Operation HYDRAULIC -1

The other day I was exchanging memories of a happy RAF career when the subject of Operation Hydraulic arose.  This sent me scurrying to my archive for photographic evidence.  A friend had lent me a small camera for the trip and this proved to be the beginning of a most rewarding hobby thereafter.

Operation Hydraulic was the codename for an operation to deploy 13 Lightning Mk6 aircraft of No 74 Squadron from their base at Leuchars, Fife, to RAF Tengah in Singapore.  The 14th aircraft, a 2-seater, was sent by sea.  No 74 had been the first RAF front line Squadron to operate the Lightning, the RAF's first supersonic fighter, and in 1966 had been re-equipped with the F6 version which could be fitted with additional over wing fuel tanks to extend its unrefuelled range.  Nevertheless, for the deployment to Singapore, air-to-air refuelling would be necessary, particularly on the long oceanic transits.

The deployment was scheduled for June 1967.  At the time, the RAF's air-to-air refuelling assets comprised 3 squadrons (55, 57 and 214) of converted Handley Page Victor B Mk1 and BMk 1A bombers.  The tanker variant was designated BK Mk 1/1A.  Several of the conversions had 3 refuelling points: one on each wing for fighter type aircraft, and one on the centre-line (at the rear of the the old bomb bay) which could be used to refuel large receivers, particularly other tankers).  However, at the time, few of the Victor crews were qualified to receive fuel from another Victor.

The refuelling task was both complex and potentially complicated.  The Lightning was incapable of independent navigation over long distances and therefore must be accompanied by at least one tanker for the entire way.  Each Lightning must always have sufficient fuel on board to make an emergency diversion to an alternative airfield in the event of a technical  malfunction or failure to receive the required amount of fuel from the tanker.  I cannot remember the exact construct but the deployment was arranged in "waves" with a number of Victor Tankers escorting 2 or 4 Lightnings over each leg.  There were 4 legs: Marham/Leuchars to Akrotiri (Cyprus), Akrotiri to Masirah (Oman), Masirah to Gan (an atoll in the Indian Ocean), and Gan to Tengah Singapore (Butterworth in Penang for the Victors).

And so it was on 4 June 1967, Victor K1A XH588, Captain Flt Lt Eddie Smeeth, Co-Pilot Fg Off John Brown, Navigator Plotter Flt Lt Dennis Maunders, Navigator Radar Flt Lt Bill Bowen, Air Electronics Officer Flt Lt Rick West, and a flying engineer, trussed on the 6th cockpit seat, set off on Wave 1 of the first stage of the deployment to Akrotiri.  Several challenges lay ahead:  firstly, all the Victors which had taken-off independently had to find each other at height and become a single formation, secondly, the formation of Victors had to rendezvous with the formation of Lightnings which had left Leuchars earlier.  Finally, the whole formation of Victors and Lightnings had to set course cross France, refuelling as we went and overcoming the diplomatic hurdles and restrictions that our French and Italian friends had put in the way.

This is what it looked like on climb out from Marham on 4 June:

And this is how it looked as the tankers joined up:

 As far as I can remember, we all reached Akrotiri without major alarm and here we all are, apart from the photographer, after landing.  Note the empty demijohn of Cyprus Sherry in the forground.  Although the intention would have been to replenish it, I think this also shows an early example of environmentally responsible re-cycling.

To be continued.