Captions Wanted!

From: Philip Overson, Swindon.

Subject: TAC Demo

Hi Tony,

The picture is from around 1992 taken on a TAC Demo at a UK air show.  It features L-R Flt Lt Terry Beach, SAC Andy Waite and myself hanging on for dear life!  Back then it was quite common to perform at several different air shows over a weekend and I can remember doing Northolt, Fairford, Marham, and Waddington in a single day once. 

In the picture we’re experiencing ‘zero gravity’ in the cargo bay of a Mk1 Herc having just offloaded Landrovers and troops somewhere.

Just about everyone on the squadron loved doing TAC demos, the Hercules crews were great and we had some brilliant night stops around Britain.

With very best wishes,

Phil Overson, Kilo team, UKMAMS 1991-96

Congratulations to Bev and Kevin Laing on their 36th Anniversary!

Congratulations to Lin and George Fouhey on the occasion of their 50th Anniversary!

San Fulgencio, Alicante, Spain.  Andy Triggs, Bruce Oram and Steve Wright.

Bruce said, "They were on their way to Andy's place in the Murcia area and stopped with us for a couple of hours, they did the same thing last year."

Chris Clarke with girlfriend Donna, celebrating his birthday at the Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario

Steve Jolley and Mr Mark “Baggy” Bagnall in Huddersfield.

Jackie and Barry Tappenden have just celebrated their 50th - Congrats!

From: David Brixey, Wellington, Somerset

Subject: Where are they now?

Hi Tony,

In the where are they now section - I'm looking for info about Paul "Fritz" Friend last known at RAF Gutersloh in 1993

Cheers,

Dave

From: Gerry Davis, Bedminster, Somerset

Subject: My Movements Course

In 1962, just back from two years in Bahrain, I was posted to RAF Benson on Air Movements. It wasn’t long before I was sent on a Movements course at RAF Kidbrooke, situated in the London borough of Greenwich. This detachment lasted six weeks, during which I, along with 29 others, underwent training in all aspects of air, sea and land movement of personnel and freight. On completion of the course and passing the final exam I gained the trade annotation of Q-EQ-AM. (Which I think means Qualified Equipment and Air Movements) My trade now was Supplier II, Q-EQ-AM.

Kidbrooke started off as a gliding school in 1941, although the area these days is totally surrounded by housing. Over its operational life there were many different RAF units based there, including a Barrage Balloon Depot, No1 Stores Depot, a language school and an Air Publication and Forms store, to mention but a few. There was some talk of ‘Secret goings on’ there as well over its lifetime. The Movements school was based there from 1954 until 1963 and my detachment was during November and December 1962 on No. 6 Junior Movements Course.

You never know what to expect when you are sent on a course, but this was some experience. I remember, for me the course was easy, having just completed 2 years on Air Movements work in Bahrain. By that I mean it wasn’t stressful. The instructors were authoritative and accommodating. The curriculum included both surface and air movements, with little problems thrown in for good measure, which included planning a road or Barge route with a large load and several obstacles which you had to avoid, like low bridges, road works, etc. Ocean shipping, canal, rail and air movements were also taught.

With the West End of London on our door step, it was fantastic. In addition, ‘The Dover Patrol’ pub was only a stone’s throw away down the road. We seemed to have lots of sessions in there during the six weeks duration of the course. The pub was easily identifiable by its sign ‘A ship in choppy waters in the English Channel.’ It has long since been pulled down and the area is now a housing estate.

Naturally, there was a rush to get to the ‘West End’ on the tube, after cease work each day and to get the forces free tickets for all the big shows. These were obtainable from the ‘Union Jack Club’ (a sort of serviceman’s / women’s hotel) which always seemed to be full of Wrens (Women’s Royal Naval Service). Watching them dance in formation was something to behold… boy… I bet you would like to hear more about those smartly uniformed lovely ladies?

One or two of the course members also took advantage of the many other forms of entertainment that was on offer in our capital city. Some it seemed never got out of Soho!

It was quite entertaining to watch some of the lads, first thing in the morning, who had run from the tube station, trying to make it in time for the first lesson, having stayed out all night, missing a night’s kip and the excellent food that was on offer. All the meals were first rate. I even took advantage of the RAF Dental Services, who, at that time their London clinic was accommodated in Harley Street; making several visits to have my front teeth capped.

There was no airfield at Kidbrooke, although we did have a Hastings aircraft fuselage, minus the wings to practice loading/unloading on.  The Flight Sergeant Instructor, Chiefy Waltham, used the cockpit for growing tomatoes in, which was out of bounds to us ‘erks.’

My Kidbrooke experience was something special; it was memorable for all the right reasons. All of us were young and looking for adventure. The time spent there, because of its location in London, was second to none; an eye opener and a learning curve in itself. The Thomas Tallis School now occupies the site.

Course photo - December 1962 - I am on the front row, seated second in from the right. 

Regards,

Gerry

From: Len Bowen, Chisholm, ACT 

Subject: Memories of my Air Movements Training

Tony, this is going to be like meeting an old mate in a pub and after a few ales, going into the “…did I ever tell you about……?” mode.  You see, I think I may have already sent several of these ‘tales’ to you for possible inclusion in previous OBA Newsletters, but have not been smart enough to keep all of them on file. I will now try to reconstruct what is relevant, but also cull out what I do recall already having had published – for example punching a hole in the floor of the Ace Freighters Brit at Lyneham when trying to off-load a flat-floor-loaded aircraft engine.

To start with, I did two Air Movements Courses.  One with the RAF and one later with the RAAF.  My first course was at RAF Abingdon, April/May 1965.  I had already been supernummary with the Abingdon Air Movements Flight since January 1965, so knew something of the foible of loading and handling Beverleys and Hasting aircraft, especially the joys of the side-door of the tail-dragger Hastings.  My second Course was at the Air Movements Training & Development Unit (AMTDU) at RAAF Richmond in May and June of 1979.  This was in fact the only course I had to repeat when I moved across from the RAF to the RAAF in early 1977, for reasons that I will also go into later.

Firstly, to Abingdon.  Having already been at the station for some months before I started the Movs Course, I felt quite at home, and didn’t raise too much of a sweat during my formal training.  In fact, I took it rather too easy, as in the final exam, part of which included a major load planning exercise, I cocked up completely and notionally loaded a Britannia arse about face. We had been given a selection of building blocks which were coloured to represent Priority 1, 2 3 and 4 consignments of different weights and dimensions, and a 1/10th scale mock-up of a Brit floor.  The task was to maximize the payload utilization while still keeping within max AUW and within trim.  My load was a masterpiece that would have made Tetrus look easy, with all Pri 1- 3 cargo and even some Pri 4 aboard, and all in perfect trim ….except for one small problem.  Our exam Brit was supposed to be flying from Lyneham to Changi (Singapore) via Akrotiri (Cyprus), Muharraq (Bahrain) and Gan.  My notional load had all the Akrotiri freight down the back, the Muharraq freight next forward and so on until, right by the front cargo door was the Changi load.  Had it been for real, and had the AQM accepted the aircraft, I would not have been very popular when the bird arrived in Cyprus and they opened the forward cargo door to find that all their cargo was right at the rear of the cabin!  I must have done reasonably well in the rest of the course and the exam, because I did pass, but it was a lesson well learnt and remembered for future years!

One thing about the Abingdon course – or rather the Course members, was that as I had already been on the Station for almost four months, I knew all the best local pubs, and my old Mk V Jaguar (purchased for 50 quid in late 1964) received heavy use moving my fellow single living-in officers and I from the Mess to the Black Horse round the back of the airfield, the Trout at Godstow, the Barley Mow at Clifton Hampden (of ‘Three Men in a Boat’ fame), and many many others round Abingdon and Oxford.   No random breath testing in those days thank heavens!

No.6 Senior Air Movements Course, RAF Abingdon, 1964

Rear: Sgt Pirie, Sgt Bullock, Sgt Mather, Sgt Titmuss, Sgt Lawrie, Sgt Rae, Sgt Matthews, Sgt Brigham, Sgt Hill, Sgt Bernard

Front: Sgt Fyfe, Plt Off Bowen, Sqn Ldr Perrin, Sgt Levy, Flt Lt Rowe, Sqn Ldr McNair, Fg Off Edisforth, Sgt Hopkinson, Sgt Bell, Sgt Millington

When I came across to the RAAF in 1977, the only Course I was required to re-do from my RAF days was the Air Movements School at AMTDU.  This was quite reasonable, as, while in my later ‘Mover’ days with the RAF I had worked predominately on Hercs, they were the UK C130K variant with a UK-specific role conveyor system, whereas the RAAF sensibly stayed with the internationally-known 463L system. 

The other significant change from RAF to RAAF were the other smaller types I’d have to be familiar with, Caribou, Chinook, Huey and the like.  This was, of course, before the RAAF received the ex-QANTAS B707s, but that’s another story.

Arriving at Richmond and AMTDU, I was very careful that notwithstanding my previous years of experience with air movements with the RAF, I did not want to seem like a know-it-all smart a***, and indeed I just played it low key and took the course as it came.

No.5 Air Movements Course, RAAF Richmond, June 1979

Rear: CPL Harrison, CPL Lee, LAC Carroll, AC Handley, CPL Day, CPL Donald, LAC Barry, SGT Lord, CPL Fischer

Front: FLGOFF Cameron, FLTLT McDonald, FLTLT Turner, LT Foo, MAJ Dademo, CAPT Leong, FLTLT Bowen, FLGOFF Eakin-Smyth, SGT Jackson

The one time I did call up race memory was on the subject of dangerous cargo instruction.  WOFF AQM Shorty Heffernan was the senior SNCO instructor, and he and I had a lovely blue one time – though well outside the classroom and away from the other course members.  Shorty was giving the lectures on dangerous cargo (DC) .  The question of mercury came up and he just made one brief comment “Bloody mercury ….. just clinical mercury thermometers on AME flights ….. minimal quantities involved,” ….. blah-blah-blah.  Almost a throwaway line about the very real hazards of mercury in aircraft.  I thought, “Right, well, I’m not going to say anything now in class…..but…..”  I waited till the instruction period was over and then talked to him outside the building, “Mr Heffernan, I think you’re a bit easy on the question of mercury.”  I said, “You know, mercury spill in aircraft can be a major problem.”  “Oh, bloody bullshit.” was his response.  “Oh, okay.” I thought and backed off, but then couldn’t leave it at that as he was giving the DC instructions for all the rest of the course, too.

Anyway, I went upstairs to the AMTDU library and I said, “You get the UK JATE – Joint Air Transport Establishment – Reports, don’t you?”  “Yeah, Sir. Over there on the far shelf.”  I pulled out a JATE Report on the Cat 5 write-off of an RAF Britannia.  One of those big mercury meteorological calibration barometers had been incorrectly packed, then also incorrectly loaded laid down on its side, and all the mercury – about 20 lb of the stuff - had spilled out into the aircraft hold on the way back from the Middle East.  Of course, you know what happens with mercury and aircraft alloy….instant and catastrophic corrosion.

Nobody noticed the spill initially, but when a grumpy letter came back from the Central Met Bureau. “We can’t re-calibrate this bloody barometer you’ve sent to us ‘cause all the mercury’s gone” somebody dashed out to the Britannia and you could put your finger through the skin of the aircraft over the entire hold where the cargo had been loaded!

Fortunately the Britannias were coming to the end of their service life, but nevertheless that Brit never flew again. I took Shorty aside and I showed him the report, outside the classroom and away from the other students of course.  You see, the JATE Project Officer in charge of the DC investigation was one Flight Lieutenant Len Bowen, RAF.  I’d been one of the Investigating Officers looking into the damage to the aircraft and how it had occurred, so it was my signature on the bottom of the JATE Report about the dangers of mercury v. aircraft structures.

I don’t think Shortie ever forgave me for that, and even later when I was firstly Team Leader on MATU 1 and later, SMOVO Richmond and Shorty was back on one of the Richmond Herc squadrons as AQM Leader, our dealings were always slightly stilted. No very senior Warrant Officer AQM like to be proved  wrong by an up-start Pommy Flight Lieutenant fresh off the boat!

The rest of the Richmond course was a breeze.  We had a moment or two with our Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) Major.  He was a really lovely bloke, and despite being the most senior rank on the course, mucked in with all the rest of us.  Unfortunately (a) he like a beer or three or four and (b) he had absolutely no idea whatsoever about air movements.  If ever there was a ‘political pass’ it was his at the end of the six weeks.  He went on to become the Director of Movements & Transport for the PNGDF.

I later heard, his clan fell out with the then-PNG President’s clan and he was banished to the Highlands.

The AMTDU Course finished in June 1979, with me achieving a ‘Distinction’ pass – well, I damned well should have considering my previous air movements experience – and I returned to my post as Senior Stores Officer, RAAF Base Laverton, sweating on the approval of my application to take over the then-new MATU ALT1 at Richmond at the end of my tour down south.  Everything comes to he who waits, and in January 1980 I arrived at Richmond and MATU 1 – but that’s another story for another time.

Len Bowen

Canberra, ACT.

27 Aug 2019.

From: Michael V O'Brien, Corinda, QLD

Subject: Memories of my Air Movements Training

G’Day Tony,

Reflecting on things I learned from my Movements Training and Career:

There I was at the end of 2004, sitting in a pointy end comfy chair of a QANTAS B-747 on my way home from Burundi for some leave from the depths of deepest  – I was working for Patrick Defence Logistics, who had the contract to coordinate and manage the deployment of the Reinforcement Battalions to the UN Mission in the Congo [MONUC].

I had arrived in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo [which, by the way, was/is neither democratic or very republican], on the 18th of November and after being re-UN’d with a MONUC ID and Driver’s Licence I was whisked away to do some of that planning and liaison stuff, and be introduced by the MONUC Chief over [with whom I’d worked when we were both part of the RAAF Movements mob, and who had transferred to the UN after our UNTAC tour].  We may also have enjoyed a local ale or three, amusingly named “Primus”. 

Kinshasa was previously known as “Léopoldville”, in honour of His Maj., the King of Belgium, when the Congo region was discovered by the white explorers – the Congolese themselves had not actually lost it, but the Europeans were renowned for “finding” bits of the Earth in those days. 

The following morning, not so bright or early, it was via UN air to Kisangani [previously “Stanleyville”], then onto Bukavu [previously Costermansville], in the East of DRC. 

The overnight stop was required to encompass more planning, some not-so-quiet quiet ales, with a serve of ‘frights’ occasioned by the local ‘adversaries’ contesting bits of the City underneath which we were sited, altho’ the fireworks show was ‘interesting’!  And, bugger me if the following day it wasn’t another not so bright but bloody early start on the road from Bukavu to Uvira [no previous noted], on the North Western edge of Lac Tanganyika and next to the border with Burundi, by four wheel drive for about 180kms in three or so hours, and then 20 mins in an Mi-17 helicopter across the lake to the bustling hub of the capital of Burundi, Bujumbura.

UN-840 – a contracted Mi-17, admiring the beautiful lines of a venerable French Lady

For the next 27 days, I was responsible for coordination and management of the unloading of Pakistani Battalion equipment and troops, and Indian troops, for deployment into the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – that little tropical paradise which the Belgian Colonials so nicely looked after for about 80 years, and which now is trying to sort out its problems that are racially- and economically-generated.

You may have heard that there had been numerous incursions into DRC by Rwandan troops during the 2003-04 era, supposedly looking for remnants of the Interhamwe who got a bit excited in 1993 and did a bit of racial cleansing, African style – the troops and equipment we were unloading from the UN chartered Antonov 124s were being deployed into Eastern DRC via Bujumbura to augment the MONUC Mission’s already stretched assets to prosecute what had become a “Chapter Seven” peace enforcement task.   The personnel were airlifted to Bukavu and the cargo/equipment was cross-loaded onto the most motley-assortment of trucks I've ever worked with, and road moved into the Congo, via the road we had taken three or so hours to drive – except the [rapidly deteriorating] condition of the road meant that the truck/trailer combinations were now taking at least three to four day to cover the 200-odd kms!

This meant that our aircraft unloading efforts far exceeded our truck-loading/convoy dispatch capabilities, to the extent that I spent a week more in Bujumbura than originally planned.   The Antonov’s were averaging 90tonnes per flight – think of eight 20foot shipping containers and half a dozen 5tonne trucks and/or APCs and you’ll be able to envision the size of the transport task for each aircraft, and we were receiving one aircraft a day, so we quickly ended up with a sizeable backlog of stuff not going anywhere until the trucks returned – when I left we still had about twenty truckloads to dispatch and there were two more An-124s to come! 

”No, let the loadmaster guide the truck-driver – he doesn’t speak Swahili either!”

I alluded earlier to the lack of storage the MONUC Mission had within the ONUB [Burundi] Mission, and one thing I learned in my Mover’s training was that opportunities abound, if you can be flexible, to which end I was able to arrange the use of a not-yet-occupied warehouse site planned for the ONUB Logistics element – that I had previously worked with the ONUB Chief Mover when he was an Army Mover with me during UNTAC may have helped … a bit … allegedly.

We had early starts, 0600, as soon as the 2300-0600 curfew lifted, and generally finished the outside part of the work – all done in the open as there was no covered facility big enough or available to do otherwise – at dark/1830-ish, then spent a couple of hours trying to produce and disseminate sitreps, amidst very ordinary internet communication – then a couple of drinkies and dinner and usually retired by midnight – so it was a bit of a shock after eight months of semi-retirement [actually, unemployed, if you must insist!] to once again be so gainfully employed; long, hot days … what is that saying about mad dogs?  Flexibility was certainly an asset, to be sure!

I was scheduled to depart Bujumbura on Thursday 16th December, for Kinshasa for a couple of days of debriefs with the MONUC Mission head-shed, and intended to travel on the UN aircraft allocated to move the Pakistani Sector Commander [BrigGen someone] and his contingent who arrived that morning to assume their duties – and, naturally, after the whole month’s worth of aircraft arrivals and onforwarding going fairly well.

A selection of the contracted surface-movement assets available

Thursday turned into a packet of poo tickets as the weather in Eastern Congo towns of Kalemie [prev. “Albertville”], Bukavu and Goma, all the locations where MONUC’s eastern region aircraft are based, got really bad, really quick, and as quick as flash … no aircraft arrived until about 1700 when a C-130 appeared but which was unable to do anything until the next day – and there we were with 212 recently-arrived on an earlier contracted MD-11, and now very wet and disgruntled MONUC PakBatt personnel for whom we had to find accommodation – fortunately the Pakistani Engineering Battalion of the Burundi Mission [ONUB] could accommodate the General and his thirty or so staff officers, and that was just down the road, but the soldiers got sent to Cibitoke, to the PakInfantry Battalion 60-odd kms north on the Burundi/Rwanda/Congo border; naturally, their baggage stayed in the trucks in Bujumbura.

At least the Paki General got to stay with his own this time; on a previous, similar, minor hiccup we dispatched a senior officer and his hangers-on to Bukavu, but because of too much weather the Mi-17 had to divert to Goma for the night, the Sector HQ location of the Indian Battalion [and which had to be rapidly reinforced recently when the Rwandans got a little bit enthusiastic and somewhat into the Congo!].

Friday dawned bright and sunny in Burundi and altho’ Bukavu was looking a bit shaky, the South African SAFAIR L-100-30 crew agreed to try to get into Bukavu, and I took the opportunity to leg it with them, as a flight deck ‘supercrew’. 

Accepted Convoy Procedures … this was the last time I saw this after they left the compound

The General and his entourage sat in the blunt end with some four tonnes of their baggage!  And so commenced a trek to get OBie to Kinshasa for my scheduled departure Sunday to connect to this QF B-747 to get me home by PM 21st … a trek worthy of Doctor Livingstone’s efforts some eighty or so years gone.   Both my PDL boss and Neil, then Chief of Movement Control in the MONUC Mission, had promised SWMBO that I’d be home for Christmas, and By Gum they were going to make it happen! 

Get your atlases out and follow the bouncing OBie, kiddies.  The trek, with times Local:

0905-0930 Bujumbura to Bukavu, no sweat, on the L100-30;

1235-1515 Bukavu to Entebbe [hint:  look East, into Uganda], in the Sector Commander’s little Beech;

1630-1710 Entebbe to Kisangani [hint:  head back towards the West], in the UN’s B-727, and then,

1735-1805 Kisangani to Kinshasa, still using the B-727, but the price was right!!   The benefit of being a UN Contractor was that I could swan around Africa on UN aircraft for free and get paid for it!!  

The day I spent in Kinshasa gave me the opportunity to see how differently the two UN Missions are viewed by the citizens of DRC and Burundi – and perhaps try to analyse why.   MONUC has been around for about five years in its present form, but since the early ‘60s in some form or other, and is supposed to be disarming and separating the factions, repatriating refugees etc., and is to eventually hold ‘real’ elections like UNTAC did in Cambodia in 1993, and is showing considerable inability to achieve any of its mandated requirements – mind you, the mob contesting ownership of the Eastern part don’t seem to know whether they want to be Congolese, Rwandan or Ugandan, with a few who sympathise with the Burundians as well – and they are all ethnically different and speak different languages and had different colonial masters.

Digressing for a moment, 90% of the work I did was using French language so I had to come up to speed pretty quickly and still maintain that if others had to work as hard to understand me as I had to in order to speak it then we were about even.   Anyway, the French word for Colonial is “colon”, and that’s pretty much how the Congolese see the UN!  Our convoys of [civilian] vehicles etc., regularly got stoned as they pass thru the villages in the Congo where the Paki and Indian Peacekeepers will be deployed; but I suppose it’s better that the little darlings sitting under every bush with an Ak-47 are throwing stones and not shooting at the [civilian] trucks.

My ‘Office’ parked in front of the Bujumbura International Terminal

The Burundians, however, where the ONUB mission is located, which had a similar role as MONUC, was only five months old, and had had some measures of success:  during the first couple of weeks I was there two important ceremonies had been held:  the President declared an “Official Day of Reverence For the Trees” [make what you will of that, but this region was the habitat of the Mountain Gorilla], and the UN received some hundred or so weapons handed in as part of the cantonement process.  

The people with whom I worked and met in the day-to-day activities seemed relatively happy, notwithstanding being deprived of most services and utilities we take for granted, and the kids were genuinely happy and cheerful, and waved and saluted as [the hundreds of brand new] UN vehicles passed by.   My ‘office’ was a brand new Toyota Prado, most often located at the airport, but the bloody thing drove on the wrong side of the road all the time and the gear shift and handbrake were also on the wrong side of me – and all the other traffic there showed a remarkable lack of road sense by constantly wanting to drive on the side of the road I was using!

The work itself was straightforward, consisting of the aircraft unloading/loading and assessing requirements on the fly, liaising with all the airport and other minor and major/Colonel officials – and telling them in a manner that they would appreciate the importance I placed on their concurrence of my plans/requirements.  Due to the intricacies of the aircraft over-flight clearance issues and denials of same by some of the countries, the same ones who are bleating loudest about the UN not being effective, the aircraft arrivals often got cancelled with a few hours’ notice.  My practice was to phone the UK Operations Centre each morning at 0430 my time to ascertain whether the aircraft had left its’ tech stop at Djibouti, and what was its’ anticipated arrival time into Bujumbura [if it had left Djib it would be on the ground for me within the next three and a half hours].  On the strength of that info I’d either confirm or switch off previously made plans – and tradition/etiquette required that every discussion commenced with at least 10-15” of polite conversation about the weather, the family, the state of the economy and the inevitable bleat about how expensive everything was these days, and couldn’t I see my way clear to assisting, etc, etc, and it looked like it would be another hot day and a cold drink would be lovely.  

Bujumbura mid-afternoon peak-hour traffic  endeavouring to get home before the Curfew

The trucking side of the show was the area that presented the most difficulty as the contractor appeared to have slightly over-assessed the capability of his assets, and we quickly ran out of trucks and, as mentioned above, had to consolidate the equipment in a new yard being built for the ONUB Logistics Base – gratefully, I accepted their offer of help.

The increasingly-regular rain made the work even more interesting as the Pak Engineers had laid some gravel and minor road-base but had not compacted it well enough, nor had they used enough of the various sizes of rock to set in to the clay/fertile volcanic soil [see, I did learn something from my time as Manager of Monier Group PNG - Flexibility, hey!], and the ensuing quagmire made the work of loading the trucks with APCs [13 – 15tonnes], vehicles various and shipping containers up to 18tonnes, very interesting indeed!

The trucking [SDV] contractor’s man on the spot, Eugene, was a good bloke, a Ugandan by birth who had relocated to Burundi when the troubles in Uganda and Rwanda made things difficult for his family – as luck would have it Burundi’s wheels fell off, but as you’ll see from the pic he was able to look after himself – he gained the nickname ‘Shrek’, given by the Pakis, but they must be colour –blind!!   His English, fortunately, was pretty good coz’ my Swahili was average at best, and he reckoned I needed to improve my French, so … He had a good personality, but didn’t take any crap from any of his drivers, and I enjoyed working with him – the other bloke in the picture is a UN Volunteer, East Timorese, ex refugee who worked with the Air Terminal Squadron blokes when we were in Dili in late 1999:  Antonio De Oliviera, whose family have now returned to Dili and are rebuilding their lives.

Convoy pre-departure preparation – one eye on the weather!

Antonio, Eugene and OBie … another Convoy sorted and about to depart

As I mentioned earlier, I was scheduled to return to Kinshasa 4th of January ‘05, for a couple of days’ admin, and then back to Burundi to prepare to receive the rest of the Reinforcement Battalions, scheduled to commence 8th Jan ‘05, comprising two PakInf Battalions and one Indian Aviation Squadron which would supplement the Mi-25 ‘Hind’ gun-ships they already have there, and which, under the UN Charter’s Chapter 7 Peace Enforcement mandate the Mission had, had already been used in anger! 

I was accommodated at the Hotel Amahoro, in one of their flash USD50 rooms [with fridge, aircon if there’s electricity, and hot water, usually, except when there’s no electricity], with a most pleasant view of the bustling, not-to-be-confused-with-a- Karaoke-bar revivalist-centre [how embarrassment!] across the road.

So, what did my Movements Training teach me … the ability to be flexible, which will enable ‘on-the-fly’ amendments, mostly.  And to keep meticulous records, with photos if possible!

Cop ya,

Obie

A Tornado pilot celebrates his final flight at RAF Marham with his daughter

LEE MATTHEWS/RAF

A Typhoon is refuelled by an RAF Voyager in the skies over the Falkland Islands

PAUL OLDFIELD/RAF

Senior Aircraftman Arran Devine uppercuts a Royal Marine captain at RAF Odiham

ROB TRAVIS/RAF

This photograph of a C130J Hercules was shot from the ramp of a second aircraft during a training sortie over Abingdon, Oxfordshire

LEE MATTHEWS/RAF

A portrait of Warrant Officer Balbir Flora taken for a recruitment campaign

PAUL SAXBY/RAF

A long-exposure shot of Senior Aircraftman Dan Smither outside the Bullring in Birmingham city centre

IAIN CURLETT/RAF COSFORD

Members of the fencing club at RAF Cosford practise in the station gym

CIARAN MCFALLS/RAF CONINGSBY

Members of the Red Arrows aerobatics team fly past the Alps en route to Greece

ASHLEY KEATES/RAF

Corporal Sarah Partridge was introduced to wakeboarding in the RAF and went on to represent Team GB

RACHEL MALTHOUSE/RAF

Corporal Lloyd Weatherly competes against Police Working Dog Elanna at an event dubbed the K9 Olympics

PAUL OLDFIELD/RAF

Typhoons prepare to depart from RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus for an Operation Shader night mission against Isis

TIM LAURENCE/RAF

Soldiers from 3 Parachute Regiment take part in live firing exercises on the Falkland Islands

PAUL OLDFIELD/RAF

Members of the ‘Red Sparrows’ patiently await debriefing at the RAF Cosford airshow in Wolverhampton

HARRY ROBERTS/RAF COSFORD
The Times

From: Mike Stepney, Stewarton, East Ayrshire 

Subject: UKMAMS Support for the Red Arrows

Hi Tony,

Your recent comments on FaceBook regarding the Red Arrows flying over your apartment in Canada, got me to thinking about UKMAMS support for the Red Arrows.  UKMAMS were not involved with the Red Arrows until mid-1987, and then only after an incident concerning damage to a Lyneham C130.

UKMAMS – SUPPORTING THE RED ARROWS

UKMAMS has not always supported the Red Arrows (Red A).  In fact, although the Red A had been entertaining crowds since 1964 with the Foland Gnat, and from 1979 with the BAE Hawk, it was not until 1987 that UKMAMS became directly involved with supporting the Red A display team. 

The team had deployed to more than 40 countries, and taken part in multiple performances over a period of 23 years without formal air movements support, so why suddenly did UKMAMS get involved in the summer of 1987?

At the time, I was the training officer at UKMAMS and mid- week in the middle of June, I was called up to see Wg Cdr Movements. He handed me an incident report concerning the damage to a C130 Hercules which had returned to Lyneham from a Red A deployment to Germany/Italy the previous weekend.

The report indicated that diesel fuel had been spilt on the aircraft floor and that the amount was considerable, necessitating the removal of areas of the aircraft floor panels to deal with the contamination.  Whilst the report mentioned that the diesel had leaked from a 200ltr drum which had been stowed upright on a pallet and secured by strops, it did not clearly identify how or why the drum had leaked.

Stn Cdr and SEngO Lyneham did not like their Alberts doused in diesel fuel so I was ‘volunteered’ to report on the Saturday morning with passport and 3 days kit to accompany the next scheduled Red A support aircraft up to Scampton and monitor all loading/unloading and in-flight handling activity for the period of the detachment. 

This display support aircraft would stop in Northern France, Jersey and Liverpool.   The aircraft was in a mixed pax/freight configuration.

I was given a telephone number at Scampton (Red A Admin) and advised them on the Friday morning that I would be accompanying the aircraft for the duration.  Unfortunately, I could not make contact with the Red A Det Cdr, who I was advised was in meetings all day.  I did managed to track down the one ‘Movements’ trained individual who was in charge of all load prep, and loading/offloading for each Red A program;  he was the squadron supplier, an SAC with a Loading & Lashing certificate (SAC LL), and I advised him of my involvement.  

Ten minutes after completing my call, I received a return call from the Red A Det Cdr (the Sqn SEngO), a Sqn Ldr.  I was advised by him not to board the aircraft at Lyneham the following day as I was not wanted or required on the detachment.  I passed this curt message up to Wg Cdr Movements, who in response advised me to report as advised the following morning - Group was now involved!  This was shaping up to be a very interesting weekend I thought.

On the Saturday, I met and briefed the C130 crew on my objectives for the weekend and all were extremely supportive (especially the Loadmasters), and appeared happy to have me along.  On arrival at Scampton, I received a different reception!

I went looking for the Red A Det Cdr and found him in the hangar where I introduced myself. He refused to shake hands! Turned to me and said that if I delayed the departure of this aircraft from its assigned schedule, I would be held personally responsible!  Nice start to the deployment I thought.  My response to that jibe was that if the aircraft load was correctly prepared, loaded and secured in the time allotted, then there should be no requirement to change the itinerary.  I also advised that I was more than happy to assist and advise his loading team, but I was not prepared to sanction sloppy or dangerous loading practices and would stop loading/unloading here and down route if deemed necessary – Sir!

I walked back out to the pan.

I requested a copy of the load plan from the SAC LL and was advised that there was a list of freight for loading and that the support team of techie loaders all know where it goes! The same plan is used for each detachment.  Right then, every load is the same?  No, but any changes to the load are minor and those that are, get documented as necessary.

A check of the final load tie-down and the completion of the trim was being left to the Loadmaster.

With the limited time available before chocks, my intention was to focus mainly on the actual loading technique and tie- down effectiveness and spend the rest of the flight time going through the documentation.

The first main ground equipment item to be loaded was a Houchin starter generator; they were loading it on A frame first.  A guy walking backward steering the front wheels up the toe ramps whist someone drove a land rover at the rear (front bumper removed, and a railway sleeper attached) to push the generator up the ramp!  Strike 1. No one marshalling and no chocks!

Strike 2. Stopping the loading I asked why they were not using the a/c winch.  Their response indicated that it would take too long and that they always must do it this way to get it loaded quickly between shows, so the aircraft can depart on time!

I called in the loadmaster and got him to set up the winch and we loaded the Houchin. I requested a quick look at the Houchin tie-down scheme; they didn’t have one!  I asked them to provide the axle weights; they had to contact their ground engineering section to find out!

Strike 3. Numerous squadron techies were employed positioning the load to the rear and one side of the a/c ready for loading.  I reviewed the load, and there were a few minor issues that I drew their attention to and to their credit, they quickly fixed the problems. It appeared that they knew what they were doing, but can’t appearances be deceptive?

As I observed the loading and assisted where necessary, I noticed that over time, the support crew filtered out and dropped their baggage on a wooden pallet at the entrance to the hangar. Included in this was the display team’s personal baggage, so quite a pile.  The baggage was earmarked for the ramp, but I could not see any weighing device, so flagged this to SAC LL. I was advised that baggage was being weighed and details entered on a tally sheet in the hangar! 

No check weight facility was evident for the load and no one checking if all bags were being weighed. In addition, they were using old weights from previous detachments for the freight and had no facility at hand to check-weigh large or bulky items like a pallet full of baggage, large containers or ground equipment.

Strike 4.  There were three techies loading and securing several laycon containers flat floor with strops.  They used floor points much further apart than necessary and on questioning this tactic I was advised that they use the space under the strops to store their baggage.  Although the total baggage load was earmarked for the ramp it appeared that most pax kept their bags with them whilst on route.  I arranged the laycons to be stropped correctly with suitable dunnage as a base. Bags would be on the ramp under the net for take-off and landing.

Strike 5. Watching as they loaded the 200ltr drums of various liquids (the cause of the incident the previous week) I noticed that they were using large green plastic drip trays to stand the drums in. There were liberal amounts of absorbent sorbosil silica grains in each tray to catch any spillage. Thin wooden strips were positioned between the bottom of the drip tray and the a/c floor, and the drums were stacked upright. There was no contact between the drums and the dunnage, and even with the strops fully tightened, I could move the drums as they slid on the plastic drip trays.

Strike 6. I briefed them on the correct method of moving and securing the drums on the a/c and they re-loaded and secured the load as required.

On questioning their loading/tie-down technique, I was advised that at air shows, they must access the diesel from inside the C130 and carry it out in smaller containers to service the Hawk aircraft. I asked to see the rules and guidelines/dispensation for decanting flammable fuel on-board, no one could provide this.

Strike 7. At this point, I was satisfied that although some of the original loading was suspect, the actual re-loading and eventual tie-down was completed to a satisfactory level. The Loadmaster agreed.  My next phase was to monitor all the off-loads/on-loads during the weekend at the different airheads.

I had made some preliminary notes regarding my observations during loading and attempted to brief the Det Cdr on my findings.  Unfortunately, he was not available, and I subsequently discovered that he had elected to take a back seat in one of the Hawks to the first display bypassing our discussion. Lucky him!

There were a number of additional minor but troubling incidents during the weekend, however, suffice to say that whilst there was no doubting the commitment and energy of the supporting staff, their movements skills were extremely limited and in some cases, their actions bordered on dangerous.

The weekend went very quickly.  I saw little of the Red A Det Cdr; he was a busy man.  He was not on the aircraft on our return to Scampton for the final off-load therefore I had no opportunity to debrief him personally.  I therefore gave an overview of my observations to the det admin Fg Off to pass on to him.

Working with the Red Arrows is a unique experience.  There were very few detachments where non-movements trained servicemen were required to operate - off-load/on-load a C130 (sometimes with engines running), at times to a very tight schedule, and without formal air movements training.  The fact that there had not been a previous serious incident was down to pure luck.

My recommendations were many, culminating in the requirement to introduce a formal movements presence for all future Red Arrows deployments; starting immediately. The report on the week-end activities was such that it was forwarded up the chain rather rapidly, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The outcome was that UKMAMS were assigned to each Red A detachment thereafter, and I am sure that the professionalism of the movements personnel would dovetail nicely with the similarly professional approach adopted by the Red A aerobatic and direct support teams.  I could see UKMAMS getting on well with the Red A support team – both work and play hard.  As an aside…, the Red A allowances were pretty good at the time!!

Regards,

Mike

p.s. I never did get the chance to speak again with the Red A Det Cdr!