Tramatoa

Ah, Scimitar must have been saving this for later.......... This is from the same source, HMS Albion, December 1964. My guess is XR509 or XR519

I was interested in the two aircraft on HMS Albion as I hadn't ever looked back that far into Walter's past (the picture narrowly predates my arrival on the planet) and was surprised to see the early nose fitted. I expected someone to jump in in and cry HAS1 and must admit I was tempted. Looking at the early aircraft we find the following; Wessex IFTU (01JUL63 - 27JAN64) RAF Odiham XR499 (A) XR500 (B) XR501 (C) XR502 (D) XR504 (F) 18 SQN XR506 (H) XR516 (E) Which makes the aircraft nearest the camera XR506 but can anyone help me out with the identity of the rear one? I note that 'H' has the standard exhausts but the rear one (coded N) has the early stubby exhausts. There doesn't seem to be any reliable link between the letter codes and the registration. Can any of you SH boys enlighten me please?

As far as I remember the SAR Wetfit it in the mid eighties was green and had circular raised ‘pads’ over the tank access covers, roughly 10” in diameter and 1/2” high but was all one colour, the pictures of the Ghanaian aircraft are a red herring. As to the droop stops they were there to reduce the chance of a blade hitting the tail cone, you could shut down with one stuck out with care I have seen it done. The pilot would be able to see the low blade come round at slow rpm and time the brake application accordingly. Regarding the F700 it lived in a pale green canvas bag with a Velcro closure behind the seat back of the seat forward of the door. They always carried it as far as I recall.

I thought I’d posted this two days ago but due to the random nature of the internet it doesn’t seem to have uploaded. This is the Cabin aft bulkhead showing the Very pistol, Cartridge and First Aid Kit stowages. The Very pistol stowage was black canvas and had a press studded strap. I recall the pistol itself had a long reflective streamer attached as per the previous picture. I can recall one of these being pitched out of the door in the mountains after a misfire, no idea if it was ever recovered. This also happened to a Form 700 in its canvas bag which was believed lost which obviously caused a bit of a flap. It was subsequently recovered some time later in a grotty state and handed to the engineers who hid it in the loft, there to gently continue decomposing until the pilot’s leaving do. I have no idea if it was ever presented to him and it may still be up there to this day, last relic of 22 Squadron’s presence in the building.

Who got out of the wrong side of his hammock this morning?

Bob, The only dolls eye type of indicators I can think of would likely relate to the Intake Anti-icing on the left side of the centre console. I think this is a red herring. The most likely answer to your scenario would be one of the droop stops didn’t go in during shutdown. You would occasionally have this happen and you would give him the signal to speed the head up again and give things a stir before trying again. I also heard of people using a broom handle to try and coax them in but I never saw this tried, the former always worked. If the conditions were still you could shut down with one stuck without too much drama. Now if we factor in that you would want to have this back in before attempting to start up again, the fact that it is almost unheard of for one of the growbags to climb up on the platform and their almost total lack of even the most basic, common sense engineering practices this is where I would place my bet. I don’t think we ever let them have access to a hammer as they would be at serious risk of damaging something important. The only thing that was available to them would be the fire axe (handy for opening oil cans but not much else) and that really wouldn’t be appropriate. The way a droop stop was put back in was to climb up on top of the MF40/Landrover or risk life and limb on the stabiliser then grip the blade tip and wang it up and down like a giant wobble board until it popped back. A very rare occurrence fortunately.

Thanks for taking the time to dig those out Bob, great to see Walter in action. I think the blanks in your list of names are John Mullan and Bernie Neuen (not sure if that’s spelt correctly). Both decent chaps. Bernie I seem to recall said something about following in his father’s footsteps as we flew over London and out over the Thames Barrage. It’s a long time ago though and the tale may have changed slightly over the years.

While we are off at a tangent I discovered these at Caernarfon Air Museum earlier this year (I suppose it could be argued they weren’t lost in the first place). They used to greet you every morning in the foyer at C Flt 22 Sqn but were removed when SAR went civvie and, I was informed, were not deemed appropriate for display in the new facility so ended up being given to the museum. I hope by now they have found a wall to screw them to as I wasn’t overly happy to see them on the floor but it’s that sort of a place, very informal and I’m sure they would not intend to upset us old boys. If you get a chance please make the effort to go, it’s a bit remote but they clearly try very hard on a limited budget. It’s worth reading ‘The Tale of Tabun’ by Roy Sloane before going though as they have a real Tabun shell on display (I don’t think they realise it’s significance, I had to dust it off when I finally found it before photographing it!!!). There’s even a bit of the R101 in there! At this point I should add that there are some other, later plaques on display but the subject matter is somewhat uncouth and unsuitable for readers of this thread. I’m sure those of you who were unlucky enough to only experience this somewhat chavvy era will understand (royalty included).

This isn’t, I must confess, something I was ever allowed to play with (I can imagine what our Instie would have to say about a Heavy messing about with his kit) but I’m pretty sure it is the Autopilot Switching Panel and I was once told it came out of a Lincoln bomber. I do dimly remember once trying to get to the bottom of one of those incredibly irritating snags which just wouldn’t go away where there was a heavy jump when they switched channels in and out. I was reluctantly strapped in so the Boss (who will forever be Mike Faulkner in my sad old head) tried every conceivable combination of Primaries, Secondaries and god alone knows what else to get to the bottom of the problem. As fascinating as this may have been to him I have to admit it had a more limited appeal to me. If you ever read this Boss, thanks for coming on my Stag do, you will never know what a lasting impression it had on me that you not only bothered but that you got as wrecked as the rest of us.

This is the Master Arm Switch behind the Captain’s right ear, as previously mentioned a double throw (?) type. Still not found a photo of this from outside looking in but i’m pretty sure in was red and white stripes - over to you Scimitar.......

This is the Captain’s side of the office and between the rudder pedals we find the windscreen wiper motor which sat in a little drip tray and was replenished by removing a little cap from the rear (it forms the lower point of a triangle with two studs on this photo) and dripping in OM15 with an oil can. Above it is the lever for the tail wheel castor/locked position, presumably in and flush being locked for flight. To the right of this is the rudder pedal adjuster knob and to the left the parking brake with its very noticeable spring.

Another day in The Land of Far, Far Away watching the snow fall so let’s go for a wander round the cockpit of XT604 for a look at a few points of note courtesy of nabe3 again. Now this isn’t something you will ever see on ECAM. These are the engine gauges and you will note that they have been turned so that when the t’s & p’s are all normal everything points up. They also have green bands and red limit markers applied. Tricky to replicate but very noticeable.

I’ll not post the HF as everyone knows what that is. Got to go as work calls (currently in a land far, far away). Wez you are a legend, thanks for the banter and the expert input, made an otherwise dull couple of hours fly by 👍

Aerial J - the towel rail. Blanked off on XT604 but there on an earlier photo. Seen this bent by over enthusiastic wash teams on a few occasions.

Combined VHF/UHF with Chelton decal (H) on the left as previously discussed. White square (I) not the foggiest, to the right of that the Static Port with it’s seldom used blank.

Left hand aerial (F) no idea, two white squares (G) Rad Alt?

I remember one of our aircraft once located a SARBE in a house in Warrington so I assume they had the ability to home in on a signal. As I remember a kid had nicked it off a ferry. Imagine the shock when a man in a big orange suit knocked on the door and asked for it back.

Aft one (D)Standby VHF? Fwd one (E) lord alone knows.......

Aerial C - IFF?

I’ll refer to these as aerials A and B and I have to confess they are a mystery to me. I thought the small triangular aerial (A) was IFF and the two rod aerials (B) were VHF, but a total guess. I know a SH cab only has one on the left hand side.

I have finally got some time to start working my way through the images of XT604 kindly supplied by nabe3. Firstly I’d like to return to the subject of Comms and Nav Aids. As has been pointed out earlier I’m a nuckle dragging heavy and therefore should not be allowed anywhere near any black box or aerial which, to be honest suits me just fine. Sadly though as our beautifully aerodynamic fuselage has been festooned with the cursed things it is necessary to acknowledge their existence and try to identify them. I’m going to chuck in the odd guess more to amuse the Fairies than with any serious intention. So here goes.........

This is from the SARTU Families Day in 1991, by which time the Valley dispersal had been block paved. The Wessex were back and forward all day long and this was the normal sight which greeted us, it always reminded me of a great big bumble bee, happy memories.

These were taken on detachment at Landsberg, Bavaria. I would guess early 1990 as we flew over thousands of flattened trees after what is now known as the Burns Day storm. You can just about make out a Huey in the background with the dayglo SAR doors. The Germans had a Trabant sprayed up to match as a Squadron hack.

Sorry I was a bit too busy to contribute over the last few days. Happily I've now had the nod regarding the XT604 photos and also dug out a couple of my own from the deep dark recesses of my murky past. I finally found an interior shot of the Cabin taken from the doorway looking aft. I've applied a mask over the subject's face as he's not contactable but if you ever come across this Smith never touched it and it should never have been allowed. You can clearly see the roof mounted stretcher I've mentioned previously and also note that the left hand aft seat is in the stowed position which would have been the norm. Also note the Wet Fit curtain with press studs at the rear which was all that sat between the Cabin and the rear Avionics racks. The colour of the Wet Fit is exactly as I remember it and is a pretty good match with the roof panels and insulation. I think the Remove Before Flight streamer you can see to the left may have been attached to the handle of the Very Pistol but this is a guess. I can't think of anything else which had a streamer like this.

Excuse my ignorance, I was referring to the aerial and fairing on the trailing edge of the tail pylon. It was this our Instie scalped himself on, straightening up after releasing the tow bar.