Blind landing Varsity

Maybe someone here can help. A long time ago, whilst I was still in a blue suit, I can remember reading an article in Air Clues. Unfortunately, the grey matter is going south and I cannot remember the details accurately, hence the request for help.

As best as I can remember:

Crew flying to Boscome (?) in really grotty weather. You know the stuff. Low cloud, heavy rain, nil viz. Listening to Boscome. One aircraft in the circuit. Tower asking the circuit traffic about conditions. Circuit traffic replies describing near fantastic conditions. Crew trying to look out windscreen can’t believe what they are hearing. What fortunate luck. Crew continues to Boscome, still listening to happy circuit traffic. Crew are unable to appreciate the fantastic conditions as they are unable to see past the nose of their aircraft.

Crew eventually manage to land after the most dreadful approach conditions with no viz. Baffled crew curse the loonies in the circuit and watch it land, to be confronted by a Varsity emblazoned with ‘BLIND LANDING EXPEREMENTAL UNIT.

camlobe

September 30th, 1958 – me.

camlobe

IIRC, there is one particularly important part of the Nimrod AEW project that flies regularly. The wingtip pods.

Although the whole project was plagued by two specific problems (more further down) these pods were considered ‘worthwhile’. Known as Loreal(?) pods (IIRC after the manufacturer), these RF sensors worked superbly.

Following the announcement of the cancelation of the Nimrod AEW, the pods were removed and latterly placed on the wingtips of the RAF’s E3D’s. For some considerable time the remaining Nimrod airframes remained at Waddo, viewable from the road, pod-less prior to their eventual demise.

Note: because of their placements on the E3D wingtips, the HF aerials are moved inboard from the tip.

The two problems refered to earlier.

The first has already been mentioned earlier. The Nimrod fuselage was critisised by the RAF at the very initial stages of project discussion as being far too small for the planned missions and future equipment upgrades. This critisism never faltered.

The second was the UK governments own fault. GEC Marconi had managed to obtain an ‘open contract’ to supply the radar system. ‘Open contract’ means there is no maximum limit on cost. You won’t get that anywhere else, especially nowadays.

The mainframe computer was a second hand design that was running to full capacity even without fully functioning systems. No allowance or space even for upgrades. The radar cooling systems included passing coolant via pipework through the fuel tanks. This meant that the aircraft would only be able to operate for short missions as far more fuel would have to be retained on-board in order to allow the radar system to be cooled, hence short mission times. Good plan, eh? (was reported at least once to have caught fire – on the ground during test). Syncronisation issues between the front and rear scanners took a looonnnngggg time to rectify. The list goes on and on.

BAe did an excellent job with the airframe, and IIRC, within their allocated budget. The GEC Marconi guys at the coalface did an excellent job of trying to make it work. Unfortunately, due to politics and financial greed, it didn’t stand a chance.

George Younger MP, the (new) Defence Secretary at the time, was probably the first modern British politician to be standing on safe ground when he announced that a British project, Nimrod AEW, was being scrapped and we were buying American, Boeing E3.

The reason for this was, shortly before his announcement, the media had broadcast a couple of in-depth, investigative programmes lambasting GEC Marconi upper management and informing the public about the costs up to date for no performance capability. Costs at the time were in excess of £1 billion. Remember, this was in the late 1980’s.

I seem to remember the GEC Marconi MD was personally interviewed and suffered uncontrolled sweating, fidgitting and redness throughout, whilst being unable to answer simple questions directly. These programmes also left unanswered questions regarding the awarding of an open-ended contract by the government, questions yet to be publicly answered to this day.

The RAF finally got the airframe they wanted. Probably for the first time in recent RAF history, there were no compromises i.e. it cannot be multi-roled, with the exception of medivac.

There is more, much more. But, the rest is history. Maybe another day.

camlobe

Ian Smith RIP

Another WWII RAF vetran passes. Like the others, he made a valuable and valued contribution in preserving our ‘safe’ society and way of life, almost paying the ultimite price in the process.

I for one would like to express my gratitude for his contributions whilst in RAF uniform, and pass on my condolences to his family and friends at their loss.

camlobe

As I look back on the eight and a half years I spent with the best engineering guys in the RAF looking after WL790 and her sisters, I consider what has happened to her since her retirement from front line service in 1991.

My professional and personal appreciation goes to Mike Collet and the team at Air Atlantique, as well as the people in the US for keeping her flying this long. In my humble opinion, she couldn’t ask for a better ‘next stage’ of her life than residing at that well known museum. We all know and accept that she will be cared for by experienced, considerate and well motivated people. The chance for future flight is real, and that will remain in the back of our collective minds.

Thank you all for keeping this ‘Old Grey Lady’ going, and for deciding on this sensible choice for her future.

camlobe

Anyone know what happened to the the XIX’s and the Mk 21’s that were in storage in an old hangar at St Athan in ’95?

The XIX was complete with the heating ducts for the cameras, and IIRC it was on its wheels. The others were, again IIRC with wings off.

Think the two XVI’s that were there as well are the two that went to BBMF.

camlobe

‘Flight of the Mew Gull’ I highly recommend. An excellent read that an aviator (lapsed or otherwise) can appreciate, especially trying to get into the mindset of – no nav aids or GPS. Just accurate dead reckoning.

A word of caution. You could easily become the Christmas bore as no one will see you, glued to the book that you cannot put down.

camlobe