FlyPast 01.2018

76 FLYPAST January 2018

O

ne of the lessons of the

Falklands conflict of 1982

gave rise to the use of what

was then the largest aircraft to enter

RAF service, the Lockheed Tristar.

An Air Staff Requirement had been

established for a tanker-transport

to fulfil the demands for the South

Atlantic ‘air bridge’ and to increase

capacity for long-range deployment.

Much of my time in 1982 had

been spent on Ascension Island,

piloting Victor K.2 tankers. I

graduated from Empire Test

Pilots’ School at Boscombe Down,

Wiltshire, on December 8, 1983.

The three-engined, widebodied

Tristar was selected for the RAF

requirement, with Marshall of

Cambridge Engineering conducting

the transformation from airliner to

tanker-transport. (Lockheed called

the type the TriStar – with a capital

‘S’ – and registered the name as a

trademark, but the RAF designated it

Tristar - ED.)

By the time the first newly-

converted example came out

of the shed at Cambridge, with

my background in the air-to-air

refuelling (AAR) task, I was in

pole position for the role of Tristar

Project Officer. By July 1985 when

I joined the trials programme at

the Aeroplane and Armament

Experimental Establishment,

Boscombe Down, in July 1985, I

was senior pilot on ‘B’ Squadron –

the heavy aircraft test unit.

I joined the programme in the

very early stages of joint trials with

the contractor, Marshall. Sharing

the flight deck with a Marshall

test pilot on November 28, 1985,

I carried out the first of 36 trials

spanning five months. These varied

from as little as two hours,

although the

majority

lasted

from four to six hours.

Release-to-service flights followed,

including tanker-and-receiver

proving trials, as well as ‘hot and

heavy’ tests, which were conducted

in California. In this feature we

focus on proving the Tristar in the

AAR role.

CANBERRA STEPPING

STONE

Against the backdrop of the

continued South Atlantic

operations, the Tristar was expected

to provide AAR as a priority for

the Phantom fighters stationed

in the Falkland Islands and

Hercules transports engaged

on the air bridge. Accordingly,

the twin hoses of the

Mk.17T hose drum unit

(HDU) mounted under

the tail would need to be

operationally proven at an

early stage.

Six months before

GLOBAL

REACHREACH

1918 2018

Below right

Boscombe’s Phantom

during trials with

Tristar ZD950 on

February 12, 1986. The

author fl ew Hawk T.1

XX343 to observe.