Chute-ing a line!

Lindy in full glory!

For all high speed taxy runs we endeavour to use the braking chute, although not a necessary requirement when you have a runway which is 2 miles long, it's use reduces the wear on the brakes and more importantly is a very impressive sight!

But before we can stream the chute we need to pack it - easier said than done when it weighs 165lbs and the canopy measures 45 feet in diameter - the largest chute to have been used in regular use anywhere in the world.

Brake chute hanging from the rafters

Before we start, the chute needs to be hung to ensure that it is dry and aired. Then after sweeping the hangar floor, the canopy is laid flat and all panels checked for wear and damage. The canopy is made out of a Stoppem /Dragnium blend which resembles something from an Agent Provocateur line.

Laying the canopy flat

Marking the log

The streaming log is marked before each run, recording the number of times the brake chute has been used.

Then to the lines.......so after detangling the spiders web and tracing each line from the canopy to the shackle, the lines are bunched, according to the parachute packing AP.

The canopy is packed!

Using 'judicious folding and assorted origami' skills the canopy is packed into the parachute bag in a series of S bends. 

Forming a mouth lock

The parachute lines are used to form a mouthlock at the base of the parachute.

 

Packing the lines

Again using our origami and wicker basket weaving skills the lines are pulled through the parachute bag in four sets. Now all that's left is to pack the extractor drogue chute.

So, the chute's packed and almost ready to go - all that's left is to fit it in the hopper..........

Packed up and ready to go!

Loading the chute

"The Victor tail chute - was a bastard to reload. It usually took 3 crew to get the new packed chute up and into the tail hopper. Required judicious folding and assorted origami ....... or lots of stomping and jumping about on the bloody thing ....... to get the hopper doors closed. If you landed somewhere pleasant and sunny it was not necessarily a trial to be out there loading the new chute. If you landed somewhere cold wet and miserable then it was a pain in the backside - better to be the 4th man sitting in the cockpit monitoring the refuel panel!" ex-Victor ground crew




Closing the hopper

"My idea of hell was packing a chute into the hopper on a wet and windy winters night at Leuchars for a QTR on Tansor." ex-Victor ground crew



 

 

 

 

 





And so we start again!

A lone RAF Vulcan Bomber.....

Remembering the 30th Anniversary of the start of the Falklands War and the 255 British service personnel and 3 Falkland Islanders who gave their lives.

HDU Black Buck veteran



HDU Obtained from Flight Refueling Ltd

In Early 2008 the team successfully installed a Mk17B flight refuelling Hose Drum Unit in the bomb bay of XL231, this item was generously donated by Cobham Aviation (Flight Refuelling Ltd) and once installed completed the refit of XL231 into a complete Victor K2 Tanker. This unit was in deep store for several years after being inhibited by Cobham Aviation and was last installed in a VC-10 Tanker.



 

Upon checking the records it was found by coincidence that this HDU is THE very unit which enabled Vulcan XM607 Captained by Sqn Ldr Martin Withers DFC to safely recover to Ascension Island during the 1st bombing raid on Port Stanley Airfield during the Falklands War (Black Buck 1)

 

 

Painting by Keith Woodcock

This unit at the time was fitted in Victor X2 XH672 Captained by (then) Sqn Ldr Barry Neal who successfully met and recovered the Vulcan off of the Brazilian coast. The Aviation Artist Keith Woodcock painted a famous painting of the occasion which hangs in the RAF Club, Piccadilly, London (Available in print). 



Naturally with Barry Neal being 'our' regular Captain for taxy demonstration we found this to be a bit of a strange coincidence and particularly as Martin Withers has been a friend for many years.

 

Fitting the HDU took a number of man hours but I think you will agree the hard work paid off.

 

Scoop lowered

 

Scoop removed and HDU Ready for fitting

 

HDU fitted

The record cards for this unit indicates it was fited in the following aircraft types and serial numbers;

Victor K2; XL511, XH672, Xl512, XL162. 1975-1988

Hercules Tanker; XV192,XV213. 1989-1995

VC-10 Tanker; ZA141. 1997-1999.

 Removed for storage and inhibiting in 1999.

HDU record card

HDU record card

HDU in action for the first time!

Air-to-Air Refueling Accident

The safety record of the Victor as a tanker aircraft in both the Mk1 & Mk2 versions is extremely high.

 

 

Considering how close in proximity a tanker is to its receiver aircraft, then the record is second to none and this was all down to exceptional trust, high training and professionalism shown by both the tanker and the receiver crews.

 

 

The only 'fatal' accident with a Victor tanker of any mark during Air to Air Refuelling occurred in March 1975, involving a Victor K1a (XH618) from RAF Marham and a Buccaneer S2 (XV156) from RAF Honington in Suffolk. The Buccaneer pilot was on a AARR currency check-flight and was in a two-ship formation with another Buccaneer. The aircraft in question was attempting a 'contact' with the port wing hose of the Victor.

The Buccaneer approached slightly too fast and overtook the hose basket and this then apparently bumped its way down the side of the canopy and partially down the aircraft's spine. The Buccaneer rose above the Victor's wing with the hose probably still against it and dropped back on power in order to back-off. However the Buccaneer in climbing contacted the port tailplane of the Victor and structurally weakened it to the point it was observed to oscillate visibly. One of the Buccaneer pilots realised that the situation was critical and advised an immediate bail-out to the Victor crew. Time unfortunately was not of the essence and the Victor nose dived violently and then pitched past the vertical, screaming downwards. The crew pinned in solidly by the G-forces stood little chance.

The Victor as in all the V Bombers was only equipped with ejection seats for the pilots, the rear crew (3) and the Crew Chief had to exit via the cabin door. The Captain Keith Handscombe was somehow 'ejected' from the aircraft, some say he managed to get to the seatpan firing handle and just managed to pull it with a couple of fingers in the nick of time and in fact he used to relate the story that way. Other Victor Aircrew known to us tend to believe he came out of the aircraft as it was torn apart via the forces. However he was the only survivor, all 3 rear crew perished as did the co-pilot who according to Keith Handscombe was unable to overcome the G-forces to pull the seat handle.

The Battle scarred Buccaneer returned safely to its home base. No trace of XH618 or the crew has ever been found, the accident occured off of the North East coast of England. Keith Handscombe severely traumatised physically and mentally came down in the North Sea and was picked up by a fishing vessel. He was then taken to the RAF hospital at RAF Nocton Hall by helicopter and made a full recovery. He then bravely returned to flying on the Victor K2 and passed away in Norfolk in 2009.

The cause of the accident was deemed to be: Aircrew Error.

 

 

On a pre-arranged visit several years ago I was fortunate to meet one of the immediate family members from the rear crew of this dreadful accident and I was able to show them the actual crew position and the equipment that their relative had operated. It helped them to understand what had happened that day.

50 Years of Victor XL231-------------Ray Poore

Victor XL231 shortly after delivery to RAF Wittering

Its hard to believe that 50 Years ago I saw a gleaming white, sleek aircraft coming into land at RAF Wittering. That aircraft was of course Victor XL231. It was the first Victor to take its place, with others arriving later, on 139 (Jamaica) Sqdn.

Shortly after the Victors arrived, all of the electrical ground crew had to go on a Victor course for a week. The electrics were like no other I had come across, and I had serviced on many aircraft in my time! The last three years of my RAF service was taken up working on XL231 and others.

XL231 with 'Blue Steel'

From the gleaming white to camouflage to Blue Steel, which I am proud to say I designed (and got paid for!) designing a switch test box for the Butt Connector circuit, considerably reducing testing time for that circuit.




Ray Poore (sitting) in Jamaica in 1962

In 1962 I went to Jamaica with XL231 and three other Victors, for the Jamaican Independence.







XL191 & XL231 on detachment to Jamaica

My vivid memory of XL231 was testing the Alternator voltage, at the terminal ends, situated on the engines, the test was carried out when the engine was running at about 80%, not for the feint hearted! I'm sure I got my tinnitus from carrying out that test over three years! Those ear defenders did very little to reduce the engine sound. The best part of the test was going into the cockpit and checking the voltage and frequency of each alternator, and then parallelling them all together, pushing the buttons at the right time. I remember it well.

In 2011 whilst staying with EX RAF friends near Whitby, we visited Elvington Museum, and there after 50 years I saw this great Victor, XL231, how the memories came flooding back. Since that day I have been like a 77 year old kid with a new toy; have bought a plastic scale model, complete with XL231 and Lusty Lindy transfers, got the "T" Shirt, key ring, car sticker, and finally the 2012 calendar! Do I like this aircraft or not?!

I wish to thank Andre Tempest and all the XL231 Team for keeping alive all my and many others memories of this wonderful aircraft.

Ray Poore with XL231 in 2011

Ray Poore Electrical Fitter retired, Electrical Engineer retired.

Mayhem on the A1!

Many spare parts are needed in order to keep such a complex machine in working order so an offer of spare undercarriage assemblies was not refused.

The day started off with a stop off for breakfast at a McDonalds on the motorway, one of the team suggested that the scrambled egg looked more like the new insulation in his loft at home - we knew somehow it was going to be an interesting day!

After many hours of motoring including seeing a sign indicating directions to a 'Secret Nuclear Bunker' (Kelvedon Hatch) We all had a good laugh and uttered "How can it be secret then??" "Don't tell the Russians!"

 We arrived at Hanningfield Metals, Essex and a Victor main undercarriage and nose undercarriage assemblies were then loaded onto my car trailer and the assembled mass resembled some sort of crazy buggy from 'Mad Max'!   "This is going to raise some interest on the motorway" I thought and I wasn't wrong.

After 'mountaineering' around the vast piles of interesting crumpled aircraft in the yard like a bunch of kids in a toy shop we set off for home.

Driving down the sliproad onto the motorway I suddenly got the feeling the car in the inside lane was hanging back and giving us a once over. It was then I realised it was a Police patrol vehicle. "Nobody look" I said. "There's a Police car and he's given us the eye!"  At that point everyone (except me) turned and gawped at the Police Officers in the car alongside. With a return look that I can only descibe as 'maniacs' the Police sped off!

Some time later driving up the A1 near to RAF Wittering I again noticed a white car level alongside my window. "Nobody look", I said yet again, thinking the worst...   One of the guys then recongnised the driver of the white car who was waving like crazy at us. "Its Captain Flack!" said Andy King. It was Mike Lousada aka Captain Flack to one and all that know him and he just happened to be driving up the A1 that particular day.   He then pulled in front of us indicating us to stop and so we pulled into the first turning. Unfortunately he mis-judged the stopping distance of our Mad Max creation and stopped suddenly. We had to take 'evasive action' and swung around him in order not to take his now open car door off or at worst knock him down! 

"I just KNEW it had to be you with that lot on the trailer, it couldn't possibly be anybody else!!" He said, obviously pleased to see us all. Shakily and still in mild shock for not killing him I uttered something along the lines of "What a coincidence it was to be on the A1 at the same time etc".....

This particular day is firmly etched in the folklore of XL231 and is often mentioned, usually over a beer or several.....


Air Vice Marshall 'Johnnie' Johnson

Air Vice Marshall James Edgar 'Johnnie' Johnson was a highly successful fighter pilot during World War 2 and achieved a combat record of 34 victories. The highest score achieved by an Allied pilot.

As a controversial Group Captain with a known 'reputation' he commanded RAF Cottesmore during the Victor B1 Bomber era and was a qualified Victor pilot. Many tales (unrepeatable!) have been passed onto us by 'those that were there'...

In 1997 a special gathering of WW2 fighter aces from both sides was organised at Elvington and 'Johnnie' was amongst those invited to attend. I decided that it would be a good idea to let him see inside a Victor again and participate in a Taxy demonstration on the runway. He gratiously accepted the invitation.

Unfortunately on the the day the press were in attendance and he decided to leave early as everyone seemed to want a piece of him!

As an apology for letting us down he sent the following letter to myself;