SECOND POSTING 1961 to 1962.

By Ken francis.Airframes.


Back to the UK then, well Yorkshire actually, RAF Church Fenton to be precise. I knew we were in t'north because whenever a southern accent was heard in a local pub, mutterings about 'Bloody Londoners' abounded (any southern accent would do).

To be even more precise, the posting was to 60 MU, which was based at Church Fenton at that time. The MU was divided into two halves: repair and salvage. I was on the repair side, which comprised teams of fitters being sent to carry out major (Cat.3) repairs to a/c on their home stations. The salvage side was manned by mechanics aided and abetted by junior and senior NCOs. Crashed a/c being no respecter of place, the salvage teams would go into the field with all their equipment, usually on low loaders (Queen Marys), cranes, jacks, trestles, pick axes, shovels, wellington boots, camping gear and anoraks etc.; you name it and they had it. Repair teams were more refined, we also had Queen Marys, but what was on them depended on the requirements of the job (worked out by a pre-assessment visit to the station). We had jacks and trestles etc. but also more exotic equipment like salt baths (rivet heat treatment), power tools (PG03 guns etc.), tool boxes, boxes of riveting blocks and snaps of all shapes and sizes. All this would be taken to the station, while we would usually make our way there in our own vehicles (sometimes sharing if it was a short job). Job length varied from a few days to 6 weeks or more.

We lived on station, usually in transit accommodation, living out of suitcases, all very basic. We occasionally ran into other itinerant groups. At the southern end of our range i.e. Norfolk (60 MU covered the north), we could find ourselves billeted with teams from 71 MU Bicester (the south) - mutual respect all round. On one occasion we were in with a very ragged looking group of RAF aerial erectors (a very rare breed apparently).

Altogether we led a very 'shifty' existence; we would work all day and into the evening, stopping just in time to get a drink in the NAAFI, go to bed, then get up and start again the next morning. The sooner the job was completed the better. The bonus was that all hours worked beyond the working day were credited, per individual, as overtime. Following a job's post-mortem meeting back at base, overtime worked was granted as time off. For a two week job it was possible to build up several days off, quite useful.

The southerners amongst us naturally gravitated to the southernmost jobs and the Scots and Geordies to the Scottish and Northern England jobs. The furthest north I went was RAF Middleton St.George, near Darlington. The job there was to repair structural and hydraulic damage done to a Javelin due to an exploding starter motor - one of the shorter jobs as I remember. Because of this geographical bent Lincolnshire and Norfolk, in a disjointed and detached way, became home from home.

Here, in no particular order, are a few of the other jobs I remember (not too boring I hope):

RAF North Coates: Replacing large amounts of the upper wing skins on the station Anson (good skin-knife experience). It was about the only a/c there, at that time the station was equipped with Bloodhound missiles all pointing eastwards.

RAF Waddington: A couple of weeks inside a Vulcan wing repairing cracks in the leading edges of the wing fuel tank bays (elliptical in section, leading edge quite sharp curvature as I remember). Compressed air hoses helping to give us something to breathe (health and safety eat your heart out).

RAF Swinderby: Vampire flying controls cable changes; the first time that I learned to push down on the tailplane to lift the fuselage in order to put the the nose trestle in position (alright for you Vampire squadron types).

RAF West Raynham: At that time the home to AWFCS and DFCS (All Weather Fighter Combat School and Day Fighter Combat School) equipped with Hunters. A Hunter had suffered a large and messy bird strike at the base of the fin and it was parked in the corner of a hanger for our attention. On the day of our arrival a second a/c suffered an identical bird strike; this a/c was put next to the first and we worked them both together. All this resulted in a lot of time saving in that what we learned on the first one we applied to the second; particularly in the case of customised riveting snaps for some very awkward rivet locations.

RAF Manby: A bit of light relief; carry out a routine servicing on a Varsity (I think that the station had a manpower problem).

RAF Marham: A Javelin mainplane replacement and associated repairs to the fuselage following a landing with one failed main undercarriage. An interesting job due to the sergeant i/c going sick and leaving me (freshly promoted with two stripes) to complete the job (with the aid of a small team). Taking the complete wing off was no real problem but once it was sitting on a set of trestles, despite removal of all the bolts and rivets that held its two halves together, they refused to part. We inspected it umpteen times and saw no reason why; eventually we resorted to securing the inner mainplane, attaching a Coles crane to the outer half and pulling laterally in order to part them; no success. Then, on the umpteenth plus one inspection, we found a dozen rivets, very well hidden, inside a skin doubler that we had not found before. Once they were removed the wing halves just fell apart, never mind the Coles crane. Fitting the new wing involved heavy work on the main wing attachments and a lot of learning when rigging all the flying control surfaces and dealing with the hydraulics. I remember the Station Commander and Senior Engineering Officer coming into the hanger and talking to me about the progress being made. When they realised that I (a mere youth) was in charge I could see them metaphorically raising their eyebrows. Notwithstanding that, the job was completed and the a/c successfully flew again.

RAF Ternhill: A few days repairing a Skeeter after it was damaged by overrunning a detached tow bar.

RAF ?: Meteor aileron torque tube replacement. Having had all the wing access panels off, replaced all the offending torque tubes using riveting hammers and reaction blocks to lock the attaching bolts by peening the ends, the job was done. Checks carried out, access panels back on and then back to base. Almost as an afterthought I walked under the wings, banging upwards with my hand on the lower wing skins which at one point produced an alarmingly heavy thump from inside the wing. Panels off and reaching inside through rib cut-outs produced a very large reaction block that we had somehow overlooked. The Chf Tech in charge of the team turned grey and thanked me profusely; I think that he saw his career flashing before his eyes had that very large block been left to smash around inside the wing next to the aileron controls during flight. A near miss I think!

Time to stop as I think my memory needs re-booting; I can remember other jobs, but not where they were. However, after just over a year of honing my airframe fitting skills in the north, I felt that it was about time to re-acquaint myself with Hilaire Belloc country (West Sussex - check out his poem 'The South Country').

A letter to the Corporals' club at RAF Odiham (Hampshire was close enough) produced an immediate reply from someone who had been up to no good in the married-patch and wanted a quick get out. We exchanged postings very quickly and about three weeks later I was at RAF Odiham with No. 230 Squadron.

Just before I left 60 MU at RAF Dishforth (it moved from Church Fenton during the 14 months I was with it) a salvage section Queen Mary entered base with an upside down fuselage on it. I looked at it and worked out that I was looking at Single Pioneer (having never seen one before). The Squadron I was going to operated single and twin Pioneers; an omen?!

My time on 60 MU was nothing to the years that some people racked up on heavy maintenance; I think Cat 3 repairs became a way of life for them. The experience gained however, was extremely useful and stood me in good stead as an airframe man.

But it was time to move on to very slow flying a/c and then, in turn, to something even slower.