Ah, Memories (sigh)

[CFC_Conky]

Hello Chaps,

I will do some digging through my archives and come up with something one of these days. I'm heading back to Montreal in a few days to visit family, no internet but I may be able to locate some of my old photo albums from my bush pilot days. i exchanged some stories with Buzzsaw a couple of years ago, I'll see if i can rehash those.

Pip, pip,
Conky

[=CfC=BlueDog]

Brilliant, Conkster.   Looking forward to those BP tales.   I've put Buzzsaw on alert that his input would be welcome.

[Chuffy]

Growing up I seriously admired the graceful lines of the Hunter so I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to fly this lovely aircraft.   Flew Hunter F6 XE 587 and Hunters T7 XL 564 and XL 579.   You would have been about 2 yo at the time, Chuffy.

I am indeed fortunate!

There was one memorable incident in a T7 which I might keep for later.

Blimey, I turn 40 on 16th and I thought I was getting old!   

[=CfC=BlueDog]

It's not how much you've used up that's important - it's how much you've got left.

Personally, I'm planning on living forever.   So far so good!

[=CfC=Woof]

Damn, Bluey, you're the first Hunter pilot I've almost met.  What a great career you must have had.  Now I think about it I did meet a guy on a cruise once who claimed he was the last living Meteor pilot.

[=CfC=Bounder]

Well.....you could have been as lucky as me and flown the elegant and delightful Bristol Freighter!

How could you possibly compare a Hawker Hunter with the elegant lines below? Speed...140kts.......altitude.......2000ft on a good day between Lydd and Le Touquet.....8 minute turn-arounds.....five times a day in summer........3 cars and 14 punters in the back.

I was twenty then.......a year younger than the youngest trolley dolly (they had an age limit of 21+)

Had an evil bounce if you got the landing wrong much to the amusement of all at Lydd when you first arrived fresh from flying school.

Memorable times in the local pubs and not a care in the world.......as you say BD.....Ah, Memories

Bounder

[=CfC= Binks]

Truly graceful lines Bounder. (The little MG, not the "Guppy" that's swallowing it!).

[=CfC=BlueDog]

Fitz, most impressed you went solo as a mere pup of 16!   I doubt I was mature enough at that age (some hurtful souls might suggest I'm still not mature enough at my present age).   First solo is always an exciting, memorable but sobering event - with mixed emotions: delight, excitement, apprehension, pride, doubts etc, but if you make it back in one piece, a huge sense of achievement.

Looking forward to those Chippie & Chinook stories.

Were you ever 20, Bounder?   That also seems young to be gainfully employed by an airline.   Was that as captain or copilot?   I trust those trolly dollys looked after you - in a matronly way!

[=CfC=Bounder]

Quote from BD:-
"Were you ever 20, Bounder?   That also seems young to be gainfully employed by an airline.   Was that as captain or copilot?   I trust those trolly dollys looked after you - in a matronly way!" 

Fresh out of flying school as a "Second Officer", although we were known in those days as "The Last Officer!" (in a matronly way)

Prime duty was to shin down the ladder from the flight deck and get the barn doors open before the ground crews arrived to get the automobiles off. It was about six months before you actually got to the dizzy heights of being a co-pilot....and then no three point landings....only wheelers! As you can imagine........landing a block of flats (25ft up) was a very different proposition to a Chipmunk!

In winter we carried horses, sheep and cows around between France and UK. It was a glorious if smelly existence.

Bounder

 

[=CfC=Woof]

Bounder, you brought back some memories with that Bristol Freighter, esp. the pic of the MG loading.  In 1954 my wife and I crossed to France in a Freighter, taking with us our  54 MG TF,  Boy I wish I still had it.   The car, not the wife.  (I've got a new one now...wife, not TF).  We were jammed in traffic in London and were thirty minutes late and they waited for us.  I guess they had to, we were the only pax, as I recall.

The RCAF flew the freighters in Europe...one bad crash when they screwed up an ILS and took out most of one squadron's pilots.

You must have some wonderful stories from all the glamorous flying you did around the world.   Entertain us, please!

[=CfC=BlueDog]

And I'm betting Silverback has a few tales to tell.   How about it, SB?

[=CfC=BlueDog]

Almost as lovely as Bounder’s Bristol Freighter was the stunning Twin Pioneer.
   


The two mighty Leonides power-plants were, however, a real bugger to start.   It had a bewildering array of levers, buttons, switches and cocks to operate such things as boost, propeller pitch, mixture, magnetos, cooling cowls, fuel feed, fuel prime etc etc etc; way, way too complex for your average jet jockey who (at best) could only manage a couple of ‘go faster’ levers.

I was somewhat preoccupied on my way to the aircraft at this particular RAF base, failing even to notice the beautiful lines of the magnificent beast.   Clambering aboard through a maze of doors and hatches I seated myself in the left hand seat.   My fingers having  deftly arranged the levers, buttons, switches and cocks in an eye-pleasing manner,  I attempted to start the engines.   After much coaxing and cursing I managed to get them going…….amid obvious sniggers from the ground crew.    Bluey’s Big Book of Expletives had had a goodly workout so far, but at last I was ready to proceed.    Tuning the radio I received a message from the ops desk to shut down immediately and return to the maintenance hut.    Turning to a new page of my big book of expletives I ran a whole sequence of blue(ish) words and phrases, punctuated with the occasional ‘the’ ‘and’ and ‘but’.

However, obeying orders as is one’s must, I closed down the engines and proceeded in a service-like and orderly manner to the maintenance hut.    There I found I had committed the cardinal sin of not initialing some minor item on the maintenance release form.    Turning the page of Bluey’s Big Book……….

So, back to the Twin Pin.   Luckily the Leonides started easily this time and I was soon taxying and ready for take-off.    I called for, and was granted clearance to take off.    Aligned nicely along the centerline of the runway I was just pushing the throttles forward when the Tower controller called:   â€œxxx…HOLD POSITION!!!!”

What now, I thought, reaching for Bluey’s Big Book of Expletives when I heard the sound of a Merlin.   Looking up there was a Spitfire passing very low over my ‘jet’, then down to just a few metres above the runway.   It followed the runway’s gradient, and then nosed up as the lucky pilot performed a beautiful aileron roll and departed the scene.

Enough even to put a smile on the dial of the grumpy BlueDog….and put away his big book for the day!   I know not where it came from, or where it went, but it was a magnificent sight.

Ah, memories,(sigh).       

[=CfC=Bounder]

Excellent a/c BD. That machine performed wonders in Malaya during the crisis. I think it could get into any of Madame Fifi's airstrips that we use and even shorter one's too with trees at the threshold.

I think the Bristol engine factory had a deliberate ploy to make starting their engines as difficult as possible. The Bristol Freighter had the Hercules sleeve valve engine (same as the Blenheim) and it was just the same. Count 12 blades.......left hand on primer and right hand on mixture....any other fingers on throttle.....move them all between 1/2 and 1 inch.....wait for a cough / smoke ....rich mixture....bit of primer....bit of throttle and eventually the beast would fire up!

This illustrates it well! :- (It's a MK31 short nose.....but same engines as the Mk32)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFXn5JzGljc

Bounder

[CFC_Conky]

Great stories Chaps, i'm still trying to locate my old photo albums but I did find some slides of my time in the high arctic. I'll post some when I get them converted into digital format.

Pip, pip,
Conky

Oh, I forgot to add that Bluey could not have soloed at 18 since the aeroplane had not been invented yet

[=CfC=Woof]

I didn't know the Bristol Freighter had two dive brakes...