Description
Object description
British NCO served as flight engineer and instructor with Transport Command Royal Air Force Air Support Command and Strike Command, RAF in GB, Ethiopia, Somalia, Falkland Islands and Iraq, 1962-1992
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Folkestone, GB, 1936-1952: family; question of Italian background during attempt to enlist in armed services, 1952. Recollections of period as flight engineer and instructor with Transport Command, RAF in GB, 1962-1967: background to becoming flight engineer, 1962; postings; flying characteristics of Handley Page HP.67 Hastings; routes flown from GB to Far East; servicing aircraft; performance of engines; load limitations and boosting engine; cargoes carried; participation in aid operations; crew; construction of vacuum cleaner to clean aircraft; noise in interior of Handley Page HP.67 Hastings; use of oxygen and heating.
REEL 2 Continues: practical jokes played on passengers; monitoring fuel consumption; period as instructor on flight simulator at RAF Finningley. Recollections of period as flight engineer and instructor with Royal Air Force Air Support Command and Strike Command, RAF in GB, Ethiopia, during Falklands War and Iraq, 1967-1992: conversion to Lockheed C-130 Hercules; training as instructor; control of Lockheed C-130 Hercules; method of shutting down an engine in flight on Lockheed C-130 Hercules; character of engine controls in Lockheed C-140 Hercules.
REEL 3 Continues: explanation of terms 'weak' and 'rich' engines; navigational systems; participation in North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) exercises; global training; operating on desert strips during Gulf War, 1991; character of relief work operations to Kurds in Northern Iraq, 1991; question of having seats in Lockheed C-130 Hercules; operating engines in high temperatures; participation in United Nations relief operations in Ethiopia; unloading aircraft in Ethiopia; operations in Somalia, 1992.
REEL 4 Continues: route flown from GB to Falkland Islands, 1982; refuelling aircraft from Handley Page Victor tankers during Falklands War, 4/1982-6/1982; technique used for aircraft approaching Handley Page Victor tanker to refuel; improvisation during Falklands War; turn round at Stanley Airfield, Falkland Islands; recreational activities and relations with Falkland Islanders; degree of comfort in Lockheed C-140 Hercules including use of hammocks; toilet facilities on board; number of flight crew; female loadmasters; question of personal ambitions.
REEL 5 Continues: posting to B Sqdn, Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE), Boscombe Down; trials work on Vickers VC 10; work on redesign of flight deck on Lockheed L-1011 TriStar; further details of work on Vickers VC 10.