Firestreak/Red Top.

[RedhillPhil]

I've oft wondered. As far as this non military bloke knows and is aware of, the Lightning was the last aircraft to be armed with these. Now, when the Lightning was withdrawn from service there must have been quite a few of them (missiles) knocking about so........................
did the last few weeks of Lightning service result in a live fire-fest over a range somewhere or
did they (the missile) simply get dismantled or
was it a combination of both?


Just wondered.

[ShotOne]

Why.? Planning a bonfire night special?

[lightningmate]

Yes, there were quite a number of 'Live' firings using QRA Aircraft as things began to wind down. Scramble from the shed over to Aberporth range and let 2 Missiles away.

Unfortunately, it became a touch embarrassing when most of the missiles failed to guide and detonate anywhere near the target flares.

I fired 2 well within parameters, both missed by a mile and the same aircraft was rearmed and put back on QRA after recovery.

Almost without doubt it was the aircraft weapons system at fault but the equipment to fully test the system had not been used for quite a time and my suggestion that some investigatory checks should be made was met with looks of horror.

A few years earlier, such an event involving a Lightning QRA aircraft would have generated a Board of Inquiry, probably with a Wg Cdr as President!

lm

[Pontius Navigator]

LM, not the only duds that were carried around. The primary weapon for the Nimrod Mk 1 was the Mk 44 torpedo until replaced by the Mk 46.

The fuse didn't work until right at the end when we flew two sorties just to see if they had fixed it. The first sortie was a bust as the RN Armament Depot workers sabotaged the weapons There was some dispute, I don't recall what.

The second drop, targeted at the sea bed didn't miss and we heard a satisfying bang.

[gzornenplatz]

I fired one at a 4.5 inch flare from a Javelin in '67; it guided but didn't go bnag. When we looked at the film it had cut the bit of string between the parachute and flare.

[RedhillPhil]

Thank-you all for that.

[Q-RTF-X]

Tend to agree with LM most probable cause lots of failed firings would likely have been the aircraft sys. The missiles themselves were pretty reliable and pretty easy to keep in good shape. I spent some time at MPC in the late 60's and then visited with a squadron in the early 70's for a couple of annual visits. There was a pretty rigidly enforced "random sampling" for live warhead firings, principally to evaluate missile serviceability. Missiles were sometimes fitted with a Flash Warhead (Reduced Range Safety Trace) and occasionally a Telemetry Unit; these though were considered tampered with and did not qualify to be assessed as a random shot. Any failures were investigated in depth. Generally though, in those days, success rates were high. Good times, the esprit de corps in the Lightning force in those days was, IMHO, second to none in the Air Force for both drivers and maintainers.

[thing]

Seem to remember (bear in mind I'm casting my mind back nearly 30 years) that the PK for the Firestreak was 78%; the PK for the Red Top er, wasn't anyway near. Questions were asked about RT performance. Q-RTF-X, I have the same Q! Forgotten all about that. Must have been one of the last ones to go through Newton in '85.

I was one of the one's that 'shut the doors on the way out' at Binbrook and I haven't a clue what happened to the gear. It gradually disappeared over a period. Don't forget that apart from the ready use missiles-can't remember how many we had in the dump but it was a lot-the missiles were kept in bits. Warheads were kept in one place, guidance in another etc. Didn't they just scrap the none banging bits and dump the warheads in the North Sea? I remember Johnny Birkett's in Lincoln having a Firestreak for sale in his shop window shortly after.

[Q-RTF-X]

last ones to go through Newton in '85.

I'd been out for ten plus years then !

[MAINJAFAD]

Thing

Last Red Top / Firestreak Course went through Newton while I was there in mid 86 doing BH2 MOTE.

[sitigeltfel]

Didn't they just scrap the none banging bits and dump the warheads in the North Sea? I remember Johnny Birkett's in Lincoln having a Firestreak for sale in his shop window shortly after.

Back in the '90s, Pete Waterman the pop promoter, had one hanging from the ceiling of his studio reception area.

[The Oberon]

It caused a bit of a kerfuffle when a group of Locking Apprentices half buried one, nose down, on Weston beach.

[dctyke]

I was proud to be on the last RTFL course! When the end came the fire streak was the one to get............... For the seven sided dome :-). Still have mine mounted with the model lightning inside. Always wish I had took a few more, we were just binning them!

[Davef68]

I was proud to be on the last RTFL course! When the end came the fire streak was the one to get............... For the seven sided dome :-). Still have mine mounted with the model lightning inside. Always wish I had took a few more, we were just binning them!


These days, they'd be selling them on ebay

[NutherA2]

It caused a bit of a kerfuffle when a group of Locking Apprentices half buried one, nose down, on Weston beach.


As did P**e McK****r when he left one part buried on the St Andrews Old Course

[Grobling About]

I recall running around Otterburn on IOT camp 1 retrieving bits of Firestreak in 'Rocket Race' in the mid-80s

[thing]

I was proud to be on the last RTFL course! When the end came the fire streak was the one to get............... For the seven sided dome :-). Still have mine mounted with the model lightning inside.

I have one of those..wonder if we worked together?

[endevol]

A successful RT launch & intercept from a 5 Sqn Lightning at STCAAME in ...errm..the mid-eighties? Images from the G90 camera on the launch aircraft. Amazingly, the G90, the missile and the aircraft were all serviceable at the same time!


I was a Flight Systems tech on 5 at the time and helped prep the aircraft - including holding the torch for live-missile torch test <gulp>!


http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo121/Endevol/RedTop_1.jpg (http://s368.photobucket.com/user/Endevol/media/RedTop_1.jpg.html)

http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo121/Endevol/RedTop_2.jpg (http://s368.photobucket.com/user/Endevol/media/RedTop_2.jpg.html)

[Q-RTF-X]

endevol

Nice G90 stills, thanks for posting. Interesting to see in the second shot what I assume is the pattern made by the expanding rod warhead as it impacts the water (standing by to be corrected). The shots also remind me of the Jindivick and the long sterling service they provided which also provokes me to reflect that there is nothing new in the use of drones for military purposes. The Jindi was first produced in the early 50's and ran into the late 90's;over 500 were produced in various shapes and forms.

There must be more good G90 stuff around - be nice to see more if possible.

[Fonsini]

Good grief - does that G90 camera still show an RT launch astern of a jet towing the target flare :eek:

[endevol]

Indeed it does - it's a Jindivik pilotless aircraft, operated by radio control from (IIRC) llanbedr. No aircrew put at risk.

[GreenKnight121]

GAF Jindivik - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAF_Jindivik)

Most UK tests were conducted by the Royal Aircraft Establishment at their Llanbedr establishment and fired over the nearby Aberporth Airport test range in west Wales. In the UK, the drone was used in the development of the Bristol Bloodhound, English Electric Thunderbird, and Seaslug surface-to-air missiles, and the Fairey Firestreak air-to-air missile.

A Jindivik 102B after assembly by Fairey Aviation at Manchester for use on the UK test range at Aberporth June 1961:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/GAF_Jindivik_102B_A92-212_Fairey_Ringway_06.61_edited-2.jpg/800px-GAF_Jindivik_102B_A92-212_Fairey_Ringway_06.61_edited-2.jpg

[Rosevidney1]

The trials version of the Jindivik was the manned GAF Pika powered by an Adder engine. With a total tankage of 44 gallons (filled to the brim) sortie times tended not to be lengthy affairs.