Sick Armourers.

[Talk Wrench]

Well not sick as in sick sick, rather sick as in ill sick.
An old thread popped up today and it was an interesting read.

During the six years that have passed since the thread was posted, has anything happened with the quest to link illness with armament work?


I note also posts from Spike who sadly passed away less than a year from his posts in the thread. RIP fellah

Weapons technician

As far as I'm aware for my first tour I'd have to complete a posting with a flying squadron Not the case. Plenty of LACs go other places.

www.egoat.net

 

[Barch]

I was working with Spike and Granny Marriot trying to get some facts together about this.

It is true that the Armourers seemed to have a much higher cancer rate than other trades but as far as we could see there didn't seem to be any correlation between work centres or aircraft types.

That left the types of chemicals / fluids used by the plumbers in general but they didn't use anything not used by other trades.

It reminds me of the RAAF F111 guys that worked on the fuels systems, they had a much higher rate of cancer than anybody else in the RAAF although the F111s used the same fuel as other aircraft and didn't have any different additives.

 

[Tin basher]

From memory wasn't there an issue with soldering back in the day, it could have been the flux they used but it's a grainy memory??

 

[Defenestration]

Is it only the Yankie Doodles that worked with depleted uranium rounds? Were any of you tasked with clearing stuff from places like Holbeach range where the A10s rained death? Stuff like that.

 

[Barch]

Is it only the Yankie Doodles that worked with depleted uranium rounds? Were any of you tasked with clearing stuff from places like Holbeach range where the A10s rained death? Stuff like that.

I've been told that they save the DU rounds for 'proper targets'.

 

[Gonterseed]

Just thinking of an old buddy of mine. Big bloke Phil Evans, a plumber on Jags. Grew up on the same street knew him and his family for at least 55 years. No one in his family had a sniff of the big C but he died a couple of years ago of it.

 

[Defenestration]

I've been told that they save the DU rounds for 'proper targets'.

British Tanks?

 

[Barch]

British Tanks?

Didn't know that any had been hit.

 

[Defenestration]

Yeah it was a joke. Blue on blue etc.

 

[Barch]

Yeah it was a joke. Blue on blue etc.

Not a very funny one.

 

[Talk Wrench]

Is it only the Yankie Doodles that worked with depleted uranium rounds? Were any of you tasked with clearing stuff from places like Holbeach range where the A10s rained death? Stuff like that.

I could be wrong, but DU was also used in Hercs for some reason. Flying control counter balance or something like that.

 

[Rocket_Ronster]

Not a very funny one.

One of the lads got a GC for pulling his wounded mates out of danger. Would've been a VC but as it was "friendly fire" and not enemy action, the powers that be didn't think it qualified.
Now that's not funny !

 

[Captain Pugwash]

DU was the material used for the Elevator Counterbalance on Herc Mk3s (unsure about Snoopy or the Js) Mk1s used lead. Only found out when I was working in the area during my time on AES and a Rodney turned up with a Geiger counter!