A.W. Argosy. Help Needed

Would anyone have photo’s or know where to look for them,of Argosies carrying loads and dropping them etc?

Will this one do, that I took at Benson on 19th September 1970 during the BofB Day air display?

Excellent photos Frank…there was also I think a sequence of pics of the recovery,surely pretty rare that an RAF transport a/c was salvaged from sea water to fly again,although of course being in shallow water helped.

cheers baz

I have not seen the photos you refer to. Lets hope someone puts them on here. Also be nice to see a pic of the plimsoll line that was put on to it after recovery.

Excellent photos Frank…there was also I think a sequence of pics of the recovery,surely pretty rare that an RAF transport a/c was salvaged from sea water to fly again,although of course being in shallow water helped.

cheers baz

“dive dive dive 105 etc etc

Thanks to Malcolm for picture.

Am I getting older or are these Argosy pilots getting younger?

East Midlands approach in murky weather last Wednesday.

Mark

Nice video of Safe Air Cargo Argosies here. The sound on the first takeoff is well dodgy, but on the other hand you do get to sing along with Rod Stewart-

http://www.aviation-history.com/armstrong-whitworth/aw650.htm

Is there a case for merging the two Argosy threads?

Surely, you must be joking :p

RPM, Fuel Flow, TGT…
www.electranewbritain.com

Yup…very sedate,but much better than plan ‘A’…ie – going by rail 😀

cheers baz

BAZV…Impressed by the speed…

Surely, you must be joking :p

RPM, Fuel Flow, TGT…
www.electranewbritain.com

I did read the full story years ago but cannot remember any details,I only flew in an Argosy once – from cottesmore to St Mawgan for a detachment…I was impressed by the speed :D:D:D

cheers baz

Ditching at Khormaksar…

Has anyone got the full story on this ? I can’t recall what happened here even if I did know the full story in the first place. I do recall that this happened on a Check Flight with a QFI on board.

It looks to me like something went completely haywire here….. The configuration (from the photograph) shows No’s 2 & 3 props feathered as they have entered the sea feathered (edge on) . See that No.1’s blades are bent because they had pitch on and presented a flat surface to the sea causing the bends, but I can’t make out the No. 4 for sure, but it looks as if it is feathered as well. The aircraft also has Approach flap on (24 degrees). Flaps were T.O. 12 degrees, App 24 degrees and Full, 40 degrees.

In assymetric training we would have one outboard engine feathered, this aircraft definitely has No’s 2 and 3 feathered which is unusual to say the least. As No. 1 was not feathered, that would mean that what was considered the “worst” engine to lose, the No.4, was feathered for training but then “Why, Oh, Why” the No’s 2 and 3 as well ?

On final approach with 4 engines they would normally be at about “Torque 180”, on three engines at about “Torque 240”, that configuration would not be in the “Autofeather” range (engine RPM over 14,500), so the feathering actions had to be Manual Actions and that means the H.P. Cocks (Fuel Control Levers) being pulled back to “Feather”.

On an assymetric approach with the No.4 feathered only the No.4 H.P. Fuel Control Lever (Open/Shut/Feather) would be at “Feather”.

Either that or all four engines were at “Go-around” power, above 14,500 RPM and the LP Cocks were switched to “SHUT” on no’s 2, 3 and 4. Second option unlikely, I’ll stick with the H.P. Cocks.

Three (3) H.P. Cocks at “Feather”….?????

RPM, Fuel Flow, TGT…
www.electranewbritain.com

I PM’ed a moderator about merging the two Argosy threads but nothing came of it.

Would make sense to merge.

Roger Smith.

I PM’ed a moderator about merging the two Argosy threads but nothing came of it.

Was based at Cottesmore in the mid-seventies, had quite a few flights c/o 115 squadron. (E.1s)

There was one I flew in which had a plimsoll line just below the cockpit, apparently it ditched and was then recovered to flying status in the 60s.
At the time I thought they were having me on but now I believe it did happen.
A great aeroplane

I was also based at Cotty around that time (although I was across t’other side of the runway on 231 OCU)
I well remember the Plimsoll marked Argosy – it was ditched on finals into Khormaksar (Aden) Harbour in 1964 whilst with 105 (Dive Dive its 105 etc etc 😀 ) but was in shallow water and pulled up a ramp within a fairly short time.
There was a well known photo of the occasion if anybody can find it 😀

cheers baz

PRM FF TGT please check PM

Air drops gone wrong… Long Jawi sometime in 1966…

Not Argosy but shows what can go wrong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyEoXPuf1L4&feature=related

Yes, just watched that and it reminded me of Borneo and at a place called Long Jawi…. two stories…

1. A Beverley airdrop onto the “A” missed the DZ entirely and went through the roof of the longhouse at Long Jawi and narrowly missed a supposed paraplegic who (I am laughing while I type this…) had laid on his kip for some time (years) being waited on hand and foot….. The MSP (Medium Stressed Platform – 2 Tons) went straight through the roof and the paraplegic was last seen running into the jungle. I suppose there are false benefit claimers in all walks of life, even in the Borneo Jungle…!!!

I didn’t witness the above example but I certainly did see this “No. 2″….

2. 110 Squadron on the day had positioned two Whirlwinds at Long Jawi ready for a re-supply run up to the Sarawak/Kalimantan border but the supply drop was late. Long Jawi was in a river valley and we positioned the choppers well up on the side of the slopes out of the way of the “A” (just in case….).

When the drop packs used to be made up, the Ice-cream always went on last, at the top of the packs. We didn’t know when we got there at Long Jawi that the Beverley had gone U/S at Kuching but the MSP’s had already been positioned at the apron ready for loading at Kuching, had been loaded, and been taken off again…. but the frozen Ice-cream had already been stuck there on the top of the MSP’s.

Long Jawi was remote and the Ghurkas based there were waiting “eagerly” for the Stores and Ice-Cream that they knew would be coming in on the airdrop.

The Beverley after an hour or so was declared serviceable again and the Supply (ie: Catering) stuck some flat boxes of Baked Beans on top of the Ice-cream and the Beverley departed for Long Jawi which would be about 2 hours away from Kuching.

The upshot was that as I watched (from a safe distance up the side of the hill – “Chicken Me”) the Beverley approached on his run-in which seemed O.K., as I’d watched these drops before….MSP’s always came out in singles… 1-Ton platforms would come out in multiples…. Anyway, he dropped the first one which landed close to the “A”.

As usual the Ghurkas who always stood in a leaning attitude in a large circle, poised to race in; they raced in, stripped the platforms, threw the boxes into a Landrover and waited for the next MSP. The eager looks on their faces had to be seen to be believed, believe me…

Round the cicuit went the Beverley, rolled out of the turn close in and dropped the second MSP… which candled…. Oh, dear….

One shute opened, the other two did not, so the MSP is hurtling to the ground, off the “A” and the Ghurkas race in to be enveloped in a circular horizontal sheet of now liquid Ice-cream which hits all of them at belt height as the Baked Beans crush the Ice-cream packets. Well, you have never seen anything like it in your life ! Grinning and laughing Ghurkas, wiping their trousers and shirts, white with melted Ice-cream, licking their fingers and rolling around on the ground in hysterics.

One of the more pleasurable and very happier moments from a little known but very dirty little conflict.

RPM, Fuel Flow, TGT…
www.electranewbritain.com

!PEC Argosy

VH-IPD captured at Melbourne March 1987

Air Dropping

Not Argosy but shows what can go wrong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyEoXPuf1L4&feature=related

Argosy Supply Dropping Pictures

The only ones I know of are in Roger’s book. It’s also a good read.

Annett, Roger Drop Zone Borneo – The RAF Campaign 1963-65. Pen and Sword Books Ltd 2006. ISBN 1-84415-396-7

Cheers

Frank

Argosies with the RAF

I am surprised that the Argosy’s RAF life was so short. The 215 Sqn aircraft were mainly returned to Akrotiri or spread about the other 4 Argosy sqns and the 215 was disbanded in late 1967. By now 48 Sqn had C-130s, the aircraft that obviously was superior to the Argosy. Perhaps that should have been recognised earlier and the Hercs first purchased when the Aussie’s and others started getting them.
David Taylor.[/QUOTE]

They lingered on in the UK on comms.duties into the Seventies….particularly like your shot of the clamshell doors open….good little camera you had back then and good processing!

Would anyone have photo’s or know where to look for them,of Argosies carrying loads and dropping them etc?