Photos of Vulcans on the Catterick fire dump?

Seeing the picture of the Hastings at Catterick on FC brings back memories that are always brought to the fore every time I visit my parents, why? Because on the outside of their downstairs toilet door is the Hastings’ old “toilet” sign on on the reverse is the “no smoking” sign! I was an Air cadet that for one weekend had access to all the wrecks on the Catterick dump to remove any instruments we could use in our ATC simulator and I just “happened” to acquire a couple of souvenirs!

That would have been the nose wheel steering bypass pin.

Aha that makes sense, thanks!

From Post#6 ;
“I expect Catterick had three runways back in the day, but can’t imagine the one pictured is the main runway which would still have been in use at that time?”

No , Catterick only ever had one tarmac runway , east – west (10-28) which was 2753 x 98 with an extended sterile area adjacent to the A1 which was closed by the police when both the Vulcans and Victors landed there .

Thanks David, that’s interesting and seems rather strange for a UK airfield of that era to only have the one runway? I believe someone my Dad knows witnessed at least one of the Vulcans landing there. Apparently it was quite a scene!

Last time at an airport I saw the ground crew install something in the nose wheel bay attached to a big red streamer which they removed and showed to the pilot before pushing back – would this have been a safety pin on the nose gear?

That would have been the nose wheel steering bypass pin. There is a lever on the nose gear that isolates the hydraulic pressure to the nose gear steering mechanism and creates a “Run a round” circuit for the hydraulic fluid. This allows the wheels to be steered by the push back crew. Once the aircraft is straight in the fairway and the tow bar is released the pin is removed and the spring loaded lever moves to the flight position and the aircrew can steer them.
U/C ground lock pins are not normally fitted for push back operations and most firms require a tech log entry for fitment and removal.

Rgds Cking

From Post#6 ;
“I expect Catterick had three runways back in the day, but can’t imagine the one pictured is the main runway which would still have been in use at that time?”

No , Catterick only ever had one tarmac runway , east – west (10-28) which was 2753 x 98 with an extended sterile area adjacent to the A1 which was closed by the police when both the Vulcans and Victors landed there .

Thanks and sorry for the lurch off-topic.

Back to the Vulcans on the fire dump ….

It shouldn’t be and most would have both in the design, ( for those that don’t know, a geometric lock is where the mechanism goes over centre, (on the side strut etc) so to fold the retraction arm it would need to physically move the leg outwards / fwd or aft against the weight of the aircraft on it, to allow it to then come past centre and the retraction arm to fold.) the weight of the aircraft would be forcing it the opposite way as it is over centre from the retract direction.. On airliners etc you would tend fit the pins before shutdown. They will also tend to have a physical downlock mechanism on the gear too.. .

Yes the ground locks are either pins that are inserted through the arm to prevent it moving or collars that fit around the retraction part of the jack to prevent it retracting. There was a case at Coventry where and engineer was killed many moons ago, he removed a clollar or pin of a C47 hangar queen to use on one of the aircraft and the aircraft collapsed on top of him.

You will find this an interesting read explaining it all.

https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aircraft/amt_airframe_handbook/media/ama_Ch13.pdf

It shouldn’t smirky, you have weight on micro switches on the gear that in effect isolate various systems whilst on the ground, one being the retraction system. You can find details of the incident and a lucky escape for one of the see off crew.

That is amazing and lucky no one was killed. (I now remember seeing the ground locks in place when under the Vulcan at Newark!)

Is it a common design practice for it to be geometrically possible to retract the gear with weight on it, instead relying on microswitches etc.as a safety system?

Last time at an airport I saw the ground crew install something in the nose wheel bay attached to a big red streamer which they removed and showed to the pilot before pushing back – would this have been a safety pin on the nose gear?

I doubt you could retract the main landing gear with weight on wheels. Many years ago, at my airline, we retracted the nose landing gear on a BAE-146 while it was sitting on the jetway. There was an issue with landing gear selector valve, and when the engineer changed out the valve, it was in the wrong position. When hydraulics were applied, she sucked the gear up into the nose gear bay. Luckily the cabin door hung up on the jetway platform and the nose remained elevated. He quickly selected gear down and put her back on her feet. There were some sheared pins inside the cabin door mechanism – I had to change those out – but there was no damage to anything else. That was a lucky one.

It shouldn’t smirky, you have weight on micro switches on the gear that in effect isolate various systems whilst on the ground, one being the retraction system. You can find details of the incident and a lucky escape for one of the see off crew.

http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?15209-Vulcan-Retracts-undercarriage-on-the-ground!&

Why is it even possible to retract the gear with weight on it?

Is this common design practice? – I would have expected something to go over-centre and lock it in place

Thanks for the link benyboy and for looking for the other photos too 🙂 I’ll also have a look at FC and see if I can find the thread there. Interesting photos and 321 and 562 look to be standing on an old runway, from the faint white lines that appear on the photos. I expect Catterick had three runways back in the day, but can’t imagine the one pictured is the main runway which would still have been in use at that time? Thanks again for the link, interesting stuff!

http://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=46689&hilit=catterick

I know there is another thread with a lot more photos over on there but I cant find it 🙁

I have some but I think they were taken at St Athan

Great stuff, thanks Tony! I’ve seen that photo before and it must have been a pretty effective way of swiftly writing off a Vulcan!!

Not what you are looking for, but I found this of interest, it was caused by a faulty microswitch, when the engines started the gear retracted, thought I’d link you to the image I found ages ago iin case you haden’t seen it, the write up is on the web about the incident.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/allan-eos/8142610480/