inconvenience caused. I forgot to ask the hat if it
could swim!
We had a Met brief on what the weather was
doing; there wasn’t any. Although my plan was
to land back at Kinloss we chose Lossiemouth as
our diversion airfield; standard procedure for all
aircrew, military and civilian. I then briefed the
crew so they were aware of what lay ahead for
the flight. Take-off was to be at 1100hr; the flight
was scheduled to last four hours and in that time
we would climb to 15,000ft (4,500m), settle down
and begin the air test. During the test flight we
would be flying at up to 35,000ft (10,500m), at
which we would proceed to shut down engines
and relight them, as well as checking things like
whether the flaps were in working order.
The briefings, crew-in, start-up, taxy and
take-off were all normal, and as we climbed up
to FL150 and turned out over the Moray Firth
to start the air test I recalled the words of an old
and much-respected former instructor of mine
who, on beautiful days such as this one, would
turn and utter the immortal words, ‘almost a
shame to take the flying pay today’.
The weather was marvellous, with unlimited
visibility, a light breeze and, most importantly, a
sea state of less than one with a swell of no more“
A beautiful morning
I woke up that morning and it was a beautiful
day; there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and just
the gentlest of breezes. Although permanently
stationed at Waddington, I was at Kinloss with
six squadron colleagues to conduct a post-major-
overhaul air test on XW666.
Having just returned from Cyprus the previous
Friday after a three-week stint there, I really
didn’t want this detachment, as short as it was.
However, I had been assured by the squadron
that as Pilot Leader I was the only one qualified
and available. Although the French expression
fait accompli had been used, the English
expression ‘Joed’ sprang to mind.
In my haste to get to Kinloss I soon discovered
that I had forgotten to pack a Service hat, an
omission I became aware of just before leaving
the Mess to walk down to Ops for briefing. We
left the Mess at about 0900hr, and as we left I
noticed hanging in the cloakroom an old and
very well-worn ‘chip-bag’ hat. ‘That will do’ I
thought. If the owner was still alive — which I
very much doubted if the state of the hat was
anything to go by — I would have it back on its
peg within a few hours with a signed bar-chit
inside as explanation and recompense for any“Damien” awaits another sortie at Wyton in October 1988. By this time the
Nimrod fleet had adopted the hemp colour scheme with pale grey undersides
and toned-down national roundels. Note also the squadron’s flying goose
emblem painted in a circle on the Nimrod’s dorsal fillet.TERRY PANOPALISTaken some time before the application of the toned-down insignia, this
photograph of XW666 at RAF Alconbury shows the aircraft with standard
Type B roundels and fin flash. The Nimrod R.1s were later painted in a grey
scheme, although XW666 was still in its hemp colours when
it ditched in 1995.VIC FLINTHAM