My memory of the Bac 1-11 is of a somewhat peculiar nature. I’ve worked for 20 years as a ‘ramp-rat’, so I had to unload/load the odd Bac 1-11. I found the way the belly doors opened/closed a bit awkward: to open one you had to unlock it and push it inwards, which was not to difficult. Then, it slid outwards and down on a complicated contraption of wheels, extending rails and spring-loaded cables (for counterweight). To close the hatch you had to reach down under the fuselage, get hold of the handle, and pull it upwards with quite some force. When you had pulled it up you had to slam it towards you into the closed position and lock it. Of course this system worked well when the aircraft was new and everything fitted neatly and was well greased, but when the aircraft got older this system was subject to wear and tear, and you had to use quite some force to handle those hatches.
Well, one day I had loaded the aft belly of this 1-11 (I am not sure if it was a BIA or Air UK example) with baggage and jumped out onto the tarmac. I pulled up the hatch from below, but this one would not slide up high enough to close it, so I let it go down again and made a second, and a third attempt. At the fourth attempt I let it slide down again and to my astonishment the entire hatch fell out of the rails and fell down on the ramp! All pax were boarded and te flight was ready to depart. Now, my supervisor at that time was a real coward (and he spoke no English apart from ‘wante koffie, hotte water?’) and he ran away, telling me to tell the captain about the incident and solve the problem myself. So there I was, with a malfunctioning belly hatch and a fully loaded and boarded aircraft ready for departure. I went into the cockpit and told the captain what happened -he was not pleased, to say the least. But, he told me it was not the first time this malfunction occurred, and if I would be so kind, please, to assist him he and the co-pilot would try to get the hatch in place again. That is what the three of us did and after 30 minutes of wrestling with the heavy hatch, wheels, sliding rails and some broken cables we were able to close up the rear hold and the flight departed with 45 minutes delay.
Otherwise I will remember the 1-11 as a fine, good looking aircraft and I particularly liked the whining sound it made when starting up the engines. It sounded like sirens. And the thunder when it ook off at full power… wow.
Tillerman.
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