PIREP Leg 68 - Herten Rheinfelden EDTR to Luxembourg ELLX

[J G 927]

The end of leg 60 found me at Sharm El Sheik. I treated myself to a relaxing couple of days diving the SS Thistlegorm. The Thistlegorm is a World War Two wreck of a British merchant ship that was fully loaded with supplies for the North African campaign. She was sunk by German Heinkel 111 bombers in October 1941. I had a further day resting after that as It’s inadvisable to fly within twenty four hours of diving. A pressure drop in an aircraft could possibly give you issues with nitrogen dissolved in the blood, commonly known as the bends.  I didn’t mind though, I sat by the pool and soaked up the sun for a few hours with a good book, and chilled out.

 

 

Diving the Thistlegorm – A sunken Steam engine

 

 

On the fourth day I returned to the airport and flew the Provost home. I took a couple of days to do it, flying over Egypt, the Med, Central Europe and home to Farnborough. My wife was there to meet me, and I was thoroughly told off for not telling her about the dangerous Sudan leg. I live only a small nag’s distance from Farnborough, so the ear-bashing wasn’t so bad.

 

I had only been in the house five minutes when the phone rang. I looked at the caller display, it said “Unknown number”. This could only be one of two people I thought; my mate Bill from leg 15, because of his high profile Job he is very ex-directory, or Tim, my brother-in-law because he lived in Belgium and caller display didn’t seem to run to foreign numbers

.

It was neither. “Hello Micke” I said in response to his greeting, Sweden is foreign as well as Belgium it seems. “You’re on for leg 68” he said, and we are having a group fly-in for the last leg. I thanked Micke, and after some small talk we said our goodbyes.

 

So I had two legs to sort out. Procuring an aircraft for the last leg and setting up leg 68.  I grabbed my map and looked at where I had to fly. 

 

I had hardly started when the phone rang again. Unknown number again. “Hello Micke, what have you forgotten to tell me?” I said. “Who? What?” Came the answer. I apologised to Bill. He had heard I was back at home and had phoned to get the low down on my adventures. “Look, why don’t you pop around and we can chat about it over a beer or two”. I agreed and as I knew it wouldn’t be just a beer or two, looked up the train times to Bills flat in Kensington. He has a massive place, far too big for him, his wife and the nipper, still it’s not like he had to buy it, he inherited it from his auntie Margaret.

 

I had a great evening, recounting my adventures and ended up dossing down in one of his endless spare bedrooms.

 

 

 

Bills’s flat is in this block.

 

The following day I left for home, knowing fully I would get another ear-bashing for spending my first night in the UK off at a mate’s palace (that was a bit of a slip wasn’t it!).  The previous evening Bill had promised to help out with leg 68 and to get hold of the aircraft I wanted for the final Southampton leg.

The next thing was to plan leg 68. Bill had told me to expect a military jet and a real treat.  Other than that he was being cagey, except he would let me know when to go to Germany to start leg 68.

 

Leaving Herten-Rhienfelden, I would navigate to Luxembourg using four VOR beacons, giving me a total distance of just under one hundred and fifty five miles. If this was to be in a military jet, then it would be a short flight of about twenty minutes to half an hour. I had wrongly assumed that Herten-Rhienfelden had a tarmac runway.

 

The call from Bill came whilst I was up a ladder pruning back a hedge. I was hot, very grubby and mildly irritated at having to stop what I was doing, but I climb down and answer the dog and bone. As soon as I realised it was Bill my mood lightened as there was a good chance I would have to stop gardening. – Thank you Bill!

 

My steed was waiting for me, parked up at EDTR and could I f-off and get my arse over there as soon as. Not my words but his, you understand.  I pumped him for more information on the aircraft but he was having none of it. All he said was get going and find out. He then gave me a mobile number to call when I got to Rheinfelden airport.  That would be handy (there is a joke in there if you know German slang).

 

I flew BA to Frankfurt. Apparently I could catch the S-Bahn into Frankfurt centre and then Ice train to Rheinfelden. It should take four hours and five minutes. It took four hours four minutes and fifty seconds, well this is Germany. I then took a cab to Rheinfelden Airport, got out at the main airport building and looked around.  There must be some mistake, this was a small grass strip, and I was expecting a military jet. Ok I should have done my homework on the airfield, then so should Bill. It looks like I would be disappointed this leg.

 

 

Rheinfelden Airport - Rather tatty for a German Airfield.

 

 

I dialed the mobile number. A robot voice said “you have one new message”. Next a voice said “go to the men’s toilets, you will find them out of order, go in anyway and you will meet a man who will give you further instructions.  Bloody weird, was I about to meet Germany's answer to Jimmy Saville?

 

Well what could I do but go and see what happened. Hang on a minute. Was this a trick by the redheaded man? Was I going to get bashed over the head and Marcellus tricked into giving up the baton? I looked around and saw a bicycle leaning against a wall with a cycle helmet perched on top of it.  I donned the helmet and suitably protected, strode towards the gents.

 

Once inside the bogs, I looked around for someone. It was empty. No wait, there was someone in trap 3. There came the sound of a flushing toilet and the door opened…….. It was Bill. Sorry about that, he said, you caught me with my trousers down, oh and sorry about the karzi secrecy, but I don’t want anyone to know I am here.

 

Given Bill's job, that was fair enough. But I took him to task on the jet promise. You wait and see, he said, we have to get to it first. I asked him where it was, Munich he replied. things could be looking up. Oh by the way Bill said, you look a right plonker in that cycle helmet.

 

The guys in the Tower warned us that Marcellus was on his way, so we got down to the serious business of planning. Bill, who apparently was going with me for the whole the leg, said that he had done the plan for the second leg, but I wasn’t going to find out the aircraft yet. All we had to do was the Rheinfelden to Munich leg for now.

 

 

Bills Tucano –“Borrowed” from RAF Linton-on-Ouse.

 

The Aircraft was to be a Shorts Tucano that Bill had flown in with this morning. I had flown one of these at RAF Valley, a nice little aircraft.  Bill was to be co-pilot and I was to fly it to Munich.

 

The flight plan promised some interesting scenery, we were taking the Tucano eastwards with the Alps to the south, and Black Forest to the north, nice. However the Munich to Luxembourg section was oddly very straight.

 

 

 

Flight Plan

 

Marcellus touched down in a rather snazzy Kodiak decked out in a camouflage paint job and I saw him head off the Terminal. I popped over to see him and I soon had the baton.

 

Back with Bill, I pressed him for the aircraft type for the second part of our ride.  He just laughed and said “you are going to wet yourself when you find out!”  Bugger, I hadn’t bought any of those gentleman’s super-absorbent comforters for this trip.

 

 

Tucano Take off

 

We look off in good time and made our way eastwards. The Tucano is a delightful aircraft, chosen by the RAF as a trainer as it responds to its controls in the same way as a jet. The RAF version, the T1, has a modified cockpit that closely resembles a Hawk trainer to facilitate conversion from Tucano to the trainer jet.

 

 

Cruising over the Rhine

 

Once at 10,000 feet we settled into a cruise, to our left lay Germany and the Black Forest to our right the Alps and Switzerland. Very beautiful indeed. Lake Konstanz passed by and Switzerland was replaced by Austria but the Alps marched on.

 

 

Mountains in the haze to our right.

 

Soon enough we were passed to Munich ATC and then Munich international Airport came into sight. “We are going to do a low pass over the airport, inverted” piped up Bill.

 

“You’re having a laugh” I replied, “this is Munich’s main airport, you can’t do that!”

 

“Oh yes we can” retorted Bill, “I cleared it from the top, with Angela M.”.  Sure enough ATC came on the radio and we were cleared for our inverted pass. “Take a look at Taxi way D6 near the fuel box as we go past, and you will see our next aircraft.

 

 

EDDM Taxiways

 

 

Looking up at the ground as we passed, I almost did wet myself. There were two English Electric Lightnings parked side by side on the tarmac, an F6 and an F3 if I wasn’t mistaken. “I bags the F6” said Bill. I didn’t care, I would be happy with either one of them.

 

 

Munich inverted pass – I really should have bought one of those gentleman’s comforters

 

Pass completed, we were cleared to land on 26L and were soon on finals.

 

 

Munich landing

 

Once we had touched down we were directed to take A7, A9, N, N4, D1, and finally D6. We parked up next to the pair of Lightnings. Now this is where the fun really starts, I thought to myself.

 

 

Parked up next to two absolute beauties!

 

The second part of the leg was about to start..... But first a commercial break....

 

 

 

Those of you who didn’t reside in the UK in the 70s, the above won’t have the same nostalgia value. However its worth watching for a laugh, and to see what state of the art was back then. – The Indian restaurant one was the same all over the country except your local curry house was added at the end. – Sorry I couldn’t resist putting this in when I saw it!

 

We parked up by the Lightnings, they were fuelled up and ready to go. So it was just a matter of reviewing Bill’s plan, donning the appropriate G-suit and we were almost ready to go.

 

Bills plan for the second section was simple: After take-off and climb to 10,000 ft, we would fly in a straight line to Luxemburg.  This was a good plan as it would be the quickest and use the least fuel.

 

Then there was the matter of fuel to discuss. They say that with a Lightning the moment you start the engines, you are fuel critical. This was more so with the F3 than the F6 as the F6 could carry over wing, jettisonable fuel tanks. The F3 could carry 966 imperial gallons, whereas the F6 could manage a total of 1130 imperial gallons comprising 610 internal and two tanks of 260 imperial gallons each, less fuel in the wings for the F6, hence the smaller internal volume.

 

Looking at the parked aircraft it was clear that there were no additional tanks of the F6, which gave my F3 a small fuel advantage. The maximum range for an F6 was 800 miles with the over wing tanks so Bills aircraft would have a range of about 430 miles. The F3’s range was about 500 miles. But remember that these figures were with nursing the fuel carefully. To take advantage of the phenomenal initial climb rate of 50,000 feet per minute to 40,000 ft in an intercept role, range had to be sacrificed, down to just 155 miles.

 

We wanted some fun, so we planned a scramble take off with a rapid climb to just 10,000 feet and a more sedate ride thereafter.  This would use up some fuel but not enough to compromise the flight.

 

Fuel tanks filled to the brim, we were soon given taxi clearance. Line astern we found our way to the designated runway and split up for take-off. I was to take the left side of the runway and Bill the right, forming up a little behind me.

 

Lined up and ready to go, take-off clearance was given. Throttles up to the maximum and re-heat engaged, with a jolt as the brakes came off we catapulted down the runway. Rotate, and into a shallow climb as the wheels came up, nose last.

 

 

Cleared for take-off!

 

 

Scramble!

 

Then stand the aircraft on its end for the famous lightning climb.  Seconds later we were at 8,500 ft and starting to reduce the climb rate and closing down the afterburners.

 

 

Lightning Climb

 

 

I did a quick instrument check. Wow! I had just used a shed load of fuel, in fact a worrying amount. At this rate we may have to put in at Stuttgart or Mannheim for a top-up.

 

A glance at the fuel gauge on most aircraft and you are not really aware of its movement. Afterburners on and in a Lightning and it visibly moves . Alarmingly so. It’s more of a countdown to disaster than a fuel gauge.

 

 

A thing of great beauty

 

We gradually (for a Lightning) gained height, nursing that precious fuel as we did so. Bills voice came over the radio, “how are you doing for fuel” he said. I replied that I had less than I thought I would have liked, and asked the same of him. He replied that he two had burned a bit more than expected, but felt he could make it to Luxemburg with what he had.  We agreed to review the situation as we neared Stuttgart and again near Mannheim.

 

 

Weather Changing

 

We pressed on. When I found time to drag my eyes off the fuel gauge, and look out of the cockpit, I noticed that the weather was changing. Clouds were building and it seemed a storm was brewing. The Met office had got it wrong, they said light showers over southern and central Germany, not a storm. Lightning flashed around us with increasing regularity, fortunately well below us. First Stuttgart was advising us not to land if there was no pressing need, which there wasn’t at the time, and then Mannheim advised us not to, and that the weather was better to the north.  We discussed the fuel situation after the advice from Mannheim, and decided to press on in the hope for better weather.

 

At last it was time to start our decent into Luxemburg. Fuel critical, neither of us could go around.  I advised Luxemburg of our situation and they promised to clear all traffic for our approach.

 

 

Thunder Storms & Lightnings!

(very very frightening – Galileo Galileo  … etc.).

 

We dipped below the clouds and in to the storm. Clearly not as bad as it was to the south, there was still a lot of rain and dense black cloud, but with a discernible lightening of the sky ahead of us.

 

Flying into the airport was a bumpy ride but we were soon lined up for our approach. We planned to land in close succession so that both of us could get onto the ground as soon as possible.

 

 

Finals

 

All this discussion about the weather and wrestling with the storm as we dropped into it had caused me to take my eye off the fuel ball. I had less than 900 lbs left, Bill must be lower than that. That wasn’t good. However we were very soon on short finals and cleared to land.

 

 

Touch Down

 

Down we came, air brakes out, touching down with a burst of spray. Parachute out, and then brakes on, we both stopped just short of the end of the runway. An exhilarating flight if ever there was one, great fun at the start and very scary at the end. We really shouldn’t have done the hard climb and conserved our fuel more, but what the hell, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

 

 

Taxi to Parking

 

 

As we taxied to the parking, the rain started to get heaver, and the sky darker as the storm caught us up. I hoped that this filthy weather would have cleared up before Joe started the next leg.

 

 

On Stand in the Rain

 

 

We parked up, shut down the aircraft and made for the bar with the baton.  “You will get to meet Joe” I said to Bill. “That’s nice” he replied, “What’s he like?”

 

“A bit of a Muppet, but he’s OK.”

[hurricanemk1c 195]

Stunning leg there John - excellent story and pics

 

What's the Aerosoft Lightning like to fly?

[J G 927]

The F6 is the JF lightning and, yes, the F3 is the Areosoft one.

 

I have had only the one flight in it so far and that was for this Prep. I have had a HDD failure since then and so I have not been able to fly it again since.  First impressions were very good indeed.

 

The EE lightning is probably my favorite aircraft of all time.

 

[hurricanemk1c 195]

Nice. And by the way the steam locomotive is an 8F 2-8-0. Built by the LMS for the War Department, sunk on her way to Egypt and later Turkey (if my kettle knowledge serves me right)

[brett 2,284]

An excellent story John, had me riveted.  You look like you had to much fun, that should be illegal.

[mutley 4,487]

Congrats John on a fabulous PIREP and yes the intermission had me right back there in our local flea pit called the Regal, and the local Indian was always on the bill.

 

Be across in a mo to pick the baton up. I haven't got an aircraft to fly yet and you're not getting me up in one of those Lightnings!

 

[ddavid 149]

Sorry for the late reply, John - enjoyed the detour, inter-mission and all. Well done.

Cheers - Dai.

[stu7708 244]

Very nicely done John, you really know how to put a good story together... 

 

As for the weather, you two did after all ride the ligthning so you really shouldn't have been surprised by the thunder