6, Knightwood Close

6, Knightwood Close

Reigate, Surrey

RH2 8BE

01737 221814

ICARUS NEWSLETTER Autumn 2014.

Website http://www.icarusba.org.uk

We send our condolences to the families of the following absent friends:

Bob Baker / DDJ Banks / Wally Brunn
John Dowling / Pete Jarvis / Terry Lakin
Harry McDowell / Ian Savage / Guy Sharp

Those of you who knew Terry Lakin will be saddened to have learned of his recent passing following a period of poor health. Terry’s name is synonymous with the BEA/BA TriStar fleet, in which he served as test pilot and technical manager and with Icarus which, together with Bill Benton and Dennis Southgate, he helped to create. Many tributes have been received and Terry’s reputation is summed up by a message (précised below) that Keith Lakin (our newsletter editor) sent to Terry’s son who lives in California.

“I first became aware of this chap who shared my surname back in 1967/68 when I was at the Oxford flying school on a BEA/BOAC sponsored course. A copy of the BEA magazine announced that a Terry Lakin had just received his command. I naturally took notice as I had never met a Lakin outside our family. Subsequently, as a young co-pilot on the Trident, I did meet him in the Queens Building but it was not until 1975 when I joined the TriStar fleet that our professional paths crossed.

“I flew with your dad many times and he was a great pilot and a great captain; in fact the kind of bloke that you were always pleased to find yourself crewed up with. Strangely enough there was a sort of downside for me! Such was his high management profile that he was known by everyone; a really popular guy. The result was that every time my name appeared on the crew list, people called me Terry! I still smile at the memory of it and was more than happy to answer to the name.

“When I retired in 1997 and joined Icarus your dad was still chairman and we Lakins always shared a joke and a drink at the meetings. Later he asked me to join the Icarus committee and I assisted him in putting together the newsletter. When he stood down from the chairman role in 2004, handing it over to Steve Wand, I took over editing the newsletter, which I continue to do. Ross, it was a privilege and a pleasure to have known and flown with your dad.”

And so say all of us!

People News:

It was good to hear from my old mate Fred Rivett, with a piece about an engine failure departing from Lisbon on 21/04/1978.

I was rostered to fly British Airtours B707-436 G-APFG from Heathrow to Lisbon as a sub charter for BA. My co-pilots were John Penfold and John Challen, with Tony Harrison in charge of the cabin crew.

The flight was routine to Lisbon, landing on runway 35 with a strong wind from the north. The turnround was good and we soon taxied for take off on R/W 35. The aircraft was very light and as we approached V1 a flock of pigeons got airborne on my left side and flew across us towards the right hand side. Almost immediately a bang was heard and the aircraft yawed to the right. I applied full left rudder and some left bank to keep the aircraft straight. We were very close to Vmca because of our low take-off weight.

The fire warning light for No 3 engine came on and, following the actioning of the fire drill, the fire was extinguished. The two Johns were busy dumping fuel and completing the check list whilst I declared an emergency. Air traffic enquired whether we intended continuing to LHR - this was declined and we were cleared to land on RW 03 despite a strong cross wind, 35 being too short for the 3 engine landing. The landing was not the best but nobody was hurt and although one of the tyres on the right bogie deflated, there were no other problems. We proceeded to the ramp and disembarked the passengers.

Tony Harrison asked if anyone would like a drink and I said “what do you have to do to get one?” We inspected the no3 engine and saw major damage to the compressor and, more of a worry was the blood and feathers around No 4 engine. All the paperwork was completed and the crew preceded to the Penta Hotel for some much needed refreshment. Operations at LGW organised a spare engine to be flown out by Tradewinds to arrive the following day, with some Airtours engineers to follow.

Les Beale and his team changed the engine and the aircraft was ready to fly. We arrived at the aircraft, ready to depart for Heathrow with, unsurprisingly, no passengers. Once the engines were all turning I taxied forward and discovered the nose steering was not working! Les disappeared down through the lower 41 hatch and reconnected the steering. I did ask him to make sure the new engine was on the right way round, the reply being unrepeatable! After that, the flight back to Heathrow was uneventful.

A reply was eventually received from the Lisbon air traffic to say that there were many pigeon fanciers around the airfield, but the pigeons had been banned from the field (I presume in pigeon English!).

Thanks, Fred.

Many of you will know Jeremy Rendall (he of the famous Rendall dynasty) and will know him as a sensible sort of chap. It will probably surprise you therefore to learn that he decided to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society by training for and taking part in the Prudential London/Surrey 100 cycle race on 10th August. I asked him if he would give us an account of the day, which was bedeviled with heavy rain and high winds.

Jeremy reports “It was an early start because we (three of us from our village) parked the car half way between the start and finish and we had to be in place around an hour before our starting times of around 0800. It was quite an exercise getting 24,000 cyclists away over a two and a half hour period (actually, having seen the weather, at least 2,000 took the sensible option and stayed in bed!) but the intermittent drizzle was better than the forecast and everyone was cheerful. Wet weather brings an increase risk of punctures and the first one I saw was less than 100yards from the start (I’d even seen a couple as we were cycling to the start) and they seemed to happen every few yards after that. Luckily the three of us were unaffected.

The roads were very wet and slippery and I came across the first accident and accompanying ambulance within a couple of miles but people generally were riding very sensibly. Then at around 25 miles the weather decided to behave as forecast and the heavens opened with a vengeance and within moments had overwhelmed the drainage system, so flooding was widespread. I had bought a pair of waterproof overshoes because of the forecast (I normally try to avoid riding in heavy rain); they were not up to this level of inclemency but they did prove to be really good at keeping the water in, once it had got there.

The wind arrived as well - it was mostly against us - of course - and the visibility at times was awful and so it continued until we reached the feeding station at Newland’s Corner, from which there is apparently a lovely view. The course had been shortened by 14 miles, missing out the two famous climbs, Leith Hill and Box Hill because of the risk on the descents which was a sensible decision so, after a few Surrey undulations, we were soon headed back to the Capital and the weather started to improve.

With 25 miles to go the roads were drying (apart from the odd lake), the wind was from behind and it really was a joy bowling along with no cars or traffic lights to worry about and enthusiastic crowds spurring us on.

And so to the final dash down the Mall to the finish and the impressively large medal. I’ve told the grandchildren that it’s solid gold and the best behaved one will inherit it! The statistics - my time was 6 hours 4 minutes and 31 seconds for the 86 miles, of which the GPS says 51 minutes were stationary. I covered 100.02 miles in total, including riding to and from the car, and whilst sad to have missed out part of the course, I had in fact cycled those bits a couple of weeks earlier as part of the training. My impressions - despite the conditions, it really was a great day out and worth all the preparation. The organisation was excellent and the enthusiasm of everyone fantastic.

After a few glasses of bubbly with Paul and Martin and our wives it was off to bed for an early night. I slept for a solid 10 hours, broken only by an alarm call at 0400 - I’d forgotten to cancel the call for the previous day! Roll on the cure for Alzheimer’s. Very well done Jerry!

Ian Scott, who regularly sends me gems from the past, put pen to paper about life on the Ju52, which he flew as a F/O following RAF service.

Ian says “After demob, I applied to join BOAC, but they were full up and I was offered BEA, which was just starting up. With licence exams completed for the Dakota I was posted, as per my wishes, to Glasgow. Turning up on my first day at work, I reported to “Ops” in the old hangar at Renfrew to be told OK, you are going up to the Hebrides with Johnny Wells in a Ju52.

I was stunned! BEA Scotland had been given 10 of these troublesome aeroplanes which were war reparations from Germany and which BEA called Jupiters. Johnny asked me if I had ever seen a Ju52 and I said that I’d only ever seen a silhouette of one. “Ah well” said Johnny, “one of the boys in the hangar will give you a quick run over the cockpit”. And so that is how I became a Ju52 co-pilot doing the navigation on a Mercator chart on a piece of plywood using a computer, protractor and dividers. My only contribution to the flying was winding the flaps up and down using a wheel behind the captain’s seat.

The machine itself was a 3-engined, corrugated skinned aeroplane, which the Germans used for dropping parachute troops and for communications. BEA used it with 10 pax seats, two pilots, an R/O and a stewardess. Having 3 engines, taxying involved zig-zagging to see where you were going and the wheel brakes were operated using the 3 throttles in the reverse position, No 1 the port brake, No 3 the starboard brake and the middle one put both brakes on. The only flying assistance available was a thumb operated lever (akin to the present transmit button) which altered the rudder.

One hazard was that the breather pipe for the front engine was known to break and fill the cockpit with fumes – in fact that happened on one occasion to Phil Rushmore, who had to land at Aberdeen with slight carbon monoxide poisoning.

I can’t remember the aeroplane’s cruising speed but it did take two hours to get from Glasgow to Stornoway! Of course, being an ex military aircraft, there was no call bell to summons the stewardess for some coffee so the drill was to look down through the cockpit/cabin window until the girl was seen to be standing over one of the hot air vents in the cabin floor and to switch the cabin heat full-on! My last flight in the Jupiter was 1 hour and 5 minutes, on 7th August 1947 with Johnny Wells from Inverness to Renfrew.

Ah the sweet nostalgia. Thanks Ian.

Member’s Pieces: I received an account of Denis Wood’s epic flight across the Atlantic in a homebuilt aeroplane and it is précised here:

Denis says “I always dreamed of building a light aircraft and, together with a friend, decided upon the Velocity. It has a canard front wing and a rear engine. The kit was bought from Florida and the construction took place in a rented hangar at Cannes Airport. Once structurally complete, the Velocity was shipped back to Florida in two crates for specialists to install instruments, avionics and a more powerful engine. December 2002 saw the aircraft ready for the required 100 hours of test flying before the Atlantic crossing could be considered.

Following the test programme, with my friend and co-builder Jack Berkin as copilot, I left Sebastian, Florida on 30th June 2003 to fly the 830nm nonstop to the Wright Brothers field in Dayton Ohio where centenary celebrations were beginning. As the Velocity employs the same principles as the Wright Flyer, the aeroplane was used as a demonstrator, proudly flying above the gathered crowd and assembled dignitaries.

4th July was departure day and we left early in the morning heading NE for Montreal and then on to Sept Isles in Quebec. That was a long day, 1050nms in six and a half hours with an average ground speed of 162kts. Next day, fog and low cloud prevented any flying, but the third day dawned sunny and bright so we set off to fly the 290nms to Goose Bay. This sector was over lakes and forests, no houses, roads or airfields, ending with a landing in low cloud and heavy rain at Goose. An early start was made next day to fly to southern Greenland, between cloud layers at 9000ft before descending down a fjord to Narsarsuaq, formerly known as Blue West One.

After refuelling it was off to Reykjavik although strong headwinds meant that the flight time was an hour longer than expected. This day represented ten and a half hours flying, covering 1412nms with a 35kt headwind at 135kts average speed. It was now 5 days since leaving Dayton and on the 6th day we took off on the long sea crossing to the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.

By now media attention was increasing and, after landing at Stornaway we were relieved to be able to dispense with our immersion suits for the continuation of our flight for a Blackpool nightstop and then to North Weald on the final day. It had been a memorable six flying days, completing 4755nms in 30 hours at an average groundspeed of 158kts, which would have been nearer 180kts but for the Atlantic headwinds. We had crossed 8 states, 3 countries and used around 11 US gallons per hour. The Lycoming engine performed perfectly and is a credit to all the good folk at the Velocity Company. Our flight was a tribute to the Wright Brothers 100 years ago whose achievements changed our lives and made the world smaller.”