@@bac1111967 no pilot ever has a pen on him/her when they go to sign for the aircraft. Personally I get asked this every single time by the engineering lineys.
Phantastic video of a phabulous aircraft. And a great look back at the RAF we had in the 70’s and 80’s - a far cry from the much reduced RAF we have today. I will always remember seeing my first Phantoms whilst on holiday in North Wales near Ruthin in the mid-70’s. We were walking along a ridge line near a golf course, when there was this tremendous sound and the earth shook as a flight of four overflew us, climbing out of the valley below. I distinctly recall the lightning flash on the noses, so I learned in later life that these were from 111 Squadron. Superb machines.
Thanks for uploading this video. As a civilian I found it very interesting. Its a very tight and well made film and I appreciate the procedural, behavioural and technical elements that it covered. It has also generated some fine comments. Much respect.
At 08:09 appears a German Luftwaffe NCO with badges from Aufklärungsgeschwader 51 'Immelmann' and can later be seen working alongside his R.A.F. comrade on the wing bolt. The Bremgarten-based Geschwader was introducing the RF4-E early inthe 1970ies. So maybe he had been on a familiarization exchange while this was filmed.
On detachment to foreign bases, badges, patches & rank slides were swapped all the time. Those were just trophies bring worn by the raf guy & mean nothing much.
@@wirdy1 You may be right regarding squadron exchanges etc., and one of the F-4s is even carrying the owl badge of AG 51 "I" next to the R.A.F. markings. The NCO I was referring to however, is definitely wearing German Luftwaffe rank insignia on his overall.
Had the Ark been kept on, there would have been no Falklands War, the costs of which would have paid for 10 modern replacements, plus one extra carrier every 8 years since 1982.
I was a docs controller on a busy Jaguar line. When I started, I was asked to conform to the Unit's traditional practice of clearing Fs700, to release aircraft as fit to fly, based purely on "We've sorted it" phone calls from Rects teams in the 2nd Line hangar, some distance away. I told them 'no way,' putting me at odds with the Line Flight Sergeant and J Eng O, who both tried to browbeat me. I wouldn't budge. Eventually, I had a 1:1 with the S Eng O, who tried more subtle but inneffective persuasion, including a 3-week move to the hangar to work with the Rects team. Following that, he was NOT amused when I told him, "STILL no way, SIR." Mercifully, I was posted soon afterwards, when my random Gen App request, (one submitted each Monday fortnight, to ensure the previous one was being processed), bore fruit, and I got away. I learned life ain't always easy for a pedantic tw@t, but sometimes it's necessary.... 🤔
Not surprising things went tits--up: you've got a load of actors trying to run things. Trevor Eve with a suspiciously non-regulation haircut & Michael Sheard pre-Grange Hill (plus, other familiar faces).
In my own view......THE most beautiful aircraft of it's era (and type). When I was a kid I spent a week with the Air Cadets at RAF Wattisham (74 Squadron), and RAF Wildenrath (can't remember what Sqn, but it was another Air Defence Phantom Squadron. Absolutely amazing to get up close to these beautiful beasts of the Cold War! Great shame when they were retired!
The trainee shown, "Jim" was still under training to be a Phantom nav, which is why he has no nav brevet on his jacket. He still had a long way to go before he got in the back seat of an FGR2. The film was made to attract recruits.@@andyb.1026
think the use of the occasional map and stopwatch snippets was a trick by the film-makers, to add some backup info (there must be film-maker word for it lol) for the benefit of the viewers. Plus they might not have wanted to show use of INAS in cloeup, for security reasons. Some and possibly all RAF Phantoms had INAS.
Bottom line is its the Jockey's responsibility, a bloody great Red tell tale sticking out of a low wing, and nobody noticed ! and no cockpit indication !! 😂
At the time of the accident, the warning flags weren't painted dayglow orange, but the same grey as the wing colour around it - which when in a rush and under pressure to get launched, on a grey day meant, they could be easily be missed. If the MOD hadn't spent all that extra money to have the hydraulics for the wing fold removed (from XV411 I think) this accident may not have happened
10 years in RAF SNCO Every sengo I ever met would arrive on a Sqn with a proven , tried and tested Eng control system, but they all wanted to change it to their way,, all theory & little practical,, like the prat who reorganised the Hangar ~ and blocked off the Fire Lane,, 🔥 ,, or the clown who demanded that a 4 man hour job would obviously be faster if 4 men were on it, instead of just one , never mind there was only space for one hand in the access panel,,, or the one who had a speach impediment & was incoherent when pressure was on 😂😂 I could go on 😂😊
I was the SEngO on 29 Sqn at RAF Coningsby , I was a ranker and started as an apprentice on Air Radar. When I took over I had a meeting with my WO, a Flight Sergeant, a USM Lieutenant (on exchange) and a handful of specialist Chief Techs. I had arranged a Friday stand-down at lunchtime where we would join the other NCO's and the rest of the Squadron, including the aircrew for a piss-up. I split the group into four with about five to six in each group, at random. The task was to report what worked, what did not work and what (if) needed changing. Also at random one member from each team made a short presentation of the findings of each group. The result was that things had been previously well run and generally not much needed fixing. My time on the Squadron was very short, the Wing Co Eng went a little strange at I was acting for about 6 months, but that is another story.
10:25, surely Jennings did the right thing. He found a leak and wasn't sure so asked the desk. To make him feel and look like an idiot will only make him more reluctant to report a suspicion next time.
I'm ex F4 (228 OCU), all the new FLMs (Flight Line Mechanics) would undergo training / testing and authorisation before being allowed to service the jet. They would be well aware of the difference between Hyd oil (OM15) and fuel (F34) so I think that bit is for 'artistic effect'. If they were still under training then they would have had a supervisor/trainer with them.
Those were they days and given/lent me United States of America of the Royal Navy the legend war plane Phantom to land and take off Ark Royal carrier. Military jets of the 1960s, 70s and80s was the McDonald Douglas F4 Phantom.
