Update- 12/06/11
Jeez this thread took some finding! Can we have the search function back working please?!
Decent turnout on Sunday. Ollie had mooted doing water checks on all the fuel tanks. This sounded more fun than being cooped up in the stifling confines of the nose radome, so the lock can keep for next week.
Firstly though, we gave the museum a hand moving the hangar doors, the pink Buccaneer and the Dragonfly. See, we like to be helpful! 😉
So on to the business of the day. For anyone not in the know, each of the fuel tanks in the Victor has a take-off point where you can affix a special tap and draw off some fuel for sampling purposes. This is usually done with some trepidation as it’s very easy to unsettle the seals and thus empty the tank in question all over yourself and the hardstanding…
We started with the underwing tanks, all was well here so we moved on to the bomb bay tanks. This requires removal of the belly panels of what was the bomb bay, exposing the undersides of the bay tanks plus lots of fun plumbing.
The panels themselves came undone quite easily. Once all the screws are undone the panel drops onto cables held by dog clips. However one had snapped and another had not been connected up last time the panels were off so we had to shove some unsuspecting crew under the panel instead, see below.
This is quite handy as the 2 panels have to have various aerials disconnected prior to removal from the aircraft, and saves much potentially embarrassing juggling!
Yes that is blood, Lindy did bite me AGAIN!
The 2 main panels out of the way, plus the in-between panel that forms the floor of the ‘Valley of Death’ between the 2 main bomb bay tanks, it was on with the tank sampling. Here Ollie gingerly manipulates the tap, while Andre ‘takes a sample’.
The idea being a special capsule is dropped in the sample. If there’s water present, it turns green. No water, it’s yellow. Simples!
One of the bomb bay tanks ran a little cloudy, so Andre ran the mucky stuff off.
Meanwhile I got the dog clips on the belly panels maintained and greased up. One of the many little things you need to do on such a machine to a) keep everything working, and b) accessible when it decides not to work!
After all this fun it was lunch time. And this was where, over heaped plates of good food, the depth of our foolishness struck us. We now had, with full bellies, to climb up into the bomb bay roof to sample the tanks in there. We really should have done that in the morning before a feed up… :rolleyes:
Anyway we pressed on, doing the easiest (above the hdu) first. All was well, in fact it was crystal clear, so on to the next one. Now, anyone who has ever worked on Lindy will know this one, as it’s the one the RAF famously left a sampling tap on, and it stayed there ever since. This was because, depending on who you speak to either it was too awkward to remove, nobody could be arsed, or simply nobody dared in case it hurled fuel all over them! Anyhow Ollie, Andy and I decided it was time to man up and remove said tap, for better or worse. after much swearing (by me), blood loss (by me), banter (by all) and panic (by Ollie), the offending beast was removed and saw the light of day for the first time in nearly 20 years. And we didn’t get coated in fuel.
We finished the bomb bay tanks with much trappedness, injury, swearing, and wondering why the Hell HP didn’t have the foresight to fit a handy urinal in the bomb bay!
All was well, with no notable water in the fuel. So, with relief, we buttoned up the panels and hid under Lindy from the now torrential rain. We took an executive decision that no more could be done this day, which translates roughly as we’d had enough and stank of fuel! So we took a trot across to the hangar to see how the hydraulic checks on the running Buccaneer had gone. Apparently this had been mostly successful, but rain had stopped play before the hydraulics of the Gannet could be given a workout too sadly. However she was open so I took the opportunity to have a peek in the cockpit. It’s a very, very long way up!
And not a climb (or descent) you can do with any dignity!
How crews managed, in full fight gear, on a rainy dark pitching carrier deck, I don’t know:eek:
Not sure if there’s a workday this Sunday, or if there will be an update. Rich and I will be in on Saturday to do battle with the lock, as I can’t attend Sunday. So if any visitors to YAM this Saturday thinks they can hear voices from Lindy’s lower nose area don’t worry, you aren’t going mad; it’s just us!
Sign In
