David described a number of differences
between Shackleton variants. “I’d own MR.3s
for some years, which were lovely to handle.
They ew beautifully for the pilot and had good
controls, even if it was underpowered.
“When I went to ying the AEW.2, I honestly
rst thought the ailerons were jammed. On
the MR.3s we had an auto instrument landing
system, but not on the AEW.2s. Anyone
coming to y the Shackletons for the rst time
had major problems working out how to y the
aircraft until they got used to it.”
In addition to internal modi cations,
the most obvious external changes were
removal of the retractable fuselage-mounted
air-to-surface vessel ‘dustbin’ radome and
nose-mounted 20mm gun. The AEW.2’s AN/
APS-20F AEW radar was meanwhile housed
at the front of the aircraft.
These radars had been stripped from 849
Sqn Fleet Air Arm (FAA) Gannet AEW.3s,
having become surplus as the carrier force
ran down. Early version AN/APS-20 radars
had rst been installed in US Navy Grumman
Avengers during 1945, although the ‘F’
version was a signi cant development over
the original model.
“It’s remarkable when you look back now
that between 1973 and 1991 we were really
using a 1940s radar strapped to a 1949
airframe,” noted David.
The AEW.2s were tted with the distinctive,
if antiquated, ‘spark plug’ of the Orange
Harvest passive ‘S’ band and ‘X’ band radar
warning receiver on top of the fuselage. It
gave bearing information, displayed on
screens, of surface vessels and submarinesusing their radar, while not betraying the
Shackleton’s own position.
The aircraft carried APX-7 IFF
[Identi cation Friend or Foe] equipment and
a suite of radios including two PTR 175 VHF/
UHF, two R52 UHF and two Collins 618T
single-sideband HF sets. An airborne moving
target indicator eliminated some sea clutter
from the display but did not perform brilliantly.
Electrical power for the radar was provided
by the Shackleton’s Rolls-Royce Griffon
engines: numbers one and two had to be run
at 2,175rpm for their AC generators to deliver
the required current.
David recalled: “In the early days,12 aeroplanes were converted to AEW
con guration and we kept another two for
circuits and bumps.”
No.8 Sqn re-formed on January 1, 1972
as part of 11 (Air Defence) Group at RAF
Kinloss, Moray, before moving to nearby
Lossiemouth on August 14, 1973 where it
remained until the type’s retirement on June
30, 1991. Its previous aircraft had been
Hunter FGA9s, based in Aden and Muharraq
in Bahrain.
David explained how 8 Sqn gained its
unique markings on the Shackleton: “When
we looked at pictures of the Hunters they
had squadron yellow, blue and red coloured
bars either side of the roundel painted on
the fuselage, so we did the same on the
Shackleton.
“Nobody told us to remove them so we just
carried on using them. These are still carried
on the squadron’s E-3Ds today.”
The individual Shackletons soon assumed
names of characters taken from the Serge
Danot-inspired Magic Roundabout, a popular
children’s TV programme aired in the early
1970s which gained adult ‘cult’ status.MORE TASKS
It didn’t take long before other tasks were
added to 8 Sqn’s list of duties, including
responsibility for mainland AEW as well as for
the Fleet, plus controlling air defence ghters,
reporting movement of surface vessels and
directing maritime strike and attack aircraft.
As the AEW2s’ radar could detect ships,
they ew many sorties operating as ‘orange’
forces, directing Lossiemouth’s 12 andhttp://www.aviation-news.co.uk 29The then Wg Cdr David Greenway was OC of
8 Sqn from 1982 to 1984. Crown CopyrightThe Shackleton had a second career
as an airborne early warning aircraft
with the RAF. Peter R Foster28-33_shackletonDC.mfDC.mf.mfDC.mfDC.indd 29 04/08/2017 17:40