The 81st Entry
RAF Halton Aircraft Apprentices
Sept 1955 - July 1958

I would hazard a guess that I was a long way from being the only member of our Entry at Halton who saw himself as a future pilot in the Royal Air Force, this statement being well backed up by the number of us who paid a visit to the Aircrew Selection Centre at Hornchurch shortly after we graduated. I would go one step further and guess that I was also far from being the only one who went away disappointed. With a father in the Service, whom we followed around Europe immediately after WW2 ended (you should have seen those scrap dumps just heaving with dumped Lufwaffe aircraft and imagine their value nowadays), multiple visits to Farnborough air shows and four years with the CCF (Combined Cadet Force) all added together to produce this passion to fly.

So I never got to be a pilot but I did become an Air Engineer (Flight Engineer if under civil colours) and can now look back with no regrets. With some fifteen aircraft types, two hundred and eighty odd airfields and a lot of flying hours in my log-books I can honestly say that life as a non-pilot was pretty good to me.

So, other than the two highlights in the first paragraph, why does the letter H now mean a bit more to me than the other twenty five available?

H is for Hunter.

First posting after Halton and I was at Chivenor doing first and second-line servicing on Hunter Mk4s and brand new Mk7s. The first flight where I was on the Authorisation Sheet as a member of the crew ("Observer", I think was the word used) and I was up there in this gleaming silver and yellow two-seat potential convertible checking the canopy which we had just fettled after a complaint about it wanting to unlatch itself before being asked to do so; thankfully all went well and the Elvis quiff remained in place. Of course I could never have guessed that some forty-two years later I would again be strapped into a similar Mk7 Hunter, this time painted black and very aerobatic, (the aircraft not me) imbibing in my very last flight as an authorised member of the crew.

H is for Hastings

Back in 1954 the RAF Section of my school CCF took me to Dishforth for a fortnight summer camp and it was there that I first became acquainted with the Handley Page Hastings. Two hours bashing the circuit and a warm, and leaking, bag full of my earlier breakfast left me with what I was convinced would be a life-long hatred of the beast. A couple of years in the Far East carrying out mods on her made me a little more genial (hence the change from "beast" to "her"), then another three years first-line servicing the old dear at Colerne and I was positively gushing over her virtues. She was a rigger's dream to work on, my view anyway, stacks of room and entirely predictable systems; I was getting to love her. Shortly after I was accepted for Air Engineer training in 1965, the Hastings fleet at Colerne (and specifically the Sqn I had just left), suffered what was (and still is to this day I believe) the biggest loss of life in a RAF aircraft when TG577 crashed at Abingdon. Confidence in the Hastings plummeted, all were grounded and, as most reading this will recall, serious problems were found on many dictating that the grounding lasted quite a while. Not surprising that when my Air Eng course ended and we on it were asked for our posting preferences (the types on offer being Argosy, Beverley or Hastings) I was the only one who chose the latter. I had a MQ at Colerne, I knew the aircraft well and so I was delighted to get my choice. The Hastings was, without any doubt, the best of the three types for pure air engineering….one's own engine-room (OK so the seat faced backwards, but it was a big comfortable leather one and a large window was provided alongside) with levers, knobs, tits, switches and clocks all over the place. The guys up front were provided with a few clocks and enough pushy-pully things to fly her, and keep them happy, but back aft in his lonesome domain the Eng had all the master go-faster noise-making bits that (other than when taxiing and initially making to leave the deck) they had to politely request adjustments of i.e if wanting to make more or less noise that could lead (eventually) to a forward motion change. Many a show-off pilot had his landing (and possibly his day) ruined when asking the engineer for a slow-cut (easing the throttles gently back to idle) as he confidently expected to perform yet another "greaser"…..easing the power off too slowly meant the aircraft became kangaroo-like and bounced impressively down the track whereas slamming the old levers back meant it became an instant thirty-five ton brick…..and the engineer, well did he, or didn't he like the guy? Wonderful old girl, the Hastings, everyone should have one; read on for details.

H is for Hercules.

My initial thoughts when leaving the Hastings to join the C130 Hercules fleet was probably like many other dyed-in-the-wool Brits, "Everything the Americans make is rubbish just like the Japanese who copy them!!" How wrong can anyone be? If ever there was a masterpiece of aircraft design then it has to be the Hercules and there's an awful lot to be said for Honda, Mitsubishi, Fuji, Canon et al. Even now, more than fifty years since its first flight, the only planned Hercules replacement looks almost the same, will do the job better, but will it last as long? Never as satisfying as the Hastings from the air engineer angle as everything he has at his fingertips in the Hercules is reachable by either pilot but, nonetheless, a delight to fly in (well up front anyway). More of the Herc in due course if Mike can keep this journal going….come on guys!!!

H is for Hawk.

The most interesting tour I ever did was with the CFS (Central Flying School)HQ at Leeming. Within this body a small RCS (Rear Crew Sqn) had been formed in the '70s to maintain the standard, by examination, of the Navigator, Air Electronics Operator and Air Engineer instructors within Flying Training Command. Just four of us staffed this Sqn, the boss was a Sqn Ldr (Transport oriented) Nav and under him a Flt Lt (Fast jet) Nav, a Flt Lt (Maritime) AEO and a Flt Lt (Whatever) Air Eng. When not engaged in our primary examining role we regularly crewed up to fly (if we could get a pilot chappie interested) either a Dominie or a Jetstream; on the other hand it was accepted practise for lonesome pilots to pop into the office and grab anyone of us for company aloft in whatever twin- seater was available, QFIs (Qualified Flying Instructors) always needing someone to talk to when airborne….. thanks for that Bulldog ride Derek (Liddell of 81st fame), at least I kept the breakfast down but I did keep the bag very handy….and this meant I managed the odd go in that dream tandem-seat sports machine (often one belonging to the Red Arrows) called the Hawk.

So there we are Halton, Hornchurch, Hunter, Hastings and Hawk and my favourite is, and always will be, the Hastings.



If you like the look of this model give me a shout It's not small, having a wing span of about eighteen inches, neither is it cheap; good value though and the nostalgia level way up there!