Welcome back folks.
I grew up with the sound of aeroplanes flying over the house, as we lived five miles away from the runways of Heathrow Airport. Not only that but my father worked for BOAC / British Airways so aviation ran in my family. At the age of 15 I joined the Air Training Corps ( now known as RAF Air Cadets) so that I could have a go at flying with the Air Experience Flight. Also when I was 14 I went on a student exchange to Germany, and while there I was lucky enough to have a flight in a glider over the Luneburg Heath.
When I was sixteen the Commanding Officer of my Air Cadet squadron phoned me up one weekend and asked me if I would like to go to White Waltham Airfield and take the Gliding Proficiency Test, which culminated in three solo flights. Without hesitating I said yes, so throughout the summer of 1975 you could find me at the airfield undergoing training, in the rather old fashioned Kirby Cadet Mk3 ( T31 ) and Sedburgh two seater gliders.
A Sedburgh glider taking off with a winch launch
The seed had been sown and it was then that I wanted to somehow fly for a living. I didn't mind if it was with an airline, or in the RAF, I just had to fly. I then narrowed my choice down to cabin crew, as I didn't have the qualifications to become a pilot. From that time I focused my training and experience to getting the cabin crew job. After leaving school I enrolled at the local catering college at Slough, and gained City & Guilds in catering.
I got a part time job in a restaurant working my way from washing up to being Deputy Manager. I then went to work at Heathrow for an airline catering company, as Assistant Buyer, responsible for purchasing everything the company needed, from apples to diesel for the trucks. . My days were spent getting price quotes on the phone, then writing our orders onto self carbon paper for our Heathrow unit and getting the orders by fax from our Gatwick unit. Once the orders were placed and the prices quoted we then faxed the sheets back to the storeman at Gatwick. At the time fax machines were only just starting to be used so one sheet of paper would take about 5 minutes to send or receive, and had to be manually attached to the drum on the machine. This happened every week from Monday to Friday.
I worked there for about 18 months before leaving to work in America on a summer camp job, then applying to join the RAF on my return. Unfortunately due to being a civilian qualified course the RAF had to wait until there were enough applicants to form the course, before allowing me to enlist. In the 18 months I had to wait, I got a job as a Warehouseman with Marks and Spencer. Even then the desire to fly hadn't left me, so a work mate and I joined the Thames Valley Gliding Club at Booker Airfield, near High Wycombe, and started having lessons.
Before I could go solo again I was invited to enlist, so my gliding was put on hold. This state of affairs didn't last long though, because once I was at Portreath I would study Routine Orders to see of any courses available. Low and behold I noticed there was something called Joint Services Adventure Training, and one of the activities was Gliding. I had a quick chat to Sgt Clarke, and sounded him out on whether I could go or not. I explained I had already done some gliding, and was hoping to carry on. To my amazement he said it would be ok as far as he was concerned, but I would need permission from the Catering officer. With that I went to General Office for the application form, completed it and after handing in, waited for an answer.
About a month later I received the answer, and it was in the form of joining instructions to attend a course at RAF Bicester Gliding Centre.
FLYING OVER THE AIRFIELD
As I didn't have a car at that point I had a rail warrant to travel to Oxford then a bus to the airfield. Once there the Centre staff would take us to the nearby Army Depot for accommodation, and picked us up each morning. I had a brilliant week at Bicester and wanted to take up the sport back in Cornwall.
This is where I had a problem. I couldn't drive yet, so here was another incentive to pass my test. I discovered there were two places that I could learn to glide. HMS Heron at Culdrose had a club, which I could have joined as a serviceman, but Culdrose was quite a long way to drive. Much nearer to St. Mawgan was the civvy Cornish Gliding Club who were based at Trevellas Airfield, which was on the old WW2 RAF Perranporth site.
Trevellas Airfield
I came across it when I started to explore Cornwall in my car. I drove up to the launch point and watched the goings on then started to chat to some of the members. The next time I came down, I joined the club and started to train, with the intention of going solo. I did get to some soaring with an instructor when the sea breeze was blowing up against the cliff edge enabling us to use the ridge soaring effect. Unfortunately due to the airfield's close proximity to the sea the usual method of using thermals of warm air bubbles to remain airborne for extended flight didn't occur as the land couldn't warm up sufficiently to create the much needed thermals.
I wasn't happy with my progression towards solo flying as there weren't enough instructors at the club, or the weather wasn't good enough to fly. I also found that the cables the club used on the winch launches had a habit of breaking, which was great when you wanted to practice launch failures, but also meant there was a lot of down time while the cable was repaired. I persevered for a few months but in the end decided I would look for a better club later and carry on my training at that time. I had enough other things to keep me occupied anyway.
Although Portreath wasn't a flying station we did occasionally have someone fly in to the station. The first time that I can remember was when the Devon & Cornwall Police helicopter landed. The pilot came over for lunch in the mess. I'm not sure why he visited the airfield, but I got chatting to him while he was having his meal. Anyway one thing lead to another and he invited me and a couple of the mess staff for a quick flight in the helicopter. At the time in the early 80s they where using the French made Squirrel helicopter so he could get three of us in the cabin
A Squirrel Helicopter similar to the one we flew in
About six months later we had some visitors to the airfield who were rather mad but enabled me to have another flight. The Parachute Regiment display team, called the Red Devils came down to Cornwall for some pre season training. Although Portreath wasn't an active airfield, it still had runways, even if they were not in a great condition. However the Red Devils used a small Britton-Norman Islander aircraft which was able to use rough runways, and had short take off capability.
One day the team came into the mess for lunch and as usual I got chatting to them about what they were doing in Cornwall. The warrant officer explained that some of the team were new so they needed to practice the routine they used at a location away from public gaze and with little aviation going on to get tin their way. As usual one thing led to another and I was invited to go up with them on their next flight that afternoon. Once I had cleared it with the Mick Vincent ( who was in charge that afternoon). I went out with them and the pilot. I sat in the co-pilot's seat at the front, while they got in the back with their parachutes strapped on.
There were no seats at the back so they all sat on the floor of the cabin. We took off and started climbing rapidly over the Cornish countryside and Redruth and Camborne. We eventually reached 12,000 feet and at that point the pilot eased back on the throttles to slow down enough for the paras to exit the aircraft. Over the noise of the engines, and the rushing air as they opened the door, I could hear them shouting and laughing their heads off as they jumped out together.
Now on the climb up I had been able to clear my ears by yawning. On this occasion I had broken an unwritten rule of not flying if you have a cold. I was so desperate to fly that I ignored the rule and went anyway. Once the paras had jumped out, the pilot put the Islander into a shallow dive to get back on the ground as quickly as possible. It was at this point I began to regret my decision to go up when I found I couldn't clear the pressure build up in my ears, and suffered excruciating pain around my sinus tubes. Because of my cold, the tubes were blocked which meant I couldn't relieve the pain by pinching my nose and blowing out. I kept blowing as hard as I could and eventually the tubes unblocked and I was able to clear the pressure build up. I learned my lesson that day, and later on when I was flying on VC10s if I had a really bad head cold I wouldn't hesitate to call in sick. Fortunately I only remember going sick once during my tour.
The next day the Red Devils went to St. Mawgan to train so we didn't see them again. Unfortunately their day at St. Mawgan had a tragic end. Part of the display involved stacking themselves one above each other. This meant the parachutist who was above the guy below would wrap his legs around the lines below. On this occasion the warrant officer that I had spoken to the previous day, was in the above position. Somehow the guy lower had a major malfunction and his chute collapsed. At height this wouldn't be an issue as they would discard the collapsed chute and use the reserve. Unfortunately they were only a few hundred feet off the ground about to land. The Warrant Officer couldn't let his colleague fall to certain death, so he wrapped his legs around the lines and tried to take the weight of both men. Unfortunately the extra weight meant they had a very hard landing, and unfortunately the Warrant Officer broke his back.
Stacking when it goes to plan
I mentioned previously that I had been in the Air Training Corps, but I also been involved with Scout Movement back home after leaving the cadets. I helped run a troop in my home village, and through this involvement I had gone to work in New York State on a camp, I have made a YouTube video of my stay in America and if you wish to watch it here is the link.
Any way I was approached by one of the Nimrod flight commanders, Sqn Ldr Eagers, whose son wished to go to scouts, and he asked me if I could start a Scout Troop at St. Eval, the site of the old airfield, and where some of St. Mawgan's married quarters were situated. There was already a cub scout pack, but nothing for the older boys to join. I said I would give it a go and so got my old uniform back from my parents home.
I had an initial show of interest from several boys and tried to develop an interesting program of activities to follow. I even managed to take them on summer camp to my old stomping grounds in Old Windsor, as there was a purpose built scout camp site in Windsor Great Park called Bears Rails.
Unfortunately due to not enough boys showing interest in coming along, I took the difficult decision to close the troop. After speaking to the district commissioner I stood down from the scouts. As I was still interested in helping youth movements, I approached the CO of Truro Squadron Air Training Corps and asked if they needed any help. After doing background checks on me I was offered a position on the staff. As I was a serving serviceman, I wasn't classed as a civilian instructor, but carried out the same type of work by instructing the youngsters in basic theory of flight etc. and of course taking foot drill.
It was through my connection with the squadron I was introduced to the commanding officer of 626 Volunteer Gliding School which was located at the Royal Navy airfield at Predannack which was at the most southerly point in Britain, The Lizard Point.
Predannack was originally built in the war and due to being built on a peninsular had several runways which could used depending on the prevailing wind direction. In the 1950s Barnes Wallis ( of bouncing bomb fame and designing the Wellington Bomber) set up a unit there to try out working models of a supersonic aircraft with variable swept wings. The concrete launch pads are still there today.
An aerial view of Predannack airfield.
The test track can be seen parallel to the main runway
Predannack Airfield was opened in May 1941 as a satellite for RAF Portreath and back in 1984 and as it is today the airfield is used during the week as a satellite for Culdrose's helicopters to practice using landing away from their home airfield. The Royal Navy fire service also used parts of the airfield for training. Doted around are the wrecks of many ex RAF and Royal Navy aircraft.
A couple of wrecks at the fire dump
I agreed to meet the CO ( Ross Goldsworthy) one Sunday in Truro and we drove down in his car so that I could learn the best way to the airfield. Our first stop was at the Guard room at Culdrose to sign out the keys to the airfield gate. We drove on a few miles and found some of the other staff waiting for us to arrive. We opened up the gates and went on to the airfield. After opening up the buildings we then moved the gliders out onto the airfield. In 1984 they were still using the Kirby Cadet Mk3 ( Slingsby T31 ) and the Slingsby T21 Sedburgh gliders. They were 1950s vintage and were open cockpit. The T31 had tandem layout while the T21 was side by side.
The T21 tended to be used for air experience flights and was better at soaring when the conditions were right. The T31 was used for instructing cadets to fly solo, with the instructor sitting in the rear seat. I joined the the staff as a U/T instructor, so the priority for me was to re-solo. I found that my learning curve was quite steep but enjoyable after the inactivity at my previous club.
The T31 was quite basic regarding the controls and the cockpit instruments in comparison to the newer gliders that I had been flying in. There was no trim leaver so the flying controls were a bit heavy to use while in flight. The gliders were kept on trolleys which were pulled around the airfield by a Landrover. This meant we didn't have to push them around between flights and when the glider over shot the launch point.
We also had a novel method of returning the winch cables back to the launch point. There was an old RAF ambulance which had a bar attached to the side, and when in use was locked in place. The two cables were attached to the bar and the driver would slowly drive along the side of the tarmac runway until next to the launch point.
Cable retrieval
It wasn't long before I went solo and I managed to get several flights under my belt. As a U/T instructor I was also required to drive the retrieve Landrover and to drive the winch, all of which I was happy to do as glider flying is always about working as a team.
At this point in time I was about to make a move to pastures new, but I will talk about that another time, needless to say I had to temporarily stop gliding as I was posted to 241 OCU at Brize Norton.
Before I talk about my next posting I will next talk about some of the other things I did while at Portreath so I hope you've enjoyed this last bit of my tale.
TTFN
Rob
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