Had this one in from Harlan Senior a few years back
I too remember the early days of the Hastings, I was at Topcliffe as NS Instrument Basher on repair and rectification 1949 when these beautiful brand spanking new aircraft arrived complete with civilian technicians carrying out modifications and when the aircraft took off for the Berlin Airlift the civilians went too.I too remenber the smell of "newness"and also the coating of coal dust on everything when aircraft returned for servicing,after carrying coal to Berlin, and after a short time we looked more like coal miners. As a new member I love all the stories, bringing back happy memories and have an excellent photograph of TG536 on dispersal at Topcliffe.
I recall being flown out of Topcliffe to Istres in the South of France to change an oil cooler on a Hastings which was stranded there. This was in the early 50's and the pilot who flew us there as he boarded said if we felt like he did we shouldn't be flying! Apparently he had had a heavy night in the Officers Mess the night before. In any case the flight was uneventful and we arrived in Istres before midday. Of course we had to partake of lunch before starting work. The meal was very good and was accompanied by dinner wine which was appreciated to the extent that we took a few bottles out to the aircraft when we went to do the oil cooler change. Well we spent the afternoon hopping out onto the wing to do some work and then getting back inside to partake of the wine. It was very cold on the airfield. ( That was our excuse!) We eventually completed the oil change did a ground run and cleared the fault, had a quick trip downtown to check the local scene. The next day a spare crew arrived to bring us and the aircraft back to Topcliffe. Needless to say the return trip was successful and we arrived back at Topcliffe after our sojourne in France sans passport!
