Panther Trails, etc

[Tankertrashnav]

The operation/exercise of taking a receiver or receivers down the route with tankers was always known as a trail. The name of the trail was determined by the type of receiver. Thus we had:

Lightnings - Panther Trail
Phantoms - Ghost Trail
Buccaneers - Pirate Trail
Harriers - Hawk Trail
Jaguars - Leopard Trail

So a few questions. As I left before the type came in I never refuelled a Tornado, so what was a Tornado Trail called, and if we have Typhoon Trails what about them? Ought to be something like Whirlwind and Hurricane Trails if precedent was followed. Also, why Panther for Lightnings? The connections for the others are obvious, but the connection between Lightning and Panther eludes me.

TTN

[Brain Potter]

Tornado GR1/4 - Storm Trail
Tornado F3 - Cyclone Trail

Typhoon - Tempest Trail

[BEagle]

All the Lightning trails I did were known as 'Flash Trails'....

VC10C1P truckie trails were 'Medal Trails'.

VC10K / VC10K TTF trails in 1985 were 'Clarion Trails'.

Nimrod Trails were 'Grouse Trails'.

Italian Tornado trail was a 'Stormo Trail'.

F4J trails from USA to UK were 'Tiger Trails'....:ok:

[FFP]

And there was / is (?) a HASTLE trail, which is a combination of types and ironically, a hassle to do.........

[orca]

I genuinely love the theatre of the bloke in charge declaring, with due consideration, "The trail is initiated". For some reason it always gets me.

[Tankertrashnav]

Thanks guys - yes the Tornado/Typhoon ones seem logical, but can't see where Medal, Clarion and Grouse come from.


All the Lightning trails I did were known as 'Flash Trails'....


Never heard that one Beagle, must have been before my time. But then, you are very old ;)

[nipva]

All the Lightning trails I did were known as 'Flash Trails'....


Can't say I have ever heard of this one before either. They were always Panther Trails in my time. I would have thought the use of the word Flash in any Op Order would have been avoided to prevent confusion with Flash signal messages.

[BEagle]

Well, I did the last ever Lightning APC trail to Akronelli with 2 x VC10K2 and it was most certainly a 'Flash Trail'! I sold over 100 photos of the view over the Alps at daybreak, with 2 x Lightnings in contact on the lead VC10K and another 2 in echelon. ('Observation' in silly Spam-speak....:rolleyes:)

'Op Order' - how very quaint and 1970s....:hmm:

[D-IFF_ident]

The phrase 'Trail' does seem to fit the operation. Anyone know why the Spams call them 'Coronets'?

[BEagle]

Because they're Spams....:rolleyes:

Medal = VC = VC10
Grouse = Scotch = ISK = Nimrod
Clarion was the original VC10K Sqn Ops call-sign in the halcyon days when we weren't overcontrolled by 'Stn Ops' - and even had our own Ops radio, thanks to the lads in GRF!

[pma 32dd]

They should have been called cougar trails to the USA....or was that because I was always with an AARI whose surname began with a D......and the girls he knew?

[FFP]

I think you'll find they were his "aunties".......;)

[Art Field]

The Lightning trails seem to have become Flash Trails round about 1986. Do not know why. To complete the picture the Vulcan ops from Ascension were of course called Blackbuck and the Hercules were Cadbury, also known as Chocolate Lorry.

[pma 32dd]

And I would've gone for chocolate teapot or hershey highway

:E

Back to Capt D

:=

[vascodegama]

Just had a look at my first log book and found a FLASH trail from 1983. I am not as old as B Eags but even I cant remember a Panther Trail.

[Dan Winterland]

I only remember Flash trails for lightnings. But I am (relatively) young!

HASTLE trails were for the SAOEU in their frequent holidays to the US to drop things that went bang. Aparently they could only do that the other side of the iso-dollar line. It stood for HAwk, STorm and LEopard combined.

And they were lots of hassle.

[Two-Tone-Blue]

ISTR "Tiger Trail" for Lightnings to Tengah in the late 60s, but perhaps that was just 74 Sqn's private code.

[Tankertrashnav]

TTB

I recall an occasion when a 74 Sqn a/c broke a probe during refuelling, provoking a 214 poet to remark:

"Tiger, tiger burning bright,
Did you lose your end last night?"

[Two-Tone-Blue]

I recall an occasion when a 74 Sqn a/c broke a probe during refuelling, provoking a 214 poet to remark:
"Tiger, tiger burning bright,
Did you lose your end last night?"
The broken bit was then properly mounted on a wooden base with a brass plate.
The wording was, IIRC, slightly different.
Line 2 was ... "Did you blunt your end last night?

I think it was then displayed on a shelf behind the Bar [the posh upstairs one].

Ahhh, so long ago, in those happy day of Empire!!

Back to Trails .... ;)

[Tankertrashnav]

TTB

I stand corrected . As you say - happy days :ok:

TTN

[BEagle]

I did find a Panther Trail in one of my logbooks, but it was only a 2 hr trip and I didn't record the receiver type. Brize-Brize and back in 2 hours, maybe it was needed to get Lightnings from Coningsby to Binbrook without them running out of gas?

Hastle Trails were indeed much hassle! Especially when some AARC thrust a 'wot if' plan to reserve on a multi-tanker trail into the hands of an inexperienced navigator a few minutes before engine start.....:rolleyes: Regarded with about as much enthusiasm as a 'Sondrestrom out' Harrier GR3 single hose plan....:\

Back to AARCs and D***y's 'aunties' (for it can only have been him!) - we'd better be careful or someone will mention the 'OMO' saga or the 'Atlanta Exclusion Zone'....:eek:

The F4J trails from Miramar to UK were called 'Tiger' trails because the aircraft were indeed destined for 74 Sqn.

Trail planning for the world's only 21st Century tanker yet in service is a breeze - the plan is all automatic but, unlike most automation, can be modified by the operator. Single hose re-planning takes 2 or 3 keystrokes and about 2-3 seconds. But it probably isn't as much fun for the tanker captain down route, with no trashed hire cars, blonde moments, Atlanta bans or other AARC moments to sort out!