In all the letters about the Hastings I have not read one about the period when as on the flight servicing crew, particularly at night we were plagued by Oil Cooler failure.
I was with the flight servicing crew at Luqa in 1952, and there was a period when we would get one after the other of the Hastings landing and having to have one or more oil coolers changed.This was not one of the most easily done jobs, especially when there was more than one a/c waiting. We eventually decided if this was to be a regular problem ( it did turn out to be over a extended period) something must be done to cut the time down. As the worst task was the priming of the oil coolers, we had up to six oil cooler lined up on the tarmac, primed and ready to install depending on the scheduled arrivalls.This did help a lot especially as the shift only had two engine men on. The location of the coolers was no help for a quick turnround either. Thankfully someone eventually decided that there was a better system and cured the problem.
