CHAPTER 41 A PILOT FROM 3 SQUADRON HIS STORY

MIKE CAPPUCCITTI 3 SQUADRON RhAF PILOT

A few years ago I asked 3 Squadron RhAF Pilots for some information regarding the max take off weight for our Dakota Aircraft. I was just a silly PJI and as far as I was concerned,if you could get it into the aircraft it would fly. Mike was good enough to let me have the details as far as he could remember. This photograph shows Mike Cappuccitti on the left with his personal weapon slung over his shoulder talking to the Dakota Engineer (who was on call up) and is also armed with a pistol. I forget how young we were and #3 Squadron was supposed to be the old mans Squadron.

 The following stories were sent to me by  Mike Cappuccitti of 3 Sqn Rhodesian Air Force to include in my blog about the PTS

Following is a story from one of those magnificent men who flew our flying machines, Mike Cappuccitti. Of course, without these guys parachuting would have been impossible, and the pilots from 3 Squadron were, without exception, cool under pressure, and very highly skilled.   

Hi Derek

Thanks for the email and great to be in comms with you.

I agree wholeheartedly – we never got any recognition for the fun stuff.  You had to get shot down to get noticed.

Anyway, we still had fun.

My memory is not so good about the detail although I certainly remember a few hairy incidents.  I’ve referred to my log book, so I’m hoping I’ve properly attached incident to date – but maybe not.

Before I relay the incidents, here are some aircraft facts:

MTOW: (Maximum take off weight) It was actually 31,000lbs but I think the Rhodesians decided to up it to 32,000lbs.  I looked to check and could find no official record of the manufacturer increasing the weights.

Payload:  It was officially 6,000lbs – but we regularly exceeded this on Ops.

Time to Climb:  To 10,000 ft was approximately 9 minutes but that’s with a sea level take off.  We rarely did that so you need to add some.  As you know, we were limited to FL120 (12,000ft  amsl) without oxygen – so most of the time that meant about 6-7,000 above ground level.

Over MTOW Incident:  Rutenga circa early ’78 (I think):  Rutenga runway was 14/32 and about 1,000mtrs.  Positioned south west of town and parallel to the railway.  Large copse of trees not too far from the North Western threshold.  We were there is support of Andre Dennison and his RAR Fire Force.  Jerry Lynch was Captain and I was Co-Pilot.  Orders came to move the FF from Rutenga to another location (I think FAF7/Buffalo Range).  We had done several movements and this was the last lift so we crammed as much as we could on board including 24 paras, Andre and his No. 2, two PJI’s and a whole load of equipment (ammo boxes, mortar tubes, etc).  No idea what the weight was but we were very heavy indeed.  Jerry put me in the left seat so I was piloting and Jerry acting as co-pilot.  We took off on runway 14 – so towards the trees.  Knowing we were heavy, we stood on the brakes and went to max T/O power. Off we went and just before rotate I took my hands off the throttles and onto the wheel.  Jerry should have had his hands following up on the throttles (SOP) but he didn’t and the left throttle friction nut was loose.  The left engine throttled back and it was like an immediate engine failure on the port engine.  Jerry thought I was messing about and said “What the F*** are you doing?” I said “Nothing – we’ve lost port engine.” I thought I said it calmly but apparently not.  He then saw the port throttle back and slammed it forward but in the meantime we had yawed dramatically to the left – so much so that Andre later said he could see down the runway through the door.  Anyway, with the power restored and the wheels coming up we missed the trees by feet if not inches.  That could have ruined our day.

Dakota with Browning MG in door:  Between 2-9 November, ’77:  You, Kevin or Frank Hales might have been on this one.  Captain was Wally Galloway and again I was co-pilot.  I remember this one well as it’s the first time I knew we were being shot at.  Night re-supply mission in northern Mozambique for SAS (or maybe Scouts but I think SAS).  Wally was a VR, not regular any more.  We had finished the drop (which included vehicles wheels) and we exiting at low level.  There was good moonlight and clear skies so we had no problem flying back down the valley although the ground was pretty dark.  We were about 200-300ft agl. We were fired at by something big – probably a 12.7 or 13.5mm – on the port side.  There was lots of tracer but nowhere near us.  However, after the drop the PJI’s had rigged a browning .303 in the door and let loose without letting us know first.  The noise was horrendous.  Up until then we had no lights on and they could probably hear us but not see us – dark camo against the dark valley.  But our Browning let them know where we were so the firing started getting accurate.  Wally started to descend further but I reckoned this was a bad idea.  He forgave me afterwards but I shouted “I have control” and I pulled up and almost rolled the aircraft over the valley ridge on the right.  They obviously lost sight of us and we flew on home.  I remember wondering later in the pub why on earth would someone want to shoot at me!!!!!

More coming – let me check some more in the log book.

I attached a few photos.

Best Regards, MIKE

 A note from the author of the blog,  Derek de Kock  - I am sure  the incident mentioned above was Mike Wiltshire and his Puff the Dakota Dragon which was four MAG .762mm machine guns. Very noisy

This photograph was taken by Mike Cappuccitti from the co-pilot seat in the Dakota and it clearly shows the anti SAM7 (Strella) engine exhaust fit. The aircraft is also painted in the anti surface to air paint scheme which must have worked as we were not shot down.















































1980 The last  SAS Parachute Jump Six Dakota loads from 1000ft AGL. A truly sad day to wind up a famous Regiment in Rhodesian History.

This  photograph shows a Fire Force sitting in the Shade of the Dakota Wing and Tailplane waiting for the siren to sound and the shooting to start. They were probably smokeing to calm their nerves and who can blame them (Health and Safety would go nuts now days)

Occasionally we would have an escourt in this photo a Lynx is formating on our stbd wing and he is armed with Rocket Pods, Bombs and Machine Guns. Nice to have him along