Shackleton flight story by Vernon Varty, edited by Johan Visschedijk At 09.30am October 22, 2004, a privileged handful of invited guests, including me, watched and heard the Shackleton's engines starting up and the taxi-out for the check-flight before two scheduled flights from Ysterplaat AFB, Cape Town, South Africa. At 10.00am we climbed up the vertical crew ladder, just aft of the nose gear, and emerged on the flight deck, between the two pilots. The aircraft smelled strongly of oil and very old leather, and one could sense the history of this very special machine. To sit in a Shackleton and feel the motors starting up, one after the other, is truly amazing – the not-so-gentle vibration, the deep growl of the four mighty Griffon engines, the sense of anticipation – a truly unforgettable experience. The acceleration into the take off run was far beyond my expectation, and of course one felt rather than heard the engines, by now a full-throated roar. It was followed by a smooth climbing turn to starboard, and then over the central part of the city, towards the sea. I sat next to the open port side hatch to take photos, naturally I stuck my hand out, but hastily pulled it back in because of the speed. We flew across the face of our famous 3,560 ft (1,085 m) high Table Mountain, whereafter I crawled belly-down into the stern to have a look through the Perspex window in the tail-cone. I was making my way towards the nose, when just behind the pilots I happened to glance through the window on my left, and I think I stopped breathing – there was this most amazing sight, two huge Griffons, with their contra-rotating propellers. By the time we were over Table Bay, I crept down into the surprisingly large nose, and lay down on the bomb-aimer's thick leather mat and gazed down at the scenery, hard to believe that I was actually aloft, inside an aircraft which I had adored for over 50 years. But best of all for me a few minutes later, was sitting in the nose-gunner's seat (without question the best seat in the house) as we passed over Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years. Clearly visible were the two old runways, which were closed many years ago because helicopters are much more practical here. Back amidships I looked through the old astrodome, I'm just over 6 ft (1.83 m) tall so it was easy. On final approach there must have been an unusual conversation between the pilots and the control tower, because instead of the expected power reduction and descent, we leveled at 100 ft (30 m), full cruise-power, and did a beat-up of the airfield – fantastic – and fantastic too to see all the base personnel rushing outside for this once-off sight. Yet another unforgettable thing was the amazing G-force when the aircraft climbed out again as we passed over the runway's end. Round we went in a climbing, to my surprise, right-hand turn, to do the extra circuit. Turning on to crosswind leg I looked rearward to see the runway just behind the top of the rudder. Circuit then completed and we came in for a normal landing.