RNZAF Boeing 727 in the hangar

[Dave Homewood]

I do not recall ever seeing a Boeing 727 inside the No. 40 Squadron hangar while I was based at RNZAF Base Auckland. I would have thought their high tail horizontal surfaces would not have fitted through the fin slot above the hangar doors. Yet in this film there is clearly a Boeing inside the hangar. Would it have had its tailplanes removed before going inside? Or is my estimate of the width of the fin slot simply way off and they put the Boeings indoors all the time?

And do they put the 757's inside these days? I have never seen that either.

www.ngataonga.org.nz/collections/catalogue/catalogue-item?record_id=74052

[camtech]

757's definitely fit in the hangar, Dave. I had a look through one in 2 Hangar last year. I don't believe the 727 would fit with that somewhat high tail.

[bobajob]

Whilst on 40Sqn in the 1983-85 era, I did some repairs on the No3 engine wiring of a 727. It was inside the hangar on a Sunday afternoon with Mark Knight. We worked all night and then went up on the test flight afterwards. Standing up the front. Best times ever

[lesterpk]

The 727 did fit, no tailplane removal required.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks all.

[beagle]

yep, certainly did fit. trying to find images I took when we painted the tail in the last scheme it wore.
Although one of them had a wee dust up one day. There must have been an important flight with a herk somewhere and tv crews were around.
They were pulling a B727 out of the hangar when they must have turned too early and the leading edge of the tail fin it the side of the cut out above the main doors. quick back inside before media see it. in my office corporal....

[camtech]

Maybe I've missed something, but the B727 is 34ft high, and I believe the hangar doors are 25ft tall, from a post regarding the building of the hangar. So does the B727 tail fit through the cutout?

[baronbeeza]

[Dave Homewood]

The tail plane is obviously narrower than I was thinking. Thanks all. Cool story Beags.

[camtech]

Aha looks like the cutouts are a lot wider than original.

[noooby]

Cutout in 40 hangar is much larger than the cutout in 5 hangar.

Funny story..... April/May 1991. C-130's in the corners of the hangar and a 727 was coming in for a service (A check I think?).

We pushed it in and chocked it, tug departed and we were closing the doors. Keyhole door hadn't been put down into place (which nobody noticed). There is an interlock on the doors so that they couldn't be pushed closed if the keyhole door wasn't down, as it has the top rails for the sliding doors.

Interlock didn't work. Door went all the way out into the middle of the hangar and just stood there with nothing supporting the top of it. We all ran over and pushed it over onto the tarmac so that it wouldn't chop the nose of the 727. Made a hell of a noise when it hit the concrete. Those doors are heavy!

Crane came and lifted the door back, the interlock was fixed and some door closing training was carried out! Snooky and Mitch Micalick (spelling?) probably remember it better than me.

[Dave Homewood]

Wow, that is a scary story!

I recall being told (or was it on the forum here?) that one of the PTS hangar doors at Wigram was knocked off the rails by a tug and the door fell into the hangar but missed all the Airtrainers and just caught and tore the jumper of one of the baggies!!

[baronbeeza]

I heard a similar version of that one. There was definitely a tug at Wigram with 'Hangar Eater' emblazoned across the front.
If I was to label things I would imagine it was 4 Hangar, the door fell outwards, tug driver Steve Houltham and the car that was hit/crushed belonged to either Ernie Thompson or Grant MacWhinnie.

I think I asked about the tug, and it's name. Perhaps the narrative changes depending on who is about at the time.

I seem to remember Jumbo Byrne was involved in a tug incident as well but that must have been many years before.

Somehow these stories all seem to involve well known characters.....

[Dave Homewood]

Yes it was Steve Houltham mentioned in the story I remember too. Great bloke.

[baronbeeza]

rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/13348/hangar-doors

[tedheath]

I used to work with Steve Houltham as 4TTS instructors Basic Engineering, Top bloke, one of the funniest guys I have ever met on par with JP (Trev Fleming). He told me the tug had a problem with the accelerator in that it stuck down and you had to lift it up with your fingers. Who did they hang? the driver? no the numbnutz who said I was driving it down the tarmac yesterday and it stuck. Did you tell anyone.........................

[beagle]

Wouldn't have been you hey Ted

[b727]

Dec 31, 2017 23:08:48 GMT 12 lesterpk said:

The 727 did fit, no tailplane removal required.

I think that it was early in 1981 that all of the aircraft in 40 Sqn hangar were cleared out so that a big concrete mess could be created. That mess was the widening of the existing tail-slot door (perfectly OK for C130 use but too narrow for the B727) to accommodate the wider tail-plane of the B727. A lot of concrete demolition went on. I cannot remember when the work was completed, but the first operation of the wider tail-slot door was observed with great interest.

The raising and lowering of door was then (and I assume still is) powered by 2 rams - one on each side. The person operating the door had to remain by the controls to hit the STOP button if the rams got out of sync. If that happened, you could see the structure of the front of the hangar moving.

There were problems with the interlocks during the first years of operation, but I do not remember an aircraft being trapped inside the hangar because the door would not open. I do remember the contractors being on site quite a few times to adjust the rams.

Because of the wider tail-plane, the B727 would not fit as close into the corner of the hangar as the C130.

[McFly]

Dec 31, 2017 13:53:41 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

I do not recall ever seeing a Boeing 727 inside the No. 40 Squadron hangar while I was based at RNZAF Base Auckland.

[Dave Homewood]

Doesn't fit, the nose is sticking out!