Issue No. 13 Summer 2005

Engine Ground Run April 16th 2005

All Set For Wellesbourne Wings & Wheels on June 19th

IN THIS ISSUE………….

Page 1 April 2005 Ground run Page 2 Engineering Report Page 3 Engineering Report Continued Page 4 Wellesbourne Wings & Wheels Page 5 Vulcan News Updates Page 6 Indian Cargo Drop 1944 Page 7 Military Gliders Page 9 Concorde – A real time machine

Right –

655 NEWS 1 2005 XM655 TAXI RUN – SUNDAY 19th JUNE

Fortunately new seals are still

ENGINEERING REPORT available and it was a fairly simple job By Derek Powell to dismantle the motor and fit new

seals. Operating the steering with the During the winter months, the engineering team have managed to tackle some of the nose wheels sat on greased plates soon proved we had fixed the fault. gremlins which seem to be so fond of Vulcans and to carry out a considerable We have long known that our amount of routine maintenance activity. As windscreen wiper system was well past its best with perished blades and usual my thanks go to all the members who have put in the hours to keep 655 leaking motors (hydraulic operation) but this was fairly low priority. In serviceable and looking good. Also we were able to spend time on the ground equipment February however we were contacted and other supporting areas which are so by an engineer from Dunlop Aircraft Systems Ltd who asked if we could vital. A long standing problem has been that the help them with information on the Dunlop systems fitted to Vulcans and crew entry door has failed to latch correctly on occasion and this needed urgent allow him to photograph them. This attention. Despite a complete check and was in connection with their

overhaul of the linkages and proving out of sponsorship of 558. The engineer duly the nitrogen system the fault persisted. It visited us and spent the day with was decided to remove and dismantle the camera and notebook. In return, nitrogen operated jacks even though they Dunlop Aircraft Systems have supplied appeared to be working correctly. This was us with new wiper blades and seals for a good move since the port jack proved to the wiper heads for which we are most be the problem. A faulty tab washer had grateful. The new blades are fitted but the seals will have to wait until after allowed the internal piston to go out of th adjustment and cause the ram to bottom in June 19 since it will be necessary to the cylinder. This was quickly fixed and the remove all the instrument panels to door latches correctly every time. enable us to work on the wiper heads. Next to receive attention was the nose While we had the ‘giraffe’ set up to wheel steering motor. This had developed a replace the wiper blades, we hydraulic leak from the main ram following investigated an ominous bulge which replacement of the operating mechanism was evident on the canopy just to the rear of the 1st pilots windscreen and last year. looked as if it might be a serious problem. Not so. In order to match the semi-circular canopy with the angled The Blue Eagles Display Team will be joining us at this years Vulcan Fast Taxi Day on June 19th. windscreens, ’s had resorted to an area of good old fashioned filler on a paxolin frame. The filler had come adrift and was loose and easily removed. Some nifty work with P38 and a sander restored the correct profile ready for the paint finish. Eric had been muttering darkly about water getting into the engine bays by way of the airbrake chambers. Investigation showed that the rubber seals were in dreadful condition and required replacing and in one area the actual seal carrier was missing across the full width of the airbrake.

655 NEWS 2 2005 XM655 TAXI RUN – SUNDAY 19th JUNE

Engineering report cont’d As an incidental to the jacking of the This rather complicated piece of aircraft, we redefined panic when one of metalwork was fabricated by Fred and our jacks refused to retract with 655 stuck fitted into place. Eric had sourced a up in the air and the wind was getting supplier of a suitable seal and this work stronger by the minute. Only some very is all now completed. hard work by all the crew retrieved the

The water ingress problem was situation and the aircraft was returned to discovered by Eric while he was carrying earth. A faulty valve inside the jack was out a fairly extensive programme of the cause of a few grey hairs. maintenance on the engines. This Our ground equipment is of the same involved the changing of the oil in the vintage as the aircraft so it is hardly engines themselves and also in the surprising that it can be a bit troublesome constant speed drive units for the at times and needs constant attention but alternators. He had also been aware of a is always at the back of the queue. Our number of oil leaks which were evident in famed “one man” Vulcan towing arm has the bays. None were serious but it is always needed at least 5 people to better not to have them. Most of the leaks remove and refit with everyone counting turned out to be caused by worn rubber their fingers at the end. No More. Eric has oil seals in the various filler caps. New made all the broken bits on his lathe and seals soon cured the problems. the towing arm functions as advertised. Dale McCann undertook to carry out a On our last run day the visiting crew complete examination and audit of the chiefs only gave us 7 out of 10 for our electrical power bay which is ground equipment so we are hoping to immediately behind the bomb bay. This improve on it this year. is the primary distribution point for all We have still not managed to replace our the electrical services on the aircraft and Houchin GPU which is a bit disappointing contains many thousands of but Steve Moore has sold us another old connections and hundreds of relays, unit which we can use for spares at a very

fuses and other components. It is a very good price and delivered it FOC. In an dark, cramped and uncomfortable area effort to prolong the life of our GPU, in which to work especially for the may Andrew Cardus has spent many hours weekends which it took to do the job. manufacturing a very impressive RO/RO Thanks go to Dale for sticking with it shelter for it which should protect it from because as everyone knows that the worst of the elements. without a reliable electrical system 655 We have still not managed to replace our is a very dead duck. Houchin GPU which is a bit disappointing In the last few months before he died, but Steve Moore has sold us another old

John Foreman had given himself the unit which we can use for spares at a very task of overhauling and refurbishing a good price and delivered it FOC. In an number of PFCU’s which we hold as effort to prolong the life of our GPU, spares. These had been recovered from Andrew Cardus has spent many hours scrapped airframes and were in poor manufacturing a very impressive RO/RO condition and their working state was shelter for it which should protect it from unknown. He carried out a complete the worst of the elements. strip down and rebuild of each unit but Many thanks again to all the people who came up against the problem of how to work so hard both on the aircraft and

test them. It is a simple fact that an behind the scenes, and of course to all untested spare is precisely useless the MaPS members who support us in especially with a unit which takes many what we do. hours to fit into the aircraft to try it out.

655 NEWS 3 2005 XM655 TAXI RUN – SUNDAY 19th JUNE

JOHN FOREMAN

In February we were saddened to learn that John had finally lost his two year battle with cancer. He had joined us just four years ago but his ability and his ready humour quickly earned him the respect of everyone who came into contact with him. His determination not to give in to his illness was an inspiration to everyone at Wellesbourne. We can only offer our sincere sympathy to Elizabeth and to all the members of his family, many of whom were staunch supporters of MaPS. We have lost a workmate and a friend.

MaPS WORKER GOES IT ALONE

Just a few days before Christmas, James Partridge flew his first solo in a Cessna of the South Warwickshire Flying School where he is taking lessons to gain his PPL. It just so happens that this was only two days after his sixteenth birthday. Watched by proud parents Gail and Dave and even prouder grandparents John and Elizabeth, James took off for a faultless circuit and landing. Needless to say all work on 655 had come to a standstill. Congratulations James and best wishes for the PPL!!! We must remember not to leave the keys in 655 in future.

RUN DAY 2005

The 655 Maintenance and Preservation Society proudly presents "Wellesbourne Wings and Wheels 2005" which will take place on Sunday 19th June 2005. Gates open at 10am. Entrance is just £5 for adults and children under the age of 14 are admitted free. 655 MaPS members are also admitted FREE. We have a classic vehicle line-up on the day which will complement the two runs of XM655. We plan to stage a low power taxi at 11.00am followed by a high power taxi at 2pm sharp. Refreshments, toilets and exhibits will be on site for the day.

Pleasure flights will be available from The Air Atlantique Group who will also be bringing a few of their vintage aircraft for static display. We are also pleased to announce that the Army Air Corps Blue Eagles helicopter display team will fly in during the day. Please do try and make it to see our mighty taxi - our event is the main fundraiser for our continuing restoration of the aircraft and funds are always needed to maintain this 90-ton ex-RAF jet in serviceable condition.

Your tickets to the event have been sent with this newsletter. If for any reason your tickets get mislaid please call Derek Powell on 0121 777 3518. Also enclosed is this year’s poster. Please feel free to ask your local shop, library or sports centre if it can be displayed for us.

655 NEWS 4 2005 XM655 TAXI RUN – SUNDAY 19th JUNE

FANCY THAT……Part 2!

Sale of Blackpool Vulcan continues……

Chris Ollerenshaw, from Dukinfield, Greater , bid £15,102.03 for the former RAF on the auction site eBay in November. The plane has been stationed at Blackpool Airport for 21 years. The new owner has discovered that the plane is in such a fragile condition it might be difficult to reassemble, and will cost £20,000 to transport.

Mr Ollerenshaw is being charged £1,000 a week rent to keep the aircraft at the Blackpool Aviation Centre. "It gets blasted by sand in bad weather and salt water in good weather, and it's been there for 20 years. I've got three options; scrap it, salvage parts of it or take the risk and take it apart.

"I think I will just end up with parts of it, probably the front end, seats and engine. It gets blasted by sand in bad weather and salt water in good weather, and it's been there for 20 years. I've got three options; scrap it, salvage parts of it or take the risk and take it apart. I think I will just end up with parts of it, probably the front end, seats and engine. Despite all this I still don't think it was a bad idea to buy it. People thought it was a cracking idea at first."

Newark Vulcan SOLD….. ’s Trustees are pleased to announce that the new owner of the Avro Vulcan B.2 XM594, which is displayed at the museum, is the Lincolnshire's Lancaster Association.

Having initially purchased Avro Shackleton Mk.3 WR977 in the late 1990s, the Vulcan becomes the second Avro airframe that the Lincolnshire's Lancaster Association have on loan with the UK’s largest volunteer managed aviation museum.

“The Museum Trustees are delighted with this decision, which ensures that both aircraft will remain at the museum site on Winthorpe Airfield”, Commented Museum Trustee Howard Heeley, he concluded, “We are also looking forward to the possibility of forming an even closer working relationship with the Lincolnshire's Lancaster Association, which we believe will help secure the long-term future of both aircraft for future generations”. Work Starts on XH558…..

The Vulcan to the Sky Trust has signed a contract with Marshall Aerospace to get the plane airworthy. The campaign has taken four years to raise money for the work, with £2.5m coming from the Heritage Lottery Fund. It is now hoped the plane, which last flew from RAF Waddington near Lincoln more than a decade ago, could be back in the air in around a year. Managers say engineers will start work immediately on what they say is the largest aeronautical restoration project of its kind.

Southend Vulcan XL426 to Fast Taxi….

As we go to press, reports that the Vulcan Restoration Trust (VRT) will carry out a fast taxi of Vulcan XL426 at Southend Airport on Sunday 29th May at 5pm. This will co inside with the Southend Airshow that is along the seafront at Southend on the 29th and 30th May. More details no doubt will follow on there web site www.xl426.com

Sponsors of XM655 Web Site www.xm655.com

© 2005 XM655 MaPS. All rights reserved. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying recording or any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the author. All contents supplied by Paul Hartley, Derek Powell, Nigel Brown. www.xm655.com

655 NEWS 5 2005 XM655 TAXI RUN – SUNDAY 19th JUNE

INDIAN CARGO DROP in 1944

The following article is an account of the last but very eventful glider operation flown by our own Richard Dick before he took to flying the more conventional DC3. The article is reprinted from the wartime history of 671 Squadron.

When I was a very young pilot during WWII, I was daft enough to volunteer to fly Military Gliders which were subsequently entered in my log book either as powerless or motorless aircraft. My conversion courses took place at RAF Shobden and the Heavy Glider Conversion Unit at RAF North Luffenham. I was then flown out to India in a B24 Liberator and then by C47 Dakota to a Forward Sector operational airstrip at Lalaghat. At this time the Burma campaign was in full swing. On the 6th December 1944, a bunch of us were flown in a C-46 Commando aircraft of the USAAF from Lalaghat to Karachi via Agra, the object being for us to ferry Hadrian gliders from Karachi to Lalaghat or other forward bases. After arrival at Karachi on the 8th I was allocated a Hadrian and my co-pilot Alan Carr, and I was introduced to the American crew of the C-46 that was to tow us.

It was a little alarming to hear that they had never towed gliders before. We also found that our glider was heavily laden with crates of spares for a USAAF forward base. Their lack of towing experience became immediately apparent when on take-off they opened everything up regardless of the elastic properties of the tow rope. The ensuing effect can be imagined - I seemed to be over their tail before it had started to lift and that with a heavily laden glider. The rest of the leg was OK and we duly cast off and landed at Agra after a flight of just over four hours. On the morning of the 9th, I asked the crew to be a little more considerate on take-off. It was a very bumpy trip from the start with heavy Cumulus build-up. After an hour and a quarter, the Captain of the C-46 told me over the intercom that he would seek smoother air higher up and without further ado he climbed into the base of the Cumulus. I can only describe the thermals as horrendous and the cloud was so thick that I could not see the towing aircraft. In the middle of all this the crates broke loose, thrashing away at the sides, roof and floor of the Hadrian. As I fought to keep some sort of control, Alan was exhorting the C-47 pilot to go back down. I do not remember his replies, but as yesterday I remember the tremendous crash as a heavy crate broke through the floor leaving a gaping hole. In the next few minutes, everything loose in the fuselage including all our personal baggage fell through the disintegrating floor to the ground far below. The time had come to cast off, which I did. However, with no load and with no ballast sandbags up in the nose, the descent below cloud base in the thermals was interesting to say the least and it was enormous relief to break cloud and see terra firma, albeit a long way down. With full nose down trim. We just managed to stay above the stall while I selected a spot to land.

655 NEWS 6 2005 XM655 TAXI RUN – SUNDAY 19th JUNE After climbing out of the Hadrian, Alan and I noticed a distinct droop in the wings - the main spar had cracked. Amazingly enough, the c-46 pilot actually realise that he had lost his tow and did some low passes dropping some messages and some food and water. We learned that we had come down near the village of Raghurasingh. With a map they had dropped we were told to proceed to the village where we would be picked up. We were there for six days, living off the charity of the villagers and living in a mud hut with a couple of Charpoys. With no kit at all we were getting a bit smelly by the time we were picked up by a USAAF jeep and driven to Jogatpur from where we were flown in a Fairchild Argus to Chakeri and the back to Agra on the 15th of December. We were then flown by C-46 to Calcutta and on via Tezgaon to Sylchet.

Waco CG4A Hadrian

The General Aircraft Hamilcar

655 NEWS 7 2005 XM655 TAXI RUN – SUNDAY 19th JUNE

MILITARY GLIDERS

During WWII, four different types of military gliders were used on operations in support of Army operations. Perhaps the most famous of these were the landings at Arnheim.

The General Aircraft Hotspur This aircraft was designed along the lines of the then competition gliders but much bigger, with two pilots and carrying eight passengers. The intention was that it would be used to land Commandos but in fact it was used for training purposes only. A delight to fly with a wingspan of 62ft and an overall length of 39ft.

The Airspeed Horsa The Horsa glider also had two pilots but could carry a payload of 30 fully equipped soldiers or two jeeps and a field gun. With its huge flaps it was capable of a ‘Stuka’ like dive on the landing approach. Training for this involved releasing the tow at 2000ft over the perimeter, with a spot landing in the centre of the airfield. Alarming for the passengers and equally so for the pilots if, as occasionally happened, the flaps gave way on the way down!! The glider was the size of a Wellington Bomber having a wingspan of 88ft was 67ft long and had a total weight of15, 250lbs.

The General Aircraft Hamilcar A huge flying wooden ‘barn’ which could lift a load equal to its own weight of 7 tonnes including tanks and other heavy equipment. It also had very big flaps for steep approaches but not ‘Stuka’ like or one might have lost a tank through the front door! The two pilots sat 25ft above the ground under a bullet-proof canopy. Access was by climbing a vertical wooden ladder inside the ‘barn’, pushing open a trap door and walking along the top to the cockpit. The Hamilcar had a length of 70ft but a wingspan of 110ft ie the same as the Vulcan.

Waco CG4A Hadrian This American glider with an a.u.w. of 7,500lbs had two pilots and could carry 15 men or 6 men and 1 Jeep but a Dakota could tow two Hadrian’s at the same time. With a wingspan of 85ft it tended to float on landing in spite of spoilers - not a plus point on an assault glider. Twin tow take-offs were particularly interesting

Editors Note 671 Squadron is still active flying helicopters out of Middle Wallop. The Squadron also includes the ‘Blue Eagles’ helicopter display team. During the Vulcan High Speed Taxi Day on June 19th, the Blue Eagles will be visiting Wellesbourne to be on static display and we hope that the crews will be available to talk to members of the public. The team will be en route to Middle Wallop after displaying in Holland on the Saturday and Richard Dick negotiated the visit to the Vulcan event

655 NEWS 8 2005 XM655 TAXI RUN – SUNDAY 19th JUNE

Concorde - A real life time machine. by Dave Rowland

On the 17th December 2003, we commemorated the centenary of an event that changed forever the world in which we live. On that day in 1903 two brothers who were mechanics and bicycle makers from Dayton, Ohio tossed a coin to decide who would go first that morning in their latest series of tests. They were at a place called Kill Devil Hill, near Kitty Hawk in the Carolinas, and the day started out with a fresh wind gusting across the hill. What’s more the machine they were going to test in these conditions was so unstable, with none of the control refinements of later developments, that it would be difficult to handle even in calm conditions. But like true pioneers, they were determined to have a go.

They were of course the Wright brothers, and after Orville, who had won the toss, climbed aboard, his brother Wilbur swung one of the propellers to start the engine. At 10.35 the Wright Flyer (known by the brothers as “The Whopper Flying Machine”) flew for 12 seconds for what is recognised as the first powered, controlled flight. Three more flights followed that day. The last flight, with Wilbur at the controls, lasted for 59 seconds and ended with the front rudder broken after a heavy landing. The first flight and the first accident all in one day!

Within ten years aeroplanes had been developed into the fighting machines of the First World War and then in 1919 British pilots Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop Atlantic crossing. They said they had survived the long flight on a diet of coffee, beer, sandwiches and chocolate. In-flight catering hasn’t really moved on much.

Immediately after the Second World War the race between the USA and the UK to go supersonic was won by the US when, in 1947, Chuck Yeager went through the ‘sound barrier’. Just a couple of years later the world’s first jet passenger aircraft, the Comet, flew for the first time. All this in less than fifty years from that December day in 1903. Another significant event took place around this halfway point in the hundred years. Some aircraft designers in the UK thought the next big challenge ought to be to build an aircraft that could carry one hundred people from Europe to America at twice the speed of sound. What a leap of imagination and faith it was at that time in the evolution of aviation. Being British, the first step was to set up a committee - to discuss the feasibility of the project. But this one worked, and Concorde was born.

Concorde flew for the first time in March 1969. Coincidentally this was the same month in which I graduated from flying college, and started my airline flying career. Over the next seven years, while I practised my profession as a co-pilot and navigator on VC10’s, Concorde was being put through a flight test programme which meant that by the time she entered service in 1976 Concorde was the most tested airliner in history.

My career and Concorde’s came together at that time when vacancies occurred for co-pilots on the first and second Concorde courses, and my career profile - age, experience, background - fitted the requirements they were looking for. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

Nowadays the technical part of a type conversion course is computer based and takes place, not in a classroom but in front of a computer screen where you sit with just one other pilot to form a ‘crew’ from day one. In 1976, and indeed right up to the final courses in the late nineties, the Concorde training was run in a classroom at Filton, with instructors teaching the whole ‘class’ together, and was the longest type conversion course in the industry. Stamina was an important factor in completing the course. Of course, in 1976 Concordes were still being built at Filton and we had the rare advantage, that if there was something we didn’t understand we could visit the assembly hall and get an answer from the man who was actually building the system concerned. Computers will never replace that.

The thrill of my very first Concorde take-off, while base training at Brize Norton, is something I will never forget - a very lightly loaded aircraft yet with all the power normally used to launch the aircraft on its trans-Atlantic flights. My smile spread from ear to ear - and has never really gone away! In due time I became a Captain and then later Flight Manager and then Concorde General Manager. Like all of us who flew the aircraft, I never tired of the pleasure of flying Concorde.

As well as our routine flights - and Concorde did make supersonic flight ‘routine’ - Concorde was always in demand for special flights such as air displays, and royal or governmental flights. A unique event was the formation flight of four Concordes in 1985. My memories of that are of being in the right hand seat of the lead aircraft. In the late seventies a village cricket team from Berkshire decided to charter a Concorde for a special flight of their own.

655 NEWS 9 2005 XM655 TAXI RUN – SUNDAY 19th JUNE

It had never been done before and BA wasn’t sure what to charge, but a deal was struck, the cricketers saved up and the first charter took to the air. That was the start of many years of a varied and sometimes exciting charter business for Concorde. The sorts of charter flights varied from Birmingham to London - in 15 minutes - to annual Round the World 21 day supersonic ‘cruises’ to all the usual exotic places.

But the real heart of the Concorde success - and it was successful, and made a profit for the airline - was the London/New York route. Don’t forget that the idea all those years ago was for an aeroplane to carry 100 people across the Atlantic at twice the speed of sound, and it did that twice a day every day. Before Concorde came along only highly trained military pilots wearing pressure suits and ‘bone domes’ had flown supersonically, but now passengers could experience supersonic flight while enjoying a glass of champagne, lobster, and caviar. And there were many regular business passengers who could afford the productive use of their time that Concorde gave them. The morning Concorde left Heathrow at 10.30 each day and arrived in New York at 09.30 local time with a whole business day ahead. Many people went there and back in the day on business. Flying on Concorde really was ‘time travel’.

Cruising at sixty thousand feet, more than twice the height of Everest, you are on the ‘edge of space’. That’s not as fanciful as it may sound because ninety percent of the earth’s atmosphere is below that height. What’s left above you is thin and hostile and the sky appears a darker blue. The only people further from the earth are a handful of military pilots and astronauts, and with a good horizon, you can just see the curvature of the earth. Concorde travelled across the earth faster than the earth rotates and so catches up the sun when heading west. An hour or so after a night take off from London, on a spring or autumn evening, the sun ‘rises’ again - in the west! And at Mach2 (twice the speed of sound) or 24 miles each minute the skin heating causes the aircraft to stretch about ten inches in flight.

But then came the Paris disaster. I had retired the year before but it didn’t mean I felt the loss any less. Concorde was quite unreasonably grounded for over a year and ironically was airborne on a proving flight prior to being returned to service, on the very day of the Twin Towers atrocity. Those events and the subsequent recession were major factors in driving the two airlines to coming to the decision to ‘retire’ Concorde from service.

And so to autumn 2003. On 24th of October three flights were timed to arrive at Heathrow within five minutes of each other to bring this era of supersonic passenger travel to an end. All the passengers on those flights were there by invitation, and it was an honour for me to be on the middle one of the three, along with a small number of colleagues from Concorde’s 27 years in service. It was a sad but very special day.

There is still no other aircraft in operation, civil or military of any country, which can do what Concorde did. There are aircraft that can fly higher, or go faster, or carry more people or fly further, but none that can combine all those capabilities to fly at Mach2, without refuelling across the Atlantic with one hundred passengers on board. There is nothing on the ‘drawing board’, never mind in production, to replace Concorde.

It’s worth pondering on the fact that, with the retirement of Concorde in the centenary year of flight, we have for the first time taken a ‘giant leap’ back in the world of travel and aviation. Throughout the ages, nearly all forms of technology have advanced and developed - as one generation ‘retires’ it is improved upon by the next. But not this time.

If you flew on Concorde or just saw it sometime, you have been a witness to aviation history.

This years AGM is to be held at, St Peters Church Centre in Church Street Wellesbourne. On Saturday July 16th. The meeting will start at 13:30 and should last no longer than an hour or so. Tea and coffee will be provided and everyone is invited to attend. If you have any items for the agenda they should reach Derek Powell no later than June 10th either by post or by email. E – mail [email protected] XM655 will be open for members to visit from 09:00 until 12:00 and again after the meeting for anyone unable to make the morning session. Mr D Powell, 655 MaPs Chairman, 167 Colebourne Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham

655 NEWS 10 2005 XM655 TAXI RUN – SUNDAY 19th JUNE