Interview with Brian Withers on the Shackleton and Nimrod

[@razorboy08]

I thoroughly enjoyed this interview, I have fond memories of the Shackletons flying around our City, (Cape Town South Africa) watching in awe as a young boy and still being enthralled as a young man. In the 1970's as a National Serviceman, I actually crawled around a Shack and was amazed at how tight and crammed it was. That same year, the RAF had an exercise with our Navy and the Royal Navy and they landed a Nimrod and once again I found myself being shown on board by a crewman, what a difference!! You may be aware of one Shack that was restored here in Cape Town and flown back to the UK in the 1990's. It didn't make it and crashed in the Sahara, fortunately everyone survived. (There's a short movie/documentary about this if one searches on KZbin. There is one remaining Shack still here in Cape Town and this link captures one of it's engine start ups, which are done every 6 months. (I don't know if there're still doing them)? Watch what happens during this engine start up, you won't believe it! kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z6LQpHZpmLWBjrM . Here's the video, part1, of that fateful flight of the Shackleton which crashed in the 1990's. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jnTInoaLbNB0msU Take care, warm regards

[@maxsdad538]

I was fortunate to be able to fly on a Shackleton on an intercept training mission with the 57th FIS (Black Knights) out of NAS Keflavik back in 1977 (I was a weapons controller on the USAF EC-121 at the time... the Connie was just as noisy, but it never kept you from a good nap). It was a ton of fun until they opened the starboard window so I could "get a better picture" of an F-4 off the wing. But I have to admit, it was a DAMN good prank. I still have a Squadron badge, a beret, and a lighter from Malta as souvenirs of my friends in the RAF.

[@twentyrothmans7308]

What an eloquent and engaging speaker Brian is! I thoroughly enjoyed his chat.

[@Aircrewinterview]

Twenty Rothmans he had some great stories to tell.

[@allgood6760]

Thanks.. my science teacher flew Shackletons... thanks from NZ 👍🇳🇿

[@sconniepanda5835]

Brian comes across as a very pleasant man. Great interview...and a valuable historical record.

[@Aircrewinterview]

Cheers.

[@davetrudgeon559]

Brings back memories of living under the flight path for St Mawgan , day and especially in the night you could here the drone coming started my interest in Military Aviation , well done

[@oldunpastit]

I was stationed at St Mawgan 60 -63 . What's this drone you are talking about? We didn't do night operations unless called out.

[@davetrudgeon559]

@@oldunpastit the drone was the engines . Coming in from St Austell bay this was later than 63 but not much . Well it must of been operational not every night

[@patthewoodboy]

thanks , great interview. 12 hour patrol , respect

[@markies5411]

I wasn't aircrew but used to go bird watching with Brian when at RAF Wyton. He was Officer i/c the RAF Wyton ornithology club and I was the secretary. A lovely man, true gentleman.

[@wolfleader3727]

one of my favorite air museums - Newark - been in most of the displays kept me in love with aviation while I waited for commercial work :)

[@matthayward7889]

What a career! Started flying with WWII veterans, ended up flying in the gulf war. Brilliant interview .

[@Aircrewinterview]

Cheers Matt.

[@Parawingdelta2]

My father was an RAF Air Traffic Controller during the war and up until his retirement in 1972. My first recollection of anything to do with the RAF was the Shackletons flying over our (married quarters) roof top on approach to RAF St. Eval, Cornwall in 1956. Within a year St. Eval closed down operations and re-located just up the road to St. Mawgan. Got to go inside a still operational Shackleton (on the ground). Last I saw any RAF Shackletons flying was at RAF Luqa in Malta in the mid sixties. The very last was a Royal Aircraft Establishment one at RAF Coltishall in 1968.

[@P61guy61]

Peter Valance was a friend of mine. Thanks to his preservation efforts I was able to crawl through both of his Shackletons. Thank you for the video and great interview.

[@Aircrewinterview]

William Haley great stuff, next weeks video is a tour inside and out. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@P61guy61]

I look forward to it. Thank you. Could you cover more on the Autolycus system?

[@Aircrewinterview]

William Haley we will do.

[@shredjoe1]

Really enjoyed this as I have all the interviews. Great questions & clearly interested & engaged interviewees. It's great too that the aircrew can talk about some of the awesome things they did.

[@Aircrewinterview]

Thank you.

[@robw3027]

Great interview- many thanks. Choice to do the Shackleton was an excellent addition to the RAF fast jets.

[@stephenvince9994]

Love the series....hope the banjo tuning is done soon though.....

[@thefrecklepuny]

Once again another fascinating interview. This time involving a pretty much-forgotten aeroplane, the Shackleton.

[@Aircrewinterview]

Thank you, I think the guys that flew these aircraft also need to be heard and documented :)

[@truthseeker7242]

In the late 1960s I remember watching and listening to Shackletons doing 'circuits and bumps' at RAF St Mawgan, down in Cornwall.

[@-DC-]

Beast of a aircraft been Newark a few times and it's a impressive machine to this day. Great interview thanks!

[@mondeo2500]

Lovely bloke, me and the Mrs spent at least an hour chatting to Brian when he was doing his Newark tour guide. There is a possibility that I flew a passenger trip with him in Nimrods

[@Aircrewinterview]

He is indeed. It’s in great condition and brilliant that Brian shows the public around.

[@petebuck9889]

As the song goes , Shackletons don't bother me. I was at Lossiemouth when these were flying , then latterly I worked on Nimrods at Kinloss

[@Yosemite-George-61]

First lesson I learned when becoming a teacher : "Avoid the bear dance when you talk to the students..." Ha ha ! Great interview ! Great airplane !

[@Aircrewinterview]

Cheers!

[@andrewockenden]

Most interesting interview. I only ever saw Shacklepins at Khormaksar fro '65 - '67, and I think they also assisted the Hunters in what was referred to as Slum Clearance sorties.

[@Aircrewinterview]

Andrew Ockenden thanks Andrew. Unfortunately I have never seen one fly.

[@truthseeker7242]

Andrew - I never went to Khormaksar, but as the child of a serving member of the Royal Signals, I visited Aden 4 times during troopship stop offs. I have an old B&W photo showing the shark netted area of the NAAFI Club, Steamer Point, with my mother, kid brother and myself swimming - dad took the photo. Circa 1955, we were going out to Hong Kong on the Asturias. Also got a photo of my mum, kid brother and myself beside a rather aloof looking camel in down town Crater, beside a ships chandlers. Were the 'slum clearance' sorties during the Dhofar Rebellion? I knew a guy who was in the RAF Regt. at that time, and was attached to the SAS during their operations there. He talked about the Hunter strikes on the rebs.

[@666gregor]

Brian is such a humble man

[@Bigrick099]

Flown together lots!

[@andrewmallard2301]

I remember Brian from his 51 Sqn days

[@simonrichardson5077]

Nice work,quality,thanks

[@Aircrewinterview]

Cheers Simon.

[@mikescanlon5567]

RAF 203 Luqa Malta went to Sigonella 1972, Sgts John Anderson from Newcastle and Billy Preston from Edinbrough were my friends as I was USN in Patrol Squadron-23, when 203 came to Sig after Mintoff kicked them out of Malta.

[@DavidAndrewsPEC]

He likes a Jura malt .... class man!

[@BigDuke6ixx]

A fellow flight sim fan, awesome!

[@mkmdexplorationparanormal5610]

Very interesting, and nice choice of interview, its nice to go from fighter pilot to submarine hunting and recon etc, varying pilots roles, be nice to hear from a very low profile to a high profile role, do you have a set agenda for interviews or,,, ?

[@Aircrewinterview]

Mike Ford we are trying to diverse the guest as I believe these types of aircraft and stories need to be told. We always have guests booked so there is content ready for the channel and up coming we have Helicopter and airline pilots as well as more diverse nationalities :)

[@davidwaller2179]

My uncle flew both the Shackleton and the Nimrod.

[@mviking39]

Awesome

[@DanielRowe]

Great interview.

[@Aircrewinterview]

+Daniel Rowe thanks :)

[@oldunpastit]

That's a 206 sq aircraft, which I've worked on. That's a mk 3 with a nosewheel. You trained on a mk 2 of 42 sq. Yeh, a wimp. Many 21 -24 hour flights. 60 - 63

[@mongolike513]

Why do you think that the USAF are your friends? Only while do you are doing their business are you their pals, just try try thinking for yourselves and taking a different road and then see what happens. You will be made very unhappy very quickly. The whole Commonwealth is allied to crazy deepstate US thought balloons involving anything paranoid skizophrenic being Americans as the victims!

[@maxsdad538]

Sad because YOU'RE not an American or a Brit, Slick? We understand.

[@terrystevens5261]

How are those T62's doing against the Ukranians ?