RAF Odiham - 27 Squadron Chinooks

[Latinbear]

Yesterday I and a group of photographers courtesy of the Centre of Aviation Photograpy http://www.centreofaviationphotography.com/ were able to spend the day visiting 27 squadron flying CH47 Chinooks and based at RAF Odiham. The squadron is one of three - the others being 7 and 18 squadrons - that fly the Mk 4 variant from the base

The purpose of the visit was to give us an insight into the capabilities of the Chinook, the role of the squadron, its recent operational history and where it sits within the Joint Helicopter Command.

We also were privileged to sit in on a live briefing given by one of the squadron's pilots who that afternoon was going to be given a check ride by the QHI. This was to involve handling different underslung loads, landing the helicopter on sloping and uneven ground as well as manoeuvring the machine while on the ground. Following a hot refuel the plan was to fly a sortie down to the south coast.

As you can see from the photographs the weather was dreadful. Rain and low cloud in the morning gave way to fine drizzle in the afternoon combined with very poor visibility. The result was cancellation of some of the afternoon flying programme.

A huge thank you to Doddy and his colleagues for cheerfully hosting us in such awful weather and to the crew for putting on a fantastic demonstration of their flying skill in grim conditions.

 

1. The view from 27 Squadron's crewroom. Number 7 squadron operates from the other side of the airfield while 18 adjoins number 27.

  

 2. The afternoon's exercise area for ground handling and underslung loads. We would be standing south of the taxiway at Location 3 and on the track to the west of Location 2.   

 

3. The 28 squadron machine failed an air test following maintenance and had been stuck at Odiham for a week.

 

4. Upper control panel

 

5. I noticed that there was the odd rain drop dripping onto the aircraft commander's seat. The 'copter can be flown from both seats but apparently most pilots prefer to fly it from the right.

 

6.

 

7. Taxying out.

 

8. At the start of the exercise.

 

9. Start of the sloping ground landing test.

 

10.

 

11.

 

12. The next exercise was landing all four wheels on sloping, uneven ground.

 

13.

 

14. The next exercise was turning the 'copter through 180 degrees.

 

15.

 

16.

 

17. As Clarkson would say "How hard can it be?"

 

18. This image is not cropped.

 

19. The start of the load handling phase.

 

20. Look at the middle loadie. His feet are actually off the ground.

 

21. Time to lift the CVRT.

 

22.

 

23. There was a problem with the rigging of the trailer and consequently the lift was abandoned.

 

24.

 

25.There were four airframes in this hangar. The red tailed special was in an adjoining hangar.  

 

26.

 

27. The green bags are safety mats.

 

29. Odiham carries out all primary servicing. Deeper level servicing is carried out at Fleetlands. It wasn't clear why this airframe had been stripped down to this extent at Odiham.

 

30.

 

31. The end of the day.

 

Thanks for looking.

[Paul J]

A very nice insight in to Chinook ops. Great pics too and very inspiring.  I get to see several Chinooks through out the year overflying where I live and sometimes in pairs and very close.

Thanks for posting.

[Parabat]

Top shots! Very impressive pics, nice to see them in action, very impressive helis. 

[F-32]

Awesome!

[Alpha Delta 210]

Wow! What an amazing "day in the life of" in very tricky conditions. Difficult to choose, but if I had to pick a favourite, it would be the final image. 

[CurrantBunbury]

Fantastic. Thanks for sharing these.

[Latinbear]

Thank you all very much for your generous comments. I'm glad you like them.

 

I can't overstate what a great job Chris Dodds, our squadron host did in organising the day (which included lunch in the sergeants' mess). All the members of the squadron we met were friendly and willing to answer questions despite us crowding out their crew room and the pilot whose check ride it was liaised closely with Doddy to ensure that we got great access within the constraints of the exercise, safety considerations and the awful weather.

 

Quite simply it was a terrific day.

[Jabba]

Some great photos there.

 

The only reason we used to strip Chinooks down that far in the photo that you took was to send it overseas within the confines of the appropriate aircraft (C-17, C-5 or AN 124), although we did not take the ramp off. I am wondering if this one had recently come back from overseas and was being cleaned thoroughly hence the ramp off and floorboard removed.

[Class377fcc12]

If this is the frame I think it is, ZA713, I seem to recall it having been in that state for quite a while now.

 

Rob

 

[canberraman]

Lovely shots Latinbear from a base that seems to be rarely visited and shot from inside.

 

Thanks for posting

 

Mark

[Latinbear]

2 hours ago, Jabba said:

Some great photos there.

 

The only reason we used to strip Chinooks down that far in the photo that you took was to send it overseas within the confines of the appropriate aircraft (C-17, C-5 or AN 124), although we did not take the ramp off. I am wondering if this one had recently come back from overseas and was being cleaned thoroughly hence the ramp off and floorboard removed.

 

Glad you like the photos and thanks for the information regarding the stripped down state of the airframe. In his briefing Doddy mentioned that the preference was always to fly the 'copters to the exercises overseas but of course the Falklands, California, Nepal etc obviously can't be done hence the air freighting option. However, that is hideously expensive - I think I heard a million pounds mentioned - when it comes to using the AN 124.

[Latinbear]

1 hour ago, canberraman said:

Lovely shots Latinbear from a base that seems to be rarely visited and shot from inside.

 

Thanks for posting

 

Mark

 

Thanks Mark. It was my first visit to Odiham and speaking to some of the group they confirmed my suspicion that it's not a great base for outside-in photography. I felt very fortunate as Richard Cooper who runs COAP said he had overwhelming demand for a place on the visit.

[mhaselden]

2 hours ago, Class377fcc12 said:

If this is the frame I think it is, ZA713, I seem to recall it having been in that state for quite a while now.

 

Rob

 

 

Perhaps it's a Christmas tree airframe?

[Jinxman]

Nice to see some ops/training stuff - shame the weather didn't behave,

 

Thanks for sharing,

[Red Dot]

Great photos showing working helicopters, especially given the conditions

 

andy

[Latinbear]

Thank you chaps, very nice of you to say so.

[Gary West]

My old base 77 - 81 would love to go back again.

 

Great pics glad you had fun

[tonyot]

Great pics of a helicopter that I used to know very well in the 80`s when they were still in grey, green, black camo,......I nearly fell through the open floor hatch once with a Scimitar tank hanging below us!! 

 

Great to see them still providing such a brilliant service,....a true RAF workhorse,

 

Cheers

            Tony

[Head in the clouds.]

What a day you had and thanks for posting, I have always loved it when we had access like that on our visits to bases, you learn so much on the finer points of military aircraft and base operations.

[Latinbear]

21 hours ago, tonyot said:

Great pics of a helicopter that I used to know very well in the 80`s when they were still in grey, green, black camo,......I nearly fell through the open floor hatch once with a Scimitar tank hanging below us!! 

 

Great to see them still providing such a brilliant service,....a true RAF workhorse,

 

Cheers

            Tony

 

Thanks for the compliments - much appreciated. I have to say that I'm quite partial to a green and grey camo scheme much like the Tornados, Jaaags, Harriers etc used to wear.

My son has recently started university and having joined the OTC (which is he thoroughly enjoying) he got trip in a Chinook from Yeovilton to Salisbury Plain and back once the aircrew had flown a Land Rover and trailer on a couple of circuits of the plain. He and his colleagues were kept well away from the front as that was where the hook was located. Although he had ear defenders on it was pretty loud inside and out of curiousity he lifted the ear cup and it was deafening.

As he was on duty he got paid for his flight whereas his father would have gladly paid to do the flight!

 

 

[Latinbear]

3 hours ago, Head in the clouds. said:

What a day you had and thanks for posting, I have always loved it when we had access like that on our visits to bases, you learn so much on the finer points of military aircraft and base operations.

 

Glad you like them - many thanks. I agree with you entirely and to be honest, while they are not comparable, I would much rather do a day like we had than go to an airshow. Even a grim journey home owing to the M25 being a mess couldn't wipe the smile off my face after the day I'd just had.

 

The images you posted on UKAR recently are absolutely stunning and gave me a lot of food for thought when it came to taking my own shots.

[Head in the clouds.]

4 minutes ago, Latinbear said:

The images you posted on UKAR recently are absolutely stunning and gave me a lot of food for thought when it came to taking my own shots

 

Not sure that's me so cannot take credit, unless I have forgotten which is not uncommon.

[Latinbear]

Ah, apologies. That's me stupidly mistaking the title of the post for your avatar name. Doh! These are the images that I was referring to.

http://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=75647

 

Of course the poster's name is Lloyd H.

 

[Head in the clouds.]

No worries, I can only wish for that kind of photography but glad you showed them, the F15E banking hard is brilliant.

[Latinbear]

4 minutes ago, Head in the clouds. said:

No worries, I can only wish for that kind of photography but glad you showed them, the F15E banking hard is brilliant.

 

They're quite special pictures aren't they? Other than the great execution i.e. sharpness and exposure, the composition is really interesting and he takes shots that would never occur to me.