Chapter 23

1978 - 1981

  617 Squadron

1979
617 Squadron Personnel

617 Squadron Overall Badge

After my tour on 3 Squadron, I was posted to 617 Squadron at RAF Scampton so back to Vulcans again.  It was here that I met up with Bob MARTIN, of the 89^th Entry, after a gap of 17 years.  617 Squadron was sited at the far side of the airfield and to save time getting to work we used to park just outside one of the crash gates and jump over it onto the dispersal (oh how things changed).  Whilst at Scampton I still owned the Ford Cortina and it was here that I  learned that they were not too secure.  One day I jumped out, got my bag from the back seat, locked and shut the doors only to realise that the keys were still in the ignition.  At lunchtime, I went around the crew-room and found about a dozen people driving Fords of one sort or another and borrowed their keys.  Surprisingly, or not, about 6 of those keys opened the door on my car!!!

If I thought about it there are probably loads of little stories of my time on 617 but I have chosen to tell the tale of one detachment that I was lucky enough to be on.  Normally the Vulcans sent on detachment to Canada and the USA carried a crew of seven including two Crew Chiefs.  Because the Vulcan was coming to the end of its life in service, our Flight Sergeant negotiated to take one of the trade SNCOs in place of a Crew Chief (not too sure that the Crew Chiefs were happy).  I was lucky enough to go on a trip that took in Goose Bay and Offutt; the aircraft was, I believe, XL 446.

We took off from Scampton climbing quickly to cruising altitude, or at least until we reached the height where the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) was shut down.  I will, at this time, apologise for any incorrect technicalities.  At the appropriate height the skipper called for the APU to be shut off, which the Air Electronics Officer (AEO) duly did.  As soon as he made the selection, the air scoop closed causing the APU to stall instead of running down naturally.  After a brief silence, the following conversation took place:

Skipper:  “What do the Flight Requirement Cards (FRCs) say AEO.”?

AEO:  “Land off the first approach skipper”.

Skipper:  “OK, Goose Bay here we come”. 

Bearing in mind that I doubt whether we had reached Scotland at this time, the skipper’s instruction was, to me at least, rather surprising.  

1981
Vulcan XL 446 at Goose Bay

Some hours later we duly landed, off the first approach, and taxied in at which time it was down to me to solve the APU problem; a diagnosis was made and spares came out the following day and the problem fixed thank goodness because no-one wanted to stay at Goose Bay when Offutt called.

When we took off from Goose Bay, I was given the opportunity to stand on the steps between the pilots whilst the aircraft flew out over the Canadian wilderness at low level; it was absolutely stunning!

To be honest I didn’t really understand the fascination with Offut.  Omaha seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, however when we had finally put the aircraft to bed for the night, and got settled in the hotel, I was told to be ready to go out about half an hour later.  After a rapid shower and change into what I thought were appropriate civvies, I met up with the rest of the crew who were obviously quite lazy because they were all still in flying suits.   However, when we got to a nearby bar, it became obvious why the rest had not bothered to change, because as soon as we walked in, they were surrounded by females of all ages!!  The crew were invited to the house of a pair of sisters on one day off and it was a very pleasant afternoon.  One girl that was there talked a lot about golf and invited me to play early the following morning.  When I rang her, she apologised and said that she couldn’t make it.  It transpired that she was still in bed, with one of the crew.  As the saying goes, ‘What happens on tour, stays on tour’.  I did get to play golf that morning, finding an American who was in need of a partner.

On the first working day, the Crew Chief found a hydraulic leak on a Main Undercarriage Jack, which caused a two day delay to the flying programme; this in turn caused our return trip to be delayed, resulting in us having to ‘Double Stage’ back to UK with a refuelling stop at Loring.  Whilst flying to Loring we were instructed by Air Training Corps (ATC) to reduce our altitude by a couple of thousand feet; when we levelled out at the requested height the Cabin Pressure Valve blew and dumped the cabin pressure.  At 30,000ft, it was an interesting experience and being force fed Oxygen is not something I relished.  The Crew Chief disappeared over the baggage towards the Radome and ‘kicked’ a valve and back came the pressure much to everyone’s relief.  As we lost height approaching Loring, the Canopy Pressure Seal lost pressure resulting in a very noisy approach.  The remainder of the flight back to Scampton was uneventful, except for another noisy approach as a result of the Canopy Seal.

So, my five flights in a Vulcan came to an end and shortly after that, I was sent on a Tornado course prior to my posting to Honington.

Some memories of Scampton:

• Driving a Minivan to and from RAF Leeming on detachment.  It had a terrible wheel wobble at about 62mph (speed limit 60mph).  When I returned it to the MT Section, I mentioned the problem and left them, very quickly, with my comment that it didn’t really matter because it stopped when it reached 70mph!

• Changing a 24 pin plug in the Main Undercarriage Bay with one of my corporals on the Flight Line at about midnight on one of the coldest nights of the winter.

• On night shift, starting at 17:00, frequently meeting the day shift coming in at 08:00.

• Carrying out my first ever Out of Phase Code Q (Rapid Blooming Window system check) and finding out that there was a bridging strip missing from a terminal block, which meant that there were no power supplies available to most of the system and it had never worked!

• Trying to get home from the camp in a snowstorm in a friend’s car.  As we drove down the country road from the Crash Gate, we ran into a snowdrift, which resulted in the car stopping, both physically and engine-wise.  When we lifted the bonnet, there was no engine to be seen; the snow had been forced upwards and stopped by the bonnet!  We did get home but failed to dig ourselves out of the village of Cherry Willingham the following morning, so had a day off, or maybe two!

• A rather naughty male boozy night out at an unnamed pub where we had a stripper performing.  She actually performed a little too much with one of the lads and there was at least one very worried Squadron Leader guarding the door lest someone uninvited gained access.

• Most RAF squadrons work shifts, normally designated ‘A’ & ‘B’, but 617 Squadron was different as we used ‘P’ & ‘Q’.  I am not sure when that started but it did give rise to some interesting interpretations including ‘Pimps’ & ‘Queers’!

• The Flight Sergeant on my shift had a Motor Boat moored in the Brayford Pool in Lincoln and he asked me to help him rewire it in return for some trips on it up the River Witham, usually stopping at the Pyewipe Inn, which was a favourite watering hole.  One day, whilst getting on board, Maria’s glasses were knocked off into the water.  Fortunately they were found after a deal of digging around in the muddy bottom, which, where the boat was moored, was not very deep. 

1980

Invite Card to meet Princess Margaret

• Accompanied by Maria, meeting Princess Margaret when she visited Scampton on 10^th July 1980.  I am probably exaggerating but how anyone can hold a handbag, glass and cigarette and shake hands all that the same time was quite a sight to see.

When we knew that the Vulcan Fleet was to be disbanded, there were a lot of decisions to be made about postings.  Looking at the options that I was given, RAF Cottesmore seemed to be the best bet.  It was about 45 miles from Cherry Willingham but just about commutable on a daily basis.  Because this was a Panavia Tornado Station, I was sent on the Digital Techniques and Real Time Computing Course at RAF Cosford before going on to Tornado ‘On Aircraft’ Course at Cottesmore.  It wasn’t until the last two weeks of this latter course that our actual postings were confirmed and, much to my surprise and horror, my posting had been changed to RAF Honington in Suffolk.  Apparently, someone else had a better reason to be posted to Cottesmore than me!  We were not pleased.