Flying a Juggernaut, a thought by Geoff Shattock
Title
Flying a Juggernaut, a thought by Geoff Shattock
Description
Inspired by a dream of being asked to drive a modern HGV, Geoff compared it with piloting a Stirling.
Creator
Date
1995-04-28
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
One typewritten sheet
Conforms To
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
BShattockGFShattockGFv1
Transcription
FLYING A JUGGERNAUT
Just two or three weeks ago I awoke from a dream in an agitated state because in the dream I had been ordered to drive a 36 ton juggernaut lorry from London to Dorset. I had been protesting that I wasn’t qualified to drive such an enormous vehicle and could not be insured unless I held a Heavy Goods Vehicle licence.
The following day whilst driving on the M25 with my son-in-law, we were tailing one of these huge lorries at 60 mph when I was suddenly reminded of my dream. It then occurred to me for the first time in 52 years that I had in fact at the age of 21 driven a 36 ton heavy goods vehicle albeit of a rather different type. The essential difference was that my journeys were done mainly at night with no lights and laden with about 9 tons of high explosive and two thousand gallons of aviation spirit.
The aircraft that my colleagues and I used to fly, a Short Stirling, was almost as heavy as the heaviest lorries on the road today at 36 tons. It was about half as long again as the lorry at 87ft compared with 57 ft for the HGV. Its height was 23 ft compared with 14ft and the width was 99ft compared with 8ft 6” for the HGV. The whole weight of the plane during take off was carried on two massive wheels each 5ft 6” diameter and 30 inches wide with plain smooth tyres. This compares with 12 wheels on the HGVs.
It was certainly a stimulating experience to manoevre [sic] a fully laden Short Stirling bomber (the largest of the three famous British heavy bombers) around the perimeter track of the airfield in convoy with 19 others of similar size during a typical squadron operational take-off.
When one turned on to the end of the one mile long take off runway there was no time to reflect on the task of heaving this great juggernaut into the air fully laden with dangerous cargo of bombs and petrol and the most important consideration -- your six best friends who you lived and worked with and who relied on one another totally to do a professional job in a completely unselfish way.
Each pilot of the 20 aircraft in the squadron would turn onto the runway at approximately 1 minute intervals, open up the 6,400 horsepower from the 4 engines and hold the aircraft on the foot brakes. These were then released and the aircraft was steered on the engine throttles until the rudder became effective and the speed built up to 110 mph. With a gentle heave on the stick and a quick prayer (Please, God) we ambled into the air and set out for our predetermined destination thinking mainly of how good the coffee and rum would taste on our return.
Perhaps when you are driving behind one of the big Juggernaut lorries in the next week or so you will spare a thought for my three to four thousand colleagues who used to soar off into the night regularly not knowing what had been ordained for them or how they would react to it. Approximately one in twenty was a casualty on each trip. As the majority of aircrew did at least 20 trips the chances of getting injured was certainly much higher than the chance of winning the lottery!
You may ask why I have only described the take off. What you may ask was it like to land one of these huge machines like this at night in the blackout sometimes with only paraffin flare pots to outline the runway. That my friends is a story with thousands of different endings, most of which have never and will never be told.
G.F. Shattock
28.4.95 [circled C]
Just two or three weeks ago I awoke from a dream in an agitated state because in the dream I had been ordered to drive a 36 ton juggernaut lorry from London to Dorset. I had been protesting that I wasn’t qualified to drive such an enormous vehicle and could not be insured unless I held a Heavy Goods Vehicle licence.
The following day whilst driving on the M25 with my son-in-law, we were tailing one of these huge lorries at 60 mph when I was suddenly reminded of my dream. It then occurred to me for the first time in 52 years that I had in fact at the age of 21 driven a 36 ton heavy goods vehicle albeit of a rather different type. The essential difference was that my journeys were done mainly at night with no lights and laden with about 9 tons of high explosive and two thousand gallons of aviation spirit.
The aircraft that my colleagues and I used to fly, a Short Stirling, was almost as heavy as the heaviest lorries on the road today at 36 tons. It was about half as long again as the lorry at 87ft compared with 57 ft for the HGV. Its height was 23 ft compared with 14ft and the width was 99ft compared with 8ft 6” for the HGV. The whole weight of the plane during take off was carried on two massive wheels each 5ft 6” diameter and 30 inches wide with plain smooth tyres. This compares with 12 wheels on the HGVs.
It was certainly a stimulating experience to manoevre [sic] a fully laden Short Stirling bomber (the largest of the three famous British heavy bombers) around the perimeter track of the airfield in convoy with 19 others of similar size during a typical squadron operational take-off.
When one turned on to the end of the one mile long take off runway there was no time to reflect on the task of heaving this great juggernaut into the air fully laden with dangerous cargo of bombs and petrol and the most important consideration -- your six best friends who you lived and worked with and who relied on one another totally to do a professional job in a completely unselfish way.
Each pilot of the 20 aircraft in the squadron would turn onto the runway at approximately 1 minute intervals, open up the 6,400 horsepower from the 4 engines and hold the aircraft on the foot brakes. These were then released and the aircraft was steered on the engine throttles until the rudder became effective and the speed built up to 110 mph. With a gentle heave on the stick and a quick prayer (Please, God) we ambled into the air and set out for our predetermined destination thinking mainly of how good the coffee and rum would taste on our return.
Perhaps when you are driving behind one of the big Juggernaut lorries in the next week or so you will spare a thought for my three to four thousand colleagues who used to soar off into the night regularly not knowing what had been ordained for them or how they would react to it. Approximately one in twenty was a casualty on each trip. As the majority of aircrew did at least 20 trips the chances of getting injured was certainly much higher than the chance of winning the lottery!
You may ask why I have only described the take off. What you may ask was it like to land one of these huge machines like this at night in the blackout sometimes with only paraffin flare pots to outline the runway. That my friends is a story with thousands of different endings, most of which have never and will never be told.
G.F. Shattock
28.4.95 [circled C]
Collection
Citation
Geoff Shattock, “Flying a Juggernaut, a thought by Geoff Shattock,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 17, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/40962.
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