An Albert's Tale (or four, or even five)..... Actually a Beady Eyed Herky Debs Albert Epic...

[RayB24]

rabid beaver?

now how does that go?

nom nom

We can ship you a few out of sorts beavers if you want Perdu, perhaps thats what the ebayer was scared of...

Slow peaceful critters they are not lmao.... I've never kayaked so fast as when I inadvertently got too close to a den and one took exception to me.... Freaking things swim way to fast, hilarious after but up close like surfacing next to me at less than a foot and in a foul mood.... I beat a very hasty retreat...

Ray

[philp]

I have an AC-130A to build (actually bought a second by mistake, still debating whether to add it to the for sale pile) and really want to do an AC-130H either in Vietnam or Desert Storm markings.

While my Dad was USAF (CMSgt. Ret) I didn't serve other than a year of AFROTC but since I grew up in the force I have seen a lot of Hercs and always had a soft spot for them. The stories here along with the modeling have made this a must follow. No rides in a Herc but have done a couple copter flights (over Niagara Falls and to the Grand Canyon from Vegas) and been lucky enough to get a flight in a B-17 and a T-6 (even got 10 minutes of stick time in the later) but other than that the only flying has been commercial (though do have a bit of mileage there).

Please keep the stories and the build coming.

Have taken my share of Herc pics over the years including a gunship that stopped for Big Sky Day back in the late 70s and saw this one at Dover AFB back in 2008. Was back there last November visiting the folks (Dad retired there as Mom is English and she likes New England much more than she ever liked Montana) and there was one from I think Morocco but I didn't get a close look as it was a bit damp. The next day we went up that way and she was gone.

Edited January 26, 2016 by philp

[Ascoteer]

The k's I worked on deffinatly had a stowage on the flight deck side of the galley,maybe it was a later mod.I was on them from around 1997.

I've just had a dig around in the Aircrew Manual and you are absolutely right! I'd forgotten that there was a kind of canvas curtain down the side of the galley with pockets for documents.

It's amazing how memory fades!

IIRC we used to stow the the Approach Chart folders there on the longer trips (generally for something like a Stateside trip we'd have 2 large holdalls of flight planning docs so the 'curtain' became the storage for the ready use stuff).

I'll see if I can work out how to convert a .pdf into an image file and post it up.

[Ascoteer]

Have taken my share of Herc pics over the years including a gunship that stopped for Big Sky Day back in the late 70s and saw this one at Dover AFB back in 2008. Was back there last November visiting the folks (Dad retired there as Mom is English and she likes New England much more than she ever liked Montana)

Ah, Dover, Delaware.

I went U/S there in 'Trembling Two' (XV222) on my 'Route Check'.

I might tell a dit about Dover, USAF NCOs, a bar, and a nightclub...

[philp]

Oh, please do, would love to pass along something to my Dad.

[Jessica]

Slow peaceful critters they are not lmao.... I've never kayaked so fast as when I inadvertently got too close to a den and one took exception to me.... Freaking things swim way to fast, hilarious after but up close like surfacing next to me at less than a foot and in a foul mood.... I beat a very hasty retreat...

Ray

"That's no ordinary rodent!"

[keefr22]

I'll see if I can work out how to convert a .pdf into an image file and post it up.

Easy way that usually works Debs is to use the Windows 'Snipping Tool' - draw the snip around whatever you want to copy & then you can save it as a .jpeg file.

K

[Ascoteer]

A promised:

The stowage referred to is #17

[F4u]

Nice work with the cockpit Debs looks very realistic.

Guy

[Leonl]

Great work on the office/flight deck.....

[Ascoteer]

Whoo Hoo, HDU!

[fatalbert]

You should start up a shop to sell your resin☺,those look excellent.

[Miggers]

Oh, please do, would love to pass along something to my Dad.

Knowing Deb's crew's propensity for amusement,if your Dad was at that base,he could well have been involved/caught up

in this one.........

Edited January 26, 2016 by Miggers

[Miggers]

Those legal fees have to spent somehow, you know.

Thought he was scrimping a bit so that he could have a 997 or a 977 or some new go-lots faster Porschey thingy.......

[F4u]

Nice HDU Debs these Herk's are going to be something else !!!

Guy

[philp]

Knowing Deb's crew's propensity for amusement,if your Dad was at that base,he could well have been involved/caught up

in this one.........

Dad was Civil Service at Dover and he never mentioned any female RAF Herc drivers to me so he is probably safe but he might know the people on the US side who were involved.

[Pete in Lincs]

Often got those Saudi Hercs into Riyadh base.

Goodness knows how old they are.

It may say Saudi Arabian on the side but

they were looked upon as military by us.

[Ascoteer]

The Dover trip was my 'Route Check' where I achieved a 38 Gp 'B' Category (Above the Average).

A quick word about 38 Gp Cats:

One would graduate from the OCU as a 'D Category' which was valid for 6 months. The 'D Cat' can be considered to be equivalent to the FJ world's 'Limited Combat Ready' (LCR), ie you can do the job but, without supervision, you are probably a liability! Additionally, failure to upgrade from D Cat would mean you'd get 'chopped' and lose your wings. (Note: While ab initio crews would achieve a D Cat, Captains having converted straight from Co status could (if they were good enough) graduate as a C Cat.)

The 'Cat' broke down into 3 parts:

1. The 'Aircraft Cat', ie how well you could academically fly the aircraft (this included a Simulator phase).

2. The Instrument Rating.

3. The 'Route Cat', ie how well you could operate the aircraft.

After 6 months as a D Cat you went back to the OCU where you fell into the hands of HTS (Hercules Training Sqn) to do Periodic Refresher Training (PRT). Here you would spend 2 weeks flying and simming to upgrade your Aircraft Cat, as well as taking an IRT. To hold a C Cat you had to hold a GREEN Instrument Rating.

Additionally within a month either side of your PRT you would have a 'Route Check' to assess your Route Cat.

A C Cat was the equivalent of the FJ 'Combat Ready' (CR) and was valid for 12 months, after which the cycle started again.

One should note that there were other 'Qualifications Additional To Type' eg AAR, Low Level, AIrdrop, which were generally (but not always) gained once you'd achieved a C Cat. These were awarded by the part of the OCU known as STS (Support Training Sqn) and which also included 'TTF' (Tanker Training Flight').

If you were good enough (and got a MASTER GREEN Instrument Rating) at the 12 month on Sqn PRT/Route Check you were upgraded to B Cat (which was valid for 18 months) and considered to be an 'Above the Average' Herc operator.

[Ascoteer]

Continuing the theme of my Route Check...

So far we have gone via Goose Bay (night stop), flagged Washington / Dulles, and arrived at McDill AFB.

(Note: This dit first appeared in Fritag's Hawk thread so for those who have seen it before, I apologise.)

Now, read on...

We've arrived at McDill AFB, Tampa Bay, Florida. The task is to take LOX (Liquid Oxygen) to Belize for the Harrier Det. Normally we would go via Homestead AFB but unfortunately it had been trashed in the huricane that year. This is also also my 'Route Cat' ride with a checker (so no pressure then!).

Now LOX is particularly nasty stuff. To transport it in Albert you have what looks rather like one of the Av Med decompression chambers mounted in the middle of the freight bay with all sorts of umbilicals and blow-off valves connecting it with the outside. The LOX also has to stabilise for at least 24 hours before it can be moved. Quintessentially what you've got is a bloody big bomb loaded in the freight bay and it's live.

The upshot of all this, of course, is that we end up with a 2 day lay over in Tampa Bay. This sort of thing is beloved of Albert crews because it means we can:

a. Do a 'BX' run and buy all sorts of gizzets and 'Route Steals'.

b. We can PARTY!!!

We intrepid 'Truckies' find our way down town (having been advised not to walk around by ourselves after dark owing to the risk of getting mugged) to what appears to be a suitable looking drinking hole. Of course, this being the Good Ol' US of A, there is a $5 'cover charge' to get in. My Captain duly demands to know what he gets for his money. The Doorman states that: "Tonight is Ladies Night - Ladies get in for free."

Cue the Copilot: "Well that's me sorted then Skipper!"

The Captain is less than impressed and continues to remonstrate with the Doorman before finally being told that "All Spirits are free until midnight."

Now this, to a Truckie, is like Manna from Heaven, especially so since it was merely 10 pm! We duly enter and proceed to attempt to drink the bar dry - I'm on Jack Daniels on ice (my standard tipple Stateside), the Captain and the Nav are doing Tequila 'slammers' The Americans in the bar were utterly amazed at both our propensity for alcohol and the prodigeous rate at which we could imbibe it. Come midnight and the boys decide to go on to another bar, me being the lightweight decided to retire to the hotel.

Remembering the advice not to walk around alone after dark, and not really being able to remember just where I'd left my hotel (!), I ask the Doorman to order me a taxi. After what seems like an age, and with no Taxi in sight, a Police Car pulls up so I play my 'Damsel in Distress' card and asked the nice Policeman if he would convey me to my hotel, to which he duly agrees.

Of course then I had to go and blow it by 'phoning me Ma in the UK (where it's about 6 in the morning). Note. NEVER, EVER, EVER 'phone home from a different Time Zone when you have been on the pish. IT DOES NOT WORK AND NO GOOD WHATSOEVER WILL COME FROM IT!

I tell me Ma that I'd had a ride home in a Police Car. Of course she has selective hearing and assumes I've been arrested. She called the Duty Officer at Lyneham to complain that her Number 1 Daughter was languishing in some foreign gaol and what was he, my Sqn Cdr, Wg Cdr Ops and the Stn Cdr damned well going to do about it?



Oh how I laughed.....NOT!

[Alan P]

Of course then I had to go and blow it by 'phoning me Ma in the UK (where it's about 6 in the morning). Note. NEVER, EVER, EVER 'phone home from a different Time Zone when you have been on the pish. IT DOES NOT WORK AND NO GOOD WHATSOEVER WILL COME FROM IT!

I think that's page 1 of the long haul pilot's handbook after "Don't drink the water" and "You think know what an STD is? Think again."

I remember inadvisedly phoning my wife after a memorable (well, it would have been if I'd remembered) night out in Shanghai. It was about 10pm in the UK. The phone rang, she picked up and all I said was "Hi" She immediately gasped "How much have you had to drink?!" One word. I think it went rapidly downhill from there.

[fatalbert]

I did something similar whilst working for the RAAF in Richmond Australia.We had been out on the sherbet and I got back to my room.thought I would phone my good lady,said hello and promptly fell asleep.I wasn't very popular for a while lol.

Edited January 27, 2016 by fatalbert

[F4u]

Alcohol and phones did not work for me when I did the Jersey airshow one year with the cat, when I got back to my hotel room after a few drinks I decided to call the other half using the phone in the room and after 5 or 10 mins I fell asleep with the phone still in my hand lucky for me I was only out for an hour but the bill was still expensive!

Guy

[moaning dolphin]

Note. NEVER, EVER, EVER 'phone home from a different Time Zone when you have been on the pish. IT DOES NOT WORK AND NO GOOD WHATSOEVER WILL COME FROM IT!

Why do they never tell you this until AFTER you have committed the cardinal sin. I was once in Cadiz during a huge Easter festival (they all seemed to be dressed as KKK types) and after half a shandy (ish) decided to call SWMBO who was busy with our young child and not in the mood for a drunken chat. Still I persisted and thought I was getting away with it whilst filling the payphone with Euros, until I dropped a Euro and bent down to pick it up. Unbeknownst to me the was a large metallic shelf just under the phone which I promptly smashed my head on as I rose back up. The conversation continued 'oooh I have just banged my head, oh I am bleeding, oooh lots of blood, better go love, see ya later!' I found out 3 days later when I next called home that this was the point my wife had a sense of humour failure. Since then I have never phoned home after even just a whiff of alkyhole.

Just an aside from that, walking out of a Spanish phone box, in the middle of a Easter festival with blood inexplicably flowing down your face does get some bizarre reactions from the locals, but I am eternally grateful to my Oppo for the first aid attention, even if he did keep dropping fag ash into my wound!

Oh by the way, nice resin castings, this (along with soldering) is something I need to learn this year!

[S5 modeller]

Fantastic work,so far, Debs.

Loving all the stories, made me wish I'd joined up.

Matt

[Roof Rat]

"Oh by the way, nice resin castings, this (along with soldering) is something I need to learn this year"

That makes two of us, Great work Debs love the build love the stories (from all) just as much, makes an old roof rat chuckle.

Keep up the first class work

RR