Tracked Aircraft recovery dolly

[antarmike]

Some time ago there was a thread that related to a tracked bogey, that eventually we thought may have been used for putting under damaged aircraft, who undercarraige has failed. I have serched in vain for the thread. Does it still exist or was it lost in the big crash?

[ted angus]

Mike never saw the thread but I am a relative newbie, however we used and the RAF & RN still use tracked trailers. Which dolly would be an appropriate name. they come in several variaties some have a hydraulic jack built in , others have a platform, some have a platform on a turntable arrangement. All referred to as track jacks but in reality only the ones with jacks should have been given the name tow bars about 6 to 10 ft long platforms about 6ft by 6ft I will look for some picies

TED

[antarmike]

It is just whilst looking for a piccy of Oxygen replinishment truck, I found this shot of a dolly under the Nascelle of a Mossie.

[ted angus]

Mike, that looks like the fixed square platform, we would normally put a layer of sand bags accross the top. the one with the turntable is almost identical, the trackjack has a L shaped jack head; The ones in service today are in the main from WW2 and shortly after.

 

TED

[ted angus]

Mike I had been looking for some modern piccies but got diverted; Last night I was looking for WW2 aerial shots of Leuchars where I spent the last 14 years of my service not only did I find some cracking aerial shots but a ground shot that is applicable to this thread. The attached shows Hgr 55 my office was the window to the right of the blue sign. The other shot is the other end of the same hanger and shows 2 TRACJACKS these jacks are the original from WW2 I think the year was 1942. Also that may be of interest, the station originally had 3 paired Belfast Trussed hangers and a Single. One pair and the single were demolished in the building work undertaken to accomadate Tornado in the 1980s.

Hgr 55 ; in one half, some of the workshops of General Engineering & MT maintenance Flight. The other half is the aircraft wash bay. The other paired hanger is No 57 and it is occupied by the Regt HQ and a support sqn of the REs TA. who share it with 612 sqn RAux AF a MASH type unit. These hangers are the oldest in military use and pre date the formation of the RAF. So I nominate the crash recovery TracJacks as the oldest piece of kit still in service and the hangers as the oldest pair still in operational military use ??

 

TED

[R Cubed]

It is just whilst looking for a piccy of Oxygen replinishment truck, I found this shot of a dolly under the Nascelle of a Mossie.

 

Looks like something Thunderbirds had :cool2:

[Ivor Ramsden]

Isle of Man Airport has just given us (the Manx Aviation & Military Museum) its collection of aircraft recovery dollies. There are 5 in all, two of which are hydraulically adjustable and three not. The three unadjustable ones consist of a pair of fixed dollies and a turntable one. All five have makers' plates for RT Ltd, which I assume is Roadless Traction.

 

I've got no idea how the airport will recover damaged aircraft in the future because they haven't replaced them. Maybe it could be a good money-earner for the museum?

 

There's virtually nothing on the web about these things. Does anybody on here know owt?

 

These things have all got Ministry of Supply plates on them, also the Broad Arrow, hence I don't feel bad about posting this even though they come from a Civvy airfield!

 

The black and white photo shows one in use in 1962.

[ted angus]

Ivor I first scraped the rust on these and greased the nipples in about may 1967 at 16 MU Stafford. They were mostly built quite early in WW2 and are still in service today on RAF airfields. The photo taken outside my old hanger posted by me earlier in the thread shows 2 Tracjacs. .

The hydraulic ones are called Tracjacs: They would be put under wings normally,.

The turntable one is called Trolley Salvage type B Tail, it would go under the tail with the tow bar either to front or rear.

The fixed one is a Trolley Salvage Type C Main this could go under the wings with the height adjusted by sandbags or railway sleepers.

 

One method of use would be to get the relevant items into place using normal size towing tractors, having raised the wreck by either crane or jacking. . steel hawsers could be used attached to the eye of the tow bar with a D shackle the other end of the hawsers would be connected to winch equipped vehicles on the nearest hardstanding or sitting on PSP or a row of railway sleepers. Sometimes this would require, a lonfg repetitive operation; winch may be 50FT, then reposition the winch vehicles and so on. Many of the David Brown tractors were winch equipped, as were cranes and some other MT items. each station having a proportion of winch equipped tractors amongst the fleet in case a drag off was ever needed. With the 2 main trolleys either Tracjac or Type C being winched the tail trolley could be positioned with its tow bar at the rear and the front hitch of a tractor attached simply to help steerage. Once onto a hardstanding the wreck would normally then be craned on a 75 ton salvage trailer.. One in your picture is clearly still in traffic blue BS C 69 later renumbered 169. The was the colour used pre IRR Green for items of Ground Support Euippment not categorised as an MT vehicle which at the time would have been in RAF Blue Grey.

 

THese items are all meticulously maintained on RAF airfields and herte at Leuchars sit in a row of the expansion period roller doored garages along with trailers loaded with jacks sleepers tools floodlights etc solely on immediate standby for a forced landing or worse! Remember this kit was designed in a period when many wrecks were salvaged with great care and rebuilt. A more modern method is of course air bags and of course cranes which now have a collosal capacity used with belly band slings. Hope this helps

 

TED

[antar]

A number of these were sold off via Withams last year.

[ted angus]

Mike Some of them were a dull red ex RAE Farnborough I believe ??

 

TED

[Antony]

I thought this might be of interest, the B17 was from Rattlesden, Suffolk, and crash landed at Sudbury. It was too badly damaged to fly again.

 

Antony.

[Ivor Ramsden]

Wow! We've nearly got all the stuff to re-enact that scene.

 

Who can lend us a Jimmy?

 

Oh, and a B17 ....

[ted angus]

In 1/72 that would make a great diorama best it joins the queue !!

 

TED

[Antony]

Who would lend you a B17?

 

Antony.

[Jessie The Jeep]

:whistle:

[morris c8 fat]

You can just hear the convisation "look someones got a camera out, quick get the jimmy in shot".

[antarmike]

It was obviously the bikes they wanted to be in the shot!

[Jan C S]

Only just joined up so I haven't seen this thread until now. I'd like to put together some scale drawings of these, does anyone have any dimensions?

[Ivor Ramsden]

Come to the Isle of Man and measure ours!

[Jan C S]

Come to the Isle of Man and measure ours!

I may just take you up on that when I'm next in your neck of the woods.

 

Bit of a hike from down here in the West Country!

[Ivor Ramsden]

I may just take you up on that when I'm next in your neck of the woods.

 

Bit of a hike from down here in the West Country!

 

There are regular flights from Gloucester and Bristol!

[barry jessop]

Blast from the past. I was stationed at 71MU RAF Bicester in the early to mid 70s where we did airbag trials recovering a HP Hastings with airbags on an inflatable track and winched across the grass airfield, I believe it was scrapped.  

[John Manson]

On 8/27/2019 at 9:01 PM, barry jessop said:

Blast from the past. I was stationed at 71MU RAF Bicester in the early to mid 70s where we did airbag trials recovering a HP Hastings with airbags on an inflatable track and winched across the grass airfield, I believe it was scrapped.  

I was a Corporal Aircraft Fitter on the hover trailers and airbag trials on 71 MU. This was 1974 and we took the system to that years Farnborough Air Show to provide heavy lift to remove any large aircraft from the runway.

Edited April 7, 2020 by John Manson
Correction to include hover trailers