Cockpit Blues!

[=CfC=BlueDog]

OMG Conkers....those instruments look like a WW2 bomber!

Didn't know they still had stuff like that flying around! Where did you find it....Davis Monahan a/c cemetery?

Now here's a real post-WWII bomber cockpit.   Care to guess what it is?  Not too hard.

No it's not TSR2.



Ah, memories (sigh)

[John Cartwright]

Not too up on anything post war.....using my powers of deduction with your history and origin; could it be a Canberra?

[Gizmo]

Must be my eyes but I can't see the 'I' or 'Ctrl E' buttons anywhere.

[=CfC=Bounder]

Aaaah....a real piece of machinery....without cheating I'll go along with BalDaddy.....are we right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm2RTbal-_c

Bounder :-\

[=CfC=Fitz]

Having the registration on display helped!

http://www.planepictures.net/netshow.php?id=580374

I cheated and put external views on. It is this Canberra in particular I believe....

[=CfC=BlueDog]

See, i told you it wasn't all that hard!

Elephant stamps all round, and a gold star for Fitz.   Who'd have thought that googling the rego would come up with the answer.

And Gizmo, there are a couple of "I"s around somewhere, and there's even a "CTL E".

Thought I'd give my impressions of this fine English lady if people are interested.

[=CfC=Woof]

Thought I'd give my impressions of this fine English lady if people are interested.

Yes, Please.  Hero stories by the dozen are approved and needed.  Give it your best shot, Bluey.

[=CfC=Bounder]

Oh yes please Bluers....would love to hear about flying a real aircraft.

Here is another fine English lady....have sent her CV to Fifi. I think she is absolutely spiffing and a cracker. Have not flown her though! If she stood at the end of Fifi's airstrips on a bandstand with a couple of red flags to make us stop, I'm sure the chaps would land really short!

http://metro.co.uk/2014/05/19/meet-sheila-vogel-coupe-britains-granny-prostitute-whos-still-busy-with-clients-at-85-4732651/

Bounder

[=CfC=BlueDog]

  Only in Britain..... 

[Gizmo]

Nowwww you know why I always take a full bomb load to Fifis....

[=CfC=BlueDog]

Forty five years on, and still at about the same fighting weight, I slip into a Vampire trainer at the Caloundra aircraft museum.  I'm in the company of the attendees at the 45th anniversary of the graduation of No 58 Pilots Course, several of whom are shown here.

 

The BlueDog looks around and thinks "how on earth did I even fit in here let alone fly one of these dinosaurs" - thinks back to doing such things known only to Woof, or maybe Bounder: aural null let-downs.   My god (note the small 'g'), this cockpit layout is unbelievably cramped, poor and archaic - who could cope with this shambles?



So how did this come about?   We graduated as a course back in late '66, having lost one third or so of the starters through inadequate performance; with almost all of us remaining showing a preference for posting to fighters (F86 Sabre and the all-new Mirage III).   How we dreamed of soaring in our fast jets to the very gates of heaven (small 'h').   Well, if we couldn't 'get' fighters, the beautiful Canberra bomber was next on the list.   Some few were posted to fly fighters, none went to bombers, the rest posted to trash-hauling on C130A, Caribou, and Dakotas or Huey helicopters.   The BlueDog, despite his (to his mind) flying brilliance went to C130s.

To be fair, this was probably a good thing - close supervision by surly, no-nonsense '99' potential captains was really what was required.   So I found myself in a large cockpit, sitting in the right-hand seat, noting the (then) modern instrument panel layout, making the occasionally correct radio call, and even more occasionally being allowed to touch the controls - under strict constraints from the ogre in the left-hand seat, of course.



But time changes all, and a couple of years down track I graduated to the LHS, becoming green and growing Shrek-esque ears in the process; and even becoming an actual asset to the squadron as a flight simulator instructor and check captain.

But, like all dogs, the Blue one got restless for a change.   Australia was embroiled in the Vietnam war and BD thought it would be a good idea to be part of it (the term "dumbass" immediately springs to mind}.   We had Caribou, Hueys and Canberras over there, so the obvious preference was for the mighty bomber.   I applied, and possibly because the RAAF was somewhat desperate at the time, I was posted to fly Canberras at No1 Operational Conversion Unit (1OCU) at RAAF Base Amberley, just outside Brisbane.   Successful conversion to type would result in posting to No 2 Squadron, Phan Rang Vietnam.

So I duly packed my bags, tootled off in my red MGB and reported to the 1OCU execs at the squadron facilities at Amberley.

More to follow........

[=CfC=Bounder]

Great pic and story Bluey.....can't wait for the next release.....?

My flying course was in 1965.....OMG where have the years gone?

Bounder

[=CfC=BlueDog]

Let's hear your 'parallel' story, Bounder.   I'm sure there are similarities!

[=CfC= Ax]

Excellent and interesting anecdote Bluey, can't wait for the next instalment.

Bounder, please tell..

[John Cartwright]

Still waiting for some of your naval yarns Axiom