Western Rangers

A very popular series of flights for the Victor Tankers when I was based at Marham in  the 1970s were known as Western Rangers. A Western Ranger involved 2 tankers and a typical itinerary went like this:

Actual flight times, of course, depended on the high level winds, generally flowing from west to east across the North Atlantic and frequently well exceeding 100 knots.

The idea of the Western Rangers was to give tanker crews an opportunity to operate independently away from base, and a chance to visit Strategic Air Command HQ at Omaha. Timings, by both aircraft, were critical because the tanker transferring fuel overhead Goose Bay had to take off at a precise time which would enable it to climb to the operating height, usually about 30,000 feet depending on upper cloud conditions, to be at the RV exactly on time - pointing in the right direction (as shown in the two black and white images below). In those days the RV had to be completed by the hard work of the navigators - the civilian Air Traffic Controllers would not, or could not, assist. We used to joke that ATC would not help achieve the RV since their task was to keep aircraft apart not bring them into close proximity; there was, of course, truth in  that!

The tanker on the direct flight, in either direction, typically received 40,000 lbs (roughly 20 old-fashioned tons) of fuel in 22-25 minutes, during which time its own engines used up about 6-8000lbs of fuel so the net gain was about 33,000lbs. The Flight Refuelling Operator in the tanker (one of the two navigators) had the fuel gauges which measured accurately the amount of fuel which flowed from tanker to receiver. Maximum transfers, as they were called, were always tiring for the receiving tanker's Captain/1st Pilot because he had to fly the aircraft manually, one hand holding the control column and the other hand operating the four engine throttles together. The auto-pilot could not be used by the receiver because it did not have the sensitivity to make the necessary continuous small corrections and, let's face it, the Victor K1's auto-pilot, with its 1950s technology, was not totally reliable.

Slight digression. The Captain was not always the 1st pilot (defined as the pilot in the left hand seat) because sometimes a suitably qualified captain flew in the right hand seat when he was training a co-pilot to operate from the left hand seat. However, captains were the only ones authorised to take on fuel from a tanker so such captains had to be able to carry out maximum on-loads from either seat and in that respect they had to be ambidextrous.  When I was OC the Victor Standardisation Unit I sometimes allowed selected co-pilots to make contact with a tanker without any fuel transfer taking place; it was good for their morale (if they did it well!) but not good for the morale of the rear crew members. On those occasions, definitely not Western Rangers, if the co-pilot started to lose control I simply extended the air brakes and closed the throttles allowing the aircraft to drop back and make a speedy disconnect from the tanker.

Pilots reading this will readily appreciate, but non-aircrew often do not, that the weight of both aircraft changes significantly during this long transfer of fuel. Obviously the tanker gets lighter and its pilot has to reduce power to maintain a constant speed, while the receiver gets steadily heavier and its pilot has to increase power to maintain speed. Towards the end of the transfer a Victor K1 receiver required almost the maximum permitted power setting on all four engines to remain in position without dropping back and breaking contact. The co-pilot was responsible for making sure the fuel flowing into the receiver was pumped into appropriate tanks, in so doing aiming to keep the aircraft's centre of gravity within allowable limits. Sometimes the receiving Victor would find that it was impossible to remain in position at maximum permitted power. In these circumstances the receiver would request a manoeuvre known as 'toboggan'. Subject to ATC clearance the two aircraft would gently enter a very slow descent thereby allowing gravity to take over allowing both aircraft to reduce power slightly. 'Gently' was the keyword. Both aircraft had to start descending at exactly the same time and at the same rate otherwise contact would be broken. A rate of descent of 300 feet per minute was usually sufficient.

Goose Bay airfield, 53 degrees 19 minutes North, 60 degrees 25 minutes West, was jointly operated at this time by the Royal Canadian Air Force and United States Air Force. The USAF operated their Strategic Air Command B52s nuclear heavy bombers from a vast dispersed site on the base. The B52s were held on permanent readiness, as they were throughout the Cold War, to counter any Soviet nuclear attack coming over the North Pole. Fortunately that contingency never came about although the B52s carried out frequent exercises to test their readiness. The RAF had a small permanent detachment at Goose Bay to assist the Victor tanker crews and other Bomber Command aircraft that used to operate in Canada and USA.. During the long arctic winter the only way into and out of the Goose Bay area was by air.

I took the pictures in the block below, except the first two, on 17 and 18 March 1973, when the Spring thaw in Labrador was just starting.  On this occasion my crew was operating as Tanker 2. Click on a thumbnail to download a larger version.

The tanker waiting for its receiver to move into position	Tanker and receiver about to start the refuelling procedure	Approaching Goose Bay, seen from the co-pilot's seat of XA936 while I did the hard work
XA936 outside Goose after arrival from Offutt AFB. In winter, the aircraft was moved inside the hanagar as quickly as possible	XA936 in the warm in the Goose Bay hangar. During winter all checks up to engine start were done inside the hangar to stop things freezing up	The local church in Happy Valley
My co-pilot posing outside the 'supermarket' in Happy Valley, the local town - the only town. It had an amazing selection of goods	The main road, and gate guardian, outside the RCAF Goose Bay airbase	Another general view of the locality
The officers' living quarters - still snowbound in March	Another view of Happy Valley	Fun travel in the snow - residents as well as military personnel used these snomobiles
Bargaining between ship's crew and locals	One of the ships that had over-wintered in the bay - complete with their crew	The main road between Happy Valley and air base
It was not clear whther or not they intended to remain all winter - but remain they did!	Slippery gang plankl	This one did not even make the quayside when the first ice came