Going to AFB Ysterplaat tomorrow!

[Koevoet]

Got this from Avcom tread

http://www.avcom.co.za/phpBB3/viewtopic ... Shackleton

[Arnulf]

When I was a boy pilot, I was asked (ordered) to smuggle a box of Griffon sparkplugs from London to Jo'burg, for a Shakleton. We fetched the spark plugs at Hendon airfield.

Amazing how the times changed . We used to smuggle parts for vintage aircraft, today it seems that ganja is more popular with some plate slinging crewmembers.
Oh, and we did it all for a favour. The plugs were damn heavy.

[V]

Hope you have pics of the cockpit with all the controls. That would be really awesome.

As requested (taken at Ysterplaat AFB in April 2005 by yours truly ...)

Cheers,

V.

Left-seat

shackleton-cockpit1.jpg (59.25 KiB) Viewed 2130 times

Right-seat

shackleton-cockpit2.jpg (69.31 KiB) Viewed 2130 times

[John Boucher]

Now that's an un-cluttered panel! Only what you need....

I wonder how much it differs from the old Lancasters?

[John Boucher]

Found this..... not much different - they only rearranged them a bit! Functional was the key I suppose - they were VFR pilots flying at IF altitudes fighting a war!

[Wallaby]

Am I correct to say that in the Shackleton it looks like the throttle, mix an pitch control is not centre mounted? Unless there are more gauges where the flight engineer would sit, these are very simple and few for a large plane.

It looks like the rudder pedals is of the push type where you have to move your whole leg to push the rudder. Or would you still be able to use the tip of your shoe to apply rudder?

V, thanks for the pics. Did you perhaps saw Trikenut there? He's the young lad that had to crouch when walking underneath the wing......

[V]

Am I correct to say that in the Shackleton it looks like the throttle, mix an pitch control is not centre mounted? Unless there are more gauges where the flight engineer would sit, these are very simple and few for a large plane.

Yes, from what I learnt, the pilot and co-pilot have their own set of throttle controls. (Stand to be corrected, though.) There is a huge array of gauges and controls for the flight engineer to nurse the engines and props (4 engines and 8 props) and my impression (listening to stories and checking out the bird on the ground) was that under normal circumstances the pilots worried about bank, pitch and yaw and the flight engineer managed the rest.

It looks like the rudder pedals is of the push type where you have to move your whole leg to push the rudder. Or would you still be able to use the tip of your shoe to apply rudder?

Dunno, but they felt far away even for my longer than average legs. The whole seating position in the pilot's was an experience, nothing like a cramped microlight. (There is lots of other cramped space on the Shack, though.)

V, thanks for the pics. Did you perhaps saw Trikenut there? He's the young lad that had to crouch when walking underneath the wing......

Yeah, it's been a while, but there was a laatie on all-fours ...

[V]

Shackleton flying

shackleton-flying.jpg (20.39 KiB) Viewed 2043 times

[John Boucher]

Wasn't that at AAD in 2006?

[V]

Wasn't that at AAD in 2006?

Close, but not quite, I took the pic in the previous post and this one at the 2004 airshow at Ysterplaat (2004-12-05).

Shackleton landing

shackleton-flying2.jpg (39.27 KiB) Viewed 1998 times

[Trikenut]

Hi, My mistake! The Shackleton is fired up every month! I missunderstood the guy that told me about it!
I also don't have any pics as two days before the one and only lense on the camera broke! So No fotos!
But it was INCREDIBLE!! The engines sounded GREAT!!
Amzing experiance!
Ross
BTW: I will be joining the Friend of the SAAF!