Page 83 - Demo

81had a horizontal bar set high enough to allow the stand to be pulled by the winch up the Hercules ramp, and over the hump where the ramp met the aircraft freight deck. A quick re-calculation of the aircraft trim sheet showed that the aircraft, even with all that fuel and this extra weight at the rear, would still be just within permissible limits. However, as Rabbie Burns had it %u2013 the best-laid plans an%u2019 a%u2019 that. Observant readers will recall that the aircraft winch was unserviceable.Initiative was quickly unleashed, and we decided to run a chain from the engine stand into the aircraft, through a lashing fitment, and back out to the airport fire engine, a machine of 1940s vintage. Driving the fire engine away from the aircraft, enveloped in thick clouds of fumes from the exhaust and the burning clutch, had the effect of pulling the stand up the ramp and into the aircraft. Decidedly dodgy stuff, and written nowhere in any guide for loading aircraft. But not for nothingwas I Cranwell%u2013indoctrinated in getting the job done. Re-enter Rabbie Burns %u2013 the best-laid plans etc. This last-minute, unplanned engine for repatriation was not mounted on an airtransportable stand, but on a normal stand for use in workshops. The horizontal bar at the bottom of this stand was right at the bottom, unlike that on its air-transportable brother. This meant that it could not breast the hump at the top of the ramp to enter the aircraft, without grounding and sticking. Forcing it with our fire-engine-andchain lash-up would damage the aircraft ramp, and potentially render the aircraft unserviceable. The only apparent option was to decline to return the engine %u2013 which would be highly unpopular, as they were always in short supply, and could ultimately have an impact on Shackleton availability to meet the Beira Patrol task. Then that accursed initiative reared its ugly head again. If we got the engine onto the ramp and then raised the aircraft ramp, the angle to be breasted at the top would decrease to the point where the stand could cross over without scraping. So%u2026 the fire engine moves away from the aircraft, and the engine on its stand crawls up the ramp. So far so good! The corporal activates the ramp control, and the ramp begins to rise. Great - but hang on! As the ramp rises, the rear end of our tail-heavy