# I.D. this aircraft



## klarmie (Nov 15, 2009)

Help please.......Vietnam early to mid 1960's


















Thanks,
Keith


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## rochie (Nov 15, 2009)

its a Blackburn beverley


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## klarmie (Nov 15, 2009)

rochie said:


> its a Blackburn beverley



Thank-you Sir.


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## rochie (Nov 15, 2009)

no probs mate


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## Lucky13 (Nov 17, 2009)

Does that _THING_ really fly!?


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## klarmie (Nov 17, 2009)

Lucky13 said:


> Does that _THING_ really fly!?



check this out....

Blackburn Beverley


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## stona (Nov 18, 2009)

A Beverley was the last RAF aircraft to land at Hendon. Must have scared the cr*p out of people in the (very) near by houses which had sprung up around the base.
Blackburn made some spectacularly ugly aircraft but most of them did what they were supposed to do. The Beverley is a good example of this.


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## ccheese (Nov 18, 2009)

Looks like a four engine version of the Fairchild "Packet" [flying box car]. I heard they did their job, in Nam, quite well.

Charles


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## Airframes (Nov 18, 2009)

Looks a bit like it Charles, but about three times bigger! When first introduced into service, it was the biggest aircraft in Europe, and the biggest aircraft to enter service with the RAF. The main cargo hold could carry and para drop large loads or vehicles, including armoured cars, whilst the tail boom accomodated paratroops, who exited through a floor hatch. I can't remember exactly, but the cockpit was something like thirty feet or more above the ground, and the whole thing seemed huge in its day.


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## klarmie (Nov 18, 2009)

Airframes said:


> Looks a bit like it Charles, but about three times bigger! When first introduced into service, it was the biggest aircraft in Europe, and the biggest aircraft to enter service with the RAF. The main cargo hold could carry and para drop large loads or vehicles, including armoured cars, whilst the tail boom accomodated paratroops, who exited through a floor hatch. I can't remember exactly, but the cockpit was something like thirty feet or more above the ground, and the whole thing seemed huge in its day.




I read there is only one left in the world out of 49 built and that they had 14 foot dia. props......so that would put the cockpit close to 30 feet off the ground by looking at the pictures



Keith


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## Airframes (Nov 18, 2009)

I think there is only one complete one left now, plus a couple of cockpits.There was another complete airframe which was sadly broken up a few years ago, due to lack of space! I remember the Beverley as a youngster of 14 or 15, and used to see them here and there. At one airshow at RAF Acklington, now long gone and used as a prison, I took shelter in the back of one, when a rain storm swept the airfield. There must have been at least 40 or 50 people doing the same, and there was still plenty of room to play football!! 
They were withdrawn from service a couple of years before I did my Para course, and some of the guys I served with told me some tales about dropping through the floor hatch in the tail boom - scary! They seem small now in comparison to, say, a Galaxy, but boy, did they make an impression back then!


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## stona (Nov 19, 2009)

As a young lad I used to watch the parachute regiment practice drops at Weston on the Green. My school was only a couple of miles away. I remember a twin boomed type,is it possible this was a Beverley? I remember being told it was an Argosy. This would have been the late sixties.
We also used to watch them jumping from gondola slung under a barrage balloon, that always looked a bit dodgy to my young eyes. I certainly wouldn't fancy it!
Steve


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## Airframes (Nov 19, 2009)

Steve, the twin-boomed one would have been the Argosy, a beautiful aircraft to fly in and jump from. I did my para course on the Argosy, over Weston, and there was plenty of room , and nice big windows. When the Herc came on stream fully, paras were crammed in, in four rows of seats, very cramped, noisy and smelly, and no windows to look out of, except a couple of small portholes high up. The balloon is now out of service, and was a bit hairy. Personally, I liked it, but many hated jumping from it, as the drop was silent, and straight down. The parachute canopy seemed only fully deployed after roughly half the descent height from 800 feet, and it's been known for people who would jump from an aircraft to refuse at the 'door' in the balloon.


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## stona (Nov 19, 2009)

Thanks for that Airframes. You would know better than me but from our vantage point the parachutes of the guys jumping from the balloon only appeared fully deployed just before (for us) they disappeared behind the trees, which did look quite low!! It didn't seem to give much time to resolve any emergency and I always wondered how close they were to the balloon's cable. Those old, round canopies were not particularly easily steered as I understand them.
I remember hearing that my old headmaster (who was ex army, still known as the Major) wrote letters to the RAF complaining about the aircraft flying low over his school. He reckoned they were using it as a landmark/waypoint to line up on Weston.
Steve


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## Airframes (Nov 19, 2009)

You're right Steve - if one had a malfunction when jumping from the balloon, by the time it had registered, and the reserve was pulled, and had deployed, it's likely one's boots would be pushing through the skull!
The cable was fairly close, but, in the rare occassions when it was too close, meaning the balloon was virtually vertical, the crew would 'drag' the balloon. This meant driving the winch truck verly slowly in to wind, so that the balloon would move slightly down wind, and therefore further from the cable. Of course, this reduced the altitude proportionally.....
Trust an ex- Rupert to complain about low flying! He should have known better, but then, he was probably 'that type'!!
A couple of years back, I was 'on site' at a place where I used to run survival courses etc, and had a Herc come over at around 150 feet, at night, approaching the circuit for Weston, just starting a climb to jump altitude. I cetainly didn't complain - it was a fantastic sight, as it appeared over the trees!


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## rochie (Nov 20, 2009)

remember my dad telling before my first jump, "if anything goes wrong cross your legs, that way they can screw you out of the ground useing your ears"


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## Airframes (Nov 21, 2009)

He He! I remember that one! And "But what happens if the reserve also fails, and I'm down to ten feet above ground?!!"
To which the reply was, of course "You can jump ten feet can't you?!!" or "You take the reserve back, and complain a lot to the packer!"


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