39th SQ Canberra
The Canberra is a the very first jet-powered British bomber ever built. It was developed in the mid to late 1940’s. It is an absolutely amazing aircraft. In 1957 it established an altitude record of 70,310 feet, and for many years it was the highest flying aircraft in the world. It’s high performance and amazing service ceiling made it a perfect reconnaissance platform.
I was one of fonly our Americans attached to the Royal Air Force at RAF Marham in support of an electro-optical reconnaissance system installed on this particular aircraft.
The Canberra has a two-man crew. The pilot is the only one with a canopy. His cockpit is offset to the side for some reason. I have no idea why…
The reconnaissance systems operator sits inside the nose which hinges out to allow access. He has two very small windows but is completely dependant on the pilot to keep him alive. If he has to eject he must blast through to top of the nose. This job requires a lot of trust!
The space in the nose compartment is extremely tight and cramed with equipment. There are only two ways out – eject, or wait for the ground ccrew to open the nose.
The RAF crammed a lot of equipment into a very small space!
The Rolls-Royce Avon was the first axial flow jet engine designed and produced by Rolls-Royce. Varients are still produced today!
No one is allowed anywhere near an aircraft like this one without a few weeks of safety training. Just walking under a wing could get you killed. Most military aircraft can dispense flares and chaff to counter surface to air missiles. The next danger you face is working in a cockpit with an ejection seat. You better know how to safe that seat or you may end up pasted to the hanger roof! Those are only a few of the ways you can be killed or injured workig around military aircraft.
This was a very sucessful joint venture between the RAF and the USAF. The brass were all very happy and the two of us that worked for Raytheon got these nifty patches to put in our patch collection – the culmonation of one year away from home. That’s ok. The other guy probably lost his patch by now so I have the only one!
