FlyPast 01.2018

(Barré) #1

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.
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