Page 89 - Demo

87THE TOWING ARM AT TANGIERIt was the late summer of 1980 in Gibraltar, and I had been on the Fleet Requirement and Air Direction Unit (FRADU) for about 18 months. We had all the benefits of military aviation, with none of the bullshit; all right, the money was rubbish, but we were living in Somerset, and that had to be good. I was flying the Canberra, Marks TT18 and T22. On this particular day, we were just finishing an exercise with HMS Battleaxe, one of the shiny new Type 22 frigates in Her Majesty%u2019s Grey Funnel Line. The exercise area was east of %u2018the Rock%u2019 and the weather was good, so a quick recovery to Gibraltar was in order followed by a few green bottles at the North Front Mess.I had flown a lot with Brian, my navigator on that day, and, once in sight of the Rock, he started packing up the navigator%u2019s station. Over to tower frequency, and we were cleared for run and break on Runway 27. I eased down to 300 feet and 300 knots, and lined up (not too soon, lest the Spaniards get upset) with the runway. What a beautiful sight, %u2018the Rock%u2019 on the left and the marina ahead. Ease up, break left as fast as the old girl would go at that speed, and down the bay at 1000 feet. Speed reducing, round Europa Point, undercarriage selected down. I waited for the rumbling but there was none. Dead silence. No lights - not even red unlocked to show that the undercarriage had started to travel. Round I went again, advising the tower that we had a gear problem, and Brian got the checklist out of his bag again. %u201cNo, there is no hydraulic pressure,%u201d I replied to the first question, having looked at the gauge over the entrance door. A quick check of fuel indicated that we had enough for Tangier, but not enough for Faro %u2013 one was not allowed to land at Gib with any sort of control or gear problem, so recovery there was out of the question.We advised Gibraltar that we needed to start heading for Tangier, while trying to sort the problem out, so I climbed to 3000 feet and headed southwest. The checklist basically said that we would be flapless1 when we eventually landed, and that the landing gear had to be pumped down if possible, on the hand pump by my right hand.