Page 33 - Aviation News - September 2017

to be able to even hear all the important Above: The Nimrod AEW.3 was intended as 1992. The unit deployed operationally for
transmissions, as the aircraft microphones the Shackleton AEW.2’s replacement but was the rst time to Trapani Air Base in Sicily in
picked up every sound. cancelled in favour of the E-3D Sentry AEW.1. July 1992, where it supported UN-mandated
“During my second tour, I was the British Aerospace operations as Yugoslavia disintegrated.
squadron CO and its quali ed ying instructor Bottom: Shackleton AEW.2s were eventually The cornerstone of the E-3D’s capability is
[QFI]. Aircraft commanders had a difficult job. replaced by E-3Ds on June 30, 1991. Key the ‘S’-band Westinghouse AN/APY-2 radar.
Sitting up front they monitored the co-pilot Collection Capable of operating at much higher altitudes
and ight engineer, listened to the aircraft than the Shackleton, at 30,000ft the radar’s
radios set on air eld, air traffic and ghter was amazing because the crewmembers really range is restricted only by the curvature of the
controller frequencies and weather forecasts, got stuck in and made it work, and it performed Earth and it can see hundreds of miles and
and really doing about seven tasks at once. well, totally contrary to some popular opinion.” more altitude only increases the range. And,
“They couldn’t do all that from day one, Another tting accolade came from an unlike the Shackleton’s radar, the AN/APY-2
but gradually over time, through experience, unnamed USAF exchange officer with 8 Sqn provides target height information. It can also
acquired the capability. Aircraft captains had during the Shackleton AEW era, who said: function in Doppler and non-Doppler modes
to hold everything together. Additionally, they “This squadron does more, with less, than and be used for maritime operations to detect
had to think outside the box, about the wider any other ying unit I know.” sea-surface targets. The system’s heart is
picture, while the rest of the crew concentrated Not bad for an outdated, ‘interim solution’. built around two IBM 4 Pi CC-2 computers,
on their individual tasks. It was fascinating. while nine Hazeltine high-resolution
“By then the Shackleton really was an SENTRY ON DUTY Situation Display Consoles (SDCs) with 19in
awful aeroplane, yet we all loved it because The arrival of the rst of seven Boeing E-3D colour screens are in stark contrast to the
I think it forced us all to get on together. It AEW1 Sentry jets for the RAF in November Shackleton’s three 7in screens.
helped that we operated as constituted crews, 1990 represented a quantum leap in capability. The Sentry’s communications systems
so you were ying with the same people The E-3Ds differed externally from their US are far better than the Shackleton’s too, and
regularly [which] improved effectiveness. counterparts, being powered by four SNEMCA include three Rockwell Collins ARC-165 HF,
“Over time, their skills and crew co- CFM56 turbofans and carrying wingtip- two ARC-166 VHF and six ARC-171 UHF/
ordination developed to perform extremely mounted Yellow Gate electronic support SATCOM transceivers plus two Magnavox
well and just made things work.” measures. They also feature an external ARC-187 secure UHF transceivers. It also has
in- ight refuelling probe while retaining the secure data links including Link 11, 14 and 16.
ERA ENDS original US ying boom receptacle. A crew numbers 17 – two pilots,
Despite the eet reduction, the remaining No.8 Sqn re-formed on the E-3D at navigator, ight engineer and two
aircraft managed to soldier on into the 1990s RAF Waddington on July 1, 1991 and was technicians plus a mission crew of 11
– after the Nimrod AEW programme was declared to NATO and integrated into its comprising a tactical director (mission crew
expensively and embarrassingly abandoned Airborne Early Warning Force on August 5, commander), ghter allocator, three weapons
in January 1987. controllers, surveillance controller, two
In the very twilight of the Shackletons’ Gp Capt David Greenway OBE ew many versions surveillance operators, data link manager,
service, tragedy struck. On April 30, 1990, of the Shackleton in the maritime role, including communications operator and an electronic
WR965 struck a hillside on the Isle of Harris the MR.1, MR.2, MR.3 and T.4 before the AEW.2. support measures operator.
in the Outer Hebrides on a training exercise, As a squadron leader, he became 8 Squadron’s Ironically the E-3Ds arrived as the threat
killing the ten personnel on board. Flight Commander Operations from 1973-75. to the UK’s air defences evaporated with the
On June 30, 1991, the squadron nally left Later, as a wing commander, he returned to the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, the
squadron as its Officer Commanding (OC) from
its Shackletons behind. David Greenway’s 1982-84, ultimately accumulating more than 5,000 type’s exibility and capabilities have been
observations about the AEW force say a lot. He ight hours on all versions of the ‘Shack’. demonstrated many times on operations
describes it “as way too long in the tooth. But it since it entered service.

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