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Tramatoa

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Posts posted by Tramatoa

    Operation Barrel Roll

    in Aircraft Cold War

    Posted

    Creepy Pete,

    I was asked for help by someone working on this and I can't put the picture on here at the moment, please accept my apologies. Maybe we can have a proper look at it later in the year as I would like to know a bit more about the sequencing of bomb release. In my youth the closest I got to anything that could go bang was hanging upside down with my head under a Tornado ejector seat trying to find missing canopy hinge nuts, bolts and washers and I make no claims to know anything about things under wings. 

    Again, thanks to everyone for the help.

    Tramatoa

    Operation Barrel Roll

    in Aircraft Cold War

    Posted

    Gentlemen,

    Thank you so much for the pointers, it never ceases to amaze me how much knowledge this community has. 

    I'd considered the F105 & F4 as possible contenders but the load outs they carried in combat would likely never get near the maximum and whatever caused the craters in this instance was flying a straight track, high up, possibly using a rotary dispenser which has resulted in a series of evenly spaced holes with minimal lateral drift. Hence the assumption that a B52 was the culprit.

    Fascinating stuff and I have some reading to do tonight to catch up with you. Once again thanks.

    Tramatoa

    Operation Barrel Roll

    in Aircraft Cold War

    Posted

    Good afternoon all,

    Can anyone help me out with a quick random question?

    What would constitute a typical load out for a B52 engaged on Op Barrel Roll? I'm looking at a photo with a clearly defined pattern of 30 plus craters of two different sizes in a roughly straight line which might indicate a mix of 750 & 1000lb iron bombs, certainly not like you would expect from a mass cluster of 500lb ordinance as seen in some Arc Light pictures. Whatever dropped this stick was a long, long way up so I assume it was a B52 but I am happy to be corrected. I know its a bit vague but I can't post the pic.

    Any help would be most welcome.

    Thanks,

    Tramatoa

    RAF Phantoms in Germany - Man Alive Documentary

    in Aircraft Cold War

    Posted

    Hope you don't mind but this was originally in a Jaguar related post, I'll separate it out on its own in the hope it reaches a more appropriate audience.

     

    By a strange coincidence I came across a related tale last night. I have been reading The Phantom in Focus A Navigator's Eye on Britain's Cold War Warrior by David Gledhill (Fonthill Media 2012 ISBN 978-1-78155-421-0) after a previous post about the STCAAME Phantom at Valley. On Pages 143-146 the author relates the sad tale of XV418 which was lost on 11 July 1980 while carrying out a low level 'Canadian Break' behind another Phantom (reg not given) equipped with just such a camera. This was being filmed for the BBC Documentary series Man Alive. Looking at IMDB there is a 50 minute episode titled 'Phantom' which was broadcast on 14th October 1980. Does anyone have any further information on this? The documentary was supposedly about low level flying in RAFG and would be an interesting find.

     

    Further information from the BFI Archive;

     

    Title

    Phantom (Original)

    Category

    BFI identifier

    225850

    Date

    1980-10-14 (Television)

    Production country

    United Kingdom

    Production company

    BBC

    Synopsis

    Documentary on the front-line NATO forces stationed in West Germany, the Phantom squardrons that are primed and ready to fight in the event of a Third World War. Pizzey flies with a squadron from RAF Wildenrath during a [war games] exercise. (NFA Catalogue) 

    Non Fiction

    Genre

    Current affairs

    Credits

    Production Company: BBC
    Producer: Paul Hamann
    Photography: Fred Hamilton
    view all

    Cast

    Jack Pizzey


     

    Collections

    Film / Video

    VHS cassette - Video - Viewing

    view all

    Articles

    Radio Times v229 n2970 11 Oct 1980

    view all

     

    I was a spotty 15 year old Air Cadet when this was shown but I don't recall seeing it. Does this jog anyone's memory? 

     

    Pip pip,

    Tramatoa

    • Like 1

    Jaguar tail cone camera used in OP Granby?

    in Aircraft Cold War

    Posted

    By a strange coincidence I came across a related tale last night. I have been reading The Phantom in Focus A Navigator's Eye on Britain's Cold War Warrior by David Gledhill (Fonthill Media 2012 ISBN 978-1-78155-421-0) after a previous post about the STCAAME Phantom at Valley. On Pages 143-146 the author relates the sad tale of XV418 which was lost on 11 July 1980 while carrying out a low level 'Canadian Break' behind another Phantom (reg not given) equipped with just such a camera. This was being filmed for the BBC Documentary series Man Alive. Looking at IMDB there is a 50 minute episode titled 'Phantom' which was broadcast on 14th October 1980. Does anyone have any further information on this? The documentary was supposedly about low level flying in RAFG and would be an interesting find.

    Flying a council house from the upstairs loo

    in Aircraft Cold War

    Posted

    Gentlemen,

    I feel I owe you all something of an explanation regarding my inactivity for the last few weeks. Sadly I was one of the casualties when Thomas Cook went bump and it seems that being unemployed is a full time occupation. There's not a lot else to say really, but hopefully I should be back to the minutiae of the Transmission Platform before too long. 

    Pip pip,

    Tramatoa

     

     

    Flying a council house from the upstairs loo

    in Aircraft Cold War

    Posted

    I've just been working my way through my Village Photos album and came across something I had intended to post a couple of weeks ago. One of the things which I had never really appreciated previously was the superb quality of the illustrations in these manuals. This is the 300 foot winch introduced by Mod 5532 and I take my hat off to whoever drew it. 

     

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    • Like 2

    Wessex HC2 Crab Cabs Pt II (Fly Wessex - why on earth did I?)

    in Work in Progress - Aircraft

    Posted

    Firstly the build looks superb and I'm really looking forward to seeing what you can do with that rotor head.

     

    Regarding the fasteners around the windscreens I think they are screws not rivets, one of the things that gives Walter his unique aerodynamic finish. The 72 Squadron aircraft at Newark has pretty much the same paint job as a 28 Squadron machine;

     

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    As I've said before I'm a total newbie when it comes to actually producing this kind of detail to scale but there is a build which I think I've mentioned previously where a Japanese chap produces a Fly 1/32 Wessex and he gives brief details of how he tackled these fasteners in his build log. I appreciate his build has quite a bit of artistic license in it but I felt he did a pretty good job in this area using 'fasteners' produced from soft wire with what he refers to as  a 'Tami Guri' punch. http://nabe3saviation.web.fc2.com/explanatione-fr.html. It isn't a technique I had seen previously so please forgive me if everyone and his dog is doing this kind of thing.

     

    I fully appreciate I'm not the one who's going to have to produce 500 screws from wire the thickness of human hair but I thought I would mention it as I know you enjoy a challenge........ 😉

     

    Pip pip,

    Tramatoa

    • Like 2
    • Haha 4

    Flying a council house from the upstairs loo

    in Aircraft Cold War

    Posted

    Where on earth does the time go? Back to work a week today with fully functional U/C three months after the op, and Southport airshow to look forward to at the weekend. 

     

    I thought it might be appropriate to review the information I posted elsewhere just to keep everything in the one place, please be assured that I'm not remotely interested in stat padding. These relate to the image in Post #143 on this thread.

     

    Of particular interest to me was the shape of the Flapping and Drag Hinge Trunnion shown in the IPC drawing. It's impossible to get an idea what this looks like with the head assembled but seen like this it all makes sense.

     

    Pip pip,

    Tramatoa.

     

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    3d26220d-2b6e-4710-a266-5b1aea3e8fc0.jpg

    • Like 1

    Wessex HC2 Crab Cabs Pt II (Fly Wessex - why on earth did I?)

    in Work in Progress - Aircraft

    Posted

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    As far as I can recall the recesses contained the bolt heads for the Damper retaining plates which were heavily walnut whipped with Polycast, these are the inner ones seen here. The outer bolt heads align with the joining plates between the upper and lower castings which would make sense, and there appears to be four bolts in the joint, so two big blobs inboard and four small blobs outboard should be about right. Can you do blobs in CAD?

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 2

    Flying a council house from the upstairs loo

    in Aircraft Cold War

    Posted · Edited by Tramatoa

    I thought while I was on a roll I might as well continue to answer the questions which have been thrown up by our discussions so far before I return to the transmission platform on XV728.

     

    With reference to the final picture on Post 414 of the red pod on the left hand weapons pylon stub of an HCC4 Queen's Flight aircraft which looks like it has been lifted from a 1970's ladies hairdressing salon. As suspected this is an IR Jammer Pod, the museum example is missing the actual Jammer unit and when you see the drawing it all makes perfect sense. Producing one of these to scale would make a challenging little project in its own right.

     

    Pip pip,

    Tramatoa

     

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    • Like 1

    Flying a council house from the upstairs loo

    in Aircraft Cold War

    Posted

    Well, you were pretty close on further investigation. 

    SRIM 4019 introduced (Marine Band) HM Coastguard and shipping, (FM) Military and (AM) Civilian Mountain Rescue radios.

    SRIM 4026 introduced VHF Aircraft (AM) and Marine Homing (FM) using ARI 18239 Chelton Mk 7 Homing system. Controls were located on the box at STN 103 as shown on the previous schematic.

    If you combine the two we have the complete arrangement of the control box front panel. 

     

     

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    Flying a council house from the upstairs loo

    in Aircraft Cold War

    Posted · Edited by Tramatoa

    My goodness where does the time go?

    Since the last instalment I have been pretty maxed out with family stuff but you will be amused to hear that XT604 was again within my grasp and eluded me once more. We had popped down to see Thing 1 and the weather was as miserable as sin. Shopping was inevitable. Completely unprompted she tells us she is off to Benson and  would dearly like to know the basics of Rotorcraft so she doesn't look silly. Ahem says I, there is a possibility that there may be a place we could visit.........

    A window in the weather appeared as we drove into the car park and things were looking most promising. I knew in my heart of hearts that Walter was in the hangar for some kind of rework, probably to corroded skin panels but faint heart never won fair maid and you never know who you may get chatting to. To cut a long story short things just didn't work out. The staff on reception were charming but the planets didn't align at all. We had a brew, talked about the Gazelle, admired the exhibits and departed with a wry smile. I think it might be easier to get to see XT670 in Germany, now that's a thought!

    Anyway, here is the answer to what is behind John Mullan's bone dome for your consideration. If our resident Fairy can translate into single syllable Rigger speak that would be perfect.

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    Pip pip,

    Tramatoa

     

    • Like 1

    RAF Phantom left behind at STCAAME

    in Aircraft Cold War

    Posted

    I have obtained an Airfix FGR2 for my next build despite Ian's cautionary post as I'm currently working on regenerating my decrepit modelling skills rather than trying to build the perfect Phantom. This came from Transport Models in Preston, a place I haven't visited in many a long year and I have to report it is well worth the effort. I was smiling when I went in and I was smiling when I went out and I have a feeling that this is going to be one of my happy places. 

     

    The Phantom wasn't an aircraft I have anything other than a passing interest in so I have no intention of getting carried away, however I do have a couple of questions for you;

    • There is a superbly detailed earlier post on this forum regarding Q config for weapons and tanks. Can anyone tell me what the config would be for an aircraft at MPC? i.e. the config XT 895 would likely have been in when it departed on it's last sortie?
    • Was there ever an aftermarket solution to the Airfix pylons? 
    • When you put the kit Sidewinder next to the ones on the Revell Tornado the guidance fins are clearly different, the Airfix ones have straight leading edges while the Revell ones are concave. Are both correct?
    • Lastly, for no other reason than curiosity, what is the odd shaped pod provided in the kit? 

    Thanks,

    Tramatoa

     

     

     

    Flying a council house from the upstairs loo

    in Aircraft Cold War

    Posted

    Hmmmm, I think you overestimate my current abilities. I intend to give it a crack but not this semester.....

    Anyway, as I said I am Gawain in this story, inexperienced knight in shiny new armour, bit of a noob, not Lancelot material at all. 

     

    Regarding the forward hydraulic ground service connections on Post 422, these are for the hoist system which explains why they look to have never been disturbed. 

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