by Graham McMellin

Few of you may remember the Indonesian Confrontation. This was a minor conflict which occurred in the mid-sixties when the then militarily confident and capable Indonesia was threatening the Malaysian Confederation (which included Singapore and Borneo). Elements of the British Armed Forces were deployed throughout the Confederation including, in my case, No 206 Squadron consisting Shackleton Mark 3 Long Range Maritime Patrol aircraft. These aircraft, whose lineage with the Lancaster was obvious with their twin tails, had four mighty Rolls Royce Griffen engines each developing 2700 horsepower driving contra-rotating propellers. Very impressive, except at maximum all-up weight with a full fuel load it was joked that the only reason the aircraft got airborne was because the earth was round! Anyway, our time in the Far East was up and we were to deploy back home to Kinloss, Scotland. My crew was to fly the first aircraft back from Changi where we had been based. Came the day we got up very early to ensure the coolest and driest possible conditions for maximum power on take-off. We rolled down the runway, got airborne and cleared the trees at the end – just. However, the undercarriage did not fully retract and acceleration was practically non-existent. We ran out of water-methynol (used to provide extra boost to the engines), and, at 300 ft, the hills ahead were above us and looming closer. So I ordered the fuel to be jettisoned and attempted to turn only for the stick-shackers (indicating an imminent stall) to start their ominous warning. I nursed the aircraft around and eventually climbed to 1000ft. After 45 minutes we got down to maximum landing weight; got the undercarriage down and returned. The engineers found a fault in one of the undercarriage bays, but now it was too hot to attempt another take-off. Next day we took-off early again and this time the undercarriage retracted, but there was a mighty bang from one of the engines. All engine indications continued to be fine so I elected to continue to our staging post of Gan in the Maldives. Some 13 hours later we landed and inspected the engine to find that the ‘cough’ had blown the bottom cowling off. Fortunately we had spotted an old Shackleton airframe which had been used for fire practice and found the identical panel which, whilst fire damaged, fitted our aircraft and was bolted on. It did not look pretty. Next morning we were off again, but it was very hot and humid and it took nearly 20 minutes to reach 500ft (just think of that next time you get airborne from Heathrow). We flew on to Aden, our next stop, through the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone where the rain was so heavy I could not see the nose of the aircraft only 6 feet in front of me. After 11 flying hours we landed at Aden which at the time was not the safest place to roam so were escorted everywhere. Next morning off again this time to Malta and landed there after 13 hours flying time. There I left my overnight bag outboard of the main undercarriage while I did the usual pilot things such as ordering the met forecast for the next day. When I returned to the aircraft I found someone had overfilled the oil in the adjacent engine and guess where the overflow pipe came out. Fortunately the contents of the bag were hardly affected. Next morning we were off again this time bound for home. Before setting out from Changi we had said we would land at 4pm, and we expected our families would be there to meet us. However, while flying up the UK the navigator realised that we were going to be 20 minutes early so we hauled back on the throttles and achieved a 4pm arrival, except I decided (I was only 26 at the time) to fly low down the runway and haul the aircraft around for a spectacular landing. It was only when we entered dispersal that I realised, in addition to the families, the Station Commander and all the bigwigs were there also. I let the crew depart the aircraft and slunk out after them, but everyone was very generous and nothing was said. I did not even recognise my wife – she seemed to have put on a lot of weight around her middle (the result now works in the city!). But just think, it took 46 hours flying by myself and one co-pilot over four days to achieve what you now do in 13 odd hours flying above the weather with two captains and two first officers equipped with a reliable autopilot and navigation aids to guide you on your way! Four years later I converted to jets and had adventures with them – but that is another story or two……..