Water landings

Ollie, that would be XR444, ditched,as you say with fuel starvation on 26th June 1972 with 3 crew and eight pax : struck off charge a month later. It subsequently went to the Army Veterinary Centre at Melton Mowbray where it was used to train ‘sniffer dogs’ (I thought all dogs were sniffers?…mine is 😀 ) to find drugs and bombs secreted on aircraft. Might even be a photo of it extant. Regards, Brian S.

Help – flying helmet extension lead

Is this the one you’re looking for? or another ‘Bell’ type which may not suit? Overall length 5Ft . PM me if interested, had it made up in the good old days, but sadly no longer have access to the DH 82A I used to hang on the other end of it! Regards, Brian S.

Anyway….back to the history of the Swordfish. Presumably we have to draw a blank?

Fools rush in where angels etc…! Like you Andy and others (if I may be familiar) I was interested in the provenance of the Swordfish, living as I do in an area of Scotland that had in wartime a preponderance of Royal Naval air stations. I have absolutely no interest or intention of scavenging from old wreck sites,(indeed I never even considered the aspect of the crash involving loss of life, believing as I do that there were no fatalities involved in this incident) but I have had a life-time (thus far!) interest in the history of men and machines from the wartime era and since, whilst we still had a sizeable fixed-wing assortment of aircraft. (Indeed as a youngster I can remember Barracudas being towed behind RN tractors from far-flung dispersals outside of the airfield along public roads to my local air station. Would that I had access to a camera then!) So as a grumpy ole git, I was merely huffy that someone might have had a serial that would have pinned this Swordfish ID down, and was not going to divulge it, but I was wrong. My apologies therefore,where due, but I would never say never, some deeper research might yet find a serial. We can but hope…. Brian S.:o

Swordfish Wreck – Glen Callater

This thread seems to have grounded on some rocky (Highland) outcrop- like the unfortunate Swordfish did. Is there any chance of further facts coming to light or is there some information known , but for some reason not to be shared generally?
Hardly in the spirit of the forum IMHO: could it be that there are some ‘oldies’ not too happy sharing with the Johnny-come-lately members who venture to contribute something to the fray? :confused: Come on guys, straighten up and fly right, or loosen up, whatever ! 🙂

Thank you for that Brian!

Ray Sturtivant’s book doesn’t happen to give a date for the loss, does it?

Many many thanks.

BTW, the wreck is somewhat more depleted now than it was in the 1970’s!

You’re very welcome : sadly no more info on the date. I think some more probing is required here. If there had been resulting fatalities presumably much more information would have been on record, whereas a crash landing with no injuries or crew loss might have just involved leaving the bulk of the remains after the necessary salvage and removal of ordnance etc. and a sometimes cursory attempt to bury some parts where they were ,in view of the inaccessability of the terrain, as indeed most of these high ground wrecks were. I can’t imagine the aircraft lay undiscovered or otherwise unknown for over thirty years however.
[ Much of Ray’s work was hampered by huge gaps in Naval records and he did a marvellous job in compilation of the information is his various books with these limitations], but I seem to recall (and I cannot remember the source) of a Swordfish crash in this area where a shepherd found the aircraft after the event. It may not have been this one; there were unfortunately many, Swordfish and other types) And yes, the wild places don’t seem so remote nowadays, and are far more accessible for the removal of many artifacts from these sites : it seems only the most remote high peaks still keep their sad trophies. We’ll see what else we can find in the various records on this one. Brian

Merry Christmas + New year wishes

And if it’s not the sign of a sad old git for logging on here on Christmas Day morning, Best wishes to all fellow forum members from a part of Scotland that’s actually mild and sunny with no snow at all.:confused:
Happy Christmas and a Good New Year in prospect to you all : I’m looking forward to another year of interesting comment, enlightenment and aviation -related banter. Thanks for your inputs, past and future. Brian S. 🙂

Hastings MOGCB at Changi in 1962

I’d bet a fair amount of your pay/pension on that Unit Badge being Transport Command. MOGCB would have been an H/F W/T callsign (and, possibly, used on the Flight Plan). Might we just(?!!) be looking here at an IRIS a/c? I think IRIS was the acronym for the RAF “Inspectorate of Radio Installation Services”. Nothing more would cause the Air Traffickers at some far distant Outposts of Empire to worry about their sphincter muscles than to hear the vhf call “X – this is IRIS”. Fags were stubbed, coffee was spluttered all over desks, and – in general, upstairs in ATC – chaos reigned. Nay, even panic!! Been there – watched it. Ho ho.
Resmoroh

Would say you’re spot on Resmoroh : Lancaster PA477, based at RAF Watton was an original IRIS aircraft, with duties as you suggest : the Lanc was replaced in May 1950 by Hastings TG560 (IRIS II). Whether she was still soldiering on in 1962 I cannot say, maybe replaced by another later aircraft,(would 12 years be a long time in service considering the far-flung RAF outposts there were?).. but perhaps someone with better knowledge will confirm.