Airfield identity please?

Spooky? I’ll tell ya spooky 😉

Been working on hawks for a few years now and never really paid any attention to them carrying rocket pods bar what the ISIS sighthead controller has written on it (B for bombs, G for guns, M for missiles, and R for rockets), well never seen one fitted with pods anyhow!

Was an argument the other day regarding weights on the a/c stores, one of them being mentioned was rocket pods, to which someone asked “when the hell did you last see a hawk fitted with rocket pods?”

Then I come home and see this….. hmmmmm

Spooky !!:D
copy of the original ‘rocket’ pic for sale here

http://cgi.befr.ebay.be/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330219024472&ssPageName=MERCOSI_VI_ROSI_PR1_PCN_BIX&refitem=230267958324&itemcount=1&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&refwidgettype=osi_widget&_trksid=p284.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DSI%26its%3DI%26itu%3DCR%252BUCI%26otn%3D1%26ps%3D42
cheers baz

Bazv, ahh I see what you mean sorry! Got a bit mixed up there.

Camlobe, what exactly happened to xx305? the details are a little sketchy on the incident. xx176 is still flying too, at least I think it is 🙂

Paul

Thanks for that, xx192 flying 1978, written off 1989 according to uk serials.

Sorry I meant the original Brawdy Hawk tail numbering system,the tail number did not match the a/c serial…doh :rolleyes: we all said it was stupid and it was eventually changed to the bleedin obvious 😀
As you can see from the pic below taken may 1979,XX198 is ‘113’.
XX192 was originally ‘107’ and if memory serves was the fastest hawk we had,the favourite of OC Standards and favourite display a/c..

You think? Not keen myself!

I have to agree, the pictures of the grey/green Hawk look alot better but the WW2 brown/green just looks wrong!

Hawk XX 227

TyeNoodle,
Thanks for the link. Very well researched and presented. Brought back some memories, both good and not so good.

(thread creep warning)

I was at Valley when the ground ejection happened in 1980, only I remember the aircraft involved being XX167, not XX176 (see below). A good day.

I was at Valley when we lost XX305. A bad day.

I was at Lossie when a rather embarrising incident happened. The Arrows were coming up to us (the Great 8, operators of fine Shackleton aircraft). Problem was, they arrived one short. Story goes, during the free-for-all, make-your-own-way-there transit flight North, one of the Reds got a bit lower than the rest up one of the Scottish valleys. Sgt armourer in the back seat saw and called ‘WIRES’ and banged out. Said wire made a bit of the mess of the fin, but armourer was OK. Depending on who you listened to at the time, apparently, if he hadn’t banged out, the wire may have decapatated him. The pilot then safely landed the aircraft at Dyce (Aberdeen). Fortunately, the seats hadn’t been selected to ‘Command’. A good day.

Looking at the list, I am guessing the aircraft involved was XX227, and the armourer involved was Sgt P.P. Inman.

I would like to hear the story from his perspective.

Also, in the latest Go Flying, Pablo Mason makes a referral to his own midair and subsequent ejection in 1983, which is also listed on the website.

(from above)
I seem to remember it being XX167, an aircraft with a memorable history. IIRC, there was a six month repair at Llanbedr following a nasty birdstrike, followed by a nine month repair at Valley following the aircraft’s collision with the barrier stanction. (the timescales might be the other way around – it was a long time ago)
The ground ejection happened on its first training flight after the long repair at Llanbedr. The aircraft started drifting left, couldn’t be corrected and with the upright barrier left hand stanction appearing ever larger in the windscreen, the instructor initiated a command ejection. Rumour said at the time the instructor called ‘eject, eject, eject’ and pulled, and the student said ‘wha…‘
Following these two long-term major repairs, XX167 had about half the total airframe time of the rest of the training fleet.

During the recovery of the aircraft from the barrier stanction, the Station Crash Officer of the day, a junior engineering officer or Jengo, ordered Chief Tech Wilfred (or Wilf to the rest of us – anyone else rember Wilf) to climb up onto the rear of the Hawk and pass down the now detached rudder. With good reason, Wilf first comfirmed the order from the Jengo, and then preceeded to clamber up and along the rear fuselage while asking the Jengo to stand underneath the tail so Wilf could pass him the rudder. Poor young Jengo didn’t notice everyone else backing away. Dutiful to the end, Wilf did his bit and removed the rudder from its precarious position and then reached fully rearwards to pass the rudder down. As the Jengo grabbed hold of the rudder, he also caught the back end of the tail as the nose lifted clear of the ground. Unlike the Jengo, who had undergone the required Hawk awareness training, the groundcrew were fully aware that a Hawk without bang seats was tail heavy. The only injuries were the Jengo’s bloody nose and a bruised ego. A good day.

As an aside, when XX167 came on line following its protracted repairs at Llanbedr, Valley had run out of black paint. As was the way of RAF procurment, we had to wait some time for more black paint. Many months in fact. You would swear this was fiction, but I can assure you, it is not. Anyway, this meant that the large number on either side of the forward fuselage (in this case 167) which was normally black, had to be left white while awaiting delivery of what was obviously, extremely rare and expensive gloss black paint. Well, as is the way of student pilot crewrooms everywhere, following XX167’s prang into the barrier, panic set in with the students. The cause was positively identified as ‘aircraft with white numbers are definately not safe to fly’. For some months, groundcrew had a good chuckle at the expense of these ‘superstitious’ young student pilots, as more and more aircraft came out of the paintshop with white numbers. I seem to remember XX243 pranged the wing while taxying (another six month repair necessitating a wing replacement) and that had white numbers at the time. Hmm…

Apologies for the blatent thread creep.

Oh, by the way, it is the MIRA test track, but you knew that.

camlobe

My mistake, was written off after engine failure on takeoff. Neither occupants got out

http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/Aircraft_by_Type/HAWK/HAWK.htm

Hi Tye
Hawk from 234 sqn Brawdy,what is unusual is that the normal fit was one sneb (matra ??) rocket pod on the stbd pylon (for ground safety) with a c.b.l.s on the port.I was posted away from Brawdy in 1980 so I dont know if that policy changed.
Also thinking about the a/c tail number system…might date the photo later than 78/79.

cheers baz

Thanks for that, xx192 flying 1978, written off 1989 according to uk serials. Funny feeling this is the one that went off the end of the runway at swansea while landing in poor weather, could be wrong though!

Superb, a hawk firing rockets! 63sqn?

Were discussing the use of rocket pods on hawks just today 😀

A few pics of 158 around too in camo, prefer that look to the spitfire copy although a friend did some of the paint so not going to slag it off too much :rolleyes:

Hi Tye
Hawk from 234 sqn Brawdy,what is unusual is that the normal fit was one sneb (matra ??) rocket pod on the stbd pylon (for ground safety) with a c.b.l.s on the port.I was posted away from Brawdy in 1980 so I dont know if that policy changed.
Also thinking about the a/c tail number system…might date the photo later than 78/79.

cheers baz

Superb, a hawk firing rockets! 63sqn?

Were discussing the use of rocket pods on hawks just today 😀

A few pics of 158 around too in camo, prefer that look to the spitfire copy although a friend did some of the paint so not going to slag it off too much :rolleyes:

Yep thats MIRA,
Village in the shot would be Higham on the hill ?

common to see mill aircraft overfly this area .

You think? Not keen myself!

Just a bit different to the current display model that was at Shoreham last week – I guess we are used to solid as opposed to camouflaged colour schemes on Hawks in the UK

I know it was a while ago,but all weapons training Hawks wore camo, not sure where this pic came from,there were 2 similar pics around years ago,so if the photog recognises it I would be most happy to credit it.
Probably taken at Pembrey Range circa 1978

cheers baz

You think? Not keen myself!

Just a bit different to the current display model that was at Shoreham last week – I guess we are used to solid as opposed to camouflaged colour schemes on Hawks in the UK

Dosent the Hawk look amazing in that colour scheme

You think? Not keen myself!

Dosent the Hawk look amazing in that colour scheme

Wow, that was quick, thanks guys, I’d never have thought of looking there.
Cheers.

Yep, that’s MIRA, ex- RAF Nuneaton. My friend lives in the nearby village, and my brother plays football there. Some veeery interesting vehicles to be seen around there…

Looks like what is now the MIRA test track at Nuneaton:

http://www.satellite-sightseer.com/id/4200