Wonderful Avro Shackleton Tribute

Avro Shackleton

Hi,
Thanks for an excellent post!
I was in 204 Sqn ATC in 1959, when 204 Sqn RAF operated Mk2 Shacks out of Ballykelly in Northern Ireland. For Summer Camp that year, a flight of Varsities (from Lindholme?) picked us up from RAF Waddington and flew us to BK – my very first, and perhaps best Summer Camp.
Highlights were countless flights in the Station Anson (there MAY have been a Tiger Moth, too), a 15hrs Patrol in a 204 Mk2 Shack over the Atlantic culminating in a burst tyre on landing back at BK, and the BEST escape & evasion excercise ever – by boat up Lough Foyle, a beach landing at Magilligan Point, ascent of Benevenagh (“Ben Twitch”)- and then map reading and evading back to BK. Just in time for a bottle of pop in Sandy’s Airman’s Home. Heady stuff for a 14 year-old!
The ACLO was an Air Signaller called Sgt Hall, and he did a BRILLIANT job! I bet life in “The Space Cadets” isn’t like that these days!
Happy memories.
Regards
Paul

Excellent, thank you for the link. As ATC cadets, we had many grand flights as uninvited guests of the very tolerant Shackleton aircrews at MOTU, St Mawgan in the late sixties. Our CO would ring up MOTU and we’d be welcome to sit around in the crew room until something became serviceable, and we got lucky. Sometimes you got a long range Atlantic patrol, or a trip ‘up country’ (I remember a landing at Langor apparently to deliver a ‘brass hat’ there); if unlucky it was ciruits and bumps and acquaintance with the puke bag.

We’d be gone for hours and our parents didn’t worry; at least I don’t think they did.

I wonder what will happen to the gate guard at St Mawgan after closure. Will it be moved to the civil air terminal on the other side, and will the good Cornwall Aviation Society folk still look after it?

SoG

There’s also a new DVD out –

“Shackleton 1722 DVD launched at Newark Air Museum

We would like to extend a special thank you to all those Shackleton veterans who turned out for the 50th Anniversary celebrations for Shackleton Mk.3 Ph.3 WR977 event at the museum this weekend. A particular highlight during the two day event was the official UK Launch of the Shackleton 1722 DVD.

Directed and produced by Andrew Schofield in collaboration with the South African Air Force Museum the DVD features “The last flying Shackleton Mk.3 in the World.” ….” more details and prices at

http://www.newarkairmuseum.org/news.php

It is also reviewed, [rather appropriately for WR977] on page 42 of the December 07 issue of Flypast.