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AIRCRAFT ENGLISH ELECTRIC CANBERRA Joluqa Malta: English Electric Canberra Farewell PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSVfEG5bOGE Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess
English Electric Canberra Farewell Joluqa Malta Jun 9, 2024 2.49K subscribers ... 16,343 views ... 286 likes UNITED KINGDOM Farewell to the English Electric Canberra.#aviation #planespotting #militaryaviation #airforce #royalairforceuk #airport #coldwar #british Transcript 0:24 brilliant design it was way ahead of its time um it uh it was built properly uh by real aircraft Engineers who uh understood that things need to be strong to survive and uh it's just been a very successful airframe you have to remember this airplane started off as a bomber um 0:40 and it's had a lowlevel role um and then 0:44 it went on to reky and various other 0:46 roles but it's it's operated from low 0:49 level um bombing and wrecky up to high 0:52 level at high level I'm talking about 0:54 55,000 ft uh where this aan operates 0:58 quite happily um laterally probably not 1:01 cuz there's more equipment in it it's a a bit heavier um so that that is is quite surprising um even at low level this airplane is capable of 450 knots um that's only with about 85% set on the engines it will go it goes very fast uh the engines will drive it far far faster than the airframe is clear to it's only it's a 3 and A2 G airframe on it um low 1:25 level it's a bit bumpy it's got a big 1:26 Wing but until the typhoon came in know 1:29 there was nothing really in the Air 1:32 Force's um infantry that could match 1:35 what the camera could do you know and so 1:38 probably that's why it's been around 1:39 such a long time the only job it hasn't 1:41 done is is really been a fighter 1:43 airplane done everything 1:46 else I think because of the design of 1:49 the airframe um it is able to to to 1:52 multitask certainly in it its infancy 1:54 when it was used as a bomber um medium 1:57 level low level high level um it it was 2:00 a very good performance uh nowadays obviously there there's a lot of modern system missile systems aircraft type that that can outperform the camera but the thing that it's retained is its stability as a as a photographic platform that the wing and the shape of the airframe makes it very stable at medium and high level and it's able to 2:18 carry um fairly large payloads in the 2:21 flare Bay or Bombay which a lot of 2:23 modern aircraft uh are incapable of 2:26 doing certainly at the sort of altitudes 2:28 that we fly at 2:40 good weather on both days of the show 2:41 meant the camera could perform its full 2:54 display the Saturday show was Flawless 2:57 flown by Squadron leader Terry KS who's 3:00 been flying cameras for over 30 years [Applause] [Music] sitting in front of the pilot the nose is hinged swings over 4:03 [Music] you the canra was the first aircraft to be designed inhouse at English electric they had plenty of experience building other people's designs but for this project they would need a talented designer Teddy pet was brought in from Westlands to oversee the whole project 5:09 [Music] the final home for the Cambra in RF service was RF maram in Norfolk there it flew out of the same base as the raf's latest bombers tornado GR4 the V bombers that replaced the camera have long since 5:24 gone out of service 5:43 Squadron leader Terry K is the world's 5:45 most experienced canra pilot I I chose 5:49 to uh go to curas coming out of um 5:53 afts um and I stayed with it so long um 5:57 because it's been a very interesting um 6:00 wide ranging job I've done flown many different types of or different marks of canra um in various parts of the world and I've enjoyed it um the pr9 is particularly different because it has power flying controls which uh none of 6:17 the other cameras I don't think had 6:19 flying uh Power flying controls but it's 6:21 got much bigger engine so it does handle 6:23 differently um but there there is a 6:26 basic character to the way the aircraft 6:28 flies and that is common throughout the 6:30 across all the different marks of camera 6:32 there is a basic character but it it is 6:35 slightly different depending on which 6:36 which mark it is it can fly operate 6:39 between 40 and 50,000 ft um quite 6:42 effectively uh it's got a long 6:45 range and uh we don't need all the 6:48 support that some airplanes require in 6:50 the way of flight refueling so it's 6:51 quite a simple airplane to 6:55 operate Terry's career flying the camra 6:58 was extended did 5 years ago well uh um 7:02 uh at 55 when I I should have retired I don't think anybody particularly feels like retiring and most Pilots if they were um given the choice if would have opt to stay on um so I was given that choice at 55 and I accepted it but then um as I got toward 60 when I thought I 7:20 would be retiring um the airplane was 7:23 extended a bit 7:25 further um and it was probably more 7:28 sensible retain the pilots they had and 7:31 to start training new ones so I was 7:33 invited to stay on to see it out of 7:37 service which takes me up to 61 years 7:39 old still flying it that's how it 7:41 happened well I'm I'm called a navigator 7:44 but primarily I I operate um various 7:48 systems in particular the camera systems 7:50 are controlled by the Navigator uh the 7:53 defensive Aid Suite that's a chaff and 7:55 flare um the rwr the settings Etc that's 7:59 radar warning receiver uh are all in the 8:01 nose and and and other bits and pieces I also deal with the navigation but we've got such a swept up navigation Suite even for an old aircraft that it's it doesn't take very much of my time at all 8:12 um to be honest it's not actually the 8:14 aircraft that that's made mistake it's 8:16 the role of the aircraft that's made 8:17 mistake I do have a soft spot for the 8:19 camera and I've enjoyed my flying and 8:21 doing the job but the reason that i' 8:23 I've stayed in this role is that every 8:26 sort of we fly is for Real in the main 8:29 whether it be in this country be abroad 8:32 we don't really practice for it we do it 8:34 for real whereas previous jobs it's 8:35 always been training for something that 8:37 fortunately is never happened for 8:45 real we have a variety of cameras um at 8:49 the front of the aircraft we've got 8:51 three called f 95s which I would best 8:53 describe as small cine cameras they're 8:55 optimized for low level they're in a 8:57 fixed position one looking left one 8:59 looking right one looking ahead about a 9:01 17° depression and again optimized for below 1,000 ft so in recent years they've hardly been used certainly by him himself um the main cameras are what's called a k93 which is a panoramic camera which actually is inside the aircraft that drops into the into the 9:17 air flow and you can set it up for 9:20 various angles it will take vertical 9:22 shots and then you can scan it round 9:24 from Horizon to Horizon it's 24 in um 9:27 focal length and it's got quite a good 9:29 resolution good quality lens secondary 9:31 camera we're using at the moment is a 9:33 Zeiss camera which is a a very old 9:34 camera large 9in uh wet film format of 9:38 the the negative 9 in about 9 and a half 9:39 in uh and we can set that offset that 9:42 for drift so it's ideal for survey 9:44 photography so we fly up and down the 9:46 lines that they overlap and we can make 9:48 sure that if there is drift that that 9:50 the actual frames of the photography are 9:52 nice and parallel they're the two main 9:54 cameras we're using at the moment uh up 9:56 until recently the aircraft was fitted 9:58 with a Electro Optical system which um 10:02 sat in the flare Bay or some people call it the Bombay but was a a capsule that that had a very high resolution Electro Optical camera effectively a 12T focal length and that was tied into a data link system so we could actually send the images back there were still images not not not moving pictures but we could 10:19 sell s still images back to a cabin so 10:22 actually uh image things real time which 10:25 which was very useful that's since been 10:26 taken out of the airplane prior to going 10:28 out of service 10:45 [Applause] 10:56 it can certainly take a picture of a 10:58 town it can take a picture of um an 11:02 individual location you'd be able to to identify Vehicles you'd be able to identify I'm not saying you'd identify people you could probably pick out people but but you wouldn't identify them as such um it depends on the film we're using it depends on on the weather on the day 11:19 it's it's not really a simple question 11:21 to answer but certainly it's it's a very 11:23 high resolution camera and with modern 11:26 technology now where the images are 11:28 scanned digitally after we've taken them 11:30 then you can then enhance the images 11:32 even more so um I'd say it's it's 11:37 probably a 20 30 cm resolution something 11:40 like 11:44 that the camera shows its age when in 11:48 operation the cockpit is uh pretty 11:51 uncomfortable um it's tends to be very 11:54 hot uh for the pilot and very cold for 11:56 the 11:57 Navigator um the Navigator operates all 12:00 the cameras so the pilot is mainly uh flying the airplane and the nav does all of the uh the camera operation um years ago when it was in the Tactical role the pilot could actually operate the cameras um it tends to be uh the sorties are long which 12:19 which is tiring and I say it is an 12:21 uncomfortable airplane really a lot of 12:23 the sorties we we we do we actually 12:25 operate much lower because the heights 12:28 we fly out it by by the actual scale of 12:30 the photography required um so a typical 12:34 saly maximum saly length looking at 4 12:37 and a half 4 hours 40 that that sort of 12:40 length of time Airborne um depending on 12:42 where we're operating we'll get airborne 12:44 we'll climb straight to height 43 45,000 12:47 ft we'll transit for an hour and a half 12:49 that sort of height we'll then descend 12:51 down to our operating height which which 12:53 could be anything from 8 to 20,000 ft 12:56 may may be remaining at as at 45 12:58 depending on the scale of Photography 13:00 we'll then do maybe an hour an hour and a half on task taking the imagery and then we'll obviously fly on then to either the base we landing at or return to um the original base quite a lot of sorties now we do we we land away turn the Jet and then fly back again so we F to do two sorties in the day because of 13:18 the age of the airplane and its 13:19 defensive capabilities it's not ideal to 13:22 send something like a camera Alone um 13:24 and unguarded so in the past without 13:26 going to too much detail we work as part 13:28 of a pack package and we have have other 13:30 aircraft in the air at the same time 13:32 Fighters um Electronics support aircraft 13:36 dep depending on on the area and what 13:37 the threat is um in the in the current 13:39 operations then we are operating um 13:42 alone because you know the the threat to 13:44 the airlane is deemed to be um 13:47 sufficient or or or insufficient to to 13:50 to have not have a 13:54 problem on the final day at riet the 13:56 very last display by an RF camera 13:59 is about to 14:03 start flying the Lancaster at the show for the Battle of Britain Memorial flight is flight Lieutenant Mike Ley another canra pilot I have the privilege of flying the last ever uh operational uh sorty in the cber that was over Afghanistan that was about 4 weeks ago uh and we brought the uh the canra is back uh tomorrow and 14:26 this today is the last time the CRA is 14:27 going to be displayed and so we're all 14:29 privileged today and seeing the last 14:31 ever uh flying display so yeah the the 14:34 RF has certainly got their money worth 14:35 out of the canra and I've really enjoyed 14:37 flying the cber I've uh been flying the 14:39 cber on and off since 14:41 1991 um in various uh various marks and 14:45 uh the pr9 is the Pinnacle of the of the 14:46 CRA development it's the uh it's the 14:48 most powerful CRA it's the one that can 14:50 go to highest altitude uh and it's the 14:52 most sophisticated of uh of all the 14:54 Camas uh and uh yeah I really enjoyed my 14:56 time on 39 Squadron and uh operating in 14:58 the very uh uh roles in areas around the 15:01 world that uh that we've operated Terry K explained what he was trying to show the public in his display well the main thing I I think I mean you could actually do aerobatics in this airplane but it is no longer 15:41 cleared for aerobatics um so the idea 15:45 really is to keep the display close to 15:47 the crowd um and keep it reasonably slow 15:51 uh and just show the uh the public that 15:53 it's quite a maneuverable airplane it's 15:56 quite 15:57 noisy uh I know that the and um I wind 16:00 it up and get a bit of speed behind it and you can see how fast it goes and also that it can get on quite a good rate of climb and get up fairly quickly [Music] [Music] 16:59 I 17:10 [Music] I mean it's completed a very effective role in the last six years operationally in the Middle East and it certainly has got the capability and the equipment to continue but there are lots of other factors involved um we don't we only 17:48 have three of them and I suppose spares 17:50 and the cost of maintaining you know 17:52 such a small number of airplanes is 17:55 probably a factor this big 18:02 at the moment there's nothing that's going to be a like for like replacement for the camera but as you say it's got a very distinguished history over 50 years it's D balama reconnaissance but most recently it be known for its superb reconnaissance capability with the West Cam and indeed was working in Afghanistan in terms of the uh uh 18:20 identifying poppy fields and various 18:23 other aspects of what's going on in 18:24 terms of operations there but down the 18:26 years it has done mapping in almost all 18:28 the continents of the world so no like 18:31 for like replacement at the moment but 18:33 um we hope we get something that will 18:34 actually fill what has been a very long 18:36 and distinguished history within the 18:37 Royal Air Force and indeed many other 18:38 Air Forces as well with the aircraft 18:40 type well we're looking at a range of 18:43 capabilities and what we're really 18:44 looking at is how do we deliver the 18:46 intelligence surveillance and 18:48 reconnaissance capability from the 18:49 Tactical to the Strategic level um and 18:53 clearly we're buying uh watchkeeper for 18:56 the Army which will which will provide 18:57 them with a tactical 18:59 um unmanned air vehicle uh but there are 19:02 other capabilities we clearly need at the top end to fit in with some of our other platforms which are coming into service like the Sentinel um mra4 which is going to be a very capable iar platform uh but if you look at the 19:17 whole array of capabilities we have our 19:20 tactical reconnaissance aircraft our e3s 19:23 I think we have you know very good 19:25 intelligence and surveillance capability 19:28 um but I I think one thing which we're 19:29 lacking at the moment is that long range 19:32 persistent intelligence and surveillance 19:35 capability and I see really a niche for 19:37 unmanned air vehicles um in in that area 19:41 and it's something we're looking very 19:42 seriously at now for the future the 19:44 longevity of the camera would have 19:46 surprised its designers the fact that it 19:49 served with the RAF for 57 years as well 19:52 as the number of export sales it 19:55 achieved means the camera can rightly 19:58 claim to be one of the most successful aircraft ever produced in the UK 20:00 I mean it's quite an honor to be in the airplane in its its final few sorties I've always said to myself that I'm I'm not going to miss the Canberra when it ...when it goes for for for variety of reasons /li> but I think deep down ... yeah ... once I stop Flying it then probably be a tear in the corner of my eye. Despite its retirement from active service, in the hands of private owners the Canberra will hopefully still be around for many years to come [Music]

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