TO THE PHOTO GALLERY                         

                             HALTON AND THE YEARS AFTER.

1954-1960               View Cover

Halton  for  me,  and  I   expect  most  others,  was a mixture  of routine and the occasional highlights, as well as breaks in that routine.

The beginning of the workshop phase with perhaps a fortnight of battering away at a  piece of  mild steel  with   various  implements to  transform it  was such  a highlight. The increasing damage to ones hands accompanied the transformation of the  piece   of   mild   steel.  Further   highlights    occurred  as  we  progressed through the  various  phases, each stage  increasing  our  knowledge   towards the ultimate goal.

Breaks in the routine were  marked by events like either being on the receiving or delivering end of bed tipping  expeditions   not to mention  full defence of the block when  annual  passing    out  parades  took  place,  particularly  memorable,  when  the 73rd Entry departed. We all of course remember the greengage jam riots

Then  there  were  the   weekends,  I   seem  to  recall  the  three   musketeers, I believe Messrs Buxton, Kinnear and Watts  all  scrubbed   and  uniformed, with  tunic or  greatcoat  depending  on    season,  criss  crossed  with  illegal  creases heading off to  Main Point, There the 2pm bus  loaded   its testostorone charged cargo of apprenti  off  to  Aylesbury   on  the  pull.  The  sound  of  locks  being turned in doors  there,  could  be  heard  as  far   away  as  Halton,  as mothers  secured their daughters against the approaching mongol hoards. Perhaps  around 11pm  the  gallant  three   would    return,  occasionally  one  would   be  missing,  conjecture would  follow, but never an  explanation  as to why. Others  would  be away,  in  a  more   leisurely   fashion,  to  secret  garages  around  the area,  to greet their  steeds,  and   then   ride out  on   spirit  re-generating  journeys of discovery, or if resident nearby  to simply  make a  visit   home. I  know I was one of them. I recall on one occasion  arranging to   rendezvous  with  my pillion passenger  near  Main  Point, perhaps not a  wise decision.  As I waited suddenly into view came Sgt Joe Saint weaving  an unsteady  course, obviously tanked  up,  after  a midday session  in  the NCO's mess  in  the Schools  area,  and  heading  back for some   horizontal PT. He paused  at the  road to  do his  green   cross  code,  caught  sight  of me obviously disguised,  and made  what I  thought was a  lurch in  my direction. Fortunately, I think  this was  a bit of  gyro toppling  due to  the load   he was  carrying,  and he gathered himself, and crossed the road, and headed up the hill.

Time moved on  and somehow   promotion had  passed me by. The  authorities had clearly  erred   in  missing  this  natural  leader if I may be so modest.   Yes, you have guessed it, I was  ambitious, I had my eyes on the P.O.P. It was now into the third  year and I was  resident in  3 Squadron 3  Wing after   our second 'entry spirit breaking'  re-shuffle when the call came. At long last our masters had seen this  latent  talent and  had  made   me  up. I  was  now  a 'snag'  and  with about 8 months to  go,  with  accelerated  promotion,   it  would   be  me  on  the  square, pace stick  under  arm, proudly  leading  Nigel  on  his inspection of our entry. I did   all the things I had  seen other snags doing getting the rabble out on parade for work,   shouting  at them, and  preening my feathers before the permanent staff.

One spring  morning  I got  the rabble outside and off to work and then back into  the  room.   I  thought with  a couple  of  hours  before  the   next  duty, perhaps I would slip in between  the sheets for a  quick charp. No sooner had my head hit the pillow and I was off.  I  was now in   my Spitfire, over Germany on a straffing  raid, with a train in  my sights, back  on the throttle, forward with the stick.  I hit the gun button and  all eight  cannon came to life as I passed over the freight wagons.  Back with the stick, throttle full open,  and then into a roll and position for another  pass. This time  I had the engine in my gun sight and let go with another burst and   just caught sight of  steam spurting everywhere. It was time to head for home as fuel was low.   I was soon back at Little Grunting and I thought a couple of vic rolls over the tower would be in order - first one  and  then   into  the  second,  when  I  had  this  strange   sensation.  The  roll  rate increased and then some juddering, a quick look  at the ASI in  case I was low on airspeed, when there was an almighty crashing sound. Had I bought it?, was that the C.O.'s voice asking was I OK?, and offering me a bar to my DFC -- no, it was a familiar voice saying  he wished  to insert his boot into my anatomy  up to I believe  the  sixth lacehole.   I hadn't  pranged, it  was my  bed that had described a vic with me in   it. It was not  the C.O. offering  me a gong, but Flt Sgt Aldous who wished to violate me as described.

The  hero  emerged  from   the  wreckage to  the  mantra 'You're  on a fizzer' and some other expletives. 24 hours later I  was  being doubled into the outside bunk, without my hat on, to have my precious stripe removed. I pleaded it was a mistake, but they   would not listen. Then it  was double outside and move  all my gear back to where  I had  shifted  it from  three  weeks  before.   I had to get retribution, but how,  then  came  the  evening and  the  rabble  returned from  their daily lot. I  suddenly spied  in the  corner a figure about 5'.2" high in ill fitting working blue. My prayer had  been  answered, 'ROOK' I shouted 'OVER  HERE  AT THE DOUBLE', get the  polish and  the bumper and do my bed space.  I  was feeling better already, retribution is a funny thing.

So Spring  passed  into   Summer  and  then  onwards to Winter and eventually our day  arrived. What  memories  have  I  omitted, the  3 Wing laundry cart, trips to the Wellhead care of Mrs Green's taxi and  lots more I bet -- now 2nd TAF awaited the arrival of those posted to it as did all the other stations, lucky to receive the cream aka the best entry ever to have graduated.

We departed for Christmas Leave and as Halton had been designated the transit camp for  those  destined  for 2nd TAF  we  were  back  in  early  January,  now wearing  black  hat  bands  and  displaying  'one upside down'  on  our tunics and greatcoats  and  entitled  to 5   guineas  (£5.5s, £5.25p  or 7.50 Euros)  a week following   the  recent  pay  rise. A  week  was  hung  about awaiting  all to  turn up during which  time a  weekend expedition  was made to  London on the razz. I think London is  the   rip off capital of the world if one is trying to have a 'good time'. We  found    ourselves  in  Soho  and    were  lured    into  a  den  of  vice  where the    proprietor   was   standing   by  the    till   with  4  or 5  'beauties'  looking   bored  out of  their  crusts,  sitting  at  a table,   and  the  place  being  empty. Drinks   were   brown   ale   only   and   the   obligatory  coloured  water for the  gals at about 10/- a time.  We had  imbibed   a few  pints before being  lured and when the juke box fired  up  with  Rock  around  the  Clock, (analogue  not  digital  in  those  days),  we  lurched   to  our feet  intent on  a  bop.  'No dancing'   shouted  the  prop from the safety of his till,  having just   wiped his nose   on  his  sleeve,  so  unanimously we  told  him   where  to  stick his club and  ascended  to the street  to reinstate our imbibing at a more reasonable price.

The day dawned for us to leave and go into the new wide world. All 2nd 'taffers', complete with  kit bags  and possessions,  were bussed to Wendover station and then took  train to   London  where  way  was  made  to Liverpool Street for the final destination   Harwich. Once there we were herded onto the good troopship Johann van Oldenbarneveldt. At  midnight we  cast off  and some 6 hours later arrived at  the Hoek van Holland. A  grey dawn,  yet to appear, felt a bit chilly. We, meaning probably the thick end of at least 500 souls, were then dispersed onto military trains standing at various platforms. Our Halton contingent was added   to  with  regulars,   as  well  as  bogmen   and pongoes (if you recall the expressions), and boarded our train which would eventually arrive in Berlin via a number of stops. About 9am with  blast of whistle we were off. Around 4pm we arrived  at Goch  where  those of us destined for Rhineland stations got off. A short bus journey then took us to the transit camp.   

Changed into civvies, a  new luxury, we   had tea and then repaired to the NAAFI to sample the local ale. I recall we chose Dortmunder Union bier, it having been recommended by others in the bar. They had forgotten to mention that this beer was akin to rocket fuel. No problem!, we poured it down our parched throats until enough had been had and made our  way back to  the billet for charp. Around 3am I came to with the room rotating at high speed and rapidly arrived on my feet. A bleary look round the room showed that all the pits were vacated. Where on earth had  the occupants  gone?. A  not  altogether  strange   feeling  in  my stomach persuaded me I should  repair  to the ablution area.  Having stumbled  or rather staggered there  surprise!   surprise!,  the  occupants  of  the  empty  beds   were  there foregathered.  Was this some mid night social gathering? no, as overcome now with nausea it was time for 'harry honkers'. All ultimately repaired to the vacated pits. We debriefed at breakfast on the previous night's experience and decided we should, perhaps in future, select a less powerful brew. I was a little slow to learn in those days and must confess to experiencing rotating rooms on quite a few occasions as a result of 'pissing it up'.

The next task was to go to a briefing room and find out where we were going to end up. Names were called and destination stations appended. RAF Laarbruch was my allotted resting place for the next two and a half years ,accompanied by Bill Baily, Tom Barnes, Dick Downing and ? Church. We discovered that Laarbruch was about 5 miles down the road from Goch. Having said au revoir to our mates   who were to be transported to Bruggen, Wildenrath, and Geilenkirchen, the five of us plus some regulars, bogmen, and pongoes got in a bus and made the short journey to our new home.

After getting to  Laarbruch, a relatively new station opened in 1954, we went through the usual arrival procedures before being assigned to our place of work which  was to  be  the ASF. After   3  years  of  training  there  before us were Canberra PR   aircraft  with, for Bill and me,  engines that  like babies,   needed servicing, changing, and tender loving care.

Laarbruch was home to 2 Canberra squadrons. 31, with PR7s and 69, with PR3s. A Meteor  squadron 68 with NF11s and a Royal Netherlands Air Force squadron 306, with RF84 Sabres. The main function of the station was PR it seemed.

After a year or so in the ASF I transferred to Station Flight and eventually ended up on 68 Squadron. A nice round of general experience which, whilst on 68 Squadron, included a month long detachment for air firing practice to RAF Sylt,  which is an island in the North Sea adjacent to the Danish/German border. Perhaps some of you  will have been there.   The month I spent was November/December 1958 not the best from a seasonal point of view. I was told that Sylt was a popular naturist spot for those inclined to this way of life so summer visits were perhaps more popular. The place where the naturists gathered was known colloquially as 'bare arse beach' the area in the summer being plagued with low flying aircraft and, in particular, those with photographic capability.

2nd TAF as part of its raison d'etre was   mobile. The grand plan being to be able to pack up and move on within 24 hours. This perhaps, being more in hope, than expectation. To enable this mobility all had to be able to drive. Therefore after arrival and assignment the first appointment was with the MT yard. I ended up driving a 3 ton Magirus Deutz lorry. The ability of the station to be mobile, was demonstrated, on the occasional Saturday morning exercise, when just about everything on wheels was fired up and went off on a 2 to 3 hours convoy round the adjacent countryside. Doubtless if the Ruskies were going to have a go at us they might well have chosen a Saturday morning when nobody was about.  Having acquired this driving skill the odd domestic duty took place which employed this talent. One was to attend the married patch to bring those resident there, aka 'scaleys', to work, a return and back at lunchtime, and finally home in the evening.   Another was to convey the unmarried to the mess for lunch and return. I recall an unfortunate experience one cold and icy day. Loaded with my compatriots.  all banging on the floor of the lorry and rattling their mugs and cutlery,  which one had on ones person like an appendage, so that an opportunity to consume food should not be missed, I drove like Stirling Moss  towards the smell of food. In front of me was a Land Rover with some aircrew in heading for the Officers Mess. As the LR arrived at the roundabout before the mess it unexpectedly came to a full stop for some reason. I was already braking to disgorge my passengers, unfortunately I was too close to the halted LR, and due to a patch of ice, skidded and cannoned into it. As usual down went the tail board and my cargo jumped out racing for a place in  the   mess  queue  and left me to it. Lunch for me that day went by the board as I returned to the MT yard for a lot of form filling and explaining.

Having departed a still bomb site pocked country, just getting used to no rationing,  I did speculate on what we might find on the other side of the channel. The social routine at Laarbruch was usually Nijmegen on Saturday evening for wine, women, and song and Venlo on Sunday evening for the dance at the Nationaal. This place was a good spot for meeting ones brothers from the other Rhineland stations. I have to admit to being totally surprised there was little to no sign anywhere of the recently concluded war. Food was excellent with wide choice particularly in Holland with its Indonesian imperial links. The exchange rate for Dm was 12.80 and for Gulden 10.00 this, with a relatively low cost of living, meant that the pay packet was more than ample to meet the demands made on it. Transport was a necessity as these main towns were some 30 miles distant. So a car hove into ones thoughts. Bill and I scratched a few figures on the back of a £5.00 note and having sussed the second hand car price, via some German civvy workers, decided that we could enter into a joint ownership or rather joint 'buyingship' arrangement. We sallied forth one Saturday to find Herr 'Boycee' and wound up with a 1950ish Borgward Hansa 1500 for Dm2000 about £160.00. It was put on the knock and we eventually ended up owning it. It became the regular workhorse for the weekend journeys and there was always a couple of volunteers, to help out with the subsidised BV Aral gas cost, who hitched a lift. The car gave no trouble except when returning from Ostend after a Christmas leave, in the middle of a dark cold night, the engine quit out in the sticks. We were about 30 miles from Eindhoven and fortunately near a village cafe which opened at around 6am. We had to abandon the car at the cafe and bummed a lift into Eindhoven and got to the RAF detachment there where a further lift was bummed back to Laarbruch. The trouble turned out to be stripped teeth on the camshaft drive gear.  With a spare gear and the assistance transport wise of Sgt Ginger Loxley we returned to the scene and were able to strip the front end down replace the gear and bring Borgy back to camp.

The car solved the problem of getting about to the social functions, in all weathers. However I had not lost interest in my first love motor bikes. During the time I was home on leave in summer 1957, having flown over care of the then BEA in a Viscount from Dusseldorf with a concession ticket, I tracked down a 1954 Triumph Tiger 100. This machine was purchased from the proceeds of the sale of my ex WD 350cc Matchless which I had at Halton and had sold to a member of the 78th Entry. The proceeds were added to with the winnings from the first Ernie draw in 1957. The following year I part exchanged the Tiger 100 for a brand new 600cc Norton Dominator 99. This eventually had to go to help finance my buy out in 1960. The relatively empty roads of those days made motor cycling enjoyable particularly on the continent. I am still at it today with a 1959 Triumph Thunderbird that I restored. Traffic is a different kettle of fish now so it is restricted to use on the quieter roads of the west country.

Somewhere in early 1958 the shaping and direction of my next 40 years took place. Unknown to us at the time, but behind the scenes, gentlemen in Whitehall and heads primarily of the RAF were defining the future of that service. Under the coded banner of ROTOR,VAST and RAZOR which had been under way for some time, changes in aerial defence were taking place. What these coded titles dealt with were the rapid increase in radar development that were running in parallel with guided missile technology. Already at Laarbruch the first wave of volunteers had departed to Vandenberg AFB in California for training on Blue Streak and our own Bloodhound was entering service. What all this meant was that in defence terms less reliance would be placed on fighters and more on guided missiles. In human terms it meant less bods would be needed. This manifested itself in an advisory bulletin,dealing with promotion prospects, and for our trade group there was an immediate promotion block of 5 years. For me it would mean that the next step up the ladder would not take place, until I was at least 28, with then only 2 years service left from our committed engagement.

Having worked in civvy street for a year before joining up I felt a call to return. To cut a long story short with this set back I decided to get out. I made an immediate application for discharge by purchase. Unfortunately it was rejected with the rider that I was free to apply again for discharge but not before the  completion of 3 years of service after graduation. So the target date was 19th December  1959. The price of discharge by purchase was £200.00 a fair amount of dosh at that time. I had scraped together the amount needed but, with the delay,   I did not have to approach my creditors with a request to 'come across' and set about a saving plan to raise it myself.

So 1959 arrived and in the summer it was repat time. Bill and I left Laarbruch together in June travelling home in the borrowed family Ford Popular. Both of us had been posted to RAF Lyneham at which we arrived around July 1st. This station was also to be a defining point for the next 23 years of my working life and would lead me ultimately into my flying career.

We were assigned to the Comet ASF. The Comet 2 which had been the re-design of the ill fated Comet 1 had entered service in 1956. It was whilst working on this aircraft that I achieved a mention in dispatches. It was always the hope that whilst carrying out servicing work, perhaps not in a maudlin way, one might well discover something, in a preventable sense, that would have affected the safety of both the aircraft and its occupants. Part of a major inspection involved checking the engine bearers that were made of welded tubes and lived behind removeable firewall panels in the respective engine bays. Due to lack of room the engine bearer tubing was not the easiest thing to inspect particularly whilst the engine was in situ. The job was done with light and mirror also using ones fingers as detectors. Whilst doing the inspection on the inboard bearer of the No 3 engine my fingers, which I was squeezing as I ran up a tube, suddenly succeeded in collapsing the tube wall area where I was working. I got a mirror and light in to assist and could see most of the tube was rotten. I found a couple of other areas also. The next step was to bring the matter to the attention of the NCO i/c the engine inspection team, who verified the discovery, and then to the masters. Within 2 hours an alert was sent out grounding all Comet 2s away from base subject to this inspection being carried out. I believe 2 aircraft were found with advanced corrosion and had to remain where they were pending the fitting of new bearers. I got a write up over this as well as a pat on the back from the boss. It was a chuffing experience which underlined absolutely what we were there for and that was air safety, a matter that would focus my mind, when it came time to fly aircraft someone else had worked on.

1959 also saw the introduction of the Britannia aka the whispering giant into RAF service. I managed to get involved in the introductory maintenance work for a short period. These aircraft looked enormous after the types we had been working on in Germany. The passage of a further 4 years would see me flying this type for 7 more years to follow something I could only have dreamed of in 1959.

The canvas for my already decided future took further shape in the form of the arrival most Friday afternoons of a variety of civvy airlines aircraft. They arrived for the purpose of operating air freight contract to mainly Singapore. They were usually Dan Air Yorks and Eagle Airways DC-6s with very occasionally Skyways of London L749A Constellations. Also attendant at the end of the week was BOAC with Comet 4s which had recently entered service and were there for crew training. It was as though Lyneham became a civil airfield for the weekend before resuming its military status for the week. I took to hovering around these aircraft to smell the coffee to use a current expression. I became aware in particular with the Eagle Airways DC-6s there seemed to be a chap in uniform about  doing engineering type things. I discovered he was called a Flight Engineer. Questioning these chaps informed me about what they did and more importantly how to become one. Over the 6 months until I left the service I got to know some of them very well. Little did I or they know that within a few months we would meet again.

1960-1982

So it came to pass that on January 19th 1960 I drove out of RAF Lyneham for the last time bound for home. I left behind Bill, my mate of the last 6 years,  who was also on the same track and was awaiting the acceptance of his application. He followed about 2 weeks later. We had received warnings from some of the regulars about the folly of our decision to leave the security of a regular wage and three meals a day. The warnings fell on stony ground but in all fairness I was to become a   victim of redundancy four times during the next 23 years so it was no use calling 'I want my mum' or wishing I had stayed in. The redundancies became something to cope with being a not uncommon experience in civvy street. I pumped gas, drove mini cabs and did other odd work to help feed the young mouths that had appeared from somewhere whilst I sought/waited for flying employment to become available. I had literally paid my money and made my choice.

I must say that I had no regrets in joining up. There is no doubt that the training in all senses was a great input to the development of character as well as shaping a responsible person to take their place in the big wide world. I have to admit to there being a lump in my throat when recalling in particular the camaraderie of shared experience at  Halton as we faced the challenges of the three years there. It was a fine place there can be no better tribute than stating that. I wonder if Trenchard considered the 'social'aspect. There is also no doubt in my mind today when one looks at the feminist influenced social decay of our nation that the male youth would certainly benefit from what we experienced particularly if National Service still existed as long as it included a proper job to do whilst serving the two years.

After a week or so getting used to being a 'civvy' I turned my thoughts to work. With the various bits of paper I had been given with my discharge book there was a card with an address and phone number of a resettlement office in my home town. I rang, made an appointment and went along. The person there was a retired  RAF officer. After the usual introductory pleasantries when he learned I was an engineer he said only that very day he had received a call from a colleague to advise him that Eagle Airways were moving to Heathrow on April 1st and were looking for staff.   Eagle and a number of other airlines were based at Blackbushe the former RAF Hertford Bridge. Taken by the War Office in 1940 on a 20 year lease it was due to be handed back to the local authority on April 1st, hence the planned move by Eagle. 

I rang the number and was invited to an interview with the Chief Engineer Jock Clacher. He was an ex brat he told me and there quite a number working for Eagle. A short techie quiz took place and after a walk round the hangar he offered me a start. We agreed mid February and there I was with a job on quite decent money. The trade structure in civil airlines meant that the engine and airframe trade were linked.  The airframe bit was going to be a problem but Jock said I could be eased into this by working in Line Maintenance the rough equivalent of 1st line servicing which covered turn rounds and Check 1. It was fairly minor stuff so I could do the airframe bit under the watchful eye of an 'A' licensed engineer. The other part which was a challenge was Piston Engines, The only contact I had with them was whilst on Station Flight where an Anson and Chipmumk needed periodical maintenance.

On the due day in mid February I drove or rather rode to Blackbushe having acquired a second hand Triumph Speed Twin. Almost immediately I was told that a small gang had been put together and would be based at Heathrow to deal with turnround of services that were about to be operated from there. I was to join that gang led by one Alec Coleman. As part of the move up from Blackbushe Eagle had taken over 3 hangars previously used by BOAC before they moved into their new maintenace hangars at the site they are now. My time was spent either on turnrounds or at the hangars putting together stores and other facilities. I became an expert with Dexion something like a giant's Meccano set. Bits and pieces arrived from Blackbushe and were installed. On April 1st a large convoy of Queen Marys arrived with all the heavy stuff and the move in really took shape together with a large number of bods who commenced work in the newly fitted out hangars.

At that time the mainstay of the operation were Vickers Vikings of which there were 10. The other type was the Douglas DC-6 which I had encountered at Lyneham. To arrive on May 1st was a Bristol Britannia acquired on dry lease from Cubana for the season. Eagle's services were a mix of European sun spot and winter skiing destinations operated mainly by the Viking and transatlantic charter servces operated by the DC-6 and subsequently the Britannia. Mixed with this were military passenger flights to the middle east stations and military freight charter flights. A fairly regular not too inspirational job was 'configging' a DC-6 from passenger to freight role and then back again on its return. To save an enormous amount of space dealing with the airlines growth that was dogged with 1960s politics I refer you to the website I set up in 2000 to deal with Eagle Airways from 1948 onwards which is at  http://www.britisheagle.co.uk  -- there is a wealth of information there as well as many pictures. I am still awaiting missing information from former Chairman Harold Bamberg to complete the site but there is plenty there to get on with.

So 1960 ticked away. I mentioned the Flight Engineers I had met at Lyneham who I met again in the course of my work. I had a mild affair with flying as part of a possible wish to become a pilot in 1957. Whilst on leave   I signed up with the Denham Flying Club for lessons. The cost was a bit high from a J/T's money but I completed six hours before it became obvious I was running out of dosh. I was close to going solo but still needed a further hour or two so with regard to my impecunious state the CFI came to an arrangement with me for the safety of the great British public. He would simulate me going solo by allowing me to fly the Magister (open cockpit) from the front with him in the rear. This was duly done by me flying it to Elstree landing and taking off again for return to Denham. He played the sport and kept his feet off the rudder bars. Thus exhalted we repaired to the bar on our return for a beer and I said goodbye and thanks very much for this chuffing experience. I returned to the pilot thing some 4 years later which you will come to in due course. Having said that and done it I did not feel I was a natural to that role my heart was more in the engineering area. I could briefly mention my first attempt at becoming a pilot was aged around 8  having watched  aerial combat and aircraft in general during the war   which I wanted to join in. I dismantled the feather board fencing in the back garden laid it out in cruciform well nailed together -- sat on it and discovered something was missing in the form of an engine not to mention controls etc. My father having arrived back from work was not too pleased at this patriotic gesture of his young son. I was only saved from 'jankers' or much worse by having to dismantle my aeroplane and try and put it back from whence it came.

If I was to become a Flight Engineer I had to undertake a medical examination and obtain a qualification  known as the Basic 'O' which was an exam testing ones knowledge of engines, airframes, electrics and instruments. I got hold of some books dealing with the syllabus got primed up on the 'gash trade' aspects, sorry! you E&I guys and managed to pass the exam. The Basic 'O' was not mandatory for application for employment but it was certainly felt to be PC to have it. Thus armed with a medical certificate and the Basic 'O' I cast my net. What better place to start than my very own employer -- sorry Phil but we only take experienced Flight Engineers. Very well Ron 'then you can stick your.... sorry! I did not mean that'. I ran into this buffer with most of the enquiries I made, it was in fact code for not wishing to spend money on training rookies as distinct from converting to type non-rookies. I dissolved into tears mumbling 'I wish Bill had not talked me into buying myself out' -- yeah! it was all his fault.

Being a stalwart lad used to adversity like being robbed of my 'snag' and getting caught taking the short cut into the camp I dried my eyes stuck another pin in Bill's effigy and commenced stalking the F/E carrying airlines of which there were quite a lot around. By now it was late September the Flight magazine 'sits vac' section was scanned every week as it had been since June when in the issue I was reading was the ad 'Skyways of London require Flight Engineers if possible with Basic 'O'. Like the proverbial hairy dog I was on the phone, the ad seemed to have an air of pleading so I thought I will play hard to get. Re your ad I said 'I don't know if you will be able to afford me' - 'yeah Phil we will pay whatever you want' came the reply. Satisfied that my price had been met I succumbed to the request to attend for interview. I was going to be happy to talk about anything provided it was not about experienced Flight Engineers. Something odd here nothing had been written or spoken about experience. I did some homework and discovered that in responding to an ad some weeks previously placed by Middle East Airlines for, you have guessed it -- experienced Flight Engineers, a fair tranche of Skyways F/Es had resigned to go and get a jet on their license since MEA had just bought 4 Comet 4s.

So went to interview did I nobody mentioned experience and when it came to reminding them about meeting my price I was told the pay scale would be as laid down so meekly I accepted that.  I wasn't backing down you understand I just felt I would help them as they were in a bit of a spot.

The interview concluded with talk of course dates and notice. A confirmatory letter arrived within a couple of days and I gave in my notice to Eagle. The course lasting two weeks was to commence around the second week of October. So here I was about to become a Flight Engineer on the Lockheed L749A Constellation aka the flying banana not because of its colour but its shape. The course started as planned and was held at BOAC's training unit because it was from BOAC that Skyways had obtained their Connies as part of a nepotic deal because Skyways Chairman one Eric Rylands was also a BOAC board member and Skyways were chartered to carry BOAC freight to Singapore and Hong Kong.

The course concluded and the ARB type exam was taken and passed. ARB being short for Air Registration Board the body responsible for crew licensing and qualification at that time. The next step was crew training. My log book records that on the 13th November 1960 at 11.10, a Sunday morning,  G-ANUP roared into the air from Runway 28Right at Heathrow and I followed 30 minutes later. Perhaps a slight exaggeration.  The Connie had been designed as a military transport and entered service with the USAF in 1942. It had a dedicated position for the F/E who sat behind the co-pilot facing sideways. I had been placed in the F/Es seat and was gazing at a vast number of guages, switches and levers. I managed to start the engines, the crew entrance sliding door was closed, the brakes released and we were taxying. With so much happening I was miles behind and suddenly we were in the air. How on earth would I ever cope there was so much going on. I think I managed to set the manifold pressure the propellors kindly followed the set power and rotated all on their own at 2800rpm. That is all I saw --forget about oil pressure or fuel pressure or any other pressure I just wanted to get out and go home.

We were told we would not forget the first take off I still remember it. UP headed for Stansted at which we eventually arrived. For the next 4 hours we did engine failures before and after V1, engine fire drill, started in the air a shut down engine, hand pumped  the gear down, wound the flaps up and down, opened the rear passenger door in flight and just about every emergency procedure. By the time all this was finished on the numerous roller landings we did ever so gradually I managed to scan all the vital instruments during take off. Some more 4 hour sessions followed later in the month during which the skills were honed and confidence increased. The next stage was route training this consisted for me of a round trip to Malta on the weekly Crusader passenger flight, the only one Skyways did. Next came a trip in December to New Delhi and back. Finally on 30th December I did my final check ride and was signed off as'competent'. On the 3rd January 1961 I was awarded 'O' license No 897 by the ARB.  

The rosters started arriving and to and fro to New Delhi went I. On return from a trip in February I found a letter waiting at home advising that from April the Singapore flight would be extended to and terminate at Sydney and in keeping with policy to base crews overseas (we had two crews based in New Delhi who operated from there to Singapore and Hong Kong) if I was interested in being based in Sydney for initially two years would I please let the Operations Director know. You bet I was interested -- so I wrote back expressing my interest and sought more info. Perhaps the Ops Director did not read my reply or perhaps it was a bit like the old adage in the RAF do not volunteer for anything because back came a letter stating that I was  posted to Sydney for 2 years and would depart LHR on March 21st by BOAC scheduled flight. I decided to forgive the Ops Director his trespasses and would fall in line with the grand plan. I managed to obtain some domestic details like an allowance would be paid for accomodation and other expenses so decided to go with the flow and see what happened. I pitched up on the due day at the nissen hutted International Terminal on the North Side at LHR now seen in old movies and was ushered on to Comet 4 G-APDI for the flight to Sydney. As a sweetener I had learned that we would be going First Class this quite clearly having something to do with the nepotism described earlier. I was not complaining. The we I referred to consisted of the Captain I would be flying with plus another F/E and a couple of navigators who would be temporarily based in Sydney together with a Radio Officer remember this was still steam driven days as far as navigation and communication was concerned in the part of the world we were going to.

An hour later we soared into the air with   a quiet vacuum cleaner noise coming from under the floor as the Avon 524s powered us along. I had been put in an armchair sized seat and sat back to receive the First Class treatment. This came in the form of non stop booze and food. First stop was Rome followed by Beirut, Bahrain, Karachi, Calcutta, Singapore, Darwin and finally 33 hours after we started Sydney. This being before the days of DVT we were poured off the aircraft having sated ourselves and took the first chilly breaths of autumn air as it was also 7am local. It suddenly dawned on me that having arrived in upside down land I was in for another winter - two in  a row.

We were booked into a hotel near the airport for a week but were expected to find accomodation el pronto. After recovery from the flight papers were perused for accomodation and we being myself and the other F/E since we had to operate with what was called a double crew because of the long duty period Sydney - Darwin - Singapore found a reasonably priced flat in Bondi. This would do for starters and we could find something better later on. Around the due date the first extended flight arrived in Sydney and we being now a complete crew took it to Singapore via Darwin two legs of about 8 hours each. The nice thing about being a further 3000 miles from London was that in Singapore we had 5 days off waiting for the next flight southbound and in Sydney we had 8 days off waiting for the next flight northbound. Legal flight time limitations were about 110 duty hours per month and with a 35 hour round trip duty time we were always close to the maximum permitted by law. It was great having this free time which was as much a reflection of the duty time limits as it was for the speed the aircraft went which was around 240 miles per hour. 20 years later when I was flying the DC-10 the duty time limitation was still around 100 hours a month but the aircraft speed had doubled. This played havoc with the body's circadian rythym to the layman this meant the reaction to time zone change amongst other things. We could get to Los Angeles non stop quicker than we got to Singapore having also crossed 8 hours of time zone and only needed 18 hours off before the next aircraft arrived to be taken back.  The time change effect was alawys worse for obvious reasons flying west-east and return as opposed to south-north and return which we were doing. The body in general prefers to be flying up and down  latitude rather than across latitude so to speak.

In due course we decided to re-locate and found an attractive sea side town which was also at the end of one of the local train lines from Sydney called Cronulla. A flat on the beach was obtained and we moved in. With a more comfortable base I focused on using the time off to good advantage. By this time I had bought a second hand car and so voyages of discovery took place ranging far and wide. I also got involved with the surfing club and learnt the skills but was never that good at it as I was always on the look out for sharks as I had no wish to lose the family jewels at such a tender age. Naturally enough the social aspect was served through this venture and there are plenty of memories of barbies and amber nectar.

I mentioned earlier the flying lessons at Denham. I signed up with a local club and went through to obtaining a PPL with a view to adding hours to ultimately get a commercial license, this however came to a halt as you will learn further on.

The flying was routine to and fro Singapore. There was the odd extra thrown in during the time I was there one of the trips being to ferry the arriving aircraft to Melbourne to offload a cargo of monkeys for delivery to the research institute for polio vaccine production. The carriage of monkeys was a regular thing on the west bound flights these being on loaded at New Delhi and transferred on arrival at LHR to a waiting Seaboard & Western L1049 Connie for transport to the USA. In those days polio was still endemic and I understand the vaccine was grown on the livers of these unfortunate creatures who got the chop when they arrived in the USA. They were not the sweetest smelling cargo. Fortunately the flight deck area could be separated from the cargo area by the door so provided, however there was the need to go  to and fro from time to time and the stench was very noticeable.  The company generously paid for dry cleaning of uniforms on return to blighty as they became impregnated as did the wearer with 'monkey odour'. Another special was the transport of a Pratt&Whitney engine to a place called Biak in New Guinea. This part of New Guinea was still under Dutch administration. The area was served by a local airline called De Kroonduif a subsidiary of KLM who had a DC-7. The engine we carried was to replace the spare there which had been installed in said aircraft due to an engine failure. My log book records the flight as being on 28th November 1961 with a flight time of exactly 12 hours from Singapore. Taking place in the area at the time had been a search for the son of Nelson Rockefeller who had been on some sort of expedition and had disappeared.  The area away from immediate civilisation was very wild and it was mentioned that cannibalism was still practiced. It was speculated that perhaps the son may have been served up as some local variation of a Nasi Goreng. He was not found and the night we stayed for rest before proceeding to Sydney coincided with the weekly arrival of the KLM DC-8 service which linked this colony to the wider world. Due to return on it was Nelson Rockefeller himself. The hotel served as the airport terminal so this important gentleman and his entourage were very much in evidence.   I still have a 1 Gulden bank note dated 8th December 1954 ascribed to Nederland Nieuw Guinea as a memento of the visit and change remaining from some beer purchased at the hotel bar.  The onward flight to Sydney the next day took 11. hours and 45 minutes my log book records also. This must have been pretty close to the maximum range of the aircraft.

Meeting up with people one knew in odd places has been to quote Dame Edna a rather spooky experience. On one occasion in Singapore whilst quaffing in the bar we used around 1964 I found a chap who lived three doors from where I lived in Heston near LHR. He was a civilian employee of the army and having been there before had returned for another tour of duty and was gathered with some of his mates for a welcome back party. Another occasion in the 80s I paid a visit of nostalgia to the village called Ferring in Sussex where my mother and I had repaired in 1940 to avoid the nightly bombing of our house in London. Driving in to the village a woman crossed the road in front of me. Her face kindled some memory from somewhere which I could not pinpoint. I found the place where we resided 40 years earlier and spoke with some people who were hedge cutting in the approach drive and told them of my mission. At this moment the woman I had seen came walking down the approach drive. The person I was talking to said 'that woman lives in the bungalow you used to live in'. I then walked on with the woman who had invited me to take a look at the bungalow. I said to her that I recognised her from somewhere. A short process of elimination found that her mother lived two doors from where I lived in Heston again and I had seen her arriving on visits to see her   mother.  Even more spooky was getting to the bungalow and finding her mother there who recognised me. Perhaps good readers such events have happened to you.

The purpose of this was not to recount these events but to hint that across the years I have met up with ex 76 folk in odd places purely by chance. These meetings will be revealed as you read on. Not from a chance meeting background but as a result of keeping contact with Ron Nunn  I knew he had been posted to RAF Changi in 1960 and along with him was Pete Round. Part of my Singapore layover time was spent taking the bus to Changi and meeting up with them at a local hostelry for chat and refreshment. On one layover Ron and I arranged to hire a car and drive to Kuala Lumpur and back on a long weekend. A very interesting and scenic trip as central Malaya is very hilly and jungle covered.  We night stopped in KL and returned the next day a round trip of some 600 miles. A very enjoyable weekend. After the contract bellied up I met Ron again on his return from the FEAF posting in 1964 but unfortunaely lost contact after that.

Dark clouds were beginning to gather over this hedonistic life yours truly was enjoying. In early 1962 my skipper Jimmy Watret who was notionally i/c the detachment announced the Chief Pilot Nick Marshall was coming out for a spell. Nick was an Aussie and had entered flying in the war as part of the Antipodean contribution of manpower. He was going to go to his home area of Essendon in Melbourne to see his old mum whilst in the Southern Hemisphere.  Before he went he asked for a get together as he had something to say. The something he had to say was that sadly as of April 1962 the charter between BOAC and Skyways would be concluded and the total freight operation would cease and based crews would be repatriated. This was the bad news the really bad news was that on repatriation a three month notice period of termination of employment would take effect. I had experienced a fore taste of what being in heaven is like and whilst I hoped that would have continued into a second tour it was not to be. The only thing to do right then was to get wrecked which we did. The reason for this disaster was that BOAC had a small fleet of DC-7cs which had been purchased in 1957 to get them out of the hole that had been caused by the delayed introduction of the Britannia which had engine icing problems discovered during high altitude trials. The reverse bend in the Proteus 765 intake design was where the problem lay and this was eventually fixed with something called 'B' skin jets.  The now redundant DC-7c fleet was to be fitted with cargo doors and used to fly their freight. This was a short term event and only really applicable where bulk items were concerned as the 707 which had recently entered service could quite easily carry small items almost up to the weight limit of the Connie or now DC-7f.

So with my first redundancy on the horizon the only thing to do was get some letters written. My hope was that perhaps Eagle Airways might need me. Off went the letters and the only reply I got was from Ron Price CFE at Eagle who said come and talk to me when you get home. Perhaps I was to be rescued from a possibly extinct 18 month career with now just close to 1000 hours in my log book after all I was now you have guessed it -- an experienced Flight Engineer.

April duly arrived and on the 3rd we operated the final south bound service BA776/762 arriving in Sydney at 3pm local time on the 4th having had a total HF radio failure on leaving Singapore and had to return to get it fixed. I had decided to return to UK on the northbound service and used the 10 hour turn round to return to the flat say a final ta ta to those I knew in the area have a shower and quick charp and then back to Kingsford-Smith for the departure with the belongings I had not shipped home a couple of weeks earlier.  It was 1am when we took off over Botany Bay and I said farewell to a fantastic 13 months spent in Aussie. The trip home turned into a 5 day epic with a series of minor tech problems that occurred en route. During the 13 months in Aussie there had only been two problems one being a cylinder that had broken adrift after take off from Darwin and which we replaced on return with the engine shut down and the other was the HF radio problem a few days before. About the 9th April we touched down at LHR at 6am and I bummed a lift home from one of the crew who was London bound. My folks were a bit surprised to find me ringing the bell at 8am on a chilly morning. Whats for breakfast mum I said? as they peered at their heavily sun tanned offspring who was looking a bit dishevelled after the 5 day epic. I forgot breakfast as being knackered I got into my pit and stayed there for about a week.

When I came to the first thing was a call to Ron Price to say I'm home and he invited me down for a chat. It was all good news as Eagle had just been awarded the contract to fly special 'secret' freight to the rocket range at Woomera in South Australia. Blimey! I've only just left and I will be going back again.   He would need to take on some more (experienced) F/Es for the DC-6 so when can you start? I was stuck with working off 3 months notice from Skyways but it was arranged with them that I could work my roster round a 2 week DC-6 ground school type course on the new aircraft and whatever else may be necessary. So this was duly done including a few days in Zurich c/o Swissair to use their DC-6 simulator for systems familiarisation. In between this I did a couple more trips for Skyways making my final flight to Perpignan and back with Chief Pilot Nick Marshall on 2nd June 1962. I left the company finally on the 18th June and I am looking at the signature in my logbook appended by dear old Nick on that day as I write this tome.

Skyways sort of continued for a while but they subsequently became as Euravia the forerunner of what is still Britannia Airways today. Most of the aircrew moved over thereby not flooding the market with folk looking for work. Those that did not joined Eagle and some went to a recent new start up Caledonian Airways who were operating 2 leased DC-7cs from Sabena. The Connie eventually went off the British register in 1965. For my part by the time I finally left Skyways I had taken and passed the DC-6 ARB type exam and had a bit of simulator time towards the hours required. By the end of June I had completed the base training on the aircraft, checked out  and received back my license endorsed with the DC-6 rating. I was ready to go to work again. That redundancy was relatively pain free.

July saw me off on my first trip to Woomera. On arrival in Adelaide where we ferried the aircraft for return after offloading the inbound 'secret' cargo and onloading anything for return to UK there was 5 days to wait for the next service northbound. I wangled a 10% ticket to Sydney c/o our handling agent Trans Australia Airlines and bogged off there for 3 days to meet old friends. Eventually back to UK where a mix of flying was spread between for the summer the Woomera destination and the European sun spots which were there and back usually at night.  At the insistence of the 'ministry' who chartered the aircraft initially the service operated   on a slip crew basis which meant waiting for the next service to arrive before moving on. Due to the irregularity of cargo consignments the trips could last from 3 to 6 weeks. Domestically this was unsatisfactory so eventually the 'ministry' succumbed to negotiations and we took the aircraft round in 10 days. This was excellent since like Skyways we hit our maximum hours within the 10 day trip and were rostered off for 14 days on return. This commenced  in late 1962 and lasted until I started the next type conversion in November 1963.

I mentioned earlier about meeting ex 76th folk a meeting was about to take place, who was it to be??. At 09.03 on the 15th January 1963 I applied CB17 wet  power to G-APON and we commenced the take off run at Aden Khormaksar. Most of the glass smooth tarmac was massaged as at maximum all up weight and 35 degrees (C) we eventually became airborne for the 10hour 30minute flight plan to Colombo Katanayake (aka RAF Negombo in earlier days.). With a temperature inversion spread out from the South Arabian peninsula we could only climb to 2,500 feet as even with maximum power except take off (METO) set the rate of climb needle was fixed at 0. We levelled out gradually increasing speed and eventually cruise power was set with the engines leaned 10% from best power for maximum range. By the end of the flight having burned off fuel we only ever got up to 6,000 feet. A beautiful star lit sky, and with no weather,  a smooth flight ensued. Right on flight plan with the weather radar scanner 10 degrees down the southern tip of India and North Western tip of Ceylon painted on the PPI at 120 miles out. Top of descent came at 30 miles out and throttles were slowly pulled back to reduce power on the four P&W 2800s. 15 minutes later we were over the threshold with power and speed reducing and at 19.33 01..03 local we touched down. Katanayake's runway was a standard RAF 6000 x 120 foot job. Its section laid concrete had suffered over time from monsoon rain and sun and sections had sunk slightly so it was not uniformly level. It was notorious. The nose wheel was lowered on and we hit the first disjoint some shimmy started and then there was a noise like a gun shot and we felt the nose drop. At the same time through the floor behind me came the retraction jack. The nose hit the concrete with a loud bang and at the same time the whole area lit up. The airfield had no major lighting and was normally as black as your hat. The fire warning came on and immediately went out on the inboard engines and the main gauges showed no RPM. We came to rest we were very clearly on fire from the illumination out side. With the nose on the ground when we opened the front door it was only a short jump onto the runway. We all bailed out. Fire cover was provided by the Ceylon Air Force who we saw approaching in their brand new Dennis fire engine.  On arrival the fire was foamed out. When we had a chance to take stock we saw that both inboard reduction gears had sheared off when the propellors hit the concrete and the No 3 prop had punctured the inboard fuel tank which only had wetting fuel remaining but had caught fire from the heat and sparks. The outbound crew who had been waiting on the terminal hard stand came over -- it was clear no one was going anywhere except either to, for us or back to, for them -- the hotel.  

A day or two later some officials from the ARB arrived from the UK. Since the incident occurred in Ceylon their authority assumed   responsibility for the initial investigation. We were told to pitch up at the Department of Civil Aviation office at the airport a couple of days later. This we duly did and were ushered into an office where the Director and the involved staff were sat. Introductions were made and my eyes focused on the person who appeared to be second in command. Had I seen that person before! if I had it was now slightly larger than before when the Director said this is my assistant Mr Abeyawardana.  We intoduced ourselves and when it got to me I noticed Abby looking with that I've seen hm before expression. After all the official stuff was over we filled in the last 7 years met for a meal and further reminisce and then it was time for us to move on as the next service was due. I did not see Abby again as we reverted to the new 'take the aircraft with us' pattern and Colombo was just a refuelling stop on the now Aden-Colombo-Cocos Island leg. Cocos being where we took rest before the final leg Cocos Island-Perth-Woomera-Adelaide. I eventually found myself back in Ceylon in 1966 as a result of re-routing on the Singapore trooping run because of hostilities betwen India and Pakistan. Enquiries as to where he was drew a blank as he seemed to have moved on from Colombo, somebody I recall thought he might have gone to Jaffna in the north of the island so sadly that link was not be re-forged.   It was however a great experience seeing him again after the passage of 7 years.

The runway at Katanayake was ripped up a year or so later and by the time we returned to operate the trooping contract through there in 1966 we found a 14,000 foot long glass smooth runway, I understand this was done for strategic reasons to enable large military aircraft to use it in the event of troubles out east. The old runway claimed no more DC-6s but as usual take off in particular was for 30 seconds or more having set the power and started rolling a mix of bangs and crashes from the nose wheel, shaking of the instrunent panels that rendered the instruments almost unreadable, all eyes focused on the ASI until it was time to haul the beast into the air so peace could reign again.

G-APON was repaired by a gang who came out from the UK. Somewhere around May 1963 it was flown back to the UK unpressurised with I believe  the gear down for more attention at base. It eventually returned to service and I did my final DC-6 flight in her on 18th November 1963 from Istanbul to LHR.

So ended my 3 year service on piston engined aircraft with 2000 hours in total logged. Both types were as special as they were different. The DC-6 had not been designed as a F/E carrying aircraft like the Connie. It had been designed for operation by two pilots. The authorities in the light of technical advancements decreed it should have an F/E so a jump seat with a back was designed and fixed up between the radio rack and the navigators table and we perched there. If one of the drivers wanted out for a leak then one had to get out of the seat fold it up to make room and wait for the relieved to get back in his seat again. The spec of the job would in general remain the same but never again would one be able to nurse and  mollycoddle the engines like one did on these types that was the bit I missed. No more backfires on start up, no more going back at night to read the exhaust flame pattern for correct lean out, no more twiddling with the igntion analyser to look at each of the 18 cylinders for problems and performance. From now on it would be just light the blowlamp set the throttle to a particular position and check the speed was correct for the weight and altitude. I loved them and I think I shed a tear, they were special and indeed each aircraft had been an individual one had got to know well.

I have skipped through 1963 but things were a changing again. In the second half of 1963 Eagle Airways which had become Cunard Eagle Airways a little earlier was awarded the Far East Trooping contract, it had also on application been awarded domestic licenses to operate daily to Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Belfast. These services were to commence in early 1964 and the trooping contract, formerly operated by British United Airways, was to commence in April 1964.  More aircraft were needed-- the available type was the Britannia which became the bread and butter provider in the independent aviation sector  for the next 10 years. BOAC had finished using the type a while before so Eagle entered into lease purchase agreement for their 300 series fleet. A big expansion program started, type rated crews moved from BUA, and type conversion courses started for us DC-6ers. That was the first phase. The next was new hiring, Pete Ling eventually to fly Concorde for British Airways from its inception in 1976 left BEA and joined Eagle  for type training in 1965. Many got like I had four years before a start through the expansion. No more talk now of experienced Flight Engineers there were next to none available.

I started my Britannia type course in late November 1963 and right through to April 1964 gradually completed the required flying hours as aircraft became available for training it was a bit slow. The simulator for the first time for me and the others became an integral part of the conversion. Eagle took over the BOAC Britannia type simulator. I checked out in May 1964 and gained another type on my license and was ready to go to work immediately. Cunard Eagle Airways as part of a revamp had become British Eagle International Airlines.

The next 4 years consisted of the trooping run to Singapore and Hong Kong, flights to Aussie with European immigrants that were tacked on to the Singapore destination, the European sun spots and at long last the North Atlantic to the USA and Canada on charter flights. This side of the world was still a preserve for BOAC who did not like us. I made my first transatlantic flight on 10th June 1965 to New York so my log book tells me with a non stop flight of 11 hours 47 minutes into westerly winds. With head winds all the way that was about as far as the Brit would go. It did not need them to be much stronger to require a tech stop at Gander, Halifax, or Bangor Maine.  Direct flights were never possible in the winter due to the head wind component.

The odd special flights took place.  I got rostered for the trip to take the London Symphony Orchesta on a round the world tour in 1966. We left UK on the 13th March and returned on the 8th April. The total flying hours were about 100 and the aircraft G-ARKA a type 324 obtained on lease from Canadian Pacific gave not one bit of trouble all the way round. This was my first trans Pacific flight made from Brisbane to San Francisco via  Fiji and Honolulu. As a classical music lover for me this was a heaven trip. Concerts were given in all the major European cities, the Middle East, Australia and the USA. A box or prime seating was reserved for the crew  in all the concert halls. A pity in Sydney it was the Town Hall as the Opera House had not yet opened although it was being built ever so slowly. I made one contact who I see from time to time down here and that is Sir Neville Mariner whose group now plays at St Martins in the Fields in London he was just an orchestra member then. We took the orchestra from New York to Washington DC and return for a concert at Rutgers University. Guest pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy came up front for the round trip at the invitation of the skipper Vince Twomey also a music lover, it was  interesting meeting him. What a fantastic experience that trip was.

Did I mention meeting ex 76th folk somewhere well here comes another. During 1964 there were political problems with Indonesia who were being a bit anti. This was a sort of hangover from the Malayan emergency of the late 50s.   Part of our lot whilst at the Singapore end of the trooping run was to ferry pongoes to airfields in Borneo principally Labuan and Kuching. We also did R&R flights to Hong Kong and back a nice days outing.  On a trip to Kuching after landing I noticed an RAF Britannia on the tarmac. Plugged into it was what may have been the only Ground Power Unit there. For those who may not have encountered the Brit it was an all electric aircraft. It required 112v DC for starting the engines. The aircraft had batteries everywhere. There were a bank for supplying 28v DC and a bank for 112v DC. This 112v bank had been duplicated as a second source primarily for starting. Usually getting one engine started enabled its alternator to be brought on line and from it a DC source became available. The batteries took a bit of a hammering on being used for a start and there was a before take off maximum charge rate limitation that had to be observed. So I decided to amble over and see if I could get a loan of the GPU. I walked up the steps it being middayish and stinking hot. The first thing I saw was a pair of feet belonging to a horizontal body laid out on a triple seat row, At the opposite end to the feet I discovered -- wait for it - one John Tasker (photographer extrordinaire from Halton days remember Shepherds Bush John??) John was charping. It turned out after surprised greetings were exchanged that he was a crew chief or flying spanner as we called them and had some exalted rank. I requested the GPU and the rotten sod said NO. A jobsworth if ever I had   met one. We had a rapid resume of the last 8 years and by this time our load of pongoes were being marched out for the return to Singapore so it was time for bye bye and me to go and use that second set of MV batteries to bring the ship to life.

Time moved on and the routine continued. In 1967 I was asked to join the training staff on the Brit a bit of a leg up and some more dosh. It was a useful qualification  and as I found I enjoyed teaching it was job satisfying. It also enabled me to spend less time away and more at home with a growing young family although the trooping contract was drawing to a close with the RAF subsequently taking it over with their VC-10s so long haul was beginning to reduce. Have I mentioned meeting ex 76th folk? Keith Davies had appeared working in the hangar a while before and had become interested in becoming an F/E. He managed the next year to get a course and commenced type traning around July.

1968 saw British Eagle acquire 2 Boeing 707-138Bs from Qantas. Prop aircraft were becoming less popular with passengers on the Trans Atlantic routes and better economics were available with jets. A 707-300 series was ordered from Boeing for delivery at the end of the year. The 707 was to become the new bread and butter aircraft for another 10 years for the independents so I was keen after 5 years on the Brit to make a change. My seniority would permit me to get a cousre but I was asked to remain on training as my turn for conversion would take place in 1969.

Unknown to us dark clouds had again been   gathering. On November 8th in the afternoon I received a phone call from the Operations Manager  to inform me that the company would cease operations at midnight. As I was inolved with the F/Es and Navigators  trades union I was told there would be a meeting in the evening and be there.  You will all recall no doubt from the press and TV at the time the enormous blow this announcement meant so there is no need to go over it in detail. Over 2000 people were to lose their job and there was nothing about to absorb those numbers. I had to remind myself that I had paid my money and made my choice I had been warned. Ahead Christmas looked a bit bleak and there was another mouth to feed now.  At a subsequent creditors meeting -- have I mentioned meeting ex 76th folk?   the next on the list was now the late Terry Buxton. He ran an aircraft cleaning compamy contracted to British Eagle and like a lot of other people including employees he was about to become an unsecured creditor. We updated on the last 12 years and paths crossed from time to time.

An amusing part of the dole thing was collecting it each week. I was signed on in Hounslow which dealt with the general area. As you can imagine a lot of people lived about there. Notices were put up on collecting day BRITISH EAGLE LINE UP HERE. The queue wandered round the building and out on to the High Street always noisy with folks chatting. After collecting it was into the local pubs for a bevvy which inevitably turned into 10 just like the old crew partys again!!.

To conclude the British Eagle part of the article. The airline from the time I joined in 1960 had the same atmosphere as the RAF. I suppose because so many were from that background from aircrew downwards. It was a bit like being on a squadron. That camarderie exists today. Bi annual reunions are held at the last in 02 some 300 were there and in addition a bi monthly get together is held at a venue near Basingstoke at which some 30 people usually attend. The reaper of course has taken a lot since the wartime contingent are in their 80s now. I worked for some 12 airlines in my 22 years in civil aviation  of the 12 Eagle was the best.

I gave myself until the 31st December before actively starting to look for work, There was not much point in bugging airlines when one knew there was nothing doing. Fortunately there was statutory redundancy money plus the dole so one was not exactly destitute. The house was being modernised so there was something to keep me occupied. Christmas was pretty good, brother and sister in law   and their two kids the same age as mine came and the electricity board very kindly said put a jumper from the mains supply straight into your consumer unit and have Kw on us. It was very kind of them the place was like toast. With such generosity unlikely to be repeated I installed the new thing called gas central heating in 1969. 

Came the 31st December or rather 1st January --  nothing about so I signed on to pump gas at the local Heron filling station. A month or so later a now redundant British Eagle employee who had worked in catering and lived down the road from me came in for gas. I asked him what he was doing he replied driving a mini cab aka his car. This mini cab thing was brand new at the time and creating aggro for the Black Cab men you may recall. What are you making? said I., plenty said he, any jobs? said I, Yes said he. So I quit Heron and signed on for that. He was dead right about the dosh I was making as much as I had flying. However it was knocking hell out of my '65 Cortina Estate. I was doing 1000 miles a week in and out of London.

By February info about possible work began circulating on the bush telegraph. Those that were flying the 707 had managed to get employment a lot of it overseas particularly in the Middle East. Caledonian Airways it appeared had taken on some of the British Eagle Britannias and were looking for crews for the summer to come. So on the phone, down to Crawley for an interview. An offer was made subject to passing their flight check. I took that and passed and was on the payroll. Saved  now for at least  the summer. I was told there may be the possibility of being kept on if their expansion plans took place -- but no promises. I quit the Mini Cabs and started on March 1st. The flying was mainly again the sun spots as the season had opened. For a number of us it was a hat change job as I found myself flying with old comrades. Rumours of a British Eagle re-start   circulated but nothing came of them unfortunately.

In April those of us that had worked for British Eagle were advised on the old boy network that a new start up was on the horizon. The company would be called Donaldson International Airlines, it would operate 4 Britannias on again the European sun spot run plus transatlantic charter flights to the USA and Canada from Gatwick,  Glasgow and Prestwick. Its background was a Scottish travel agency called Mercury Air Travel which had chartered Lloyd International a Stansted based  airline to carry its passengers that had bellied up just before British Eagle. I said I was interested I had nothing to lose with no permanent horizon beyond the summer.

Donaldson's plans moved forward bit by bit and next came a job offer which I accepted. Therefore notice into Caledonian who released me from the summer contract. I started with Donaldson on June 1st and had completed the usual joining routine whilst still with Caledonian which I left on May 31st. The aircraft had appeared, 2 from British Eagle and 2 from Transglobe Airways yet another airline Gatwick based that had also just bellied up. The crews then became a mix of ex British Eagle and ex Transglobe with some others from ex airlines mixed in. Essentially another hat change job since one was flying again with old mates. The required Air Operating Certificate was awarded and we were off on June 15th. Plans for the future included the acquisition of 707s since the Brit was getting a bit long in the tooth and the punters wanted jets 'cos it was quicker to get there. It was to be 707s in 1970 we were told. Remember ex 76th folk being mentioned the next to appear was the late Gordon Richards who was a ground engineer and had been working for Transglobe. He joined our small maintenance department. Heavy maintenance would be done By Aviation Traders and others so there was no expensive investment in these facilities. In the course of flights from Glasgow on a number of occasions in the bar of course I found George Petersen who was a ground engineer   working for Dan Air and was up there supporting their turn round maintenance.

1969 became history. 1970 was not to bring the long awaited bread and butter machine the 707. So it was another 12 months of the same trips on the Brit with fingers crossed for next year. Who should re-appear now but Keith Davies. We had managed at Brittish Eagle training department to get Keith and others signed out on the Brit so at least they had a shooting chance of geting a job although they would be licensed they had no flying experience in hours terms. Keith had managed in 1969 to get hired by another new start cargo airline called Tradewinds who operated the CL44 which was built by Canadair and was modelled on the Britannia.  The CL44 had a swing tail for easier loading and in particular bulk items like ship's propellor shafts   and oil well equipment. It also had the same prop jet engine as the  Hercules and in many ways was a better all round performer than the Brit. It was also used for carrying passengers, because it was longer than the Brit it carried more.  He spent an amount of time based in Manila operating a far east leg of their operation. He decided to come home and that led him to Donaldson. He checked out on the Brit and became one of us. In October for me another Round the World flight came up, It was with a catholic pilgrim group who were devoted to a particular Saint (not Joe Saint), There were shrines around the world which they wished to visit. The group was American. Keith and I were rostered to do this flight. The group had been picked up in New York and had been flown to various places in Europe and the Middle East and then were headed to Australia. Keith and I were positioned to Singapore to pick the flight up. We then went to Brisbane via Darwin and then to Japan via Biak which I had been to in 1961 mentioned earlier. Tokyo and Osaka were the destinations in Japan we then went to Honolulu via Wake Island then Los Angeles. From there to Mexico City and Bogota.  This was the end of the shrine visiting part of the trip. From Bogota we returned the pilgrims to New York via Miami where some got off. The final leg was back to Gatwick from New York. The total time away was about 3 weeks. It did provide the opportunity to see the places we stopped in particular Tokyo, Osaka and Bogota, It was a very strange trip but interesting. It also provided the opportunity to catch up on the missing years wih Keith. He left Donaldson shortly afterwards to get a jet on his license with some airline overseas I can't recall. He eventually wound up with Cathay Pacific based in Hong Kong. He I understand took his own life in Hong Kong in 1979 due to some personal problems. A very sad end.

As 1970 drew to a close the lease purchase of 4 Boeing 707-321 aircraft from Pan American was announced. The plan was ground school in New York in January 1971 followed by flight training in Miami in April all c/o Pan Am. I made my final Britannia flight on 14th January 1971 from Benina to Gatwick as the home bound  leg of a round trip to Nairobi. In command was ex brat George Dorman from the 40 something entry. 5000 hours had been clocked up on a mixed variety of types over the previous 7 years. I was glad to see the end of that era not because I did not like the type but because it was essential to get the bread and butter 707 on my license. The Brit era was over.

Some 10 days later it being a Sunday the first group for 707 training gathered at LHR for the flight to NYC. When we got airside there standing before us was a 747. The type had entered service with Pan Am some 8 months earlier. What a pleasure it was going to be to travel on something with so much room. Most of the airlining and dead head positioning I had done over the last 10 years had been in sardine can conditions. 7 hours later we were at JFK at around 4pm local. The hotel we would stay in was just off the airport and very close to the Pan Am training school.

Next morning we were up bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to go. Ground school was to last 4 weeks and conclude with the ARB type exam for which an invigilator from the ARB would come over to of course invigilate. The facilities were first class. The course interacted with systems trainers and towards the end part with the simulator. This procedure would mean that by the time we got to an aircraft for the real thing no time would need to be wasted in becoming familar with flight deck layout and systems operation. I spent the weekends with a trip into the city and back to take in a movie or do some shopping and Sunday to walk over to the BOAC terminal to buy a UK Sunday paper.

New York was a place where because of crime one had to keep your wits about you. I never saw or got involved in anything but crime often with guns in use took place. The airport area was not the most exclusive. Gathered in the hotel lobby one day I was looking round the decor and noticed what looked like a bullet hole in a  glass area above the reception desk. Enquiring from the receptionist what it was I was told that the hotels and shops in the area had a while back been subject to heists. This was opportunist robbery in which guns would be used. The hotel we were staying in had been a victim with an employee being shot and the reception having to hand over the cash in the till. This was just as likely to take place when guests were about. The police mounted a response by positioning a cop hidden behind the reception desk. It happened on April 1st perhaps the year before that a coloured gentleman had walked in and pulled a gun and demanded the takings. For the staked out cop this was going to be prize day. The receptionist on duty hit the floor the stake out cop appeared from behind the filing cabinet that concealed him and with an 'April fool nigger' blew him to kingdom come. The bullet hole I had seen was from the robber as he loosed one off as he went to the floor to make his earthly departure.  Presumably the word went round the area's hoods that attempted robbery of the local prospects may indeed be unprofitable with only a guaranteed ticket to the the next world as payola. Peace reigned during our 4 weeks thankfully.

Winter in the cold part of the USA can often bring freaky conditions. The mean temperature in January is usually around freezing. I recall one sunday morning actually walking over to the BOAC terminal in shirt sleeve order with the temperature at just over 60 degrees (F) the next morning when we paraded to go to school it was around 20 degrees (F). Some movement of the weather systems had allowed a funnel of warm air to come up from the Caribbean as far as New York and then be instantly snuffed out by cold air from the opposite direction.  It gave us something to talk about as the TV weathermen dined out on it for a week. In the final week The ARB was taken and then it was time to pack up say thanks and farewell to our superb tutors get on the 747 and come home.

A nice time off break took place between return at the end of February and return  to Miami in early April, The intervening time was filled in by receiving the ARB result which we all passed and completing odds and ends like cabin evacuation and emergency procedures. Some introductory course work was done on maintenance which would be the F/Es responsibility on turnrounds. So back to Miami went we and on the 7th April at 17.47 around 2pm local having advamced the 'power levvers' no longer throttles G-AYVG  a Boeing 707-321 rocketed into the air being empty. Our first ship now had a fully opening cargo door which had been fitted to enable it to be used off season for carrying freight. Between then and the 19th April I clocked up about 28 live seat hours plus some more simulator time to bring the total to the minimum 50 required by the ARB. Signed out as 'competent' it was back to the UK to get my license endorsed with the new type. Bread and butter was now assured and insured for the next 10 years.

May 1st saw the first live training detail in the UK at Luton where the aircraft was brought on to the UK register by Britannia Airways. More followed and on the 17th May I was off to Hong Kong for route training. Some retired Pan Am crews had been assigned to us for route training. The Captain Bob Howard who was i/c had joined Pan Am from the US Navy where he had become a pilot in 1933.   His early life and through the war had been spent in the flying boat era. He had only recently retired from Pan Am and had taken on the training contract to eke out hs pension as he owned about half of Florida and was clearly now on hard times. He and the other chap who had been assigned to us were excellent fellows. They still enjoyed their flying and also enjoyed the rather odd existence us charter or 'non-sked' guys as they called us led. The other chap Hugh Gordon had  commanded the first post war transatlantic Connie service for Pan Am in 1946.

They put me in mind of their english opposite numbers who British Eagle had hired in 1964 to help us out over the Brit expansion bulge. These came in the form of 6 just retired BOAC Captains. This group had started flying for Imperial Airways around the same time as the Pan Am duo did. One of then Ben Prowse from the Prowse ticket agency family was a real character. At over 6 feet tall he was a David Niven 'lookalike'. He had been what was known in BOAC as an Atlantic Baron. This dated back to the Boeing Stratocruiser era where the Captain with gloved hands would get the aircraft airborne then retire to his bunk with instructions to be called at some point towards the westerly end of  the pond,   Dinner would be served and then on finishing he would deign to get back in his seat to ultimately perform the landing. When with British Eagle he used to arrive at Operations  in  a chauffer driven car sitting in the back. The chauffer would get his case out of the car and put it in the crew transport. Ben would emerge with a superior glance over his waiting crew and assume the Commanders role. He thawed out in time and was actually great to fly with. I did a Singapore trip with him. On waking in the morning at the Ocean Park I found him outside on a bed sunning himself and joined him for a couple of hours and managed to get out of him stories about flying the pre war Imperial Airways aircraft which all will have seen pictures of. Engine failures were frequent and he told me of ending up in a field in Kent with two engines out and  the 12 passengers awaiting being rescued plus many more stories. He was excellent on the social side and a crew party hosted by Ben was well conducted. He always managed to have a couple of bottles of good brandy in his suitcase to go with some ersatz champagne to produce a reasonable champagne cocktail or hybrid brandy sour.

The route training continued and by early June I was finally signed off as being 'competent' to operate on my own. So the next 3 years continued with a mix of the European sun spots, transatlantic now in summer and winter and freight flights to and from Hong Kong mainly in the winter. The odd specials took place during this period. The annual 'hadj' muslim pilgrimage to Mecca was done from various places like Lagos and Kuala Lumpur. This was a massive operation in people moving which centred on Jeddah. There was first the inbound delivery of passengers then followed after a two week period by the exodus. Movements at Jeddah were round the clock with aircraft arriving from throughout the muslim world delivering then collecting their passengers. It was something to see and very colourful with the different ethnic groups. Another event was in 1972 with the evacuation from Entebbe of the Asian population Idi Amin had decided to throw out. This went on for 6 weeks when we operated Entebbe- Cairo-Stansted with the odd drop off in Europe.  The passengers arriving at Entebbe airport had frequently been assaulted and robbed by Amin's troops and were literally terrified for their lives.  As the rescuers we were often brusquely treated by the immigration and customs staff and there were always dour faced armed Amin troops about. I was glad when that operation finished. I have seen the odd TV documentary on the matter which has shown a clip of one of our aircraft arriving at Stansted and the passengers disembarking and performing a papal kiss on the tarmac, perhaps you will remember the event as well as seeing the TV re-runs.

In early  1973 my boss Fred Simpson decided to take early retirement which I recall was a euphemism to slope off somewhere else for more dosh. His position became vacant and I threw my hat in the ring. I was selected a sort of getting my 'snag' back and for the final 18 month lap of Donaldson's existence it provided a further interesting experience as I was now responsible for the 25 F/Es on the payroll in terms of both their welfare and performance. It involved work with the ARB Inspector assigned to the airline regarding check and training standards and other matters. I was also brought into the inner sanctum board room wise. This was the top of the tree so to speak and as Chief Flight Engineer it was an experience unlikely to be repeated elsewhere if I had to move on.

Once again in 1974 dark clouds gathered. The oil price rise of 1973 dealt a blow to Donaldson because the 707 we flew was the first 707 series which was powered by the P&W JT4A. It was a turbojet and its origins were as the J57 that powered most of the early American fighters.  It was fuel hungry. We could never make a direct west bound flight with our 189 economy passengers. A tech stop had to be made at Gander for fuel and in winter a slip pattern was set up because of the unreliable east coast weather. All this added to cost and made a hole in profitability. This then meant we had to fight for our passenger loads because  the charter companies operating the newer P&W JT3 'fan' engined 707 like Caledonian were able to offer better seat mile cost and therefore ticket prices.

Around April time 2 of our 4 707s were laid up and cannibalised for spares. We managed in May to obtain a contract to operate Iraqi Airways longer haul scheduled services. Iraqi Airways had entered into a total fleet update having bought 747s, 707s,727s and 737s.   This was taken on having had to lay off some crews. It went well but I believe money was not finding its way back to Pan Am. They seized one of the 2 aircraft on return from Baghdad on August 6th and two days later seized the other.  I had gone up to LHR with the Ops Director to witness this. The aircraft arrived and so did Pan Am with a tug and tow bar. As the last passenger disembarked the aircraft was towed away. The news was given to the Iraqi Airways Station Manager that there was no aircraft to fly his checked in passengers to Baghdad. The Ops Director and I were stood behind a pillar out of sight whilst this news was delivered. From the expression on the Manager's face it was quite clear that we would certainly be persona non grata so we quietly melted way into the night. With that came  an end to my 5 years with Donaldson and for the third time it was again redundancy. It was back to Gatwick to clear my desk and go home.

Whilst a blow we had not poured a large number of crew onto the job market so perhaps there might be some opportunities, at least I had the bread and butter aircraft on my license and nearly 3000 hours experience on it in my log book. A few days later my phone rang it ws Jim Hawkins CFE at British Midland. I had known Jim since Skyways days where he had been a F/E. He told me that BMA who like most independents of the time operated the same  ex Pan Am 707 model we flew had been approached by Iraqi Airways to complete the contract which had two months to run and was I interested in a bit of freelancing. Yes said I and a price was agreed. After putting the phone down I reflected on the political situation. What might happen if I was seen about   Baghdad Airport and somebody said 'Didn't he used to fly for Donaldson?' the family jewels could be in danger again just like when I was surfing 13 years earlier not the shark's teeth this time but a sharp knife. I had read about these Arabian practices and I doubt whether they would have accepted a gooly chit. I thought to hell with it I will take a chance so I grew a beard so only my eyes, nose and mouth could be seen. That would do it.

A rendezvous at Gatwick took place where a return leg BMA flight landed -- on board for a check ride and I was back on the contract again. A couple of weeks later in the Flight magazine was an ad 'Airline Appointments require crews for assignment to PIA' (Pakistan International Airlines). What could this be about?. I rang up and got the gen. PIA were expanding and had bought some DC-10s they needed cover whilst type conversion took place but were also short of crew as well. I went for an interview with AA in London and the deal was based in Karachi which I knew well as it had always been the lay over point on Hong Kong and back. Reasonable money and allowances. We would be flying all routes so there was a chance to get home on a fairly regular basis, I signed up for a six month contract. It began to look as though the immediate future if not the long term might hang on contract work since there were no jobs going in the UK,

I finished the freelance with BMA had a couple of weeks off and headed out to Karachi. Of course some of the bods were ex Donaldson and others from other ex airlines. The contract only required Captains and F'Es. We went through the usual routine of flight checks etc as we were used to and eventually were signed out as 'competent'. Whilst this had been going on we heard a rumble that the PIA Pilots union were unhappy that we would fly all their routes in particular the International ones. Whilst this was put forward politically what it actually meant was that they would lose per diem allowances because of the dilution of available flights caused by us doing them. They relied on this money because the pay was very poor by International comparison. So impasse rhubarb! rhubarb! whilst they negotiated with their management. Nothing was happening and we languished by the pool eating curry and drinking the local beer. After a week or more of nothing happening we decided to ring Don Willis the MD of AA in London and give him the picture. He flew out and met the PIA management. He came back to us with a compromise we would fly only domestic services and complete a roster in 3 weeks then have 10 days off with a First Class return ticket to London provided gratis.  This satisfied the locals who would now maintain their incomes from International flight per diem and we would get a block 10 days off. We agreed the deal. It would make a slight difference to our income but the 10 day off block more than compensated for domestic reasons. It did not seem to worry the locals who had made the fuss that it would be us who would be being seen by Pakistani nationals flying their aircraft domestically rather than them. It was about the dosh not the culture.

It was now early October so off to work we went. We were measured for uniforms part of it being to have white trousers so one looked like a cricketer. This was the rig for domestic services. We also went to the Gulf where the normal black uniform was worn. The whole thing was a bit military. There was staff everywhere you almost got carried out to the aircraft when duty called. The employment system there and also in India worked on the basis of providing as many jobs as possible so there was some sort of income for as many as possible. Pieces of paper would be conveyed between desks with much head rolling by 3 different persons and then conveyed back again. It was a sensible system because there was no dole or social security and a large population needed first of all money to live on so the cake was cut up and everybody got a piece. The size of the piece depended on the pecking order. They were lovely people very genorous of spirit. They also liked the Brits (us not the aircraft). The end of empire did not bring much economic or social benefits so they told us  if given a choice they would be happy to have an imperial system back in place. This sort of talk was spoken quietly as I imagine it would have been very non PC to be heard saying anything of the sort. Perhap it was not so bad in the days of the raj.

The hotel we stayed in, the Midway House,   was a hangover from the days when passengers used to be taken off the aircraft, conveyed to the hotel and night stopped in a bed and then onward the next day. Nothing so infradig as flying at night. We lived in rather small rooms  like the inside bunks at Halton. A number of bearers as they were called would be in attendance. My chap Din was first class. If I was on early in the morning for the first flight to Rawalpindi or Lahore I would give him the wake up time and he would arrive with a mug of tea and hot shaving water and bang on the door to raise the Master. No doubt if I had requested it he would have shaved me. Dhobi (laundry) left would be back in the evening shirts pressed and all put away. I did wonder if I could initiate a similar system at home after all it only cost a few chips -- no feminism here. I quite liked being called Master.

The aircraft the 707 were the fan engined type so better performance although we never went anywhere that required anything like maximums. I was also introduced to the 720 series. This was a shortened version of the 707 with less fuel capacity weighing in at 100,000lbs less than its big brother. It was a pocket rocket. With the JT3 engine it was airborne almost before  the power was set. It climbed at over 3000 feet per minute  and the nose had to be continually raised to prevent it trying to break the sound barrier. With a full load of passengers one could climb to 35,000 feet in under 10 minutes. It was a performer. It also had a very efficient air conditioning system that on the ground could produce fog in the cabin when cooling and with the connection of a second GPU until ship's power was established after start up the cabin could be heated via electric elements in the air conditioning ducts.

Halton appeared again but not in the form of ex 76 folk. There were the odd occasions when it was necesary to go to the hangar to discuss a maintenace matter. The first time I went I asked were there any ex brats about?. The answer yes started with the chap I asked. A second or two later there was a largish group standing there. I was invited to come round any time for a chat. So from time to time I put my head round the door so to speak. Work would cease We would repair to the crew room curry type snacks would be produced and chi would be brewed. A good natter would follow.

I had been slightly apprehensive about what the flying standards would be like. They were first class. The 707 being operated world wide relied on two things. The first was SOPs -- Standard Operating Procedures. Whilst there might be variance with check list procedures the aircraft was flown in exactly the same way by whoever operated it. I subsequently flew in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Morocco. If you knew the aircraft basics you could get in any airlines' aicraft and operate it  -- safely. The other maxim was 'Watch the store'. This expression derived from the introduction of swept wing high altitude cruising aircraft. The first people to fly such aircraft the 707 and DC-8 had only flown piston engined aurcraft and knew little to nothing nothing   about high speed flight. High speed meant approaching Mach1. The swept wing and high speed meant a nasty shock wave moved about around the centre of pressure. A well as the centre of pressure moving on the wings top surface its mirror could get on the horizontal stabiliser at the back end and induce pitch changes. The higher the Mach number the more the nose  dropped pitch wise. The remedy was the Mach Trim which on received signal controlled the position of the variable incidence horizontal stabiliser and left the pilot with full elevator authority about the total range of movement.  The origins of the variable incidence tailplane go back to early swept wing and high speed military aircraft.

The so called jet upsets were as a result of not watching the store.  Speed increased for some reason perhaps due to turbulence or sudden temperature change.  The nose dropped because of the mach shock wave moving, the speed increased more because of gravity because the  auto pilot disengaged   the nose dropped more and so on. All this happened el rapido as was demonstrated during our type conversion (for real) as well as in the simulator. In literally nano seconds in those early days  everyone was in an aircraft that had just gone out of control. The next job was regaining control not so easy. I do not recall any fatalities on the odd occasion this happened and was reported but engines came off and aircraft were bent. So 'watch the store' was practiced by all airlines and apart from watching the speed this also meant at least one driver being full harnessed in his seat at all times in case aerobatics were necessary to regain control. Sounds a bit dramatic but no doubt those who needed a nappy change in those early days learnt the hard way and so the procedure also became SOP c/o Messrs Boeing and Douglas.

Minor incidents tend to happen from time to time.  Taxying down the runway at Quetta up in the North West frontier to do a 180 and line up for take off was in progress for return to Karachi. The 180 was made with the co-pilot a local looking out of his window to see we did not go off the paved area as it was narrow. I saw him do a double take and then point. He drew our attention to a nose wheel rolling away into the bundu. We completed the turn and requested to hold our position as we were not ready for take off. A hatch in the flight deck floor allowed access to the Lower 41 where all the avionics lived. There also was a small plug type door there that could be opened to get outside. I went down there and out and sure enough we only had one nose wheel in place. Very clearly the axle had sheared off where it attached to the strut. We taxied very slowly back to the ramp and off loaded the passengers. Rectification would be the fitting of a new nose gear. A team came up from Karachi to do it. Where do we go?. It was decided we would remain there and wait for it to be fixed. The co pilot had been stationed there in his air force days and took off to stay with friends.  The skipper Lars Stille ex British Airways and me were taken down town and put in a local hotel. Quetta was like the wild west. The hotel was next door to a cinema that radiated loud local music as the sound track to films that seemed to go on day and night. Food was curry for all three meals. The other problem was that it was winter and Quetta was 5000 feet up. There was snow everywhere and it was bitterly cold once the sun went down. We only had our jackets so spent three days wrapped in blankets. Eventually the nose gear was fixed and we took the ship back to Karachi. Our mates who had not heard about the problem asked 'where the hell have you been?' we should have only been gone 6 hours.

Now into 1975 the contract came to an end in March and I came home. I could have stayed on but wanted a home break to sort out one or two things. I had not been home a week when the phone rang and at the other end was my former boss at Donaldson -- Fred Simpson. Hi Phil said he I've just become involved with a new start called Templewood Aviation and am the CFE and  I'm looking for staff from around May, Interested?. There did not seem to be any immediate work or knowledge of the future beyond the acquistion of two 'stove pipe'  707s that would be available for lease work. The payroll was available from 1st April so with nothing to lose I said Yes. The aircraft were obtained, they were Ghana registered and parked at Ostend Airport. Apart from some formalities that required a visit or two to their Windsor offices nothing happened until mid May which fitted into my domestic plans. It was then all of a sudden go go. A contract to ferry Egyptian teachers (an annual event) from Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran to Cairo for back home end of term holiday would start in early June last for a month and then the return pattern would start in late July and last for another month. First thing the following week was to go to Ostende and get the aircraft. We reported to a Heathrow hotel where the outfit had a small office and cars could be left and then transported to Blackbushe from where we air taxied to Ostend. Both the aircraft were fired up and flown to Stansted for maintenance. checks were done en route to validate Ghana permits to operate  which were based on possession of an UK license. Back home and the off date was the 4th June. All the involved crews were ferried to Stansted from the Heathrow hotel and we flew to Cairo. Accomodation after a few moves turned into a floating hotel on the Nile moored close to the city centre. So in pattern to and fro the Saudi destinations we went until early July. This was the hottest time of the year in both places and with high humidity particularly in Cairo one went round permanently bathed in sweat. The only relief was when the aircraft cooled down after take off. First part of the contract finished we all flew home to Stansted for a break.  

Whilst in Jeddah I had got into conversation with some Saudi Arabian Airline F/Es who were American. At that time TWA were running the   airline. They needed staff apparently. I expressed interest was put in touch with the CFE and I was offered a ticket to come out and discuss employment. I took a couple of days at home and returned to Jeddah on a pass from SAA. I had an interview and went for a couple of check rides on local services.  I would need to obtain a US FEX license before employment could be confirmed which was offered.  The accomodation was in compound  because as things were then and possibly now the authorities did not like non Saudi people living amongst their nationals. The place was also dry. I reflected on this and decided it was not for me, So I said thanks but no thanks to the CFE and flew back to LHR.

The ways of this world are very strange particulrly where coincidence is concerned. When I got to LHR I got in my car to drive home. My steed was a MGB I headed off for the Staines by pass to get going westwards. Coming down the side of the Staines reservoir I heard a clonk at the front and 30 seconds later I saw the oil pressure drop to zero. I switched off the engine and glided in to the car park of the Crooked Billet which conveniently was there being on the roundabout east of Staines. Inspection showed the oil cooler had been punctured possibly by a stone thrown up by a vehicle in front. It was about 4.30pm and Friday evening. This was going to be an AA relay job home. I rang the AA reported the problem and was told it would be 3 hours at least as they were very busy. 

At 5pm the pub opened so in I went for a pint as there would be no driving to be concerned about. Another one followed and around 6.30 in for a third. Standing at the bar was one Norman Payne. Norman whilst a Bristol Aeroplance Co instructor had given the electrical part of the Britannia course back in 1963 to those of us converting. He was also an ex brat. Subsequently he got a start as an F/E with Lloyd International when they commenced operating Britannias in 1965. We had met again after the Britannia course at PIA which I had earlier that year left. Norman had stayed on and came into contact at the Midway House with a bunch of F/Es and Pilots from Iranair who had come to Karachi for simulator check and were staying there. Amongst this group were some Brits. Inevitably conversation had turned to employment and with positions available he had been taken on by Iranair at the end of his PIA contract which was about 3 months earlier.

Norman was on an overnight layover and due to go back to Tehran where he was based the next day. Any jobs Norman said I? I believe there is said he. He gave a fairly glowing report on Iranair. Plenty of dosh, a variation of scheduled flying to Europe and London with time to get home and services starting to New York in early September. Tokyo was served twice a week via Peking, He added the CFE Iraj Samandar was due into London the next day. I asked if he would see him which he said he would and will he pass on my phone number as being interested. Another couple of pints went down and the AA arrived. The B was winched on to the low loader ta ta was said to Norman and off home we headed. Someone was watching over me.

I got home around 11pm the car was offloaded at the local garage and to bed  went I. The journey remember had started in Jeddah almost 24 hours earlier. The next morning Saturday I hovered by the phone. At midday it rang. Hello said I at the other end was Iraj. A chat about the vacancies Yes there were was I interested yes I was but could not start before September due to the second half of the teachers contract to be completed. I did not want to let Templewood down by dodging off. He accepted that and asked about available time to go to Tehran for flight check. I said right now if necessary. It was arranged that a pass would be available the following week at their office at LHR. So out to Tehran I went in the company of a couple of pilots who were seeking work who I met on the flight at LHR. Flight check was completed OK, employment offered and a start date of early September was agreed. Back to London and to home I went to enjoy the remaining time off before returning to Cairo on July 20th. Notice was given in to Templewood. The joining paperwork duly arrived from Tehran so the job offer was confirmed.

July 20th came and off back to Cairo. The contract was completed and I arrived back at Stansted on 17th August. Off home and three weeks to enjoy before going out to Tehran.

The due date arrived in September and off I went to Tehran. The word had gone round on the grapevine that I was coming out and former colleagues out there had arranged temporary accomodation in one of the numerous ex pat flats there. On arrival Tehran  I was to give the crew transport driver the address and off I would be taken to it. The key would be under the mat. It worked like a charm. The next day one of the occupants arrived back from somewhere he had been. Tehran was full of expats and the network of accomodation and information was a bit like the structure one understands existed in POW camps.  A well organised joining routine existed much like in the RAF where one went round with a card getting signed into the various sections. This completed the next stage was a route check as I had already done a base check in July. That done I was ready to operate and also now had an Iranian license. Subsequently I arranged accomodation with an F/E who I had known from Donaldson and PIA. Shortly after the salary started flowing. Pay was received in exactly the same way as in the RAF. With all the advancements in administration it was amazing that something so primitive took place. Pay day was twice a month on set days. All and I mean all from the top to the bottom had to go to the airport to a sort of branch of the airline's bank and line up in a queue. When you arrived at the front you showed your ID card, your staff number was found and ticked and a chit in Farsi was given to you. The only thing you did not have to do was salute and give your last three. This was taken to a branch of a bank you had chosen for normal account transactions and the chit handed over. The money then transferred automatically. 

Winter was on the way. Tehran city and the airport are 5000 feet above sea level. Where we lived which was just above the Niavaran Palace was another 1000 feet higher. Tehran was in fact a great long hill about 5 miles in length. The daily tempertature rapidly dropped away and by November rain and then snow started. This lasted until the sun returned from the southern hemisphere in March when it began to warm up towards the daily 120 degree (F) norm. Mercifully the humidity was low so despite the heat it was like Kuwait bearable.

A buzz of excitement went round. Iranair had ordered three Concordes. The word was that due to their crew's lack of jet operating experience the insurance assessors had decreed that operating crews should have a minimum number of hours experience in particular the pilots. It appeared that the majority of Iranian crew members with a few exceptions did not have this experience. Therefore we   who met the requirement would probably be moved onto the Concorde.  This went down like a lead balloon with the Iranian crew members we flew with. However within a month of this being postulated Iranair as did many other airlines at the time announced the cancellation of the order due to unrealistic operating costs. A rather stange decision in some ways since oil poured out of the ground and was refined there. From a political point of view as well as economics it would not really have mattered unduly if fuel for Concorde had been at zero cost since money sloshed about the place like it was going out of fashion. One has to wonder whether the insurance assessors decree had anything to do with it. There however would have been a big loss of face there if we had ended up albeit temporarily flying it. Loss of face is a big no no in that part of the world. We will never know but a lot of dining out went on based on the prospect. 

Flying continued through 1976 time at home particularly on the New York and return via London, plus daily London flights was good. In late 1976 Iranair started operating 747s and we lost the New York  and London trips. Into 1977 and time ticked away towards the expiration of my contract. Around August the word went round the grapevine that Royal Air Maroc based in Casablanca were looking for 707 crews. I applied was invited down for an interview and flight check which I passed. A job offer followed with a one year contract. So I went home with a coin to spin either stay on in Tehran or go to Casablanca. Tehran and the system I knew well but the downside was the loss of London as a destination. Royal Air Maroc were offering a 3 week up to hours flight pattern with a block of time off. Casa was only 2 hours from London by air. There was also new destinations to Montreal and Rio de Janiero. South America was a place one did not get to in the charter world I had recently left. So there were pastures new. I spun the coin and it came up RAM. Notice was given in to Iranair and I left there in late October wih a start date in Casablasnca of December 1st. It was a darn good thing I made that decision because who returned to Tehran in early 1979 and turned the place upside down but the  Ayatollah. All the expat staff were thrown out and those who had families and their furniture there lost it all together with any money that was about including accumulated contractural benefits.

On December 1st 1977 I pitched up in Casablanca. A former Iranair Captain Ted Dewhurst had moved there in September and was living in a place called Mohammedia a small seaside fishing port a few miles north of Casa. He,  his wife and young daughter were in the local Meridien hotel pending taking on a rented bungalow. They booked a room for me.   I subsequently negotiated a good discount for a room there long term and made it my home. It saved getting involved with renting and paperwork. Morocco although through its French influence was up to speed around the city areas and sun spots like Marrakech once you moved inland the clock went back 200 years. The admin set up airline wise was slow and 'frenchly' cumbersome. Language was also a bit of a problem. I had to get my school french buffed up or it was going to be   difficult to get along in a day to day sense.  

It was the same routine as before, Get arrived and signed in admin wise and then on to the aircraft formalities. RAM had an old 'stove pipe' 707 obtained from Air France. This aircraft had all its panel labels in French so there was the necessity to make sure we understood exactly what they said in case it was different from that which we were used to. Montreal was an obviously French oriented destination. In Quebec there was an active separtist movement trying to break away from Commonwealth Canada which was voiced through the Partie Quebecois led by one Rene Leveque. The party tried to introduce 'French only' communication as part of its policy. A ridiculous idea particularly as Montreal was very much an international city, and despite its French heritage a large number of its citizens only spoke English.  This spilled over into Air Traffic Control where one would often be given instructions in French and then have to request they were repeated in English.   It was actually dangerous apart from anything else. Frequently bi-lingual ATC instructions were given and it affected concentration. Fortunately with Montreal served via New York the time spent in 'Quebecois' airspace was very short. Some of the crews who were either Moroccan or French had difficulty in Quebec because the French  spoken there  was a patois which was in fact a form of the language as it had been 200 years before and quite different in spoken form from modern French.

So with formalities completed off I went on their route network, Rio and Sao Paulo were first tripped in January around the annual carnival time. Whilst in Casa there were flights to some French destinations amongst them of course Paris. The block time off arrangement started off OK but subsequently deteriorated as flight change took place and days off had to be re-jigged. I managed to get home most months but often for less days there than I should have had. Spring was on the way and the tourist season in Casa opened. It was a popular destination for most Europeans because there were plenty of beaches and they were not overcrowded in the way some Spanish resorts were.  The hotel I lived in began to get more guests, over winter there were very few people there. I got hold  of a second hand Renault Ondine which enabled mt to get about on local sightseeing and voyages of discovery.

During the previous 4 years there had not really been an opportunity for the family to get out to the places I was living in. I had taken No1 daughter to New York in 1976 and my son the following year whilst with Iranair. These were just for a couple of days during the layover. So plans were laid to see what could be done in Casa.  With school holidays approaching I was able to book a second room in the hotel  for 3 weeks in  early August and  then  approach RAM regarding    discount tickets. They were very good in this area. So with everything fixed up I came home for my end of July break and after a couple of days at home we set off for Gatwick as the journey down and back would be  with Caledonian on the 707 summer service they ran to Casa. I had planned  that during the time there I would be working but the time away was only usually 3 or 4 days. I fixed up to take No1 daughter to Rio with me, son to Montreal and No2 daughter who was only 7 to Paris on a there and back, We had a ball. Trips were made to the beach with the Dewhursts for barbies, local sightseeing was done and plenty of time round the hotel pool. To save a little on nosh cost because local prices had racked up to catch the tourists we did some'cooking' in the room. I had a small gas primus stove and some utensils and very good spag bowls were knocked up in the bathroom for the tribe to eat. Barbying on the balcony was also tried but on the first occasion fatty meat produced a fairly dense  smoke which engulfed the rooms around where we were and gave the appearance the hotel was on fire. I was summoned to see Pierre the manager and told to knock it off, The trips all went OK and the tribe dined out for months on the experience. Towards the end of August we flew back c/o Caledonian and I remained at home for my August block time off days and then returned to Casa.