OK, so that’s that.
The RAF Centre of Aerospace Medicine in Henlow, Bedfordshire, has now conducted tests to determine if the tea cakes really do explode at altitude.
The chocolate-covered biscuits with a marshmallow filling were lifted to 8,000ft, climbing at 4,000ft per minute, inside an altitude chamber normally used for training new jet pilots.
The tea cakes were rapidly decompressed to 25,000ft in three seconds to see if they would explode.
In the test, while the marshmallow in the tea cakes did escape from the chocolate casing, they did not appear to explode and cause a risk to in-flight safety.
Impressive sciencey bit, no? Proper military boffins stuff.
However, they were added to the RAF’s no-fly list in the 1960s after some tea cakes were said to have exploded in a cockpit.
The story goes that during a training mission in 1965, a captain and student pilot forgot they had placed unwrapped tea cakes above their instrument panels.
When the captain pulled an emergency depressurising switch, the tea cakes blew up, causing pieces of chocolate and marshmallow to hit the windscreen, flight controls and the men’s uniforms.
Can’t have teacake on RAF uniforms now, can we?
Buccaneers used to carry refrigerated Tunnocks wafer biscuits in the bomb bay.
If the enemy was not killed outright by one landing on his head, he’d break all his teeth trying to eat one.
ps I bet a teacake was lethal in the cockpit of a Lightning.
Tea cakes. How veddy Briddish.
And for the same amount of $$$$ they could have used a groundside vacuum chamber and done the necessary repetitive tests under varying conditions to get an actual accurate result.
Exprensive Trannie Story Time levels of waste.
O/T
Having used the trigger word “Buccaneer” in my post, I am now seeing adverts for the
Buccaneer Aruba
Elevate your travels with Glossop Caravans.
This is a terrible waste of a study.
It would have made a great BMJ Christmas Issue paper, and been in the running for an IgNobel. I don’t think that championship double has been achieved yet.
Tunnocks Tea Cakes were the secret ingredient in Chevaline. After a brief sub-orbital hop they’re hard enough to penetrate any Soviet bunker.
@Grikath
A vacuum chamber is what they’ve used, isn’t it?
Incidentally. I’ve recognised the product in the photo although haven’t seen any for years. I stopped eating that sort of thing when I left childhood. But I’ve never heard of Tunnock’s teacakes. Must have some other brand. I seem to remember a red spiral on the foil wrapping.
Do journalists have obsessions about things Jockish? I’ve seen other stuff being attributed to the porridge wogs that are just as much English.
BiS – But I’ve never heard of Tunnock’s teacakes.
Your mouth will love you for the rest of your life.
Don’t forget the snowballs!
@BiS
I’ve seen them on sale in Moraira.
According to PVT also a very cold tea cake, possibly frozen. And they don’t say they investigated the coefficient of contraction under temperature. Sloppy work.
So since we now know that the tea cakes don’t explode, what were that pilot and trainee up to in the air in 1965 that they had to invent the exploding tea cake as a cover story?
@ Otto
At least you didn’t use the word “Blackburn”. Imagine what you’d be seeing now.
Norman
Nice looking caravan though. 6 berth with optional suede leather soft furnishings.
£47,000
Weighs 2 tons. Is that a lot for a caravan, I wonder ?
It seems that these test were more successful than previous RAF investigations with marmalade sandwiches
– what were that pilot and trainee up to in the air in 1965 that they had to invent the exploding tea cake as a cover story?
“What’s that white gooey stuff on your uniform, Sandy?”
“Er, marshmallow, sir. Teacakes exploded on the dash.”
“Oh thank god, just confectionary in the avionics again. For a while there I was worried you’d forced the cadet to perform a parabolic arc.”
“Just practising my Victory Rolls, sir.”