Above: Inset pics 1 & 2: XL190’s nose leg with original illustration. The nose unit was secured for Andre, the towing arm being removed later and scrapped. The single retraction jack can be seen bottom left Inset 3: With Andre after the 3rd breakdown and passing on other Victor items for ‘Lindy.

Despite reports in the aviation press to the contrary nobody from Elvington managed to get down to the final St Mawgan resting place of XL190, as has been confirmed by Andre Tempest some time ago. The V.A. was subsequently charged at Andre’s request to obtain whatever we could to ensure that as many useable items were saved before the airframe was scrapped.

Over a 6 week period therefore I travelled to an Essex scrapyard to reserve and oversee any items on Andre’s behalf as they arrived, in lieu of many main components being disposed of locally at St Mawgan itself. A typed wants list was compiled before the scrapping began in January 1999 by Andre and faxed to my office, which ran something like this:

1. Nosewheel leg as complete as possible with steering jacks attached.

2. AAPP (APU) Starter Motor: Situated on bottom of Artouste engine STB’D WING ROOT.(A simple job to remove apparently, just 2 electrical connections and its held on by x 1 jubilee clip).

3. Any loose fuel pumps or float units which might have been removed for fuel tank purging.

4. ANY black boxes from anywhere in the a/c, mainly in & around the nose section including plenum chamber. If time could not allow proper removal and it was possible to cut any sections out with them in situ, then this was specified – this was ultimately not possible unless any interested parties could do it themselves, as the dealer concerned had time constraints and the weather, as expected, was bitterly cold!

4.x 2 main undercarriages for spares use with wheels, if not complete legs at least bottom bogies with wheels on.(We had seen the MOD report on these and knew the u/c’s were badly corroded with two wheels shattered and tyres burst, but any existing components that were useable might help out Lindy in the future).

5. Any circuit breakers and contactors.

6. x 1 Voltage Regulator in Plenum Chamber. Part No AE7306. LOCATION: Facing aft top rack on right- about 6 electrical connections (for AAPP main electrical reg).

7. Fuel amplifier units ALL located under access lip to Plenum Chamber, racked vertically. (Apparently x 1 electrical plug and x 1 Dzeus clip to attach it to the aircraft).

Above: Inset Pic 1: Main UC leg illustration; Inset Pics 2 & 3: Both main u/c legs of XL190 in ‘the yard’. I had asked that both main legs be retained for Andre along with the nose leg, but one of the main legs was removed weeks before Andre’s arrival. They were especially needed for the wheel brake pads, but fortunately Andre later traced the removed item to Duxford I believe, where the brake items were removed by him with the owner’s blessing as they were internal and would not be missed on the displayed item.

LOCATION FOR STARTER MOTOR FOR APU :
There is a bulge under STB’D wing only which runs forward to aft. This is inboard of the engines, below the main intakes. If air scoop is open it faces you when looking from the front. There are 2 curved doors which join length-wise, with an exhaust duct at the rear of the bulge. With doors open, the starter itself is pretty much like a car one, black coloured with the 2 electrical (dirty orange) cables going into the back. Its pinion is like a star drive with a shaft a couple of inches long – it may have ‘Plessey’ on it, as they manufactured them.

AAPP FUNCTION
The AAPP, installed in the starboard wing stub provides low pressure air for starting the main engines. The unit also provides electrical power for maintenance or servicing purposes on the ground when a ground supply is not available or for essential services in the air should the main generating system fail.

HOBSON PFCU
231’s aileron powered control unit went U/S at this time, and one of 190’s would obviously have been a help. It can be found in front of the ailerons where a stress panel with around 60 screws on it marks the location for the unit. Time again was at a premium, but although Lindy is OK now it would still be an obvious help to have a replacement unit(s) for the future. If anyone knows of any then please contact Andre at Elvington.

ALIGHTING GEAR : GENERAL
The nose and main units of the alighting gear are actuated by a single jack each. Internal jack locks secure the units at the retracted positions and the nose unit at its extended position. The main units are locked down by external spring-loaded-to-engage-hooks. The associated wheel bay doors are operated by auxiliary jacks, the correct operating sequence being controlled by mechanically operated sequence valves.

THE BEST LAID PLANS…
After being assured by my then-girlfriend that her Volvo was A1, I took the other smaller items saved for Andre with me to meet him at the yard on 13 March – and promptly broke down 3 times with electrical problems – (I don’t go out with her anymore). Andre had to drive from the yard and met me at Margaretting Village Hall Essex, and after a sherbert and handing over things over with the V.A.’s compliments we bid each other farewell while I waited for the AA. Oh well, at least I found a lovely pub that did a special Cod and Chips in their own beer batter.

Above: Inset Pic 1: The Conway engines lie idle at the yard after removal from XL190. Their long job done, they await removal and breaking down for scrap; Inset Pic 2: I can’t recall if this was XL190’s original radome or a spare, but it was at the yard and thereafter I have no recall. Inset Pic 3: Many plenum chamber louvre doors and airframe/wing plugs and bungs were also recovered by the Victor Association and passed on to Andre for ‘Lindy. Many of them were marked up with the old-style red pennants with a ‘Victor B.2’ designation.

We published a shot some issues ago of the 2 Shrike missile pylons as kindly gifted to N&SAM from IWM Duxford some time ago. These lie at the foot of the cockpit section of Vulcan K.2 XL445. These hefty items had to be designed, fashioned and proof-tested in very quick time to enable Shrikes to be used against Argentine radar ground defences during the famous Vulcan B.2 ‘Black Buck’ bombing/missile raids of the Falklands War.

The AGM-45 Shrike itself was an American anti-radiation missile designed to home in on hostile anti-aircraft radars. Developed by the Naval Weapons Center at China Lake in 1963, it mated a seeker head to the rocket body of an AIM-7 Sparrow. Phased out by U.S. in 1992 and at a later time by the Israeli Air Force (being the only other major user) it was superseded by the AGM-88 HARM missile. The Israel Defense Forces developed a ground-launched Shrike which was mounted it on an M4 Sherman chassis and called the ‘Kilshon’.

‘WADDO’ SHRIKE MEN
Very fortuitously V.A. member Ricky Durrant showed me the above photograph last year, of the original team at the RAF Waddington Engineering Wing who built the first pylons along while carrying out the electrical wiring etc to bring the whole thing together. The Vulcan wing hardpoints used to attach the pylons were those originally designed to carry the U.S. designed ‘Skybolt’ missile which was cancelled in the 1960’s.

The front of the pylon can be seen to the right as fitted to a Vulcan B.2, with a single missile round suspended below it. The pylons could carry two rounds each besides a Westinghouse AN/ALQ-101 jamming pod on the other wing. The initial ‘Waddo’ pylon as reported in a ‘Flypast’/web article said that these were replaced later with an improved version (though not stating when) which was built at RAF St Athan. These were said to be more streamlined and being made of aluminium alloy were lighter also. ‘Avro Vulcan Warpaint No. 30’ by Kev Darling refers to them as having ‘aerodynamic fairings’ added to them later – but strangely a curved front end already seems to be in the photo above, though this may not be aluminium.

After looking at some Falklands and post-Falklands shots of the pylons I suspect that the Flixton examples are the later type as they seem quite light and are faired with aluminium (they are not identical as one is for Shrike and the other I guess for the Westinghouse AN/ALQ-101 Jamming Pod). The Jamming Pod carried on the opposing wing was used to jam Argentine radar during the Vulcan’s early ‘Black Buck’ bomb missions against Port Stanley airfield.

MARTEL TESTS
The original Waddington-originated pylons involved 24/7 working and the people involved in the photo above did a grand job. W.C. C G ‘Jeff’ Jefford wrote in 1999 that with growing concern of enemy radar in working up to the ‘Black Buck’ missions it had been decided to adapt the Vulcan for radar suppression by using the only available missile – Martel. Initially these missiles were tested at the Aberporth firing range and passed for service use, with the pylons. Waddington engineers duly designed and manufactured the carrier beam by hanging it from the original ‘Skybolt’ hardpoints and Black Buck pilot Martin Withers spoke later in a RAF Falklands 25th anniversary publication of a Westinghouse ECM pod, ‘borrowed’ from Buccaneer, being ‘slung under the starboard wing using an RSJ from the local builders’ merchants’.

This seems to tie in with Darling’s ‘Warpaint No. 30’ again, who writes of the initial missile fit, that as no pylons were available locally, manufactured items were created using ‘a length of steel joist with standard weapon shackles attached’. The AN/ALQ-101 Jamming Pod was attached to its own particular shaped pylon by a very deep carrier fin, which can be seen on page 29 of ‘Warpaint No. 30’. (Incidentally, this picture indicates that jamming pod and missile wing carriage was not ‘set’ in that the AN/ALQ-101 pod is on the port wing of a Vulcan, whereas a picture on p.28 of Martin Withers ‘Black Buck 1’ Vulcan XM607 shows its own pod on the starboard wing).

CHANGE TO SHRIKE
W.C. Jefford remarked on reservations about Martels’ suitability despite the successful Aberporth Vulcan test-firing and subsequent two-Vulcan deployment to Ascension armed with 1 missile each. This was due to doubts about Martel’s reliability and probability for success with regards to civilians in the target area. It was duly dropped therefore with the U.S. supplied AGM-45 Shrike being chosen instead, given its proven reliability of combat use*. Engineering and indoctrination work began at Waddington on 21st May 1982, with eight Shrikes stated as being looked after at Wideawake Airfield on Ascension Island just 1 week later after familiarisation work- (anti-radar ops later occurring in Black Buck raids 4/5/6 on 28 May/31 May/3 June respectively, after ‘Black Buck 1’ kicked off the bomb operations on 30 April).

Another query crops up in ‘Black Buck 6’ on 3rd June though, with the ‘Flypast’ article quoting the actual Black Buck 6 missile installation being ‘jury-rigged back at RAF Waddington only days before’- Q: Was any missile fitting actually done in-theatre? Also, did this later Black Buck mission Vulcan use the improved lighter pylons made at RAF St Athan? Two Vulcans were selected as Shrike carriers in XM597 and XM598 (primary & secondary). The famous Black Buck 6 ‘Brazil’ op (XM597) featured 2 Shrikes on each wing with the jamming pod removed, along with its own specific pylon.

The two pylon options of Shrike /Jammer or Shrike/Shrike on opposing wings were fitted in the UK as Author Craig Bulman has stated that the five selected Black Buck Vulcans had their own custom-made pylons, though this referred to Waddington-made items only, as opposed to any attributed to RAF St Athan. Normal load was two missiles on the port pylon only. Strangely in its Falklands 25th Anniversary issue, ‘Aeroplane’ said that after Black Buck 3 of May 16th was cancelled, XM597 was due to use Martel AS.37 missiles for Black Buck 4 on 28 May, but it too was cancelled, due to a tanker problem.

At present I’m informed that the chap at centre of the picture was in charge and was called Wally, hopefully more names will be forthcoming in a later issue. Ed.

* This conflicts with the reasons given in ‘Avro Vulcan Warpaint No. 30’, which state a limited number of Martels being available with these being already allocated to the Nimrod fleet anyway

My records show that this was Black Buck 3 which was cancelled due to strong headwinds that threatened to reduce fuel reserves below acceptable limits.

This dosen’t seem to have stopped some initial flying however from this Tanker Debrief Proforma sheet, which gives some insight into the requirements of flying slow enough to transfer  satisfactorily with a Hercules.

Pilot was Sqn Ldr Todd in XL512 who left Ascension at 05.21, returning at 13.59 with 27,000ib of fuel, after transferring 30,700lb. Main comments are listed under the following 2 headings:

EMPLOYMENT AND CONTROL OF TANKER/FIGHTER/AEW etc
We had a bit of an error in nav plan between TFR 1 and TFR 2 (TOC TO TOD) – 20 mins too long. We took on extra fuel at TFR 2 to allow us to lose this 20 mins. RV was brought forward  by 5 mins to 09.33 and worked very well.

CAPTAIN’S COMMENTS

1. C130 initially tried contact FL 100 240kts and fell out.
2. His next attempt was FL 100 230-kts but hose “ran away”.
3. Settled for 235kts FL 100 and this seemed OK but he required our immediate toboggan to FL 50.
4. In level flight at FL 50 as he approached full he required a speed reduction to 210 kts.
5. When he broke contact the hose entered in by itself – easy!
6. Initial calls – no problems – fuel flowing, stopped etc.
7. I had to ask him when he required the fuel pump.
8. Fuel Flow rate – at first 3,300 lb/min

- when 25,000 passed – 2,300 lb/min
- when 26,500 passed – 1,800 lb/min
For the last 1,000lbs or so, fuel pumps frequently shut off due to overpressurisation.

9. C130 pilot occasionally asked for fuel flow rate and fuel passed.

SEEING TWO MODELS OF THESE AIRCRAFT AT REDHILL AEROMART IN 2007 INSPIRED THIS ARTICLE

Most readers will be familiar with the Victor in general, and so I am going to talk mainly in this introduction about the Heyford, while giving like-for-like performance figures further below, for immediate comparison. In contrasting the two aircraft it is amazing to consider that a span of just 22.5 years separates these two classic H.P. designs, and the construction details and performance figures tell their own story as will be seen. That they are an age apart is obviously self-evident in the visual appearance of the aircraft however, with the Victor looking like it might well have come from another planet.

The Heyford was built to the same 1927 specification (B.19/27) as the Fairey Hendon, the first of the big monoplane bombers, and was a much cleaner-lined machine, introducing some original features including a rotating and retractable ventral “dustbin” turret (this latter item has only one restored example extant, as reported in the association press some years ago, owned by Ken Ward. It would be good to see it on loaned display in a museum some day). Prototyped as the HP.38, the Heyford was later ordered into production as the HP.50.

While the Heyford looked obsolete even before it first flew in June 1930 (the fixed u/c wasn’t very helpful) it has always held a fascination for me as it stood apart from other aircraft of the era due to some unusual design features that made it a very distinct example of what was to be the last of the RAF’s biplane heavy night bombers. Most noticeably the fuselage was attached to the upper wing, rather than the lower wing, as was the norm in biplanes

The price paid for the excellent visibility rendered to the upper crew by this feature was that the pilot’s cockpit was seventeen feet above the ground when landing and taking off! Handley Page termed the Heyford the “express bomber” not only because it could carry a considerable bomb load at high speed, but due to ground servicing design advantages which enabled it to refuel and re-arm along with any running adjustments, which could all be addressed in the shortest possible time. It had a reasonably long career, serving with heavy-bomber squadrons from 1933 to 1939 and is the only aircraft named after an air base: RAF Upper Heyford, Oxon (now closed but retaining a museum).

Flown by Johnnie Allam on the 20th of that month, this ill-fated aircraft completed less than 100 hours before she was tragically lost with five crew over Milford Haven in August 1959. ‘668 nontheless ushered in the career of this versatile aircraft whose modest looks belied such astonishing and fortunate capability. This was to be demonstrated right up to its final flight and none more so than in the later Falklands Campaign, during which so much crucial fatigue life on the final K2 version, was expended in achieving the final victory for British forces.

The original first-ever Victor flight will clock-up its 60th anniversary next year as we have mentioned elsewhere, and if any other significant anniversaries come to mind within the sphere of Victor or V-Force in general then please mail in to us and give us your own special date to remember.

Here are some others:

Tanker ‘ThIrsts’
XH620 : 1st of 6 interim B(K)1A 2-point tankers, flying 28.4.65.
XA918 : 2nd production B.1 that became 1st of 11 K.1 3-point tanker conversion.
XH650 : Converted from B.1A to become 1st of 14 K1A 3-point tanker aircraft.
XL231 : Prototype K.2 tanker.
XL233 : First K.2 to RAF 5.74, 232 OCU.

Barring one airframe, these are all early ‘XA’ serialled Victors, and so I thought it would be a tribute to these early carers of the Victor to do a special graphic while adding the Sqn/Service-entry dates of the aircraft listed, to make it hopefully something to remember.

The Victor B.1 served with the squadrons of RAF Bomber Command’s No. 3 Group for four years before the introduction of the improved Victor 2, during which time the bomber was responsible for some outstanding routine flights, including one from England to Malta in two hours at a speed of 655 m.p.h., and a transatlantic crossing in 188 minutes, at an average speed of 644 m.p.h.

Referring back to these earlier exploits of its forebear, some publicity on the advent of the Mk.2 stated that “Such flights may, to the lay mind, appear somewhat pedestrian by comparison with the Mach 2.0- plus flights made by the USAF’s B-58A Hustler, but the British bomber was designed for an entirely different flight envelope and, in several respects, possesses greater flexibility than its supersonic American counterpart.”

V.A. member Mike Dunk recalls being sent on graduation as an airframe mechanic to RAF Cottesmore in 1957, and we will be serialising his recollections next issue. It was a path which would lead to him to work on this most futuristic-looking aircraft:

“The station was being developed into a V-Bomber base and things seemed very primitive. We carried out guard duties and fire pickets whilst the new longer runway and buildings were gradually finished. Johnnie Johnson was appointed our CO and we all knew about his wartime heroism and flying skills. He really was one of the boys and we were very proud to serve under him.”

In July of 1957 Mike packed bags packed again, this time to RAF Gaydon to do his airframe course on the Valiant bomber. “At last we knew that Cottesmore was to be a Valiant base!”he recalls, though on returning initially to Cottesmore that “things were still very quiet on the camp, but Valiants started to arrive for resprays. They arrived in their colours of silver/grey and we had to spray them anti dazzle white which produced a beautiful looking aircraft. Milk was supplied daily to the spraying team due to the large amount of toxic fumes around. All this activity but still no aircraft of our own.”

THE VICTOR ARRIVES AT COTTESMORE
But suddenly: “Then, one day quite out of the blue, a beautiful white Victor bomber XA936, arrived on the runway and came to a halt. My best friend Kevin Shaw and I were dispatched with the tug driver to bring it back into the hangar. We luckily had a towing arm but didn’t know exactly how to fit it. Fortunately crew chief Widdup who arrived with the aircraft knew the procedure. I leapt off the tug, ran up to the aircraft to touch her because my one small claim to fame would be that I was the first airman to touch a Victor bomber when it first started in front line service to form 10 Squadron.”

ARRIVAL DATE & SERIAL MYSTERY
Mike’s remembrance of the Victors’ arrival at RAF Cottesmore in 1957 seems at odds with my reference however which gives the first operational Victor bomber squadron, No.10, re-forming at Cottesmore on 1st April 1958 to become operational later on the 15th of that month when taking XA927 on charge, as opposed to XA936 as he has recalled.

This seems to be confirmed by the the inclusion of XA936 on my graphic, which is one of the hand-written a/c entries that I have taken from the original lecture notes. My added ‘Into Service’ info (in blue) to the right of this shows that XA936 did not actually enter service with 10 Sqn until the following month on 28th May 1958, whilst it is XA927 (unfortunately not written on the Lecture Notes) which I have traced as being the first Victor that entered into 10 Sqn service, on 15th April 1958.

VICTOR TRAINING BEGINS
From Feb 1955 ‘A’ Sqn had been based at RAF Gaydon training Valiant crews as part of 232 OCU along with ‘B’ Sqn, for that part of the V-Force training commitment. ‘A’ Sqn was to stand down from its Valiant conversion training in Dec 1956 however in order to convert its instructors onto the Victor B.1 at Radlett, reforming again at Gaydon almost a year later on 28th November 1957.

On this date the Victor was also officially delivered to the RAF to serve with No.232 OCU to facilitate the training of eager RAF crews, while ‘B’ Sqn retained its Valiant training work. By happy coincidence the earliest Victor in the Lecture Notes graphic is that of XA931, which entered service with 232 OCU on the same day that ‘A’ Sqn reformed at Gaydon.

Although underpowered by its Sapphire engines the Victor B.1 entered service after excellent flight trials and following comments after tests at Boscombe Down, with its cockpit area completely re-designed also, to become a superb addition to this world-class V Force triumvirate.

The ‘super-priority’ Handley Page product also equipped Nos 15, 55, and 57 Squadrons. No 10 Sqn was soon followed by its sister unit No.15 while No 57 Sqn at Honington did not open for business until 1st January 1959. No 55 Sqn began operations on 1st September 1960, which was to be the start of a notably long and proud association with this magnificent aircraft.

I have sent my query to Mike and will update on the Forum when I hear back from him, but in the meantime I would like to get the graphic uploaded along with the story, which I hope will be of interest to all Victor and V fans.

And does anyone remember these Victor men of yore?
DUTTON – ROWLANDS – MCDOWELL – SHAW – READMAN – BUNN

CHIEF TECH’s, CREW CHIEF’s & OTHERS BY SID HARDING
I received a very well-qualified reply to the above from V.A. member Sid Harding, ex-Victor Crew Chief and story contributor to the website as follows:

Garry,
The term ‘crew chief’ originates from the USAF and, if my memory of the timescale is correct, was adopted by RAF Bomber Command when the first of the V bomber were introduced in the 1950s. Each V bomber had it’s own SNCO (invariable a Chief Tech) aircraft tradesman (Crew Chief) solely responsible for the maintenance of that particular aircraft and flew with it when it was to land away from it’s base. It was also adopted for other large aircraft that the RAF had added to their inventory around that time. In the 1970′s the name Crew Chief was replaced by the term ASC (Aircraft Servicing Chief) which remained until the V bombers went out of service.

The term/rank Chief Technician (Chief Tech) was a technical rank positioned between Sergeant and Flight Sergeant to meet the many new maintenance requirements and responsibilities that came along with the V force and other new aircraft as the RAF developed new maintenance procedures after the second world war, for example independent checks on flying controls. It was also part of a technician structure offered to technical tradesmen at that time and in general terms still exist today.

It started with Junior Technician (JT), progressing on to Corporal Technician, Senior Technician, Chief Technician and, for the highest level, Master Technician which equated to Warrant Officer. All these rank promotions would result from passing the appropriate exams and performance in all duties to the correct standards. Of the very few tradesmen that rose to the rank of Master Technician many were ex crew chiefs. The encouragement to go down that technical path was; automatic promotion after set periods and better pay. These tradesmen were easily identified as their stripes were upside down, the junior technician being a single stripe.

However, in the mid 1960′s the upside down stripe was slowly being removed and reverted to conventional design and, besides the chief technician rank, it was difficult to recognise the technical personnel from those who took the standard command route, the junior technician’s single stripe was replaced by a 4 bladed prop, one more than a SAC which had one. The junior technicians at that time (including myself) all hung their old stripe up over the crew-room tea bars with the following words “Here we hang till we drop, cast aside for the 4 bladed prop”.

Sorry I cannot think of any small stories or comments just now but will put my mind to it tonight and tomorrow to see what I can come up with. If I find something I will email it straight to you.

Cheers,
Sid

Mike Dunk has kindly mailed in re my queries about XA936 and the dates concerned in his recollections, with the following:

Hi Garry,
Apologies first of all-my Valiant course at Gaydon should have read October 1957.

According to the Aerofax book which gives service histories, XA 936 arrived on the 28th May 1958. The Crew Chief was definitely called Widdup-he was the only name I remember. I went on my Victor course at Gaydon between February and March 1958.

As regards XA927 if it did arrive in April I didn’t see it and wonder whether it was in ‘A’ hangar under the care of Handley Page. Also, although I remember seeing XA927, it seems strange that it does not appear on the 10 squadron photos published in Flight magazine in November 1958 and the same line up but from the other end as shown in in the Aerofax book (Handley Page Association picture).

This is how I remember things but obviously other airmen were there at the same time and may have different recollections.

Regards, Mike

The queries thrown up by the uploaded excerpt have made a great story so far and it may be added to more on the V.A. Forum as we go along, I will of course be serializing the rest of Mike’s memoirs in the newsletter. Secretary Ken McGill and Treasurer Anne Venemore will have a lot to look at when they return to the computer in Orkney later this month, and our Webmaster Dave Robinson will be uploading more onto the main site in due course. Our thanks to V.A. member Sid Harding for his recent contribution also re Crew Chiefs along with images of former Victor gate guard XL189. Ed.

No additional text required!

SCRAMBLE!

V-bombers airborne-4 mins flat!

Suddenly…
in the crew room- alert ! Only 4 minutes later, 4 Victors are airborne. Britain’s highly mobile V-bomber force must be ready for any emergency.

Climbing now, at 4,000 feet a minute. The expert eyes of the Navigator/Plotter scan the green image on the radar screen for landmarks far below . .. ‘Course 090′. Even now, 200 miles from the ‘target’, the Navigator/Radar prepares for his bombing run.

The Air Electronics Officer alters the frequency on his radar jamming set. He is responsible for equipment with enough power to light a palace . Above him, up the cabin ladder, is the flight deck. Here, Captain and Co-pilot sit side by side. The Captain, a Flight Lieutenant of 27, who has well over 1,750 hours of flying experience behind him, can earn, with full allowances, nearly £1,700 a year.

Each member of this crew is hand-picked ; each very confident of the others’ special abilities. And, indeed, the R.A.F . will look to officers like these for its future top ranking leaders. Their experience will be needed-in administrative, liaison and training posts , and, perhaps, in high command.

Could you make the grade as an R.A.F. officer?

Men of outstanding ability are required, not only for flying duties, but for all 15 officer branches of the R.A.F ., including technical, secretarial, education and catering. There are opportunities to gain either permanent or short service commiss ions. Methods of entry include cadetships to Cranwell or the R.A.F. Technical College, Henlow , and various Direct Entry schemes.

A full life.. flying with the Royal Air Force.

Flying Review Ad 1959

There are no little Iraqi flags painted on the side of the tan, cigar-shaped plane, but a row of small black gas pumps, one for each combat refueling mission. Are the British crews of the Royal Air Force’s flying gas stations jealous of Jaguar and Tornado pilots who whiz about the skies, zapping targets in Iraq and Kuwait?

“Perhaps in peacetime, but not now”, said Flight Lt. Stu Mitchell, pilot of one of the 55th Squadron’s Victor K-2 tankers. “I can do without the hot lead, thank you,” said Syd Buxton his co-pilot. “Having said that,” Mitchell reflected, “if they let me fly F-14s off a carrier, I’d go for that.” In the snug cockpit of the Victor, Mitchell and his crew prepared for the flight, watched the airfield and listened to the radio chatter.

This day’s mission was to fly to a specified area and altitude in the northern Persian Gulf, rendezvous with two Jaguar fighters on a mission and help out any other friendly aircraft in the area that needed fuel. Five tankers from other nations were assigned to the same area. A bank of controls for the fuel system is between the pilot and co-pilot positions. The plane carries 123,000 pounds of fuel, or about 15,000 gallons.

Squadron leader Dick Druitt and his crew had a busy time earlier in the day, servicing Jaguars and doing drop-in business from Canada and the United States. The AWACS reconnaissance plane controlling the area asked Druitt if he could take care of four CF-18s, then a pair of U.S. Navy F-14s stopped by, followed a bit later by a single F-14. “We gave away about 10,000 gallons,” Druitt said.

His Victors use what is called the NATO probe and drogue system – trailing hoses with metal baskets on the end. Aircraft with appropriate probes can snuggle up and take on fuel. U.S. Air Force tankers employ a flying boom which seeks out the aircraft.

The Associated Press

“Finally after 17 years, I present a probed and primed Victor nose! The Flixton, celebratory beer attached courtesy of Liddls. Cover pic is changing all the time, if weather OK they will hemp her tomorrow.” 

This restoration is a tribute to the great efforts and expertise which Flixton’s staff have demonstrated so capably for some considerable time, in their determined efforts to make the Victor yet another V exhibit to be proud of, while being yet another unique attraction to see at this truly fascinating museum.

A job well done Garry. Enjoy your celebratory beer.