Plane Tales – Details, episodes & analysis

Log book stories still abound but I’m now on the last volume of my small collection of RAF Form 414s.  Unbeknown to me back then, my time in the Air Force was fast coming to a close. When I was offered the job on the Tornado it was on the understanding that I would serve an additional year to amortise the cost of training and I was now in coming up to the completion of my term of service, 19 years or aged 38 which ever was longer.  If I signed on again it would be to age 55.  What's more, I needed to make up my mind as the RAF wanted 18 months of notice of my decision… would I stay or leave.   The F3 Tornado   He used a mixture of chicken entrails, throwing bones and gazing into his crystal balls to tell me my fortune   With their glory days behind them the young guns often treated Specialist Aircrew with scant respect and as their skills grew tired and their experience became tarnished with age they sometimes had little to offer but old war stories   The KC135 equipped for probe and drogue refuelling   RAF weather colour codes   My ATPL study books   An F3 equipped for QRA   The result of a midair collision     Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Ronnie Macdonald, Mike Freer, Trougnouf, US DOD, Mike McBey, Defence Imagery, the RAF, the MOD, the RAF Air Historic branch, the IWM, J Thomas, Midjourney and Adrian Pingstone.

In the words of it’s benefactor, “It has been described as the most exclusive Club in the world, but the entrance fee is something most men would not care to pay and the conditions of membership are arduous in the extreme.” Other clubs that sprang up during the World Wars are more a measure of the bravado, luck or good fortune of its members to make use of an aircraft’s emergency survival equipment but the club I will tell you about today is one that honoured the grim stubbornness of its members to overcome the pain and disfigurement of their injuries with stoical good (if rather dark) humour.  The Guinea Pig Club. The badge of the Guinea Pig Club   McIndoe   McIndoe and his patients   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the RAF, East Grinstead museum, the Library of Congress, the RCAF, the IWM, the RAF Benevolent fund and the Queen Victoria hospital.

Two of the Saratoga’s F14 Tomcats were tasked to defend the carrier against a simulated attack during Exercise Display Determination 87. The leader of this small formation included a senior pilot and skipper of a newly arrived Junior Grade Lieutenant Timothy Dorsey. Many years later, Dorsey would be nominated for promotion to a one-star Rear Admiral, an appointment that required Congressional approval.  What stood in his way was an incident that occurred during that fateful day in 1987.   USS Saratoga   Timothy Dorsey   F14 Tomcats on deck   An F4 tanking   HUD film of the engagement   US Navy wings   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the US Navy, US Air Force and the US Gov.

It is the beginning of 1981 but for me it was the conclusion of my first front line tour of duty. When my posting came I was devastated. I had been sent to instruct at No 4 Flying Training School, RAF Valley on the island of Anglesey in North Wales. A remote corner in the middle of nowhere doing a job I didn’t want. An F4 Phantom FG1 of No43(F) Sqn.   The Hawker Harrier GR1.   Survival Scramble.    The A10 Warthog.   The BLC Malfunction emergency checklist.   Greek Gunboats!   My posting to become a QFI loomed!   My much loved Yamaha along with our poo coloured Rover!   Climbing Mt Snowdon.   Dave would perish during Exercise Red Flag when he crashed his RAF Jaguar avoiding a simulated SAM engagement.   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Mike Freer, Senior Airman Matthew Bruch, CC BY-SA 3.0, the USAF, the RAF and myself!

The Sound Barrier was first broken in 1947... by 1949 Convair had submitted its initial bid for the USAF's first supersonic bomber. So much had to be learned in that time… the aerodynamics of supersonic flight, the construction materials that would be required and the engines that could power it were only part of the technological challenges that would be faced. It was truly a remarkable effort. The pilots that were chosen to fly this tricky Mach 2, 70,000 ft capable aircraft that could climb at over 45,000ft a minute, were highly skilled and Lt Col Henry, John Deutschendorf was one of them.   The opposing sides of the Cold War   The first generation of US and Soviet ICBM nuclear missiles   The B-58 Hustler   The Hustler's escape pod   The three B-58 cockpit hatches   John Denver   The Long EZ   Ghostbusters II   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Kingkingphoto, the USAF, NOAA and Impawards.

Whether the weather be cold, Or whether the weather be hot, We'll weather the weather, Whatever the weather, Whether we like it or not! Nowadays, however, we are blessed with more ways to get the weather than one can shake proverbial sticks at and, certainly in the world of aviation, it's all remarkably accurate even if it’s presented in a rather archaic code. Of course even that is pretty advanced when compared with the early days! Hippocrates   Galileo's thermometer   Early weather forecasting equipment!   The wrecking of the Royal Charter on the Island of Anglesey   Robert Firzroy, the father of met forecasting.   Gp Capt Stagg who forecasted the weather for Operation Chastise   The US Bureau of Metrology   An early radiosonde met balloon   A decode aid for aviation forecasts   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, NOAA, Fenners and the RAF.

The pride of the Air India fleet, their first Boeing 747 was named after the Emperor Ashoka. The first of the Maharaja-themed aircraft it epitomised luxury and was, “Your palace in the sky.” On this New Year's day, however, its flight would last only a few seconds. The Emperor Ashoka Boeing 747   The cockpit   The Engineer's station.   The interior of a Maharaja-themed Air India aircraft   The famous Jharokha styled windows   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Air India PR, Oliver Cleynen, Snowdog, Mitchel Gilliand, Shahram Sharifi, Dharma and Searchtrail67.

'Twas the night after Christmas, when all through the house, Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...                                             All images produced by Nick Anderson Photographic

It’s starting to look its age, it’s frayed at the edges, wrinkled and has bits that might fall off. No, not me, my first venerable old Royal Air Force logbook. So before it comes apart completely, I think it might be time to punish you again with a few more stories from its pages.     The Westinghouse AWG 11/12 radar.     43 Sqn F4 Phantom FG1 on QRA.   Engaging a USAF EC130.   Engaging a USAF EC130.   My treasured Blue Peter badge.   The Boy Pilot, John, Ballex and Budgie... heroes of the Blue Peter Special!   The AEW Avro Shackleton.     Another Bear.   The F5 Aggressors in their distinctive Soviet camouflage.   You can't meander around a Leander! An RN Frigate.   Hunting Jags over the wilds of Scotland.   The RAF Piddle Pack!   An RAF goon suit (aircrew Immersion Suit).   Images under Creative Commons Licence with thanks to Daderot National Electronics Museum, the Royal Air Force, UK Crown, Mike Freer of Touchdown Aviation, USAF and the US Gov.

Many of my aviation heroes are complicated people of nuance and contradiction but not this man. As I reflect on his life, so recently ended, I remind myself of his uncompromising, direct manner but also of his enormous courage and skill that brought Charles Edward Yeager to the world’s attention. Yeager grew up helping his father out on gas drilling rigs.   Yeager joined the Air Force as a Private and became a mechanic but he soon made his way into pilot training.   He was initially given a P39 Aeracobra to fly.   He was sent to Europe to flight, flying the P51 Mustang.   He named his own aircraft Glamorous Glen.   He qualified as an Ace in one day and then shot down a jet powered Me262.   After the war Yeager qualified as a Test Pilot.   Even as a very junior Test Pilot, Yeager was offered the chance to pilot the Bell X1.   Yeager finally took the X!, now named Glamorous Glennis, over Mach 1 becoming the first to break the sound barrier.   Yeager completed a long and successful career in the USAF.   Chuck Yeager passed away in 2020.   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to SMU Central University, USAF National Museum and the USAF.