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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 1033.PDF
FLIGHT, 18 April 1952 465 ARCTIC ARMOURER Or, How to be 100 per cent Efficient] at Thirty-eight Below Zero THIS article is something quite out of the ordinary. Having originated as a report by the R.C.A.F. Winter Experimental Establishment, under the imposing title "Armament Problems in Loading and Arming Aircraft in Cold Weather," it has since appeared, in its present interesting form, in "The Roundel," the journal of the Royal Canadian Air Force, to the Editor of which we acknowledge our indebtedness. It is based on six winters' experience under the severest possible conditions at Fort Churchill, Manitoba, and Watson Lake, Yukon Territory. The author, S/L. E. N. Henderson, enlisted in the R.C.A.F. in 1940 and was posted to England in 1941. He served in No. 400 Sqn until August 1943, when he was posted to No. 39 Wing H. Q. Demobilized in 1945, he rejoined the Service six months later, and went to the Winter Experimental Establishment in 1949. HELLO ! So you're the new armourer—I mean, the new munitions and weapons technician—all set to begin work up here in the frozen north ? Good. And it sure is frozen this morning. Thirty-eight below outside. Since this is your first day, we'll just take you around and show you what sort of work you'll be doing. As we go, you'll pick up quite a few of the "do's" and "don'ts" about servicing aircraft armament at sub-zero temperatures. . . . I expect you've heard that cold-weather operations present quite a few problems to armament personnel. And you've heard rightly. All the same, you'll find that some of the difficulties are really only routine and aren't necessarily peculiar to cold weather conditions. But, of course, any difficulty is easier to overcome under normal working conditions than when you're working in the open at thirty- eight below, encumbered by heavy winter clothing. The sharp edge of a fellow's keenness is apt to become a bit blunted under such conditions, and the prime object is to get the job over with and go back inside where it's warm. We've been tackling the cold-weather problem for several sea sons now, and many of the difficulties have been overcome—usually the hard way. Some still remain, though; and new problems will certainly rear their ugly heads with the arrival of new and different equipment. Nevertheless, if you watch how the chaps here go about their work, and take the same precautions that they do, you'll find it a lot easier to carry out your duties efficiently. First of all, let's take a look at what the well-dressed arctic armourer is wearing. Working outside at a temperature like today's, a man needs to be dressed for the occasion. You've been issued with your B-25 kit? Fine. You'll need it!—So take care of it and use it properly. I hope you're wearing some sort of long underwear. Most of the boys around here find that the bottoms of flannelette pyjamas meet the purpose. And I see that you've got on your wool turtle-neck sweater. Okay: now put on the type-C overall trousers and the parka jacket. You'll find that ski-cap affair is just the thing under neath your parka. And now the sheepskin-lined boots and the mitts—inner and outer. By the way, you'd better get yourself a pair of light wool or cotton anti-contact gloves to wear under those mitts. You'll see why when you start working. You may think you're a pretty bulky object to climb around an "Snowmobile" is the expressive name applied by the R.C.A.F. to this type of tractor, used for a variety of purposes, including the towing of trains of bomb-trollies. Arming the 20 mm British Hispano guns of a Hawker Sea Fury. aeroplane and load guns and rockets and bombs. I agree; you are. But you can do it all right, and, as the song says, "you'll get used to it." Well, now that you're dressed, let's go outside to the arming point and get the fighters ready for air firing. Let's start off with an easy one—a 50 calibre Browning instal lation in the wing. The gun and ammunition tanks are pretty accessible in a wing gun installation. So here's a screwdriver. Get up on the wing and remove the panel. Having trouble already ? Quite a job climbing on an aeroplane in full winter kit, isn't it? You'd better let someone help you or you'll be all morning trying to get started. Just a minute—don't try to walk on that wing. Oops ! There you go ! Try it on all fours. It's the only safe way to move about on the wing when you're wearing snow-boots. Now that you've got the panels up, let's take a look at the guns.— Hold it! Don't take your gloves off. If you touch those metal parts with your bare hands you'll get a bad frost-burn—or, if your hands are damp, you'll leave a layer of skin on the gun. Yes, I know it's awkward trying to open the breech-cover with mitts on, but, as I said before, you'll get used to it! This is one of the times you need those anti-contact gloves I was telling you about. If you're wearing them, you can take off the heavy mitts for a few moments to work with small parts that need a fine Italian touch. All right, just cock the gun once or twice. The breech block moves quite normally, doesn't it? You'll find that the gun functions properly, too. It's been lubricated for this temperature with a light film of mineral oil—hydraulic buffer R.C.A.F. 34A/150 mixed with a 50 per cent volume of kerosine. We use it on all moving parts— and when I say a light film, I mean a light film. The best way to apply the stuff is to soak a piece of clean four-by-two in the oil, wring it out, and then rub it lightly over the bearing surfaces. At sub-zero temperatures, 34A/150 becomes extremely viscous. Today, for example, it would be suffer than heavy syrup—and you can imagine how that would gum up the working parts ! There's no better way of guaranteeing stoppages than by over-iubrication at low temperatures. Speaking of lubricants, we've found that a mixture of 75 per cent
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