RAE Bedford 1987 to 1991 (PART 3-Trials )
Jan 30, 2019 2:46:12 GMT
keefyboy, jargon, and 2 more like this
Post by michael on Jan 30, 2019 2:46:12 GMT
Obviously the whole point of Bedford, Farnbourgh and Boscombe Down was trials work.At Bedford we got involved with a few non based squadron trials.
Based Trials
XW750 HS748 in the late 80's and into 1990 was heavily involved in the testing of NVG (Night Vision Goggles).This was a shock for us as we were on contract to provide ATC,in standard 8-4pm civil service times.First was to ask us to work "Night Flying" for free ....we were NATS,so that was not going to happen so eventually the boss worked out split shift starting at 1pm on these nights.
It was a very eary feeling sitting in the tower with no main runway lights on watching for the safe landing of a "Budgie" with NO lights on infact the only way we knew it was down and up was the sound of the familiar RR Dart engines.
On one set of trials in the first week of November 1988 (clue -the Date) the crew suffered sudden momentary blindness....yes Fireworks !!,obviously this needed sorting out as they improved the NVG if they were to be used in war.
XX105 BAC 1-11 This was used for numerous trials after it Blind Landing Evaluations ,being used for many things that are taken for the norm now on aircraft,
Mode S, Datalink, Eurocontrol Trials and it was the as mentioned in Part 1 the first aircraft to have a glass cockpit on the Captains side.
XX897 Buccaneer was involved in Tornado Foxhunter radar many of you will remember the delay in bringing in these radars caused the F2 to fly with bags of concrete in the nose ,this got the infamous nickname of Blue Circle Radar.During many of Buccaneer's flight we had one pilot who thought the best way to slow it down was not the huge airbrake at the back....but the tailskid which again meant ANOTHER runway inspection.
XW175 Harrier T4 this aircraft spent many months in the Hangers in fact many of our aircraft were "Hanger Queens" the problem with this was we being at a military base we had to do "Gear Checks" and be familiar with doors and other areas on our a/c that may be loose or open,which we had in big book.
so when XW175 taxied out for its first flight in months and we only had the one Based Harrier,my colleague and I were sure that one of the central gear doors looked to be extra,but too late it got airborne immediately (scientists and crew pressured by months of trial delays) declaring priority landing.
I carried out the airfield inspection driving back to the aircraft by now with the pilot talking to the boffins and presented him with the broken door.
G-LUXE BAe146 spent many a day carrying out various trials including aborted take offs.
G-MATP BAe ATP This like GLUXE carried out lots of trial work with all sorts of aborted take offs,but this required a more direct input outside by BAe staff,which gave me a couple of exciting occasions or as much as you can in ATC2 a Ford Escort Estate 1.1L with two boffins onboard.
The ATP would accelerate and abort at various speeds up to V1,my task was to judge the take off run on the long Rwy 27,and time my acceleration (in said heep) to enter from Rwy 24 as close to the aircraft as possible and as fast so when it aborted the boffins in the car could take temperature readings from the brake drums as quick as possible.I even once got it wrong having to abort my acceleration of what little their was 
.
.Unbelievably the first time the came down to do this was a Friday and of course burst 2 tyres on the 5 run and did they bring spares ...eh NO ,but expected us to stay open for 3 hours to allow spares to be flown in and repaired .....so G-MATP stayed the weekend !!!!
10/11/87 G-BNJK MacAvia BAe748(Water Bomber) MacAvia Aviation seen in Shaun Connor's flickr photo
G-BNJK was based at Cranfield and spent a week doing the same as the ATP but this involved not braking but dumping its Ventral Panniers of their 2,000US Gallon tanks at various speed before V1 and various heights after takeoff.
While the these were spectacular and successful,with our runway made of concrete blocks with rubber tar corking in the gaps,it meant an airfield inspection after every drop picking up the dislodged corking (this also occured every time XW175 hovered over the runway to long).
Other trials
23/1/89 Tornado JP233 update evaluation this involved mass multiple passes of the mid section of our runway in conjunction with our measuring Tower.
it involved Tornado's from Marham.
READING THE CODES was a challenge to tie up !!! but it was work honest
RUN callsign
2610 ZA559/ML
2611 ZA551/MT
2612 ZA609/J
2613 ZA592/B
2614 ZA562/06
2615 ZA600/07
2616 ZA553/01
2617 ZA557/12
2620 ZA601/M
2621 ZA406/15
2623 ZA598/14
2624 ZD713/713
2625 ZA588/588
2626 ZD743/743
2627 ZA541/541
and the missing callsigns 2618 2619 and 2622 well they missed the airfield by at least 4 miles seen to the west of us giving a 83.33% pass rate of finding one of the largest runway in the country
Later
2611 ZA542/04
2615 ZA607/P
? ZA549/0822/5/89 ZE412 A109 AAC
ZE410 A109 AAC
ZE413 A109 AAC
G-BLVE B747 British Airways
This of course for a specific trial carried out for the new staff,this was another night "non flying" night until everything left,and we were not to approach the trial area.Hereford supplied all 400 passengers all signed in as Cpl Jones,as you can guess the aircraft was attacked.
In January 1991 the airfield was tasked with gaining the heat pattern of all RAF aircraft that operated into Belfast,as it was believed the IRA had gained some SAM missile launchers,following seizure of some on a boat in 1988 (not exactly quick of the mark)
I was lucky enough to fly on the VC-10 and Tristar,and even had the fun of booking the aircraft into the RAF Low Flyng Cell,with the obvious comment "can you confirm the aircraft type "
The VC-10 was kitted out as a hospital CASEVAC as it was during the Gulf War and on that day we were on 6 hour standby to allow the aircraft to fly straight to the Gulf.The funny thing was my boss was convinced that we might have to open at anytime for CASEVAC flights,but of course when I was the flight and was sitting up in the cockpit bouncing on our concrete blocks the Captain confirmed (as I thought ) there was No Way they would bring anyone with spinal or injuries onto this runway ,I had to let my Chief ATCO down gently.
This was hardly surprising when 51 sqn's special ops Nimrod's XW664 665 666 were not allowed to do touch and go's' only overshoots
23/1/91 ZE702 BAe146 RAF
24/1/91 XV101 VC-10 RAF (10x Runs Rwy 09 and 12x Rwy27 for 01hr 45min)
25/1/91 ZE704 Tristar RAF (5x Runs Rwy 09 and 5x Rwy27 for 01hr 10min)
The airfield was hired by one of the Le Mans teams for the day to allow them to test the radios at speed but having driven down the concrete blocked runways at speed for 2 runs the suspension was spent and the rest of the day was Cancelled,so when a year latter on of the F1 teams phoned Flight Clearance to hire the airfield I persuaded them it was not a good idea .
In late 1990 we were tasked to open on a Saturday as we were to be evaluated to be open at night, to be the UK hub for UPS ,so the airfield was to turn around a DC-8.The never got passed the first stage when it was realised the road network was rubbish.
