The National Geographic and History channel could save millions. Fire all the staff - except Jenny and Chris to answer the phones - and just show Dr Feltons output. He does more in 10 minutes than these channels do in an afternoon!
Yeah 😄 And it was the propellers’ tips breaking the sound barrier and creating turbulence to the propeller behind what cause the noise I think. Mechanically the gearbox and engines (2) can’t produce that noise with out exploding, noise is energy and that makes metals break
The geographic location of SA made them vulnerable to the USSR attacks, like the wars they fought to the north. The Apartheid - Afrikaner nonsense, a religious thing, made everything toxic... Not every Afrikaner was like that, as with every ideological tragic story... same with the soviets, or today’s communist atrocities: weakness and fear fuels this nonsense
@@RebeccaCampbell1969 This sounds a lot like terrorist talk and is therefore dismissed. Anyways yes, it is a shame that the SATO proposed by von Mellenthin wasnt established.
I grew up in Cape Town and was into surfing. Sitting waiting for waves they'd fly over heading out to sea on maritime patrol. They never flew North into the operational areas, that was not their mission with the SAAF.
Good for you mate. Mate of mine my want a word though, he had farmers caused by tons of hours on Shacks as a nav. He said his arse couldn't cope with seats. Couldn't you have done something?!
@@bilbobigbollix7318 i was only a contractor at the chadderton and woodford factories so not down to me sorry about your mate though lol and i can tell you now anyone who flew in them or was involved loves them and would go and fly in one right now lol
@@steveholmes5207 - Yeah, he loved 'em despite the painful memories! I've got an old movie film clip that dad took of a low level Shack bimbling along off the coast of St Ives in 1966. Alway wondered if it was my mate getting lost in it!
@Steve Holmes: Why didn't you name the factory, if you worked there? Assuming a young man 21 years of age as the worker you claim, you'd be some 90 years old making this comment, which is thus suspiciously apocryphal.
@@elrjames7799 i did in another message to someone else built at chadderton nr Manchester and assembled and flown at woodford in Cheshire i was there when the last when the last 5 RAF Mk 2 AEW shackleton's all came to woodford so why would you dispute that i had worked there or not i saw all the AEW nimrod being manufactured i saw the first flight of the ATP advanced turbo prop p.s my father is the president of the woodland of the aviation heritage centre at woodford which is no longer a working airfield hope that put your mind at rest and put you in the picture
Well Tankers are are bigger than Warships woch makes them harder to sink ,the anti ship missiles werent that precise and the Tanker was filled with oil wich certainly helped to stay afloat. Also As 30 weren't like specifically anti ship missiles but rather precision Rockets for ground attack
given that she was on a reef, and the AS-30 was designed to strike pretty high above the waterline and had an armour piercing warhead, it wouldn't surprise me if the missiles just went right through the superstructure of the ship without exploding and hit the water some distance away, harmless to the single hulled behemoth.
I remember the Shackeltons (along with the Buccaneers) when they were based at RAF Lossiemouth. I will never forget the sound of those Griffon engines.
While stationed at RAF Kinloss during the early 80’s, I was lucky enough to get a flight in an 8 Sqn Shack. 11 hours over the North Atlantic- it took almost the same amount of time for my hearing to recover and the curious buzzing sensation to ease! It was a fantastic experience and I was very aware that I was flying in a unique example of British aviation history.
@12jsteve. 11 hours you are lucky, I know someone (a rock FSgt) who was at Lossie, saw a Shack land, and said to an officer 'I would love a flight in one of those!' A few days later he got his wish! Over 11 hours later he was seen by the same officer who asked him if he had enjoyed his jolly. His response was 'Peace off!' At least the officer just laughed!!
With only 2 Lanc's still airworthy, in in UK and the other in Canada, seeing the Shackleton and the Lancaster in the air together would be a truly remarkable feat.
I live in West London and always see one of the original Lancasters flying low over my house every time they are used in fly-bys for any big Royal events a couple of miles away over Buckingham Palace,and Spitfires too,always an awesomely good looking and sounding experience!!...Very moving too.
With the longest mission in one being slightly under 24 hours thats understandable. You'd be surprised how many people want to be inside one now though!
@@mitseraffej5812 The joke is that Mr.3 Shalcktons were soundproofed on the inside as well as other crew comforts due to the awfully loud engines and what I presume was rattling of the rivets.
What a great video. That brings back memories because we used to live near RAF St Mawgan in the 1960s and Shackletons used to fly low over our house making an incredible noise. Residents didn’t like the noise but I used to love it as a teenager. The Shacks had 37 litre Rolls Royce Griffon V12 engines, a derivative of the famous 27 litre Merlins. Those bigger engines and the contra-rotating props are what gave the Shacks their distinctive sound. The Mark 3s had a tricycle undercarriage with the retractible radar dome at the rear of the aeroplane, I always thought they were better looking than the Mark 2s with the rear tail wheel and Radome in the nose. Several kids at my school had fathers who either flew in them or worked as ground crew.
My father was a Shackleton pilot out of Ballykelly and for a while Sharjah airfields. No. 210 Sqn. Died some years ago. He managed to wreck one on landing at Ballykelly but all on board survived with only very minor injuries. I would really love to see WR963 in the air again, there really is no sound like it.
Thanks for this one Mark, I was 10 years old growing up in Cape Town and remember this incident vividly. I and the rest of Cape Town also grew up with Shacks flying out of Ysterplaat AFB all through my youth. They were majestic and loud.
I live only a few miles from Hamilton, Ontario, where the Canadian Avro Lancaster is kept. I often see & HEAR the Lancaster fly overhead, once buzzing my family at a Remembrance Day ceremony (my Dad was Lancaster mechanic during WWII). It would be wonderful to see one of these Shackletons do a fly by...especially since I didn't even know of their existence before this time. Thanks again for an informative video.
I lived just 900 mt from the Ysterplaat runway back in the sixties. Nothing like it to see these coming in low on final approach with landing lights blazing and deafening noise right over our house....magnificent!
My grandparents lived across the road from AFB Ysterplaat, and I grew up hearing these amazing planes taking off, and landing. We could just about see the runway, and I could hear them warming up, and then taxiing! Loved watching them!
That'd be something to have a formation made up of an Avro Lancaster and Shackleton flying overhead. Imagine the wonderful symphony of sound of the Rolls Royce Merlin (Lancaster) and Griffon (Shackleton) engines being heard overhead! Nice story about the "shack" and thanks for sharing!
@@andy1514-g1q Avro had a plan to do a flypast at the Farnborough Air show with all 4 RR Griffins feathered and just flying on the jets. Not sure if it was allowed due to the operation time limits on the jets. The jet engineer said it would not be a problem but I am not sure what happened.
@Jake Roberts WELL this being South Africa, the Corona virus is saving more lives than it's taking. With all the liquor stores being closed, crime is down 200%. Only in the RSA. Oh the irony.
Yes and you can claim that you solved an ecological disaster by doing more ecological damage, sinking an oil tanker that will pollute the sea for 50 years!
@@bobmarshall3700 said by the usual poorly informed suspect, you underestimate just how vast the ocean is, the only reason oil is a problem is when its on the surface and can coat things, dispersed deep, its just food for bacteria. Its like how democrats in the us have no clue that almost 3 million die on a normal year when they cry about the virus.
I was a young sailor recruit in the South African Navy in the early 80s (Cape Town) -The shacks used to fly over the training base embarking on maritime patrols-something I will always remember.
Thanks for this wonderful episode Mark. I've read a lot of the comments questioning the methods used to dispose of the problem but no-one seems to realise that it was an entirely different era and the SAAF probably only followed the actions of the RAF during the Torrey Canyon disaster of 1967. It is clear that the South African government did wake up to the pollution dangers after the sinking of the Wafra, and since the closure of the Suez Canal (1967to 1975) meant more traffic and ever larger ships rounding the Cape; they funded 2 hugely powerful tugs and a fleet of anti-pollution vessels to counter such an occurrence. The tugs were named Wolraad Woltemade and John Ross; after two historical South African heroes.
The Avro Shackelton only retired from South African Air Force in 1990. I live in Cape Town South Africa and Ysterplaat Airforce base have been their main base when they where operated. Thanks for your videos. Like your channel
I remember watching a Shackleton flying over the North Sea when I was a kid. A fisherman had fallen overboard and it had been sent to search for him. Unfortunately they never found him. And yes it was very noisy. I was stood on the beach watching it flying around and though it was some distance away I could still hear it.
Thank you for the mention of the Pima Air Museum, a world class aviation museum that spans all decades of flight! I've glanced at their Shackleton as I've driven by.
My Dad, as a flight engineer flew Lancasters, and Lincolns after WW2 ( then the B29) and said that they were the noisiest planes ever but he loved his experience. So fast forward to the mid 70’s and as a pilot I was flying a Beechcraft Queen Air at about 1000 feet over the Moray Firth to Dounreay when a Shackleton formated on my left wing... very close. I was so impressed and nostalgic, we flew for about 50 miles together. The Queen air was a very noisy plane but the Shackleton could be heard very loudly in our plane, we waved goodbye as the cliffs appeared to the north.
My dad flew this in the 50’s in Scotland. As a boy he took us to the observation deck at Heathrow to watch planes taking off and landing. He was still with us when I got hired with the commuters in the USA but gone by the time I got to the majors. We never got to take our planned flight together but one day we will. RIP dad.
Thanks for this. Had two Shackletons at RAF Gan in the Maldives when I was stationed there in 1969/70. Have the Shack to thank for getting me off the Island for a short break in my Tour when I was deployed to RAF Changi in Singapore for a two week familiarization course ....
I lived near RAF Langar in Notts when these were still in service and my father used to take us up there in the 60's to watch them coming in and taking off as they changed rotas.
I used to love seeing the Meteorological Shackleton flying in the mid 1980's when I was working as a gardener on a large estate near Stranraer on the West Coast of Scotland. Beautiful old girl with very distinctive engine/propeller sound. It used to fly over at least weekly and would turn over the estate and continue back carrying out weather surveys I believe. Thanks for another great bit of un-remembered history and a forgotten war bird. Peace Charlie 🇬🇧
Nice to see this particular video. I was stationed at St. mawgen at the turn of the century as part of the Joint Maritime Force manning the undersea surveillance system (IUSS). Every day we came to work there sitting on it's haunches was the Avro Shackleton. Cornish aviation societies were always there on weekends attempting various restorations. Nice to see the level of enthusiasm.
Sadly, "was" being the most operative word in the sentence. They even started early... mere months into the "new dispensation"... by ditching one of the last flying Shacks in the Sahara desert, where it lies rotting to this day. SAAF museum declined seriously after that. Another sad loss was the Spitfire... personally, I believe lost to egotism.
@@ttggreen1 Or as some call it of late South African Air Farce. They even ran out of fuel one year, having to cancel all airshows and unnecessary flights without notice
Me neither - i'm guessing dissipating the oil 100's of miles away in a remote area at the time was the better option than close to the coast. I think the oil in time would degrade.
@@Gloopular more that because the oil is so far underwater That the oil will gradually disperse thanks ot ocean currents. Its not crude oil thats dangerous, its large concentrations of it
The idea here wasn't to stop it from leaking completely. It was to keep the oil from washing up all over the South African coast, because coastlines are where oil spills actually do the most ecological damage.
I used to work on Sepecat Jaguars at Lossiemouth back in the mid 80's. We shared our flight line with the Shacks of 8 Squadron and i used to love watching them flying around. One of my most vivid memories was when i was stood on top of a Jaguar when 8 squadron's C.O. was flying his last sortie in a Shack. It flew down our flightline at about 50 feet and when something that big flies so close over your head, it sticks in your memory. Happy days!
Thank you very much mark, my grandfather recently passed away, he told me many stories of flying in the shack and i think mosquitoes during the berlin air lift. The shack has been a favourite for years. Really enjoyed this one!
Great story. An old SA friend did his military service as groung crew for one of these planes. Not justifying apartheid in any way, but SA furnished valuable Intel to the west on Russian naval activity.
Sad to say that politics got in the way of the proper recognition of SAAF's contribution in the desert in WW2. I'm no supporter of apartheid, quite the opposite in fact, but the SA pilots made a great contribution in Hurricanes and Spitfires that were a bit worn out to say the least.
I love this channel, it reminds me of when I was a child and my dad would put on 'world at war' when I couldn't sleep. I miss those days, my recently divorced dad at the time trying his best with me and my brother.
Great aircraft! The sound of the Griffon engines is always awesome!!!! Served in the SAAF as Logistician many moons ago.. when it was still a functional force.
Beautiful aircraft , I remember one flying over us in the late 80 s . I was on the bridge wing on the Glasgow and looked up to see her ... couldn’t believe how slow and low she was ... caught the pilot imitating a “ rowing “ motion with his hands !! The entire bridge fell about laughing;) it looked straight out of Dambusters .. 10,000 rivers flying in loose formation indeed . Thanks again Mark ;)
"A hundred thousand rivets flying in close formation" ... I'd forgotten that quote from my days as a youth who was fascinated by submarines and WW2 bombers and their later developments. Another excellent historical upload again from MFP.
As a South African, I must say thanks for this video. Unfortunatly because this happened during apartheid and our government loves covering up anything good that happened back then that shows the apartheidsgovernment in a good light.
If the dumb morons in the South African Gov't had a simple thing like an ocean-going tug on immediate standby in one of the busiest sea lanes for oil tankers in the world - even subsidized by the mega-trillion dollar oil companies whose tankers use those sea lanes on a regular basis - this tanker would have probably been rescued before it hit the rocks in the first place, and this whole ugly oil mess could have been prevented.
I always love visiting the Shackelton on static display at AFB Swartkops, have been doing so with my father since I was 5 years old. It is such a tremendous honor to get to fly in a tiny aircraft and look down from the cockpit to behold this beautiful behemoth on the ground in all its glory. I would love to get to see one fly one day.
Picture the scene: 2020. Two retired South African Air Force fitters meet in a bar. After swapping personal histories, it becomes known that one guy is ex 35 Squadron (Shackeltons) and one is ex 28 Squadron (Buccaneers) . An awkward silence follows, and then the 35 Squadron guy says quietly :"SS Wafra" and nods sagely. The 28 Squadron guy slinks out of the bar in embarrassment. "Shaya amanzi!" the 35 Squadron guys says to himself and smiles thinly. (Zulu for "Strike at the water", 35 Squadron motto.) This scenario could have happened, if it wasn't for the Battle of Cassinga, where the Buccaneer boys earned their self respect back again.
I am from Tucson and I always go by the Shackleton when ever I'm at the Pima air museum. I remember loving the looks of the plane from as a youngster browsing through my aircraft books.
I recall spending a few nights in a tent on a camp site overlooking RAF St Mawgan, back in the 1960s, and listening to Shacks doing practice 'Circuits and Bumps' over the tent. I could almost reach up and touch them! Tended to disturb the night sleep :grin:
These monsters used to occasionally fly over my house at low level when I was a kid. I can attest that they were chest rattlingly loud but that never stopped me from racing outside to watch.
I love that you listed all the places where surviving aircraft are in the world to visit. Please continue doing this for the rest of your videos. Keep up the great work! Thank you!
For anyone who loves a great tale of courage and indomitable will, the Shackleton is named after Earnest Shackleton, whose Antarctic expedition turned into the most amazing story of human survival of all time. The two best books on it are written by the expedition's doctor and Shackleton himself, take your pick -- you won't be disappointed.
Yes you are quite right, the plane was named after my late grandfather Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922) the famous Antarctic explorer, by the designer of the Lancaster Roy Chadwick, his daughter Margaret was walking out with my father when they both young and were courting but they never got engaged or married to each other, Margaret married a man called Mr Dove, I had the honour in meeting Margaret Dove in the 80s we went to the Hendon Air Museum as both guess on the day that a Shackleton plane came to stay there as a permanent fixture, I don't know if it's still there or not, we both arrived in style I was driving my Grandfathers Motor Car, it's a 1912 Ford Model T., and I still have it today., I am James Shackleton the Grandson of Sir E H Shackleton & Director of J F Shackleton & Sons Funeral Director / Undertakers since 1703
@@jamesshackleton9525 Everyone should have REAL personal heroes, not comic book and movie heroes. I wish more young people understood that they don't need fictional heroes to look up to when true men and women of great achievements and character, past and present, exist. Your great grandfather is one of my personal heroes.
A friend of mine died when his Shackleton flew into the hills on the Western Isles in 1990. I remember the magnificent site and sound of them flying over when I lived in Lossiemouth.🎉
I live near Gatwick AM, so I've been on the Shackleton there. I sat in the cockpit and thought, "don't press anything, you may start the engines!". One of the men there who served on a Shackleton said that there is more electricity in my phone at full charge than the entire aircraft.
My grandad flew on Shackletons as a Navigator in the 50s and 60s stationed at Malta, Lossiemouth, St Mawgan, Ballykelly among others, including the one on display at Duxford with a C on the front for our surname. Thanks for the video.
I think the Shackleton quote is "flying in loose formation". Good episode. Loved the Shack as a kid. You would hear them from horizon to horizon on those warm summer nights.
Thanks for this fascinating work. My late father was navigator on one of those Bucs that targeted the Wafra. I seem to remember there were SAAF mirages also involved in that op? A few years back, in an article for the South African edition of Popular Mechanics, a pilot of the other squadron who'd been there claimed in a letter that the Bucs had "failed" in their mission. As you can imagine, this rankled my dad, who promptly put pen to paper. Apparently, the Bucs were armed with missiles equipped with timers set by ground crews. These had been done incorrectly, meaning the missiles had simply shot through the hull without intended explosion. The fault certainly did not lie with the Bucs that had hit the target as required, he wrote! For his efforts, Popular Mechanics sent him a Leatherman for Best Letter of the month.
Mk 1 and 2 were tail draggers, while the Mk 3 had a nose wheel. The Mk 3 also had a jet engine in the rear of each inboard nacelle to assist in take off.
I really don't understand how they did that. I would have thought it was such a fundamental part of the design that it couldn't be altered. Did they shift the main wheels back and/or extend the fuselage forwards to alter the balance?
@@caw25sha the 2 main gear wheels carry all of the weight in either configuration, the nose or tail wheel is just a prop to keep the ends off the ground ;-)
Dankie dr. Felton. I recall the oil - tanker. On holiday to Struisbaai & L'Aghullas the rocks was all covert with the sticky staff. My brother, Nel, served his 2 yrs at SALM/ SAAF at Langebaanweg in mid 1980's. ( Langebaanweg Airforce Base is close to Saldanha baai/ bay.) After his time he worked at Atlas Vliegtuigkorporasie/ - Airplane Corporation. He said South Africa had a problem to get new parts for the planes. To make the part form new was to build a machine and very expensive. It was ("much") cheaper to import from England or France. But we can't import. To day he is in New Zealand. Never in his live (1960-2000+) did he ever thought in post 50-th birthday, he'll serve a different country...
Also to deliver nukes in case of Cuban invasion of south west Africa . Read a book on them in SA service and author stated they were very capable , especially low level sling bombing during Cuete Cuaneval. SAAF's border war by Peter Baxter
@@MarxAlex also dropped the first ever self-produced TV guided bomb (H2) on the Cuito road bridge in 1988, making it inaccessible to vehicular traffic www.saairforce.co.za/the-airforce/weapons/59/raptor-1-glide-bomb-h-2
thank you for this, As a SOuth African its nice to hear about things our air force did i havent heard about. remember the crash in the desert watched in the news at the time. was big news at the time.....
@@scottmcintosh4397 She lied in a Tobruk museum in the open air alongside some wrecked 25 pounders and pak's. I had the chance to look around her in 2010. Underneath her paint was immaculate.
My absolute favorite SAAF plane - the sound of a shackelton in flight brings goosebumps to a lot of her fans. Some where i have some lovely footage for the crew prepping for the ground runs.
Well done! Thank you, Dr. Felton. I saw The Death of Pelican 16 by Andrew StPierre White as well and it is worth watching (available here on RUclips). His documentary about the English Electric Lightning is both amazing and sad.
Mark Felton does such a good job I'd watch him make a documentary about him making coffee in the morning.
I like to think that he uses the opening music as his ring tone.
That put a smile on my lips!.
And it's true too.
Dr.Felton's work is unimpeachable.
#de cam: please don't say things like that aloud. He may take it seriously and start charging us for it
The National Geographic and History channel could save millions. Fire all the staff - except Jenny and Chris to answer the phones - and just show Dr Feltons output.
He does more in 10 minutes than these channels do in an afternoon!
“At 7:36 am, the kettle began to show signs of boiling, but a nice cup of tea was hardly a foregone conclusion.”
"100 000 Rivets flying in close formation"
Damn thats funny.
rivets
@@ColinH1973 thank you
@@jakobc.2558 no worries mate 👍
Yeah 😄
And it was the propellers’ tips breaking the sound barrier and creating turbulence to the propeller behind what cause the noise I think.
Mechanically the gearbox and engines (2) can’t produce that noise with out exploding, noise is energy and that makes metals break
I've worked on a shackleton and its more than true 🥴.
If there was a space it was filled with a bolt or a rivet !
South Afrika used these aircraft probably longer than any nation as first line aircraft. Loved watching them land and take off during operations.
The geographic location of SA made them vulnerable to the USSR attacks, like the wars they fought to the north.
The Apartheid - Afrikaner nonsense, a religious thing, made everything toxic...
Not every Afrikaner was like that, as with every ideological tragic story... same with the soviets, or today’s communist atrocities: weakness and fear fuels this nonsense
@@RebeccaCampbell1969 This sounds a lot like terrorist talk and is therefore dismissed. Anyways yes, it is a shame that the SATO proposed by von Mellenthin wasnt established.
The RAF used them at least into the seventies. A pair of them used to fly fairly regularly over my school back then. The last one was retired in 1991.
No, as was pointed out, RAF Shacks retired in 1991. The last Squadron (12 Sqn I think) being based at RAF Lossiemouth.
I grew up in Cape Town and was into surfing. Sitting waiting for waves they'd fly over heading out to sea on maritime patrol. They never flew North into the operational areas, that was not their mission with the SAAF.
Nothing like the sound of a shack sadly missed in the skies and thank you mark for this i worked at the factory where all shackleton's where made 💓👍
Good for you mate. Mate of mine my want a word though, he had farmers caused by tons of hours on Shacks as a nav. He said his arse couldn't cope with seats. Couldn't you have done something?!
@@bilbobigbollix7318 i was only a contractor at the chadderton and woodford factories so not down to me sorry about your mate though lol and i can tell you now anyone who flew in them or was involved loves them and would go and fly in one right now lol
@@steveholmes5207 - Yeah, he loved 'em despite the painful memories! I've got an old movie film clip that dad took of a low level Shack bimbling along off the coast of St Ives in 1966. Alway wondered if it was my mate getting lost in it!
@Steve Holmes: Why didn't you name the factory, if you worked there? Assuming a young man 21 years of age as the worker you claim, you'd be some 90 years old making this comment, which is thus suspiciously apocryphal.
@@elrjames7799 i did in another message to someone else built at chadderton nr Manchester and assembled and flown at woodford in Cheshire i was there when the last when the last 5 RAF Mk 2 AEW shackleton's all came to woodford so why would you dispute that i had worked there or not i saw all the AEW nimrod being manufactured i saw the first flight of the ATP advanced turbo prop p.s my father is the president of the woodland of the aviation heritage centre at woodford which is no longer a working airfield hope that put your mind at rest and put you in the picture
so no one is going to talk about how a severly damaged cargo ship managed to take 7 anti ship missles and still stay afloat?
sods law
She was a tanker and tankers are very hard to destroy with anti ship missiles.
Well Tankers are are bigger than Warships woch makes them harder to sink ,the anti ship missiles werent that precise and the Tanker was filled with oil wich certainly helped to stay afloat. Also As 30 weren't like specifically anti ship missiles but rather precision Rockets for ground attack
given that she was on a reef, and the AS-30 was designed to strike pretty high above the waterline and had an armour piercing warhead, it wouldn't surprise me if the missiles just went right through the superstructure of the ship without exploding and hit the water some distance away, harmless to the single hulled behemoth.
What is it with those anti-ship missiles and having dud warheads? Happened in the Falklands War as well, loads of hits, none exploded inside the ship.
I remember the Shackeltons (along with the Buccaneers) when they were based at RAF Lossiemouth. I will never forget the sound of those Griffon engines.
the sound was fabulous, loved seeing them and the Bucks as they screamed down through the Spey valley on exercise
A common sight in my youth in Moray
I remember them at RAF Kinloss, just along from Lossiemouth, which at the time was a Fleet Air Arm station HMS Fulmar I think.
South Africa was the only country besides UK to fly the "Bucc". Used very successfully in Angola as a ground and strategic target attack aircraft.
Yep the slow drone as the flew out on missions at night whilst as a kid i lived in Forres
While stationed at RAF Kinloss during the early 80’s, I was lucky enough to get a flight in an 8 Sqn Shack. 11 hours over the North Atlantic- it took almost the same amount of time for my hearing to recover and the curious buzzing sensation to ease! It was a fantastic experience and I was very aware that I was flying in a unique example of British aviation history.
@12jsteve. 11 hours you are lucky, I know someone (a rock FSgt) who was at Lossie, saw a Shack land, and said to an officer 'I would love a flight in one of those!' A few days later he got his wish! Over 11 hours later he was seen by the same officer who asked him if he had enjoyed his jolly. His response was 'Peace off!' At least the officer just laughed!!
With only 2 Lanc's still airworthy, in in UK and the other in Canada, seeing the Shackleton and the Lancaster in the air together would be a truly remarkable feat.
I live in West London and always see one of the original Lancasters flying low over my house every time they are used in fly-bys for any big Royal events a couple of miles away over Buckingham Palace,and Spitfires too,always an awesomely good looking and sounding experience!!...Very moving too.
"A Shackleton taking off was the best sound in the world to hear, because it meant you weren't on board."
With the longest mission in one being slightly under 24 hours thats understandable. You'd be surprised how many people want to be inside one now though!
Lol
WHATD YOU SAY?
Unless you were hearing it from the inside.
@@mitseraffej5812 The joke is that Mr.3 Shalcktons were soundproofed on the inside as well as other crew comforts due to the awfully loud engines and what I presume was rattling of the rivets.
Info on Ernest you get almost anywhere, to learn about Avro Shackleton you're at the perfect place at Felton's.
The Lincoln has a few good tales.
@@scottleft3672
Tales or tails? 😉
@@TheCimbrianBull both.
I love how the Shackleton served into 1991. It retired just 2 years before the Handley Page Victor.
Fondly remember the Shackleton, and there were many in service when I served with RAF Bomber Command in the 1960s
What a great video. That brings back memories because we used to live near RAF St Mawgan in the 1960s and Shackletons used to fly low over our house making an incredible noise. Residents didn’t like the noise but I used to love it as a teenager. The Shacks had 37 litre Rolls Royce Griffon V12 engines, a derivative of the famous 27 litre Merlins. Those bigger engines and the contra-rotating props are what gave the Shacks their distinctive sound. The Mark 3s had a tricycle undercarriage with the retractible radar dome at the rear of the aeroplane, I always thought they were better looking than the Mark 2s with the rear tail wheel and Radome in the nose. Several kids at my school had fathers who either flew in them or worked as ground crew.
Yes I Remember watching the Shackletonf flying low over Tretherras School In Newquay in The 60s
My old friend was aircrew on these beasts. Sadly he passed away 18 months ago. He had some great stories! RIP Sqn Ldr Tim Cherry MBE RAF.
My father was a Shackleton pilot out of Ballykelly and for a while Sharjah airfields. No. 210 Sqn. Died some years ago. He managed to wreck one on landing at Ballykelly but all on board survived with only very minor injuries.
I would really love to see WR963 in the air again, there really is no sound like it.
Pedro Conejo was your father’s crash on 1st April 1968? If so, I witnessed it!
@@PedroConejo1939 We're working on it. We'll get WR963 up there one of these days. :)
Thanks for this one Mark, I was 10 years old growing up in Cape Town and remember this incident vividly. I and the rest of Cape Town also grew up with Shacks flying out of Ysterplaat AFB all through my youth. They were majestic and loud.
I live only a few miles from Hamilton, Ontario, where the Canadian Avro Lancaster is kept. I often see & HEAR the Lancaster fly overhead, once buzzing my family at a Remembrance Day ceremony (my Dad was Lancaster mechanic during WWII).
It would be wonderful to see one of these Shackletons do a fly by...especially since I didn't even know of their existence before this time. Thanks again for an informative video.
We had our own Canadair Argus filling that role before the Aurora. The Argus was an amazing ASW aircraft.
I lived just 900 mt from the Ysterplaat runway back in the sixties. Nothing like it to see these coming in low on final approach with landing lights blazing and deafening noise right over our house....magnificent!
My grandparents lived across the road from AFB Ysterplaat, and I grew up hearing these amazing planes taking off, and landing. We could just about see the runway, and I could hear them warming up, and then taxiing! Loved watching them!
And the Harvards! Another wonderful aircraft. That engine drone is so distinctive.
That'd be something to have a formation made up of an Avro Lancaster and Shackleton flying overhead. Imagine the wonderful symphony of sound of the Rolls Royce Merlin (Lancaster) and Griffon (Shackleton) engines being heard overhead! Nice story about the "shack" and thanks for sharing!
Add an Avro York and an Avro Lincoln and you've have the complete set!
You wouldn't hear the Lancaster if it was in formation with a Shackleton.
How about adding the Lincoln as well
What about the Wyvern lol
Four Rolls Royce Griffons singing their serenade!!!
Yes, but accompanied by contra rotating props at that!
two Armstrong Siddeley Viper turbojets too on later models
@@andy1514-g1q Avro had a plan to do a flypast at the Farnborough Air show with all 4 RR Griffins feathered and just flying on the jets. Not sure if it was allowed due to the operation time limits on the jets. The jet engineer said it would not be a problem but I am not sure what happened.
Good to see the SAAF content! Loved those old birds... seeing them flying was special. Knew most of Pelican 16's crew... great guys!
We South Africans are grateful for this content!
Yes we are!🇿🇦
@Jake Roberts WELL this being South Africa, the Corona virus is saving more lives than it's taking. With all the liquor stores being closed, crime is down 200%. Only in the RSA. Oh the irony.
Yes and you can claim that you solved an ecological disaster by doing more ecological damage, sinking an oil tanker that will pollute the sea for 50 years!
@@bobmarshall3700 said by the usual poorly informed suspect, you underestimate just how vast the ocean is, the only reason oil is a problem is when its on the surface and can coat things, dispersed deep, its just food for bacteria. Its like how democrats in the us have no clue that almost 3 million die on a normal year when they cry about the virus.
@@churblefurbles well said , were the South Africans supposed to fetch the crude with buckets and take it to a disposal site?
Salute and respect for south African airforce
As an expat I will second that, but unfortunately, it is no longer a force to be reckoned with, thanks to incompetence and corruption.
I was a young sailor recruit in the South African Navy in the early 80s (Cape Town) -The shacks used to fly over the training base embarking on maritime patrols-something I will always remember.
Thanks for this wonderful episode Mark. I've read a lot of the comments questioning the methods used to dispose of the problem but no-one seems to realise that it was an entirely different era and the SAAF probably only followed the actions of the RAF during the Torrey Canyon disaster of 1967. It is clear that the South African government did wake up to the pollution dangers after the sinking of the Wafra, and since the closure of the Suez Canal (1967to 1975) meant more traffic and ever larger ships rounding the Cape; they funded 2 hugely powerful tugs and a fleet of anti-pollution vessels to counter such an occurrence. The tugs were named Wolraad Woltemade and John Ross; after two historical South African heroes.
And the John Ross is still protecting our coast today.
@@Davidkxf I think it has since been scrapped, unfortunately
You will always have at least one American friend watching. You are the only channel I subscribe to, for the consistently excellent content.
You should subscribe to DRAIN ADDICT from Sydney . He always has consistently excellent content .....
@@Rusty_Gold85 lol, I stay busy dealing with my own toilet.
The Avro Shackelton only retired from South African Air Force in 1990. I live in Cape Town South Africa and Ysterplaat Airforce base have been their main base when they where operated. Thanks for your videos. Like your channel
I remember watching a Shackleton flying over the North Sea when I was a kid. A fisherman had fallen overboard and it had been sent to search for him. Unfortunately they never found him.
And yes it was very noisy. I was stood on the beach watching it flying around and though it was some distance away I could still hear it.
@Nimbus Nimbus "unfortunately they never found him".......
@Nimbus Nimbus Haha fair pley
*play
Thank you for the mention of the Pima Air Museum, a world class aviation museum that spans all decades of flight! I've glanced at their Shackleton as I've driven by.
your video are a god send with this lockdown your voice is so relaxing thank you mark
thank god got loads of your videos keep safe
My Dad, as a flight engineer flew Lancasters, and Lincolns after WW2 ( then the B29) and said that they were the noisiest planes ever but he loved his experience.
So fast forward to the mid 70’s and as a pilot I was flying a Beechcraft Queen Air at about 1000 feet over the Moray Firth to Dounreay when a Shackleton formated on my left wing... very close.
I was so impressed and nostalgic, we flew for about 50 miles together.
The Queen air was a very noisy plane but the Shackleton could be heard very loudly in our plane, we waved goodbye as the cliffs appeared to the north.
My dad flew this in the 50’s in Scotland. As a boy he took us to the observation deck at Heathrow to watch planes taking off and landing. He was still with us when I got hired with the commuters in the USA but gone by the time I got to the majors. We never got to take our planned flight together but one day we will. RIP dad.
Thanks for this. Had two Shackletons at RAF Gan in the Maldives when I was stationed there in 1969/70. Have the Shack to thank for getting me off the Island for a short break in my Tour when I was deployed to RAF Changi
in Singapore for a two week familiarization course ....
I wish an old friend of mine could see this He was a engineer on Shackleton in the 1950s and 1960s RIP Mitch I will always rem member you
I lived near RAF Langar in Notts when these were still in service and my father used to take us up there in the 60's to watch them coming in and taking off as they changed rotas.
One of the old fellas who drinks in our local WMC used to be a shackleton pilot. Always gets emotional about them when he's had a few 👍
I used to love seeing the Meteorological Shackleton flying in the mid 1980's when I was working as a gardener on a large estate near Stranraer on the West Coast of Scotland.
Beautiful old girl with very distinctive engine/propeller sound.
It used to fly over at least weekly and would turn over the estate and continue back carrying out weather surveys I believe.
Thanks for another great bit of un-remembered history and a forgotten war bird.
Peace
Charlie 🇬🇧
Excellent video thank you have a great day everyone.
Nice to see this particular video. I was stationed at St. mawgen at the turn of the century as part of the Joint Maritime Force manning the undersea surveillance system (IUSS). Every day we came to work there sitting on it's haunches was the Avro Shackleton. Cornish aviation societies were always there on weekends attempting various restorations. Nice to see the level of enthusiasm.
"Was one of the most formidable and highly trained" being the operative word for the current SAAF.
That sadly goes for more countries.
Sadly, "was" being the most operative word in the sentence. They even started early... mere months into the "new dispensation"... by ditching one of the last flying Shacks in the Sahara desert, where it lies rotting to this day. SAAF museum declined seriously after that. Another sad loss was the Spitfire... personally, I believe lost to egotism.
@@ttggreen1 or South African Air Force?
@@ttggreen1 South African Air Force
@@ttggreen1 Or as some call it of late South African Air Farce. They even ran out of fuel one year, having to cancel all airshows and unnecessary flights without notice
One used to turn up at the Whitley Bay show every year and do low passes - mind buggeringly loud, but most awesome to witness!
The sinking of a badly leaking oil tanker doesn't seem like an ecological crisis solved to me.
Me neither - i'm guessing dissipating the oil 100's of miles away in a remote area at the time was the better option than close to the coast. I think the oil in time would degrade.
@@Gloopular more that because the oil is so far underwater That the oil will gradually disperse thanks ot ocean currents. Its not crude oil thats dangerous, its large concentrations of it
The idea here wasn't to stop it from leaking completely. It was to keep the oil from washing up all over the South African coast, because coastlines are where oil spills actually do the most ecological damage.
@@connorclabaugh9962 Thanks Connor now I see things a bit differently .
@@connorclabaugh9962 give that man a cigar 😆
I used to work on Sepecat Jaguars at Lossiemouth back in the mid 80's. We shared our flight line with the Shacks of 8 Squadron and i used to love watching them flying around. One of my most vivid memories was when i was stood on top of a Jaguar when 8 squadron's C.O. was flying his last sortie in a Shack. It flew down our flightline at about 50 feet and when something that big flies so close over your head, it sticks in your memory. Happy days!
Tanker: "I won't sink."
*Shackleton makes for noisy approach*
*Profuse sweating of the tanker*
Thank you very much mark, my grandfather recently passed away, he told me many stories of flying in the shack and i think mosquitoes during the berlin air lift. The shack has been a favourite for years. Really enjoyed this one!
Great story. An old SA friend did his military service as groung crew for one of these planes. Not justifying apartheid in any way, but SA furnished valuable Intel to the west on Russian naval activity.
Sad to say that politics got in the way of the proper recognition of SAAF's contribution in the desert in WW2. I'm no supporter of apartheid, quite the opposite in fact, but the SA pilots made a great contribution in Hurricanes and Spitfires that were a bit worn out to say the least.
I love this channel, it reminds me of when I was a child and my dad would put on 'world at war' when I couldn't sleep. I miss those days, my recently divorced dad at the time trying his best with me and my brother.
THIS IS THE BEST RUclips CHANNEL EVER!!!
When I lived in Pinelands we could here the Shackleton start up and saw it flying overhead few times. Something I won't forget. Thanks Mark 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I love seeing the Shackleton out here in Tucson. Shes in good company.
One of your American subscribers here, from Northwest Alabama, I never miss one of your excellently done pieces of military history.
Awesome work Mark! Love seeing topics related to South Africa!
Great aircraft! The sound of the Griffon engines is always awesome!!!! Served in the SAAF as Logistician many moons ago.. when it was still a functional force.
I’ve seen the Shackleton at the Pima Museum in Tucson. It is magnificent.
I remember this incident. I was in Grade 12 close to Cape Town. Thanks for reminding me
6:14 : Shackleton taking off.
Subtitles: [Music]
Indeed.
Beautiful aircraft , I remember one flying over us in the late 80 s . I was on the bridge wing on the Glasgow and looked up to see her ... couldn’t believe how slow and low she was ... caught the pilot imitating a “ rowing “ motion with his hands !! The entire bridge fell about laughing;) it looked straight out of Dambusters .. 10,000 rivers flying in loose formation indeed . Thanks again Mark ;)
I love your videos, every time one comes up I always have to click it no matter where I am.
A great treat when working on Easter Sunday. A Mark Felton documentary to watch during my lunch break.
If y’all haven’t checked out the Pima air and space museum you HAVE TO it’s the best Air museum out there I’ve personally been there over 60 times
OK. What about the Museum of the Air Force in Dayton Ohio??
David Vance sadly no the the shakleton @ Pima isn’t airworthy 😭
"A hundred thousand rivets flying in close formation" ... I'd forgotten that quote from my days as a youth who was fascinated by submarines and WW2 bombers and their later developments.
Another excellent historical upload again from MFP.
As a South African, I must say thanks for this video. Unfortunatly because this happened during apartheid and our government loves covering up anything good that happened back then that shows the apartheidsgovernment in a good light.
If the dumb morons in the South African Gov't had a simple thing like an ocean-going tug on immediate standby in one of the busiest sea lanes for oil tankers in the world - even subsidized by the mega-trillion dollar oil companies whose tankers use those sea lanes on a regular basis - this tanker would have probably been rescued before it hit the rocks in the first place, and this whole ugly oil mess could have been prevented.
What is the 'good' part here?
I always love visiting the Shackelton on static display at AFB Swartkops, have been doing so with my father since I was 5 years old. It is such a tremendous honor to get to fly in a tiny aircraft and look down from the cockpit to behold this beautiful behemoth on the ground in all its glory. I would love to get to see one fly one day.
There's a Shackleton at Newark Air museum that u can go inside.
The museum is closed. You can't go inside until further notice.
Is that Newark, England, or Newark, New Jersey USA?
@@jasonwalker5679 UK
@@BrettonFerguson coronavirus? Not been in a couple of years.
Love that museum.
My father was flight engineer on one of the Shackletons in SA. This brings back so many memories of my childhood.
Got to love British aircraft,these old bombers have a proud heritage.
It should also be noticed that natural oil leaking in the oceans is common. So, Mark said destruction to the “coastline” was avoided. Bravo!
Picture the scene: 2020. Two retired South African Air Force fitters meet in a bar. After swapping personal histories, it becomes known that one guy is ex 35 Squadron (Shackeltons) and one is ex 28 Squadron (Buccaneers) . An awkward silence follows, and then the 35 Squadron guy says quietly :"SS Wafra" and nods sagely. The 28 Squadron guy slinks out of the bar in embarrassment. "Shaya amanzi!" the 35 Squadron guys says to himself and smiles thinly. (Zulu for "Strike at the water", 35 Squadron motto.)
This scenario could have happened, if it wasn't for the Battle of Cassinga, where the Buccaneer boys earned their self respect back again.
I had to google that.
An interesting battle in a war I knew nothing about.
I am from Tucson and I always go by the Shackleton when ever I'm at the Pima air museum. I remember loving the looks of the plane from as a youngster browsing through my aircraft books.
Everytime I hear the intro music I feel like Mark Felton is in his way to the ring in to kick some ass in WWE
I recall spending a few nights in a tent on a camp site overlooking RAF St Mawgan, back in the 1960s, and listening to Shacks doing practice 'Circuits and Bumps' over the tent. I could almost reach up and touch them! Tended to disturb the night sleep :grin:
These monsters used to occasionally fly over my house at low level when I was a kid. I can attest that they were chest rattlingly loud but that never stopped me from racing outside to watch.
I love that you listed all the places where surviving aircraft are in the world to visit. Please continue doing this for the rest of your videos.
Keep up the great work! Thank you!
For anyone who loves a great tale of courage and indomitable will, the Shackleton is named after Earnest Shackleton, whose Antarctic expedition turned into the most amazing story of human survival of all time. The two best books on it are written by the expedition's doctor and Shackleton himself, take your pick -- you won't be disappointed.
Yes you are quite right, the plane was named after my late grandfather Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922) the famous Antarctic explorer, by the designer of the Lancaster Roy Chadwick, his daughter Margaret was walking out with my father when they both young and were courting but they never got engaged or married to each other, Margaret married a man called Mr Dove, I had the honour in meeting Margaret Dove in the 80s we went to the Hendon Air Museum as both guess on the day that a Shackleton plane came to stay there as a permanent fixture, I don't know if it's still there or not, we both arrived in style I was driving my Grandfathers Motor Car, it's a 1912 Ford Model T., and I still have it today., I am James Shackleton the Grandson of Sir E H Shackleton & Director of J F Shackleton & Sons Funeral Director / Undertakers since 1703
@@jamesshackleton9525 Everyone should have REAL personal heroes, not comic book and movie heroes. I wish more young people understood that they don't need fictional heroes to look up to when true men and women of great achievements and character, past and present, exist. Your great grandfather is one of my personal heroes.
A friend of mine died when his Shackleton flew into the hills on the Western Isles in 1990. I remember the magnificent site and sound of them flying over when I lived in Lossiemouth.🎉
I live near Gatwick AM, so I've been on the Shackleton there. I sat in the cockpit and thought, "don't press anything, you may start the engines!". One of the men there who served on a Shackleton said that there is more electricity in my phone at full charge than the entire aircraft.
that's because the Shack turned all her 'power' into 'noise'.
I remember this incident as a 9 year old living in Cape Town, thanks for the great video.
She's such a gorgeous aircraft, shame none are airworthy at the moment.
My grandad flew on Shackletons as a Navigator in the 50s and 60s stationed at Malta, Lossiemouth, St Mawgan, Ballykelly among others, including the one on display at Duxford with a C on the front for our surname. Thanks for the video.
MARK I LOVE YOU
Steady on!
I'm a simple man, you give me lovely footage of Vera and some nice Merlin roaring and I click the thumbs up.
Send Jimmy Stewart to the desert to get the plane up and running.
"The flight of the Phoenix" what a great movie
Send Jimmy Saville's corpse to the oil tanker and use it for target practice.
I think the Shackleton quote is "flying in loose formation". Good episode. Loved the Shack as a kid. You would hear them from horizon to horizon on those warm summer nights.
What a big bomber
Another great story Mark
Great work on the research
Good job👍
Thanks for this fascinating work. My late father was navigator on one of those Bucs that targeted the Wafra. I seem to remember there were SAAF mirages also involved in that op? A few years back, in an article for the South African edition of Popular Mechanics, a pilot of the other squadron who'd been there claimed in a letter that the Bucs had "failed" in their mission. As you can imagine, this rankled my dad, who promptly put pen to paper. Apparently, the Bucs were armed with missiles equipped with timers set by ground crews. These had been done incorrectly, meaning the missiles had simply shot through the hull without intended explosion. The fault certainly did not lie with the Bucs that had hit the target as required, he wrote! For his efforts, Popular Mechanics sent him a Leatherman for Best Letter of the month.
7:42. There Is footage of a run up of this planes engines. The back wash is so powerful the brick wall behind the plane is blowen down.
Good piece of history retold. Thank you.
Interesting that some have tricycle gear, some are taildraggers.
Mk 1 and 2 were tail draggers, while the Mk 3 had a nose wheel. The Mk 3 also had a jet engine in the rear of each inboard nacelle to assist in take off.
I really don't understand how they did that. I would have thought it was such a fundamental part of the design that it couldn't be altered. Did they shift the main wheels back and/or extend the fuselage forwards to alter the balance?
@@caw25sha the 2 main gear wheels carry all of the weight in either configuration, the nose or tail wheel is just a prop to keep the ends off the ground ;-)
@@caw25sha Just the added weight of the nose gear and the supporting structure at the nose would have altered the balance
@@blueboats7530 Now you've got me imagining a Spitfire with a nosewheel...
Dankie dr. Felton. I recall the oil - tanker. On holiday to Struisbaai & L'Aghullas the rocks was all covert with the sticky staff. My brother, Nel, served his 2 yrs at SALM/ SAAF at Langebaanweg in mid 1980's. ( Langebaanweg Airforce Base is close to Saldanha baai/ bay.) After his time he worked at Atlas Vliegtuigkorporasie/ - Airplane Corporation. He said South Africa had a problem to get new parts for the planes. To make the part form new was to build a machine and very expensive. It was ("much") cheaper to import from England or France. But we can't import. To day he is in New Zealand. Never in his live (1960-2000+) did he ever thought in post 50-th birthday, he'll serve a different country...
What are buccaneers for? They stop your buccan hat from falling over your buccan eyes.
Also to deliver nukes in case of Cuban invasion of south west Africa . Read a book on them in SA service and author stated they were very capable , especially low level sling bombing during Cuete Cuaneval. SAAF's border war by Peter Baxter
... Mother buccan! Really? 😉 ...
I’m going to buccan make the buccan firebombing Dresden look like a buccan tea party
@@MarxAlex also dropped the first ever self-produced TV guided bomb (H2) on the Cuito road bridge in 1988, making it inaccessible to vehicular traffic
www.saairforce.co.za/the-airforce/weapons/59/raptor-1-glide-bomb-h-2
Buccan brilliant ! 😂😂😂😂
I applaud your work, sir. Many insights into the technology of warfare, defence, reconnaisance, and more. I will keep watching.
[aircraft flying away from massive mushroom cloud] Pilot: "We did it Patrick! We saaaaaved the village!"
I for one don't not want to be a patron but Iv few I like but Mr.Fenton an old time radio ,your an education, and I thank you.
9:10 and for any American fans 🇺🇲 hey that's me!
Another excellent Mark Felton mini documentary usually covering lesser know events. Thanks very much Mark
Britain: Look at our loud 4-engine monster with counter-rotating propellers.
Russia: Hold my vodka.
Spits out a ten jet engine flying ship
Laughs in bear.
@@soundslave And they're still laughing as it's still in service today.
Is it true that SOSUS could detect the Tu-95
Contra*
thank you for this, As a SOuth African its nice to hear about things our air force did i havent heard about. remember the crash in the desert watched in the news at the time. was big news at the time.....
have you read 'North of the Red Line'?
@@jahnkaplank8626 no, havent even heard of it till now, thanks will order it. My collection of border war books is growing...:)
So the "Lady be good" was replaced by a Shack in the Sahara. Nice.
The loss of the "Lady" vastly improved our knowledge of desert survival probability, although in a very tragic manner.
No, she didn't replace her. She joined her!
@@johnemerson1363
No. Lady Be Good was recovered from the desert & is now on display in a museum ✈✈
@@scottmcintosh4397 She lied in a Tobruk museum in the open air alongside some wrecked 25 pounders and pak's. I had the chance to look around her in 2010. Underneath her paint was immaculate.
@@scottmcintosh4397 I didn't know that! Thank you for the update.
My absolute favorite SAAF plane - the sound of a shackelton in flight brings goosebumps to a lot of her fans. Some where i have some lovely footage for the crew prepping for the ground runs.
That music.... makes me wanna attack something.
Pam Tu Tu Tu Tu Pam Tu Tu Tu Tu PAM PAM PAM PAM!
I start a stumping dance everything.
Well done! Thank you, Dr. Felton. I saw The Death of Pelican 16 by Andrew StPierre White as well and it is worth watching (available here on RUclips). His documentary about the English Electric Lightning is both amazing and sad.