Thereby Hangs a Tail

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FD2
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Thereby Hangs a Tail

#1 Post by FD2 » Thu Jul 01, 2021 5:48 am

https://www.phantomf4k.org/aircrew-testimonies


Aircrew Testimony


This incident may have led to a hull loss but I don't know, there was some talk of grafting the front end to another wrecks back end.

Ark Royal was working up off the west coast of Scotland. The weather was foul with low cloud and a rough sea. We were launched for a night AI sortie just after dusk. The sortie was routine and we were vectored back for a CCA. All the way down the glideslope was thick cloud but just at minimums we broke out underneath to see the deck almost horizontal with a very red meatball. There were shouts of "power" from all sides but the Phantom's spool up time was very slow. Eventually the nose came up and I lost sight of the deck but before that I had a distinct impression of looking UP at the red light on the end of the round-down. A thump as we hit the deck followed. Being an ex-Vixen observer I was used to judging a landing by the noise, as we had no other input. I had experienced a few landings where an oleo collapsed and this landing sounded similar except the graunching noise came from the back. I was sure we had made a ramp strike. As we boltered down the deck flyco ordered us to go round and do another CCA. I did not want to obey this order and persuaded the pilot to divert ashore. On the way I was getting nervous that I might have over-reacted but I was slightly re-assured when we had a runaway nose down trim that has us diving for the sea. I was even happier when, after landing gingerly at Lossiemouth, I inspected the aircraft and found the whole underside of the tail severely dented with the hook having been rammed right up inside the empennage. When they stripped the aircraft down they found every rib and stringer broken with only the skin panels holding the tail on. Had we attempted another deck landing with the tail in this condition the results would probably have been disastrous.

There was no word from the ship asking how we had got on or how we were to get back, so eventually we bummed a ride on a supply ship heading to the carrier. As I climbed back on board I was feeling quite good that I had saved the Navy an aeroplane and possibly two crew but I was quickly disabused of this with a ferocious rocket from the CO for disobeying flyco followed by "and what took you so long to get back?". My name was mud thereafter. I wandered to the back of the ship and, while viewing the large rip we had taken out of the lip of the roundown and the dents in the deck, I pondered the strange ways of senior Naval Officers.

Mark Jenkins July 2007

If you can't take a joke... :-o

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Re: Thereby Hangs a Tail

#2 Post by FD2 » Thu Jul 01, 2021 5:58 am

Another, from Jon Whaley, who joined Dartmouth in September 1965 age 17.

https://www.seavixen.org/aircrew-testim ... han-whaley


Lt Jonathon Whaley RN 1965 1973 - SeaVixen.png
Lt Jonathon Whaley RN 1965 1973 - SeaVixen.png (52.21 KiB) Viewed 577 times

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Re: Thereby Hangs a Tail

#3 Post by Pontius Navigator » Thu Jul 01, 2021 6:31 am

And the age of S/Lt Whalley. At that age now many of today's youth haven't learnt how to get out of bed.

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Re: Thereby Hangs a Tail

#4 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Thu Jul 01, 2021 7:44 am

FD2 wrote:
Thu Jul 01, 2021 5:58 am
Another, from Jon Whaley, who joined Dartmouth in September 1965 age 17.

https://www.seavixen.org/aircrew-testim ... han-whaley

No Sea Vixens flying anywhere in the world since 2017 and thereby hangs a sad tale!
Navy Wings has worked hard in the face of this year’s pandemic to adapt, innovate and re-focus our business planning to ensure we’ll be back in the air again next year. We are also looking at many new creative ways to bring the heritage experience of naval aviation to our supporters and wider audiences.

One of the aircraft we have had to consider carefully has been the Sea Vixen. It has now been over three years since her text book wheels up landing at Yeovilton which unavoidably resulted in considerable damage to the aircraft. Despite conducting a fundraising appeal and an extensive search for either an individual or an enterprise to underwrite the repairs, which are estimated at just over £2M, we have been unable to find anyone or raise the required funds. Consequently the Board of Trustees has reluctantly made the decision to stop investing vital funds into preparing her for flight.

Instead we will now focus our efforts on the Sea Fury FB11 and aim to get her flying alongside the Sea Fury T20 making a magnificent Sea Fury Pair.

It is difficult having to make choices between historically important and beautiful aircraft. They all have their place in our story. We will not do anything to render the Sea Vixen unfit to fly in case someone comes forward in the future and she will continue to be a star attraction at Yeovilton Air Day. This classic Fleet Air Arm fighter and icon of the Cold War will always have a special place in the hearts of many and continue to impress and inspire for years to come.
From Navy Wings

With the loss of one of the Sea Fury Pair, the tale is even sadder.

27F02F8D-A906-4DA4-983C-FE7372620D89.jpeg
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Re: Thereby Hangs a Tail

#5 Post by Boac » Thu Jul 01, 2021 7:56 am

Fantastic reading, FD2. The Lightning and single crew intercepts were 'challenging' but at least you had concrete to come back to. I have always had major admiration for the FAA. I flew airlines with an ex Sea Vixen Captain and the mutual tales were always fantastic.

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Re: Thereby Hangs a Tail

#6 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Thu Jul 01, 2021 8:42 am

How possible drag chute damage changed SAAF pilot Arthur Piercy's life and how the tail half of his damaged aircraft was joined to another aircraft to put a flying Mirage F1 back in the air.

mirage.JPG
Background to the story:

Cuban MiG-23MLs and South African Mirage F1 pilots had several encounters during the Cuban intervention in Angola, one of which resulted in severe damage to a Mirage F1.

On 27 September 1987, during Operation Moduler, two MiG-23 pilots surprised a pair of Mirages and fired missiles: Alberto Ley Rivas engaged a Mirage flown by Capt Arthur Douglas Piercy with a pair of R-23Rs (some sources say a R-60), while the other Cuban pilot fired a single R-60 at a Mirage flown by Captain Carlo Gagiano. Although the missiles homed on the Mirages, only one R-23R exploded close enough to cause damage to the landing hydraulics of Capt Piercy's Mirage (and, according to some accounts, the aircraft's drag chute). The damage likely contributed to the Mirage veering off the runway on landing, after which the nose gear collapsed. The nose hit the ground so hard that Piercy's ejection seat fired. As a result of this ground level ejection, Piercy was paralyzed. The aircraft was written off, but a large portion of the airframe and components were used to repair another accident damaged Mirage F-1 and return it to service. In total, the Cubans claim 6 air victories MiG-23 (1 destroyed, 1 damaged and 4 were unconfirmed).
tail damage.JPG
tail damage.JPG (17.32 KiB) Viewed 548 times

Arthur Piercy's Tale

Arthur Piercy was able to get back into the air and also meet one of erstwhile Cuban enemies as a friend back in 2017.

https://dashnews.org/dash-good-pilots-story/

ArthurPiercy.JPG
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Re: Thereby Hangs a Tail

#7 Post by ian16th » Thu Jul 01, 2021 9:23 am

Arthur is a member of the Joburg SAAFA branch.

Would the Capt. Gagiano of the tale, later become Lt. Gen Gagiano?
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Re: Thereby Hangs a Tail

#8 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Thu Jul 01, 2021 9:29 am

ian16th wrote:
Thu Jul 01, 2021 9:23 am
Arthur is a member of the Joburg SAAFA branch.

Would the Capt. Gagiano of the tale, later become Lt. Gen Gagiano?
The very same! :-bd
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Re: Thereby Hangs a Tail

#9 Post by FD2 » Thu Jul 01, 2021 11:41 am

Like a car 'cut and shut' but a little better supervised. That Mirage was pretty wrecked by the sound of it. It's good to see the former belligerents together.

A Sea King crashed on the Mull of Kintyre back in the 70s after tail rotor failure and RNAY Fleetlands at Gosport rebuilt the whole thing over the next couple of years, using all sorts of bits from wrecks and spares, including a Sea King 'boat hull' and it eventually took to the air again. By that time it was a bit like Trigger's broom.

Mark Jenkins' Phantom experience made the hairs on my neck stand up. Jon Whaley was a bit of a stroppy bugger, even at the age of 17 - ideal fighter pilot material. ;))) He's much more mellow now and sadly had to sell his Hunter 'Miss Demeanor' a couple of years ago. :(

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Re: Thereby Hangs a Tail

#10 Post by CharlieOneSix » Thu Jul 01, 2021 11:42 am

It's a while since I looked at Martyn Dean's excellent Sea Vixen site. In the Aircrew Testimonies - link in FD2's post#2 above - there is a link to John Kelly's entry. After his Sea Vixen ejection - overhead the Old Man of Cerne Abbas - he couldn't continue with ejection seat fitted aircraft due to his back injury and he then flew Wessex. He was my CO when I went through AFT on 706 and later was again my Boss, this time on 815. A strict disciplinarian but a lovely man who flew Dan Air Comets after he left the RN. He attended all our 815 reunions until he died of a brain haemorrhage about 10 years ago.

To change Tail to Tale in the thread title, in John Kelly's entry there is reference to Sub/Lt Zwozny who was his co-pilot on the rescue of David Dunbar-Dempsey. The latter was later killed in 1971 when he was Senior Naval Officer at Church Fenton when his Sea Prince and a Jet Provost collided in mid air https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/56562. After he left the RN John Zwozny was killed, also in 1971, whilst flying a Bell 47D1 on crop spraying duties. I had flown that same helicopter a couple of years earlier when we hired it to replace our 47J2 which was out for a major service. G-ASJW had no hydraulics and was not nice to fly if the irreversibles were not set up perfectly. The ASN report https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/146802 includes the content of a 2010 post I made on TOP about that helicopter and the accident. Just goes to show, whatever you post could end up anywhere....not that it was a problem on this occasion.

The last entry of John Kelly's relates to witnessing of an accident. This was to a Sea Vixen which dropped a live bomb on a splash target towed by Ark Royal. As the bomb was released it exploded directly under the Sea Vixen killing both crew. Like John, I saw the explosion and the parachute drifting across the ship but there was no crew member in it.

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Re: Thereby Hangs a Tail

#11 Post by ian16th » Thu Jul 01, 2021 11:48 am

TheGreenGoblin wrote:
Thu Jul 01, 2021 9:29 am
ian16th wrote:
Thu Jul 01, 2021 9:23 am
Arthur is a member of the Joburg SAAFA branch.

Would the Capt. Gagiano of the tale, later become Lt. Gen Gagiano?
The very same! :-bd
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Re: Thereby Hangs a Tail

#12 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Thu Jul 01, 2021 12:18 pm

Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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Re: Thereby Hangs a Tail

#13 Post by ian16th » Thu Jul 01, 2021 1:04 pm

He handed over a functioning Air Force.
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Re: Thereby Hangs a Tail

#14 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Thu Jul 01, 2021 1:43 pm

ian16th wrote:
Thu Jul 01, 2021 1:04 pm
He handed over a functioning Air Force.
He certainly did, as did all his predecessors after 1994:

LTG Carlo Gagiano March 1, 2005 – September 28 2012

LTG Roelf J Beukes March 1, 2000 – February 28, 2005

LTG Willem Hendrik Hechter May 1, 1996 – February 29, 2000

LTG James Kriel April 27, 1994 – April 30, 1996

It remains to be seen if Lieutenant General Fabian Msimang will be able to do the same? I have major concerns about the current state of the SAAF.
Though you remain
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"To be alive
You must have somewhere
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Your destination remains
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