drive home. Snow and salt off the vehicles would melt, drop off, then sit in the aircraft for the weeks it took to deliver slowly starting to corrode.

https://www.forces.net/technology/ai...-years-chinook

The procurement in the 1960s went a long way down the road, far enough for serial numbers to be allocated (XV841-XV855). The order was placed in March 1967, but was cancelled in November, and was for CH-47B variants.

chopper2004 :-
Indeed, our course at 5 AFTS Oakington winter 62/63 (doing ME training on Varsities) was treated to a presentation about the exciting new prospects for the RAF helicopter force being on the verge of acquiring the Chinook. We could become a part of that by simply declaring our interest, now! Having been in long enough to have learnt "Never volunteer, ever", we didn't. It turned out to be wise advice. :ok:

I seem to remember the ones delivered to Liverpool were offloaded and prepped next to the local hookers place of trade, so it was happy hookers all round ;)

Gosh this makes me feel old. I remember standing in the bar at Seletar in 1967 chatting with a couple of Belvedere pilots who were bemoaning the fact that the initial order for Chinooks for the RAF had been cancelled. At this time of course they were already very active in Vietnam. Thank goodness that decision was eventually rescinded.

Some years ago I met a chap who had been serving in the RN during the Falkland War. On the day that the Atlantic Conveyer was sunk, this chap was manning a gun (an Oerlikon I think) on his ship when the warning came that an Exocet missile was inbound. As the missile passed them at short range everybody opened up on it, but unfortunately to no affect and the Atlantic Conveyer was hit and sunk with its precious cargo of Chinooks. I thought, if somebody had managed to hit that Exocet, the whole course of the war might have been altered - almost certainly shortened. One other thing, the word "yomp" would probably never had entered the language. Still there are always "what ifs" in any war.

And my mates were on the conveyor and went for a swim.

Along with the C130 I think the CH47 is pretty close to being obsolete proof

Have we still got the first one "triggers broom".

Yes: Bravo November! ZA718. In my logbook, just before my neighbour at Odiham went and won a DFC on her on the Al-Faw peninsula.

Does the B-52 get a look in? 😉

Sadly not. ZA672 was the first one delivered to the RAF and it was subsequently destroyed at Hannover in May 1988. I’m unsure if ZA670 and 671 were delivered to Boscombe beforehand but they are still in service.

Not sure what the question is, but here’s a simple summary of the Chinook AFCS, albeit the D Model, but the tandem rotor bits are basically the same.

ZA672 FF at ODI shortly after delivery to the OCU



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ZA 672 FF and ZA 673 FG the first two Chinooks on 240 OCU


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ZA673 FG airborne, they were the first two at Odiham, ZA670 and 671 went initially to Boscombe.


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Ah, I misread the question. BN still counts as it was among the first 30 ordered in 1978. Mk1>Mk2>Mk4.

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.