Page 88 - Demo

88ModificationsFrom the very beginning, it was evident that aircraft, equipment andweapons would all require some degree of modification. As plansbecame more detailed so the intensity of engineering and support activitygrew. The situation was so fluid, however, that it became essential toagree priorities between various projects and courses of action. As theAHB narrative points out with a degree of understatement %u2018the preparing,investigating, developing, manufacturing and installation of urgentmodifications required careful staff oversight and co-ordination.%u20193 Thistask fell to the Alert Measures Committee (AMC) under DofOps(Strike)that provided a regular aircraft priority listing. It is an interestingreflection on the actual priorities to note that it was the Hercules thatheaded this list throughout April and the Victor in May and June.At station level the impact of the quickening pace of modificationswas all the greater as the training task increased equally rapidly,exacerbated by the adoption of new roles and the reactivation of oldones. Industry made a significant contribution to these efforts but themajor burden of the modification programme fell on the flying stationsand a handful of support units, including St Athan, Sealand and theEWAU at Wyton.4Not surprisingly, formal staffing procedures were found to beincapable of meeting the necessary response times for UrgentOperational Requirements. The widespread use of Special Trial Fitsresolved the immediate issue but did nothing to address the longer-termimplications for spares and engineering support. Inevitably, corners werecut and lower safety standards accepted. Sometimes it was necessary tobypass the normal chains of command. But the outcome was that thedesign, testing and installation of many operational improvements wereachieved in quite remarkable timescales.Rather than describe this effort in detail, I will focus solely on themodifications to the Harrier. However, it is worth noting that the overallprogramme, although not as large as that implemented during the GulfWar, involved over ten aircraft types and at least sixty separatemodifications.5 Given the pressure of time and the operationaluncertainties, it was a hugely impressive achievement on the part of allinvolved.6On 14 Apr 82 Engineering Wing at Wittering was tasked withmodifying the Harrier for shipboard operations. The programme