Vulcan

[Pontius Navigator]

Boing, the pocket slit was for the AVS and G-pants connector. Mk1 crews did not have pressure jerkins or G-pants. I don't know if they had the AVS.

From 1965 our high altitude role just about ceased and shortly after our Oxygen regulators were retrograde from Mk21 to Mk17. We were then limited to 50k.

We could still get the zuit suit for a few years. By the time I went to Cyprus in 1970 UK stock was exhausted. Stores at Akrotiri had stock. I managed to get a set for a 6ft 4in gorilla weighing 20st. The Indian tailor wove his magic and adjusted it to 5ft 10in and 11st. It lasted for some years as we wore KD or short sleeved blues. By the time it wore out wooly pullys had come in so I avoided wearing a No1 working dress in that period between withdrawal of battle dress and the wooly pully. Unlike BEagle at TOP I embraced the forage cap, easier to carry when wearing a helmet on an Akrotiri scooter, and the later official zuit suit. The latter was more comfortable up at Kinloss/Lossie which was cooler than England.

Digressing, at one point the powers that be decided to withdraw the temperate climate flying suit as you either wore an immersion suit or cold weather jacket and trousers. On the Nimrod we didn't have immersion suits, CW was too hot and tropical far too cold in winter.

[Boac]

"G-pants" - why? Was there a real risk of a sustained 4g plus? What was the Vulcan g limit?

[Pontius Navigator]

Up to 45,000 feet our oxygen regulator could deliver up 30mm over pressure for pressure breathing and a mask alone was sufficient for pressure breathing. Above this altitude greater over pressure was required and we needed a pressure jerkin to apply counter pressure to our chest and arteries. That was sufficient to 52,000 feet. Above that we needed G-pants to apply further counter pressure to enable survival at 56,000 feet and 70mm over pressure. Above that Lightning pilots needed the Taylor Partial Pressure helmet.

At 70mm over pressure you could not talk or hear, oxygen would be blown out through your tear ducts making vision difficult and your lungs would inflate. You needed significant effort to collapse your chest to breathe out. If you inadvertently swallowed then you would inflate your stomach too. It was uncomfortable.

In the chamber we had to sustain this for 30 seconds before the chamber was repressuried at 10,000 fpm. Passing 45k the jerkin and pants would have deflated and breathing was just mildly uncomfortable, below 36k we were just breathing 100 % oxygen but not under pressure.

Flying civvie above 36k always makes me uncomfortable

[Boac]

Yes, been there, got the tee-shirt and emptied my tear ducts a few times. I misunderstood the 'g pants' bit!

[Pontius Navigator]

I had the certificate in my log book with that 30 seconds. I was pleased to see the next bang was only 52k and 15 seconds.

I recently got my medical records and was surprised to find an AMTC report for every chamber run was in my notes. Just had a thought, about 1990 I went on the disorientation machine. We were not allowed to depart until some hours rest. I still felt unwell till next morning. Must see if that record is in the notes.

[Sisemen]

Having done the chamber, prior to me being allowed to fly in the Vulcan, I can honestly say that it is by far the most pleasant way to die.

Surprised they don’t use that method in those countries where capital punishment is still on the books. As I understand it they use a decompression chamber to euthanise the animals at the Battersea Dogs Home.

[Pontius Navigator]

Siseman, you obviously did the hypoxia run. The bang chamber to 56k would be a little different. You know you are 'in space', the chamber fills with water vapour, you would be unconscious in 3-10 seconds.

[Sisemen]

Absolutely not - only went to 25,000! But the time off the mask was quite nice as one passed into oblivion.

[Boac]

We were not allowed to depart until some hours rest. I still felt unwell till next morning.

- if that course was at North Luffenham, that would be the Ruddles. The smell in the chamber after the 56k run was always, how can I put it, 'Ruddlish'?

[Pontius Navigator]

North Luffenham indeed. I remember one chamber run, probably the first,descend below 10k the Doc said we could remove our masks. I did for a moment but never on subsequent trips.

[TheGreenGoblin]

I was recently given a copy of 'Vulcan on the Line' by Brian Carlin who was a boy entrant into the RAF in the early 1960's. He writes very well, and can make the excruciating minutiae of removing the 90 something screws on the underneath of a Vulcan wing panel to change a navigation light on a freezing winter night, seem fascinating. The emergence of a serious and well educated technician, who is an integral part of team involved in serious work during the cold war, from the unlikely callow youth, is a tribute to how the boy entrant scheme turned out some good men.

I was minded to quote this part of his book after reading Mr Ex-Ascot's comments on the truck needing to be jacked out of the mud in Botswana on another thread.

"Many times, I was detailed to be on a crew to jack up a Vulcan, which was a highly choreographed process, one part of which never ceased to amuse me. It was necessary to raise the aircraft in small increments so that all jacks were sharing the load equally. If one jack had been raised even slightly higher than the others, it would have placed a heavier load on that jack, but also introduced unwanted stresses and strains on the airframe. It was the method by which this even load-sharing was achieved that I found amusing. The hydraulic rams of the jacks were threaded on their exterior, on which a similarly threaded collar had been installed. To begin with, each jack was raised until it just fitted into the aircraft jacking point. When all jacks were thus in place, their collars were screwed down until they made contact with the bodies of their jacks. The SNCO in charge of the operation then called out, “Up one.” We then all began pumping the jacking handles, raising the collar off the body as the ram moved upwards. One of the men at each jack, usually an Airframes tradesman, held a pre-decimalization penny – the one bearing Britannia on one side and the sovereign in whose reign it was minted on the other. The penny measured about 1.22 inches (31 mm) in diameter. As the jack ram rose up, this man would hold the penny vertically against the growing gap between the collar and the jack body until the penny’s diameter fitted into the gap. At that point he would tell the crew to stop pumping. When all four crews had ceased pumping and the in-charge SNCO was satisfied that he had got his penny-worth at each jack, he would then order that the collars on the jacks be screwed down to make contact with the jack body again. Then another “up one”, by which he meant we were to jack up another penny diameter. By this means, the Vulcan was slowly and incrementally jacked up until the undercarriage was well clear of the hangar floor. Occasionally the SNCO, who was keeping an eye on the overall levelling datum and could therefore see if and when one end of the Vulcan was higher than the other, would call for just the front or rear jacks to be raised “up one” in order to make the necessary adjustment. The same procedure was used in reverse when lowering the Vulcan, except that the order now was “down one,” with the collars being screwed back up to a penny-width again each time they came down to make contact with the jack bodies.  It always struck me as a little ludicrous that here we had an aircraft that was at the forefront of technology for its time, yet this crude, but effective method of raising and lowering the aircraft was employed instead of some high-tech method of keeping all four jacks rising and lowering in the same precise increments. I don’t know how it was done after decimalization, because I wasn’t involved in the process by that time, but I suspect that the old pennies were squirrelled away in some secret hidey-holes."

I do know that the Botswana 1 thebe coin is 18.5 mm in diameter. Perhaps Mr Ex-Ascot might suggest the method above to the struggling stuck in the muds in his vlei.

[Ex-Ascot]

There is more value in a 1 thebe coin in it's metal content than it's monetary value. 10 pula to the euro. 100 thebe to the pula. Work it out.

Just spoken to the manager of the safari camp.and showed him the situation we have. He was a HGV driver of their big trucks and experienced in getting these things out of this situation. He says big job.

[Pontius Navigator]

TGG, on one occasion, and it was the day the main runway at Malta reopened after resurfacing, the brakes on one boggie locked in landing. Naturally the Captain was blamed for landing with his foot on the brake when applying rudder.

However it was pointed out the the 'wrong' brake in relation to cross wind had seized.

Now normally a boggie jack would be slipped under the axle. Not this time as the wheel had been worn down about 2 inches and left a massive groove in the runway. Our only recourse was to use the main jacks. Alas, when we looked we could only find two jack nipples to fix the jacks. This was a bomber dispersal but they didn't even have this basic tool. We had to jack up just one side as there was no other way to clear the runway. Jacking proceeded as you described but the camber on the runway turnoff meant the low wing tip was a bare foot off the ground before we could change the wheels. Fortunately we had a 4,000 lb pannier and must have had 4 pairs of wheels, or got them from somewhere.

[TheGreenGoblin]

TGG, on one occasion, and it was the day the main runway at Malta reopened after resurfacing, the brakes on one boggie locked in landing. Naturally the Captain was blamed for landing with his foot on the brake when applying rudder.

However it was pointed out the the 'wrong' brake in relation to cross wind had seized.

Now normally a boggie jack would be slipped under the axle. Not this time as the wheel had been worn down about 2 inches and left a massive groove in the runway. Our only recourse was to use the main jacks. Alas, when we looked we could only find two jack nipples to fix the jacks. This was a bomber dispersal but they didn't even have this basic tool. We had to jack up just one side as there was no other way to clear the runway. Jacking proceeded as you described but the camber on the runway turnoff meant the low wing tip was a bare foot off the ground before we could change the wheels. Fortunately we had a 4,000 lb pannier and must have had 4 pairs of wheels, or got them from somewhere.

Lateral thinking, a good crew and a strong aircraft!

[ian16th]

The business of keeping an a/c as level mas possible while lifting or lowering it, sometimes goes by the board!

I have mentioned this incident before on Ops-Normal.

When WZ575 caught fire, there was another B2 in the hanger. This a/c was up on jacks and the main wheels were off.

The wheels were 'fitted' and the a/c lowered and then pushed out of the hanger by many sweaty bodies in about 2 minutes!
It was not lowered with the usual decorum.

[Undried Plum]

10 pula to the euro. 100 thebe to the pula. Work it out.

Next time you have some Noggies at Drifters, tell 'em about that.

[Pontius Navigator]

We all had an authorised role in turn round servicing. Mine was the high pressure air for the radar to stop it sparking at altitude (don't ask me about the technicalities) and the doppler. Then tidying up the seat belts. If course we never did that as we always left them ready to strap on. Also to check the bombs of any.

If did not include the HF aerial pressurisation but as I was in the bomb bay I got that job too. Also the sooner we were ready for refuelling the sooner we got the bowsers. Again in Malta we were 2nd or 3rd into the dispersal but the chief and I were out like bunnies into the undercarriage bays and covers off ready for refuelling. I simply watched and imitated the chief. We were ready well before the other crews and waved down the first bowser to appear. The second merely followed the first.

A slick turn round either meant we could get off sooner on a second stage or hit the bar early - or both.

We had been programmed to night stop in Masirah before going to Gan for 3 days R&R. We were unserviceable and had to double stage through Masirah. Normally a turn round was 2 or 3 hours: we took 55 minutes touchdown to aurborne.

[ian16th]

Mine was the high pressure air for the radar to stop it sparking at altitude (don't ask me about the technicalities) and the doppler.

That 'High' pressure was 5 lb/Sq In!

The air inside the cans is an insulator. If the seal broke, and they did, at altitude sparks would fly from the high voltage points to earth. If my memory is correct the EHT was 27KV.

This caused oil filled transformers and capacitors to burst and made a 'orrible mess inside the cans.
We used to clean up the mess with carbon-tetrachloride, until this was deemed a health hazard, and we had to use unleaded petrol. The unleaded petrol only dilutes the mess, it never quite cleaned it.

The good news was that it was simple to see where the problem was! diagnostic time was minimal.

[Alisoncc]

Was never party to the higher mathematical echelons, just provided the manual labour. The cry would go up "On the jacks Hangar 2" and the crewroom would empty with all members heading for Hangar 2, where we would pump the handles as and when required. No one bludged off. More often than not more people would turn up to man the jacks than were needed.

There was an incredible level of camaraderie amongst the ground crews. Many of our SNCO's had served during WWII, and had retained that "can do at the run" attitude. We saw ourselves as being in the same mould as the guys who looked after the Lancasters in WWII except our war was the Cold War.

Kept well clear of the hangar when they were doing undercarriage checks. Raising the u/c was no big deal, but lowering seemed to be gravity driven with seemingly little synchronisation between individual components, and the whole edifice would shake from side to side. Did hear of an aircraft coming off it's jacks when doing so. Vulcans were a long way up, even when not flying.

Always packs of cheap ciggies lying around in the crewroom, Woodbines, Park Drive and the like, but following a successful set of undercarriage checks the Crew Chief would toss some decent ones on the counter, Senior Service or Benson & Hedges. Nicotine was the opioid of the masses back then.

Following a pretty hairy incident, all of that aircraft's ground crew would take an extended cigarette break, whilst some changed their underwear. If the Armourers hadn't set up the hoist slings correctly, and a live bomb was hanging in danger of falling, then .....a ciggy was called for. Nowadays they would get six months counselling for PTSD or similar. We just took it in our stride.

Alison







.

[Pontius Navigator]

Ian, thank you. I am pretty sure the H2S cans were high pressure. The Doppler may well have been a stirrup pump. The STR18 I don't know, just the AEO would open the rear vent on the bomb bay doors, shove in a screw driver to undo a small panel with a couple of dozen fasteners, then a spanner, and finally the air hose.

No idea why they needed an access panel or why do many fasteners, not as if it held the tail on

Maybe if there was no panel and the bomb doors were opened .. . .

When we got the Collins that task was removed. Before we got the Decca Doppler a genius proposed that the Green Satin charging point was brought forward to the undercarriage bay so we didn't have to open the dielectric panel. Moving the H2S air point so we didn't need a safety raiser was probably too expensive.