'Perpetual Motion' The Avro Shackleton

[@aerisarmis9666]

Shelled an engine on my F-111F in 1982 and declared an emergency and landed at RAF Lossiemouth. Three days later, I hitched a ride in a Shackleton to RAF Mildenhall ( 3 miles from my home base at RAF Lakenheath) which was headed there for the annual Air Fete. It was great. I sat in the nose gunner's seat up front and drank coffee and ate roast beef sandwiches as I watched the Scottish and English countryside glide by much slower than I was used to in my Aardvark. I'll never forget it...classic!

[@AsianManZan]

I graduated at raf lakenheath. Lived in beck row outside Mildenhal, the moved to Ely for a while!

[@AccomplishedFact]

Remember when the BBC still made documentaries like this? No crappy dramatizations, no irritating celebrity presenters. Just lots of original footage and matter of fact interviews with people who really know what they're talking about.

[@Nova-ne1il]

I remember as an American when the bbc made me remember our bond . Now just crap..

[@PibrochPonder]

Also no black washing of history and no diversity box ticking. The bbc now is a joke.

[@danielmarshall4587]

Yes those days are gone.

[@karelvandeschoor6313]

Agreed, although the narrator here is Warren Clarke, who later became famous for playing the lead role in "Dalziel and Pascoe". Very nice to hear this beautiful English here though, not just from the narrator but from just about everybody in this programme.

[@obelic71]

yep from the days that the BBC was THE public broadcast organisation. The benchmark and the envy of the world. In the wintertime on Sundays we had often a BBC documentary on our Dutch public network. Those where the days. Now we have more channels then ever and the quality of programming is so terrible ,to call it crap its an insult to crap.

[@richeharrison]

Loved the anecdote about avoiding the "baked bean" on the navigator's map - and truly surprised he wasn't reprimanded for it! Much respect to him.

[@Pincer88]

Can't help feeling sad when seeing such a masterpiece of engineering being chopped up. Some may say that machines are inanimate, but with so many highly skilled craftsmen putting so much dedication in an aircraft, I just don't think that's completely right.

[@bitsnpieces11]

Yes, it was men (male and female) who dug & smelted the ore, who formed the ore into parts, who put the parts together, who kept the parts working in harmony, who repaired the worn and broken parts. Men who guided it on its' path, who imparted a bit of their being into the whole.

[@biggles19821]

No two are alike, they all have a character.

[@biggles19821]

Agree totally. You can tell when its having a good day. Or a bad one.

[@hendo337]

Seeing them waste those planes brought me to extreme rage. They should have been offered for sale with any war time equipment removed. Zero reason to destroy tax payer funded equipment like that which is of real value. There was certainly more demand at air museums and so forth than 12 planes. Absolutely disgusting. Even as old planes in 1991 they would have easily brought more than scrap value. They're worth millions today. Infuriating.

[@robertf3479]

Some people, especially here in the States may call the Shackleton ugly. Personally I like her, a beautiful piece of engineering, rugged and capable. Her long service life is evidence of it. Well done Avro.

[@andrewdonohue1853]

kind of like our own B52

[@chrishartley4553]

@@andrewdonohue1853 Much love to the aesthetics of the B-52. But I can't help wishing they kept the fighter canopy of the XB-52 prototypes.

[@All2Meme]

Well, like her namesake, the Shackletons got their crews where they were going and back home again. What more could you ask for?

[@621Tomcat]

And she's got a smile.

[@jimviv6030]

Didn't rather a lot of people die in this "wonderful " plane?

[@clonmore819]

"We're flying Rolls Royce engines in leather seats, what more can we ask for?" Says it all. Thanks RAF

[@RelicRetrievalistChannel]

Absolutely! 👍👍

[@marpass8763]

An exceptional footage that took me back to 1985 when a RAF Avro 696 Shackleton landed at Sigonella (LICZ) while I was working in the control tower as air traffic controller. A great emotion to see this plane again after 36 years ! Thank you ! Thank you and thank you again !

[@oldleonb7714]

@delticbob, thank you for posting this wonderful video! @Mar Pass, you probably won't see this comment, but I too was stationed at NAS Sigonella in 1985. I worked the Transient Line and was one of those people with their mouths hanging open when it pulled in! (Guessing that we saw the same plane?) I was one of the marshallers, so got a good look at it up close and got to talk to some of the crew, who were very fun and personable. Yes, a great memory! All the Best.

[@marpass8763]

@@oldleonb7714 Great ! So we were there in the same days. I could see that plane only from the Tower with binoculars. Unbelievable! We worked in Sigonella in the same years !!! 👍👌😉

[@Rik79Duc]

What a wonderful documentary. I remember watching it as a teenager but whilst the romance is amazing, there is also the sense of the engineering purity , fitness for purpose and capability that the Shackleton and things like the Bear, B52 etc embody that means that 50 years later there has been no need to replace them.

[@tango6nf477]

I took my Grandson onto a Shackleton recently at Newark Air Museum, we really struck lucky because onboard was a retired RAF pilot that actually flew the aircraft. He was extremely interesting to listen to and I would really recommend it for a visit.

[@gilesguimbarde9305]

Old documentaries like these are gold-dust.

[@brianmiddleton3773]

I had the privilege to be a crew member of the mark 1 Shackleton as a Radar Gunnerduring my National Service and took part in the fly past over Buckingham Palace in June of 1952. I was initially on 120 Sqn. and then onto 240 Sqn. I would imagine all those who made up our crew are gone now but I have fond memories of the time we flew together.

[@EdwardPCampbell]

That's when I was born. Your service is greatly appreciated, sir.

[@CliveWatson100]

Brian, my father was 220 sdn Mk 1 Shackletons at that time, flight engineer and was 120 sdn during 1951. He was in the Cornation Review fly past at Odiham 15th july 1953. He passed away 1986. Clive Watson

[@trevorpostma2164]

I was on 204 Sqn I did detachment to Madagascar 1971 love every minute

[@SamanthaGuttesen]

My grandad was in 240 squadron, but up in Scotland in Invergordon up until 1943,with catalinas.

[@ernestsutton3455]

Big deal .who really cares what type of plane you where in . A total loser .what a clown 👍

[@davidedwards2950]

I joined 204 Sqdn at Ballykelly in 1957 as an Air Signaller and served for 8 years and some 3500 hours. The best thing about that time was the bond between members of a good crew. Rank didn't matter so long as you were a commited member. 86 years old now but the memories are still with me. Happy days.

[@stormwell]

My uncle, Barry Masefield, flew on Shacks from Ballykelly. Original joined up in 59 as radar techie but hated it and switched to non-com aircrew three years later. He later flew on Nimrod and then, after commissioning, flew on Vulcan and Victor. Sadly he's no with us but I'm interested in finding out what Shack squadrons he served with, especially as I'm in the mob and my current station hosted 204 Sqn at one point.

[@terryjohnson7389]

Coincidently I was an air cadet in 204 Lincoln squadron during the early 70s and Ballykelly sent over a shack to RAF Waddington for us fellas to have a flight experience in i will never forget sat in the bomb aimers position whilst flying over the cathedral on a beutiful summers evening.

[@Gribbo9999]

I lost a mate when his Shackleton flew into the Western Isles while on a patrol out of Lossiemouth but seeing them flying again also brings back lots a good memories of living in the North of Scotland in the 1970s and 80s. Seeing Shaks fly over as I went about my business never failed to thrill.

[@pepecohetes492]

The US had a similar platform, the triple tailed Constellation with a massive radome under belly. Fantastic, I never knew about this airplane and its long mission. Cheers!

[@martynharries4332]

Wow! I remember mixing sound for this. A labour of love as I once flew in a Chipmonk, landing on the grass alongside a Shackleton landing on the runway at Lossiemouth.

[@redknight1322]

It's too bad that all five couldn't be saved, but at least four of them escaped the breakers and at least one still flies. Marvelous lineage and service record, well done!!

[@Tattvadarzin.]

This aircraft is so much a background to my childhood in Forres, near RAF Kinloss. As an air cadet I had one flight in a Shackleton out on patrol over the North Sea. I remember laying in the tail looking out at the fishing boats, also sitting in the nose eating a hot chicken pie. It is sad that there are so few left.

[@iainsmith5089]

I can well remember lying in bed late at night at my grandparents house in Elgin listening to the comforting sound of the Shack rumbling it's way back from patrol into RAF Lossiemouth.

[@trespire]

@iain smith Comforting sound hearing your countries air force. Our barracks were slightly off to one side of the landing approach. For 3 years F-16 and F-4E Kurnass sang me a lullaby to sleep, a good feeling knowing ones pilots and planes return safely. IAF airframe fitter.

[@paulyb2405]

Great little documentary. I remember the Shackleton well. Would often see them in the 80s. Such a well built airframe with those epic Rolls Royce Griffon engines. When you think that in 1991 the US were flying F-117 fighters and the RAF still had the Shackleton in operation it's mind blowing. A beautiful aircraft and absolutely solid engineering, the Shackleton story is amazing really.

[@deletesoon70]

9:30 "Ten thousand rivets flying in close formation...", I love humour like this.

[@martinpooley3944]

Then you should watch the video I've recently seen on the Bristol Freighter where it was described as 20,000 rivets flying in close formation. Perhaps that was just Antipodean exaggeration. It was a NZ-made video.

[@gbixby3453]

Got to see one at Duxford... it was in pieces awaiting some restoration, but it was a real airplane nerdgasm to see it! (My wife just shook her head...)

[@trespire]

You may take console that your dear wife, and millions of other wife, can shake their head with out a care, thanks to these machines, engineers who built them, and brave aircrew.

[@GoViking933]

Loved this! Such a great documentary, its like we hopped In the plane ourselves..

[@comicmania2008]

I love it! "10,000 rivets flying in close formation"! Classic aircraft, used to look and sound great, and did a damned good job too!

[@colinbirks5403]

Ex 206 squadron Mk 3 Shack's. 1960 - 63. I knew then, nothing could replace the versatility of this useful aircraft. God, I flew some hours in one of these. 24 hours on one trip. Yes, I can still smell it. (No mention of the nosewheel version? And 18 hours? 24 hours in Mk 3.)

[@melvyncox3361]

My dad flew in these as a navigator.Went all over the world.An iconic aircraft if ever there was one.Glad some were preserved.My favourite was the later MR3 with the tip tanks and tricycle undercarriage.

[@nicholassiminson1825]

I serviced this wonderful Aircraft on 8 Squadron at RAF Lossiemouth for 8 Years. I designed and installed my first Modification on the Aircraft and wrote my first User Manual (for "Autocat"). All of which motivated me for my ex-Service Job as a Technical Author working for "Airbus". This Video brought back some wonderful Memories of my Time with the Shackleton. Thank you.

[@diceman199]

I got to go aboard a Shackleton at Lossiemouth :-)

[@nicholassiminson1825]

diceman199 Tell me about it (do you need my E-Mail Address ?)

[@diceman199]

@@nicholassiminson1825 No much to tell really. I was in the ATC and we got shown around the inside of one. I did have several flights on the Nimrods out of Kinloss though

[@outlawflyer7868]

OMG my heart sank when I saw that claw tearing into that once beautiful bird!

[@deejay4839]

I had the pleasure of seeing one these beautiful machines while I was stationed in Iceland 89/90 with 960th AWACS. We shared a hanger with Icelandic Air. The Shackleton was parked in in-between the AWACS and Icelandic Air bay. I only wished I'd taken more pictures.

[@mqbitsko25]

Mustang: "I have a Merlin!" Spitfire XVIII: "Oh, yeah? I have a GRIFFON." Shackleton: "Hold my beer....."

[@samrodian919]

Hold my beer........ I got FOUR of 'em!

[@avoidingtrees560]

Great Britain, you can be proud of your aviation legacy. Cheers from France , and god save the queen.

[@mbvgkjhgvkugvouklgb]

This grainy video, on a quirky British aircraft, has a comment section filled with more history than some museums. It's nice reading all these memories because it reminds us that the guys that flew these and the Lancasters and all the others where blokes just like I am now. I hope I have just as good stories when I'm their age.

[@snidepete5700]

Delivering Ordinance = Murder.

[@spentacle]

There was a Grampian TV programme "The Old Grey Ladies of Lossiemouth " with a tale of a lady recalling being shipwrecked and the loveliest sound in the world was 4 Griffons coming out of the dawn towards their life-raft

[@robw7676]

I loved watching Shakletons at air displays when I was a kid. They were like a flying museum, but properly cool with it.

[@formerlyofb]

After all that history and all that time my elder Brother flew the last Air certified Shack on its very last flight ever whilst in RAF service! You can now see this aircraft in the Manchester Air museum! He invited me to fly with him in 1982 on an 8 Sqdn Shack and spent two weeks in the air following my return from the Falklands War. Sadly Pete died in 2006 and has a memorium plaque along with our Dad, who himself was a WWII Spitfire pilot, at the national arboretum! As a note - Pete was the Pilot heavily featured in the BBC documentary, Eye in the Sky, detailing the role of the Shackleton and 8 Sqdn.

[@jeffprice2537]

Hi TB, I was on 8 Sqn from 1981 to 1988 and flew with your brother several times. I only learnt of his untimely passing a few years ago. So sorry for your loss.

[@formerlyofb]

Jeff, apologies. Saw your comment last night but due to odd work hours have only just found opportunity to reply. Firstly, thank you for your condolences; it's shocking to think we lost Pete 14 years ago - seems like yesterday. Secondly, a small but connected world that we bump into each other across the net, really good to hear from old crew mates of Pete's. He cross trained to rotary wing after 8 Sqdn. Seakings with 22 SAR RAF Valley, before finishing at RAF Chivenor just before he became ill. I was pondering on putting a message up on PPRune, but have delayed that - there's enough bad news going around at the moment. Maybe an informative message later. Jeff, hope your Lock Down is not too arduous and thanks again. Regards. Tim.

[@jeffprice2537]

@@formerlyofb Hi Tim, if you are wanting to send me further suggest PM through PPrune. I am callsign JANDA. Rgds

[@formerlyofb]

Will do Jeff. Bear with me on timing, but I will definitely get back to you with details. Regards.

[@Astroptx]

three cheers - from the USA !

[@bonesshed.]

That brings back memories. I got to Lossie late 80s and my first ever det with the RAF was 6 weeks at Akrotiri on 8 Sqn Shacks. Those were the days, what a time to be young and invincible :-)

[@elendor3428]

I loved this documentary so much as a kid!

[@BradBrassman]

Seeing this brought back a few happy memories as a kid when we lived very close to RCAF Langar in Nottinghamshire which was A.V. Roe's fitting shops and technical support station. On a Sunday afternoons my dad used to take us up there to watch the Shackletons take off.

[@colinchristie3118]

I remember being posted to RAF Changi, Singapore(now Changi International Airport), they had a squadron of Shackletons. This was in the early 70s. Sometimes when at the model aircraft club which was beside the runway on the grass, we had to stop flying so a Shackleton could take off. Amazing aircraft in the days of the jet age.

[@terryofford4977]

That was 205/209 Sqdns Shacks, they were used on the Sri Lnka /Gan Maldives run, antisubnmarine patrols. I was at Changi Control Tower and D1 Those days.

[@timebandit9469]

@@terryofford4977 You missed out one of the Shackleton's side jobs mate. They used to do mail drops at sea while on patrols to keep us Royal Navy types happy. Seeing a Shackleton turning up knowing it would do a sea drop of mail from back home for us to pick up was very special for us while in the Indian Ocean and Far East waters. Thank you RAF.

[@fredfarnackle5455]

Very enjoyable video, it was good to see the occasional flashback to wartime Lancs. British engineering at its finest.👍

[@allgood6760]

Thaks!... my science teacher flew these planes.. thanks from NZ👍🇳🇿

[@johndublyoo8675]

I remember seeing these amazing aircraft every working day when I was at Kinloss 71-72, the guys on 8 squadron were out on sorties for hours on end.

[@alanwatt7256]

Back in the late 50's I recall seeing these awesome classics at RAF Kinloss; they had a very distinctive sound.They also had Neptunes based there

[@BroodofLoki]

In 1966 we were stationed at Kinloss. My father was ground crew for the Shackletons. Used to watch them take off from our graden. Magnificent. Great to see them again!

[@martinpeat8374]

Went to lossiemouth with the air cadets and had the privelidge to get a look round one of these fantastic old ladies,love them

[@Imnotyourdoormat]

outstanding video on the Lancaster......

[@kevinmottram9491]

A real classic aircraft. 40 years in service says it all.

[@MauriatOttolink]

After being entranced right to the end, may I say 'thank you' to somebody, not least the Manchester, Lancaster, Shackleton crews..war and peace, plus the film maker and of course the 'uploader', Delticbob. Never even SAW a Manchester nor a "Shack" but as a 17 yr old ATC cadet, Eccles 292 Sqdn,, I was allowed inside a Lanc. although only on the tarmac, not airborne! As a radio enthusiast, ( ATC Part C and C Advanced...Signals) & with a G3 Amateur Radio Op. licence only 12 months away, you can bet to where I gravitated when these late 1950s school-boy air-cadets swarmed like a bunch of bees, aboard the Lanc. at RAF Shawbury in '57. ......Radio Ops section! Mind you, Lancs were so cramped inside that even our 17 year old legs didn't exactly 'swarm'! Perhaps we 'clambered'! Wish I could clamber these days.... I already had an R1155N / T1154 up and running in my bedroom, much to the bewilderment of my mother who would have gone utterly bananas if she'd known of the high voltages which were behind my bed room door! (1800 vdc with lots of current available..enuff to kill next door's cat! (and me!) It led to a life-time career, in electronics and in particular radio comms. G3NBY QTHR in QRZ.com God knows how today, even post quad heart by-pass, I would get a T1154 up those stairs! regards and 73. NBY

[@BobandBear1]

I remember being on Widemouth Bay beach in Cornwall when I was a kid when a Shackleton came sweeping along the waters edge the length of the beach...he was very low...and I mean very low !.It was just a black silhouette against the evening sky, but the sight and the roar of the engines as it skimmed the beach is something I will never forget....even if I did think it was a Lancaster at the time !

[@scopex2749]

I was so proud to have served in the RAF as an aircraft fitter, when we had these old ladies! Unfortunately i never got posted on them but we used to regularly have them in on exercise at Brize Norton! I used to love the smell inside them so ancient, leather seats and AVGAS! The magic part was when they took off one after another they did MAG DROPS at the end of the runway before each took off the sound was truly.......SUPERB. TRULY SADDENED that we have lost the Shacks and the Lightnings who used to fly intercepts at the request of the radar ops, 😢😢 brings tears to my eyes that the RAF has lost some of the best aircraft it ever had, replaced by the rubbish, unreliable over expensive F35 ‘Lightning’ ( what an insult to give THAT name to such a true WASTE OF METAL as the F35]👿 There was and is only one true Lightning. Thank you crews and thank you Shackletons.

[@darkknight1340]

The one consolation of naming the F-35 the lightning is that it was named for the US P-38,but the "proper" lightning should not be mentioned in the same breath as the current pile of airborne scrap.

[@ccgg4914]

As a child I used to look forward to seeing the Shackletons flying overhead along the Cornish coast. That sound will stay with me forever as will the Cornish coast where I now live after also falling in love with that also.

[@SR71ABCD]

Such a Beautiful plane I remember seeing 2 at RAF St. Mawgan back in the mid 90's one as Gate Guardian and the other used for the Dummy Deck and she was a wreck. I just stood and stared at her knowing what she was like in service.

[@gm16v149]

It was a daily event seeing them fly when I was a kid in Newquay in the 1960s. Sometimes they’d fly so low you could actually see the pilots.

[@jessh5310]

When the Shackleton arrived at Newark air museum I paid my money and sat in every seat in the aircraft. Yay..

[@watchingyou245]

Remember seeing these regularly flying over school in Scotland from RAF Lossiemouth and or RAF Kinloss

[@alisterrussell4726]

My late dad flew in Shackletons as an engineer. As his dementia progressed, he was able to remember more details about flights.

[@andrewhemming371]

As did mine! My Dad flew them as an Eng. from Lossiemouth on Coastal Command in the 60s or70's...he died in 2011 aged 75...bet they would have known each other...he loved the Shackleton...went on to fly in Britannias and VC 10s..He was in one in the Aden crisis...the one and only time he got shot at, he said...lines of tracer coming up at em at night...nowhere near us, he said...

[@alisterrussell4726]

@@andrewhemming371 Dad was definitely at Lossiemouth but probably a bit before your dad. He died in 2018 at 89. He also flew in Sunderlands out of Wales and narrowly missed being sent to Korea. I think they were packed and ready to go before being stood down.

[@CaptHollister]

The Tu-95 is a 500+mph turborop powered bomber. It's disingenuous to boil it down to "another propeller-driven" airplane. What distinguishes the Shackleton is not that it was propeller-driven, but that those props were driven by piston engines. Those piston engines are what made it truly antiquated.

[@Fastbikkel]

That's exactly what i thought, it is in a class of its own almost.

[@DarrenWalley]

What engines were they...? Don't tell me, look them up. 😢

[@rupertdlc]

I attended a private school in the early 70's and I would listen to these wonderful aircraft doing their pre-flight run-ups at 3am in the morning beside RAF Lossimouth Scotland. WOW what a memory.

[@andyrowlands50029]

My Dad flew on Sunderlands and Shacks during his National Service in the 50s as a radar operator and maintenance technician. 963 at Baginton near Coventry is about three years away from taking to the skies again :-)

[@andyrowlands50029]

+flip inheck My Dad also liked the Sunderlands, plenty of room inside.

[@EdwardPCampbell]

The last two Sunderlands allowed to rot away on the shore of Poole Harbour, Dorset, sadly.

[@michaellord9]

I remember watching them taking off from RAF St Mawgan, starting their Atlantic patrols, replaced by the Nimrod before the airbase became a civil airport... childhood days seem much better than nowadays

[@martf8014]

Would have loved sitting in the Fort Inn Beer garden watching them operate out of St Mawgan

[@gm16v149]

Same here, we lived in Newquay in the 1960s and saw them fly low over our town. I remember them doing an engine run-up on a quiet night and I could hear them from my bedroom window from miles away.

[@esteladapper8892]

amazing video, one of the best parts is the britsh sense of humor of the crew.

[@johndublyoo2553]

I remember the 8sqn Shackletons at Kinloss 71/72, quite a sight watching them take off in darkness with those 4 Rolls Royce Griffons exhaust ports belching blue flame at full throttle.

[@joebfnl1079]

When I was in England back in the 70's, I saw one of these taking off from Heathrow airport!.

[@ronholfly]

I remember these, we had a squadron of Shackleton's on Christmas Island Operation Grapple in 1954

[@ianmanson8743]

My father flew his Shackleton from Cornwall to Christmas Island and back for the hydrogen bomb tests. A lot of "hops"to get there and back. His log books show he converted to four engine aircraft on Lancasters.

[@ronholfly]

Thanks for your reply, I was ground crew on those Shackletons so I may have helped with the start up, your dad could have given me the thumbs up. Take care 💕

[@rhannay39]

The Shackleton was actually developed from the Lincoln which was developed from the Lancaster, so Manchester-Lancaster-Lincoln-Shackleton.

[@UmustBk1dd1ng]

Great documentary. I would have loved to hear those engines power up.

[@HomoFaberMusic]

first 5 second of this movie is my Oscar candiate; seriously!

[@michaeldougfir9807]

Thank you. Another good military aviation history. Excellent.

[@downhilltwofour0082]

Great video of a great plane!

[@sylviaelse5086]

John Noakes on Blue Peter (UK children's TV show) seemed to be in one of these every other week, though my memory may deceive me.

[@saintuk70]

Lossiemouth - Shackletons and Jaguars (before the Tornados arrived) used to watch the Shackleton fly over Elgin in the '70's every day.

[@gman922]

I was stationed at Lossie!! i remember that holiday camp next door

[@chrismccartney8668]

Quality Documentary

[@bogomir67]

Rolls Royce engines, the smell of old leather, and a galley just large enough to make afternoon tea. If that's not a British product - what is?

[@mothmagic1]

Sounds about right. It does what it's supposed to so we don't care about crew comfort.

[@truckertom3323]

Just remember chaps, Built in Blighty, twice as strong so it will get you home should any thing go wrong, British Engineering, built to last, proven in war and in peace, now sadly gone forever. "We're flying Rolls Royce engines in leather seats, what more can we ask for?" well said.

[@longi625]

To anyone in the RAF, whatever role is that you did or do. Your are and forever will be my heroes! Bottoms up old chaps!

[@HambletonRanger]

Took my final board at RAF Cosford passing out as would now be called an Avionics Technician, on a Shackleton. The most memorable thing was the leather seats and watch your head when moving around.

[@davidgillies5342]

I remember Shackeltons flying over Loch Ness in the direction of Fort William. Also back in the direction of Lossiemouth. This was as a teenager.

[@promerops]

Speaking as one who has lived, on and off, in Cape Town since the mid-60s, I have great affection for the Shackleton; from the time they were still in active service up to fairly recently, when there would nearly always be a Shak flying at the air shows given by the SAAF at Ysterplaat airfield. On a course quite a few years ago, one of my fellow students mentioned that he had worked on Shaks during his national service; so had our lecturer. The next day photographs were produced. Someone mentioned that the Shack had the same feel about its engineering as a steam locomotive! South Africa has quite a long coast line, as well as a very strategic position. Despite this the Shackletons have never been replaced - except for a few Dakotas converted to turboprop power - to quote John Cleese, "it's scarcely a replacement, then, is it?". Instead of splurging billions on supersonic fighters (SAAB Gripens) which just sit in their hangers these days, the Shaks should have been properly replaced with, say, Orions. Thanks very much for uploading this superb video.

[@mikezinn7212]

promerops . I also remember them so well as a kid in Cape Town in the 60s. You could hear them from the southern suburbs, growling away 15 miles away. Those formations of Harvards also well remembered.

[@promerops]

Ah, yes, the Harvards operating out of Youngsfield! Saturday afternoons were always entertaining, as they practised stall recovery, seemingly directly over our family home in Plumstead. Wom wom wom, then nothing! Look up and see the Harvard heading straight at us!

[@flybyairplane3528]

michael zinn >YES So Africa, did fl.y those to patrol the coasts, I was never there, but did see them in the newsreels, at the movies.

[@brianprice544]

promerops p0oooo

[@AnthonyTolhurst-dw1nc]

I concur

[@kikufutaba1194]

I am at university in Tucson Az. There is an Air Museum there and they have one of these aircraft on display. It is quite large and unique in its appearance.

[@chamberlin1]

Yea, my favorite airplane to see at the Pima Air Museum. Right next to the Fairey Gannet!

[@kikufutaba1194]

@@chamberlin1 Really? they have a Hurricane there now also not sure the Mark number.

[@chamberlin1]

@@kikufutaba1194 Futaba-san, it is a Mk. IIb. The Spitfire is a Mk. XIVe Fighter Reconnaissance. Great stuff!

[@kikufutaba1194]

@@chamberlin1 Oh thank you.

[@wunsentiger5833]

I had an empire of the sun moment with a Shackleton in the 80s 😔

[@Wombat1916]

One funny story I once heard about the Shackleton MR was the time one was crossing the Indian Ocean and everyone was heartily bored. The navigator noticed he had dropped a baked bean on his chart and plotted a course round the baked bean, relaying the course changes to the pilot!

[@garyoptica]

+Terry Shulky More MOD BS as contracts were handed on a plate to American companies and British companies were sacrificed.I am surprised we have not looked into the corruption that must of been rampant over the Atlantic at the time and still persists.

[@GreyhatInfiltrator]

+Terry Shulky Then the co-pilot asked the captain, why have we been flying around for a long time? The captain replied it's all navigator's bloody fault.

[@MauriatOttolink]

+Terry Shulky That had reached me.. What a fabulous anecdote!

[@Wombat1916]

+MauriatOttolink I never saw a Shackleton in flight, though I have heard it described as 10,000 rivets flying in formation. The BBMF, which I visited in 1987, got lots of spare engine parts from the Shackleton fleet when the planes were retired.

[@charlieross-BRM]

That story is covered at 19:40 in the documentary.

[@MarsFKA]

I remember a quote from a book on the worst aircraft - I forget the title - in which a Shackleton air crew member said the best sound in the world was when you were standing watching a Shackleton taking off because it meant that you weren't in it. 16:40 The Griffon engine was not developed from the Merlin, but from the larger "R" motor that powered the 1931 Supermarine S6B Schneider Trophy sea plane.

[@biggles19821]

It wasn't a slur on the aircraft, rather then length of the patrol. The longest missions recorded were just under 24hrs.

[@johnwiesen4440]

I was there on the last flypast over London. It was a merkey day but what a sight.

[@redr1150r]

It's sad to see an aircraft go off into the sunset, but time presses on , and stops for no one. At 68 years of age and still working in aviation, I've said good bye to a few of them myself.

[@almelling6699]

So proud when i think all this was done in Manchester.

[@dirtydave2691]

The Chaps doing the catapult launch is from a training movie that is on you tube. Fascinating watch it is. Shack was a big beastly beauty.

[@paulmcwilliams8641]

I flew to Iceland in one in 91 from Lossiemouth. I trained evacuation in a Nimrod, but I went in one of these. Really horrible journey yet interesting all the same and easy to take photographs in flight. I came back in a Nimrod, which was only slightly better.

[@donaldallison6037]

In November 1955 our platoon flew in a Shackleton from ,I think Bank Top Aerodrome some where in county Durham, and eight hours later we landed in Luqa Malta. I believe it was an airport ability test something to do with Aden. Exciting times for a nineteen year old.

[@EdwardPCampbell]

I remember them flying west over the north part of Larne, N Ireland in 1959 when I lived there. On one occasion I recall a Shackleton trailing what looked like a small torpedo slung about 100 feet below it on a cable connected to its middle. It was green, with an orange painted tip. I imagine it must have been for detecting submerged submarines ..? Perhaps the probe was for picking up magnetic anomalies?

[@JDJLalor]

I wouldn't be any use to you on that question, but I remember seeing something similar in Dublin in 1981. It was a Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer towing a box behind it. It was being used for geomagnetic survey work and made it to the Irishman's Diary column in the Irish Times. Only recently I found that it was operated by Flight 1, a company that was then based in the Isle of Man

[@EdwardPCampbell]

J Lalor I wasn’t here. We didn’t speak 😎

[@davehamlyn3097]

The Shackletons were used by SAAF for long range patroling off the South African coastline

[@boerewors79]

I had the privilege of flying with 35 squadron

[@mjc8281]

My Dad flew MR3's back in the late 1960s, his hearing has never recovered...

[@fredgrove4220]

In the mid 60's I was stationed at Tidworth, and we used to see Shakletons land and take of at Boscombe Down.

[@barneymullan]

used to watch them every day from my home in faughanvale .sometimes in formation of nines . iwas about ten years old.the then vulcan took over.memories mmmmmm

[@mcpick606]

I would have loved to experience one go out on patrol with those big RR powered counter-rotating props at full power. Thanks for the post.

[@SR71ABCD]

9:13 I just love that sound.

[@stevekiberd6161]

My Grandad was a rear gunner in one of these and survived :)

[@bdcash]

My dad was a pilot in the 50s and was flying one of those in the coronation fly-past. He survived too, but his hearing didn't

[@allano937]

Do you mean nose gunner.? The Shack didn't have rear guns. All guns were removed on the AEW used by 8 squadron.

[@PeteCourtier]

Steve Kiberd and is now a rear gunner on an Andrew lorry😂 Stay safe🍺

[@johnnydiamondsmusic1673]

I used to deliver spares up to RAF Lossiemouth for these aircraft. Used to stay overnight in the town.

[@gman922]

Really I was up in Lossie in 1975 -76 Jaguar OCU!!!! use to shag the local Buckie Commandos in that holiday camp!!!! HAPPY DAYS!!!!

[@ProperLogicalDebate]

In 1969 or 70 i was permitted to walk/crawl through a piece of history.

[@johnmurrell3175]

If you want to hear a Shackleton engine run the Gatwick Aviation museum holds (held ?) occasional engine runs on their Mk3 Shackleton. Look at their web site for future dates. They also ground run some of the jets occasionally.

[@biggles19821]

We also run and occasionally taxy ours at Coventry. (63 in this film as it happens...)

[@MauriatOttolink]

A bit of a clanger somewhere.. As they were starting individual motors, 3 were running and somebody shouted "Starting Port outer". The camera certainly was on a 'port outer' engine but it didn't have twin, contra-rotating screws like the other 3, just a single prop. I think a bit of Lancaster film crept in there. Still, a damned good show chaps, what! Wizard piece of video.. Don'tcha know, Old Bean. .

[@garethonthetube]

That's the point of the film; the parallel between the Shackleton and the wartime Lancaster. It's used a few other times in the programme, so obviously not a clanger.

[@Yosemite-George-61]

I've got goose bump when they released the brakes... (first time in youtube) :-)

[@TR6Telos]

In the dark , raining, engine out, reminds me of my H1 500

[@timmason7430]

Nice Bike.