By the time you read this the 2005 show season will be well under way. However at the moment it's still early March here in Cornwall, and we are still very much in the grip of winter, although not as much as other parts of the country it seems. We have not had the drifting snow, and the all day ice on the roads that some have had, and therefore we have not had a chance to try out our 4WD green machines in these conditions. My wife would say thank goodness, but I know from previous experience that careful driving on and off road in the snow can be great fun.
However back to the present, what's been going since my last report. Well not an awful lot really. The main event in February for me was eventually recovering the remains of the Austin K9 from its resting-place on top of a WW2 Observer Post at Perranporth on the North Cornish coast. Steve Perry and I were lucky to have a dry day for this operation and we met at the site at 09.00 on the Sunday morning. Steve with a Manitou Fork Lift and me with Range Rover and Trailers. We lifted the remains, chassis, engine, gearbox, axles etc, down from its lofty perch with the Manitou, and proceeded to carefully dismantle it with a gas torch! Yes I know what you are thinking but the chassis was damaged, and time was against us, the scrap man was arriving the next day. While I took back the rear of the chassis complete with axle and wheels Steve got to work with the gas and by the time that I had returned with Nick Vandy's trailer he had the rest ready to go. A very slick operation, I was home before 14.00. But it did take me some time to unload everything, my little MF 35 has not got the power of the Manitou. We have saved a truck from the scrapman and got a whole host of useful spares to keep the 3 K9's in Cornwall going.
The call from Steve Perry was to say that Martin had acquired a Vampire. So with thoughts of looking over a De Havilland fighter I grabbed my goggles, Irwin Jacket and camera, and set off for Carbis Bay as quick as the Range Rover could go. Unfortunately when I arrived there was only a Land Rover in the drive. Did I say only? Well it wasn't just any old 101 that I was looking at, but the Holy Grail of 101's, a Vampire, one of only 20, with a unique body, and equipped for electronic warfare. This one has still got most of its equipment installed, and that is the way Martin wants to keep it. He is just missing the 60 foot pneumatically operated mast, the rear cable reel and one or two other items. So if you have them hidden away Martin would be interested. A very rare and interesting vehicle which will be out this year I hope. Having said that Martin was still working away on his 101 GS, doing battle with the metal moth. It's coming along very nicely, so soon there will be his and hers 101's in Carbis Bay. By the way, Anne told me that there is no way that she would allow Martin to park a jet fighter on their front lawn, and there just isn't enough room to get one around the back.
Our 'NAAFI Manager' Linda Vokins has now got what is set to be a very nice Dodge WC52 Weapons Carrier. Husband Dave has been very busy working on this project, and the truck is now up and running under its own power, for the first time in more than 20 years. This vehicle was originally bought in The Netherlands by the late Owen Parkyn, during his time there in 1976 with member Brian Sanders, when they were involved with the making of 'A Bridge Too Far'. Brian and Owen were out there looking after the fleet of around 150 vehicles assembled by the late Charlie Mann for the making of this epic. The stories of that summer could fill a few pages on their own, with Brian 'driving' the chartered car ferry on a zigzag course up the English Channel, being just one of the tales I've heard about. Anyway back to the Dodge, Owens widow sold it to a local garage owner who kept it a few months, decided he didn't want it after all, and sold it on to Dave. The engine was in such a state that Dave was amazed that it had ever run at all, and as well as the engine rebuild, all the brake components have been replaced and Dave has made a complete new wiring loom, only the bodywork to go. And all this in the past 3 months or so, and by the time you read this, Dave assures me that it will be complete and on the road, well done! Talking of Brian Sanders, he has recently acquired a Canadian Dodge D15 tanker. This was originally bought at the Lamanva Museum sale by Mark ('Crunchy') Keast, it then went to Alan Bushell, from there to Brian's son Mark, who dismantled it, and it has now passed to Brian. Brian tells me that he will probably rebuild it with a GS Body. I must get up there to see it and also his ex RN Matador, which he tells me, will be out and about this year. Ken Spurr has made another acquisition, this time it is a 1985 ex US Army (Germany) Chevy Blazer, with a 6.2 litre V8 diesel. This came to join Ken's VW Iltis and Snow-Cat, from Ely in Cambridgeshire. He went up by train and drove it back, well done Ken. When I asked if it needed any work done, Ken's reply was that it would have to have a re-spray. All of Ken's vehicles are treated to a new coat of paint in at least 2 colours, when they arrive and very smart they look too. Darryl has got the Piglet to the stage of a driveable chassis, so the next stage is rebuilding the body, we look forward to seeing it completed.
We have had 2 new members join us recently. Guy Marsh has a WLA Harley Davidson and lives in Newquay, and has survived 2 of our meetings so far. Although after Steve Perry told him that he thought that as a motor bike only had 2 wheels it should only count as half a vehicle he may be reconsidering joining our jolly band! Matt Hales has moved from the hustle and bustle of Chiswick to the tranquillity of St Just in the far west of the county. It must be an 80-mile round trip to our meetings, well done Matt. He has brought a Hotchkiss M201 and a Landrover 130 Ambulance down here with him, and we look forward to seeing them, and the Harley out and about this season.
Harry Philpott has been busy again; he has just finished re-building a jeep engine for one of our colleagues in Devon. As payment he has received a Jeep Trailer, which originally came from Clarke Air Force near Manila in the Philippine's. Another restoration project that will no doubt be completed to Harry's usual very high standard.
When the alarm went at 3am I had thoughts of turning over, but then I realised it was Sunday 20th March, Malvern Military Convention, and of course I had the mini-bus. So once again it was off before the crack of dawn to the distant county of Gloucestershire. In spite of the fog, and the M5 being closed between J14 and J13 we made good time, arriving at 08.45. However this was too late for the Perry's to grab their usual place at the head of the queue, the word must have got out that they were coming, and about 50 others had beaten them to it. No sorry Steve, I am not going to get up earlier next time! We didn’t have to give John and Geraldine the usual alarm call, they were up and waving to us as we arrived, having spent the night in the luxury of their motorhome. As usual I think we all found some useful items, and some bargains, apart from George whose sole purchase was a Sunday paper. Some rather unkind remarks were made about people from St Columb with deep pockets, but I don’t believe that at all George. I found a pile of T-shirt's with a notice that said 'Free Please Help Yourself', so I did, before even Steve and Sheila found them. During the lunch break I met Phil Palmer from Wolverhampton with his famous Cummins powered, 5 speed all syncro gearbox, power assisted steering equipped Hippo. He has owned this for over 20 years, so I should think that there is not much he doesn't know about Hippo's. We had an interesting chat, thanks Phil. We had arranged to RV back at the bus at 14.30, but eventually left at 15.00, mainly because the Perry's needed help with the last of their purchases. Somehow I ended up pushing the loaded sack truck while Steve walked along behind. Anyway, I think as usual we all had a good time, I know I did, and the bus is already booked for November. Thanks also to Steve and Sheila for the use once again, of their Tow a Van Trailer to bring all the goodies back in.
Henry Matthews's rally at Penstraze near Truro was over the Easter weekend, I could not attend unfortunately. I believe that Roger Lambshead did go however, so he was possibly the sole representative of the Cornwall MVT, well done Roger. This is always a nice informal rally, and hopefully there will be the usual repeat at the end of the season in late September, and a few more of us will be able to support Henry.
On Thursday, 31st March, 18 of us rendezvoused at 'Bobs Bunker', near St Columb, at 12.00hrs for the trip to St Mawgan RAF Base, organised By Steve Perry. After looking round Bobs ex MoD offerings in the Bunker we drove down the road to St Mawgan. Our guide for the afternoon, Flying Officer Kelly Henry, met us at the gate. When we had all parked up we boarded a coach for the trip across the base. Apparently this coach was brand new, having only arrived on the base that morning. We were honoured!
The first stop was at the SCSR (School of Combat Survival and Rescue) where flight crew from all three services are trained in the art of survival, after abandoning or crashing in either fixed or rotary wing aircraft. Flight Lieutenant Ian Thurle met us and took us through to the lecture theatre where he gave us a very interesting talk on the basics of survival. He asked if anyone was a pilot, when no one replied, I mentioned that I had spent some time on the Sea King simulators, both at St Mawgan and at RNAS Culdrose. What a mistake, I found myself volunteered to be fitted with the kit and pretend that I was a Tornado pilot for the duration, but without the Tornado. Ian strapped on the waistcoat with the life jacket built in, and then I had to sit on the box, which contained the rest of the survival kit. When one is ejected from the aircraft, at a force of 25G, your arms are held in by straps, otherwise they may be torn off by the force of the ejection! The procedure then is if you are still conscious, and over water, at 10,000ft you pull the toggle and the life jacket inflates. If you are unconscious it will automatically inflate on contact with the water. Along with the life jacket, the waistcoat has now also sprouted an aerial for a distress beacon, a tube to inflate or deflate the lifejacket, a light, flares and one or two other clever accessories. The box meanwhile upon pulling its toggle produces a multitude of things, a life raft, packets of water, blocks of condensed food, fishing line, a very clever device which can suck in any water, saltwater or freshwater, and produce perfectly drinkable safe water. The only thing that can block its filters was fuel oil. An amazing piece of kit, and only about £200, so Ian said. The box had a whole host of other gadgets in it. If you were coming down on terra firma, there was an axe, a flexible saw, a Swiss Army knife (complete with corkscrew), wire for snares, spare socks, and many other useful items. After only 10 or 15 minutes wearing all this kit I was glad to get it off, though no doubt if I was in the middle of the Atlantic I wouldn't worry so much about the comfort, there would be other things on my mind. Ian then took us along to a room with 3 dioramas, on a beach, in the arctic and in the jungle. All the kit was in use and many questions were asked. Apparently Ray Mears from the TV survival series had visited the school the week before and had been impressed with the facilities available.
After thanking Flt Lt Thurle we boarded our coach for the trip to the HMF (Helicopter Maintenance Flight). Here we were met by the senior NCO, who introduced us to the 2 NCO's who were to show us around, Chief Technician's Chris de Chenou and Stan Stanyard. We split into 2 groups; each went to opposite ends of the maintenance hanger. This building itself is very interesting; it is cantilevered on its southern side by enormous RSJ's set into massive concrete blocks. This enables the whole building to be not only clear span, no pillars at all, but also means that the sliding doors that make up the north side, which are about 20ft high, have no door pillars. They can be slid aside, to leave an opening large enough to accommodate 3 Nimrods side by side. This is what the building was originally designed for. I forgot to ask the length of the hanger but it must be around 400 ft if it could take 3 Nimrods. Anyway back to the tour, the work area is divided into 6 bays, each with a Sea King at a different stage of the maintenance schedule. They no longer carry out Major refits at St Mawgan, which can take over 12 months, only Minor, which take around 60 days. The aircraft move along the 6 bays, each having responsibility for a set series of tasks, all of which are listed on hundreds of half day job cards, on a board against each engineer's name. This whole production line type process is called LEAN, though what this stands for I omitted to ask. They was also a RN Sea King in for maintenance, the second they have had recently, a Mk 5 I believe, standing out in its grey and red livery amongst its yellow relatives. Having thanked our hosts in HMF we once again boarded our coach for the short journey to the control tower, our last port of call.
On arrival at the tower, Flt Lt Tim Brown met us in the Radar Room. He explained to us what the role of each of the personnel was. We saw aircraft movements plotted across the whole of Cornwall, up to a height of 24,500 ft, what is called the lower airspace I believe, both from above and on one screen, from the side, with aircraft coming in on the flight path. These were both military aircraft and civilian for Newquay Airport, which shares the airfield with the RAF. The RAF handles all Air Traffic Control duties for Newquay Airport as well. We then went up to the top of the tower where our guide FO Kelly Henry works. Here we had a superb view of the whole airfield, and could watch the aircraft we had seen as dots and numbers on the screens downstairs, appear for real on the runway in front of us. Kelly explained what each person's role was, and how they liaised with their colleagues in the Radar Room below. While we were watching the Cornwall Air Ambulance was called out. All other traffic was put on hold while it took off; using just a tiny bit of what I believe is the longest runway in the UK. All to soon our time was up and we all gathered outside the tower for the official and unofficial photos, in front of my Land Rover Ambulance. Many thanks to FO Kelly Henry and all the other personnel involved for looking after us and organising everything so well. We all found it very interesting indeed, and are looking forward to our visit to St Mawgan on Families Day in 5 months time on 31st August, when hopefully we can discuss with Kelly the possibility of another visit to some of the other areas of the base.
Finally the unmasking of the 'Phantom Snapper'. After sifting all the evidence, much use of a magnifying glass and a deerstalker hat and interrogation of the many suspects, I can reveal who is responsible for the mysterious photographs, that have been appearing as raffle prizes, at our meetings. Yes, it's Mr 'Three Quads and a Hippo' Vandy. Thanks Nick for a bit of a mystery, and some fun.
Frank Burbery