Hi All,
Does anyone know if film exists of any of the ULLA (Ultra Low Level Airdrop) method of placing stores accurately on to the DZ. This was where large metal sledges were pulled out of the back of a Beverley/C-130 Hercules flying with its landing wheels a few feet above the DZ surface and allowing the sledge to drop directly onto the DZ surface where friction brought it quickly (well, nearly always!!) to a standstill. The Russians, I believe, had experimented with delivering troops by the method!! Rather them than me!
And I thought, when involved in some of trials and demo’s that ULLA stood for Ultra Low Level Auto-extract?
Anybody got any clues?
Rgds
Resmoroh
By: Arabella-Cox - 26th February 2009 at 09:51
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Just to wet Resmoroh’s appitite here’s a shot from a sequence of A&AEE photos I have of a Beverly conducting ULLA trials at Larkhill.
It will give some idea of the height that ULLA drops were conducted at. Officially the height was described as “10 ft plus or minus 5”.
As to your comment about Triple ULLA being uncontrollable, one of the stories the Boscombe craftsman who prepared the loads told me was about the American (exchange) Test pilot, who would take his hands off the controls as the load left the aircraft, letting the cg shift lift the aircraft’s nose into a climb and only after the load had left would he retake control. 😮
By: Creaking Door - 25th February 2009 at 17:08
Some more LAPES footage here:
By: Resmoroh - 25th February 2009 at 17:03
aeronut 2008, Hi,
Thank goodness somebody knows what I’m talking about!
No hurry! Israel can keep you till end-Mar.
I was at the debrief of the drop of (the only?) RAF 3 x ULLA somewhere on Salisbury Plain. The a/c Captain said “That’s the only 3 x ULLA I’ll ever do! The aircraft was totally uncontrollable for about 30 secs after the last platform left the a/c”!!!!!!!!!!!!
And, for a single ULLA, the crowning glory has to be on one NATO Firepower Demo (again on Salisbury Plain at – I think – Knighton Down) when all the NATO Generals and Colonels were assembled in all their various National fineries this Herc roared in, across their viewing seating, and dropped the platform right in front of them. Unfortunately the grass was still a bit wet and there was this tiny gorse bush. The platform hit the gorse bush and veered off-course towards the VIP seating enclosure, and failed to come to a stand-still!
You have never seen so many multi-national Generals and Colonels vacate their seats and disappear over the back of the viewing mound. Never let it be said that Senior Officers are not fit – they moved at twice the speed of sound!!!! I would love to see that again!!
Rgds
Resmoroh
By: Creaking Door - 25th February 2009 at 16:53
I remembered this YouTube compilation when I read your post:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLyDgeRiRNs
Not the best quality but there is some C-130 ULLA / LAPES footage mixed in there…
…some of it quite amusing. 😀
By: Arabella-Cox - 25th February 2009 at 16:32
If a search for ULLA doesn’t get you anything try LAPES (Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System), its the same thing but American! (and therefore inferior) By the way the specification for the A400M requires it to carry out VLLE (Very Low Level Extraction) which of course is ULLA/LAPES but renamed to keep the French happy:diablo:
As for film of ULLA I’m certain there is/was lots of it at Boscombe Down left over from the trials (I know because I’ve watched a fair bit of it). There should also be TV company coverage as it was a popular trick for the press.
For your information, ULLA was developed out of GPE (Ground Proximity Extraction). In this the load to be dropped was attached to a hook which was trapped by an arrestor cable on the ground so pulling the load out of the aircraft. I have pictures at home of a Beverley with such a hook, plus some of the ULLA trials from Beverley and Hercules from Boscombe trials, its just a pity I’m stuck in Israel until the end of March.
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February 25, 2009 at 1:03 pm