Photographs & Stories - Patrick Mc Laughlin

Beverley Repair 1

XB266XB266 had struck a small ridge on the runway threshold at Matsapo during a night landing. The very heavy landing damaged dynafocal mountings in the engines. These were rubberised suspension mounts which carried the engine inside the power plant. Very awkward to do in a well equipped hangar but more difficult in the field.

We flew down to Matsapa from Salisbury Southern Rhodesia, having first flown down from Nairobi to Salisbury in an Argosy bringing a spare engine, spare engine stand and a 50 gallon oil drum. That was about as much as the Argosy could carry I think. We changed an engine in Salisbury and I cannot remember which aircraft it was. We finished at 4 am the next day and at about mid-day were off on XL131 to Matsapa. We did a show the flag low flight into Swaziland.

As luck would have it, the sling to lift the engine inside the frame was missing one part so we got a piece of steel cable from a local contractor who was doing some earth grading. By unravelling it we took a strand and made a third lifting point.

Equipmet in positionWorking on the auxiliary power unit

ABOVE LEFT: Engine hoisting equipment in place.    ABOVE RIGHT: Work being done on the APU.
Left to Right at work on the APU are Terry Sprosson, Eric Lambert and Pat Reilly.
The piece of steel cable is on the ground waiting to be unravelled.

Unravelling the cableThe engine from the flight deck

ABOVE LEFT: Eric & Pete Smith unravelling the cable.    ABOVE RIGHT: The view over the starboard wing.

Pat Reilly on the wingOver the port wing

ABOVE LEFT: Pat Reilly.    ABOVE RIGHT: The view over the port wing.

Eric LambertView to the starboard

ABOVE LEFT: Eric Lambert tidying up.    ABOVE RIGHT: The view from the starboard wing.

Looking aftLooking aft from the port wing

ABOVE LEFT: The view aft along the top of the fuselage.    ABOVE RIGHT: The view aft from the port wing.

The view over the BoomXB266 goes home.

ABOVE LEFT: The view over the Boom.    ABOVE RIGHT: XB266 heads back to Salisbury, then on to Eastleigh.

Take-off runIn the air

ABOVE LEFT & RIGHT: XB266 taking off from Matsapa.

XB266 in the airXB266 in the air

ABOVE LEFT & RIGHT: XB 266 on her way.

When the aircraft was more thoroughly checked at Eastleigh it was found that the tailplane had sustained major structural damage in the heavy landing and a new tailplane was sent down from Aden. It had been a lucky trip back.

The tailplane was one piece minus the fins. This massive box was so large that the railway transport had to be halted outside Nairobi where a 'Queen Mary' and a crane took over so as to bring the crate into Eastleigh.