A QUICK QUESTION

[Finningley Boy]

Ladies & Gentlemen,

Could I pick your Brains briefly, when QRA was in its infancy back in the late 50s, I understand that the term 'Halyard' was used to refer to it then briefly 'Flodden' in early 1962. From April 1962, I believe the reference 'Flinders' was introduced when the move to greater NATO integration on such activity meant a move from 2 minutes to 10 minutes readiness?:confused:

If anyone can confirm this it would be very much appreciated!

Best,

FB:)

[2Planks]

Can't help with those names - but are you taking about Air Defence or the strategic deterrent (given your username) ;)

[NutherA2]

Halyard was certainly the name at the beginning of the '60s, but since this code name was itself classified the convention was to refer to the operation as "The Unmentionable". The name was changed in 1962 to "Fabulous" and at that stage we were still sitting on the ORP at 2 minutes readiness.

I was posted to FEAF in November 63 and Fabulous was still the word at that stage so it's possible that the name changed again after then, but I don't remember either of the other two F words and suspect they may have referred to the bomber QRA.

[Finningley Boy]

Hi NutherA2,

It's all very confusing, I got Flinders from the ORB for 25 Sqn in 1962, prior there was a brife mention of Flodden, but indeed, Halyard was very much to the fore going back to around 1957. A highly respected source tells me that 'Fabulous' was southern reference? initially, the northern element were simply known as Battle Flight of the North!?

Best Regards,

FB

[ORAC]

Operation Fabulous (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6ZmPBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=%2B%22Operation+fabulous%22+day+night&source=bl&ots=CjI2PM30W1&sig=BSh9OmnGrX6JV5IJ4HZcZ0c72UI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hCsZVaizNOKY7ga-i4DIAQ&ved=0CD8Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%2B%22Operation%20fabulous%22%20day%20night&f=false)

From July 1950 all Fighter Command day and night fighter squadrons held 2 aircraft at 2 minutes readiness.....

in 2TAF they were referred to as Battle Flight......

RAFCommands Forum (http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?15897-Operation-Fabulous-1950s)

Op FABULOUS was – as you suggest – the pre-cursor to QRA. It was a Fighter Command Operation, and was split into two parts. The first part was the Day FAB which ran from dawn to dusk and used day-fighters. The second part was the Night FAB which ran from dusk to dawn and used night-fighters. I can’t remember whether the participating Stations had the task for a month at a time or only two weeks? But nomatter; it was a very big task! In the spring and autumn day and night were roughly equal, but in summer the Day Fab was almost a 24-hr commitment. Similarly, the Night FAB in winter was almost 24-hrs. To this end Fighter Command operated a personnel reinforcement system. I only know about actual airfield activities. There was a small party (1 x ATC Asst, 1 x radar mech, 1 x Aero Fireman Driver, and 1 x Met Asst – there may have been more) that travelled from Station to Station to boost the host Station staff.

Pprune Aviation History Thread (http://www.pprune.org/showthread.php?t=529124&referrerid=18106) - only 3 posts

[Wander00]

As an aside, there is no such thing a "quick question" on Prune. One could ask what time of day it is, and shortly have six pages of posts, seeking to define "day", "time" etc, indeed even the existence of either, and several posts asking how to post a picture. Part of the charm of the site really

[Finningley Boy]

Many thanks all,

I think I know how I'm going to lance this dilemma, the references Flodden and Flinders don't appear to have been recognised by anyone and that includes some very relaible sources, so Ill cobble together what's left and everyone should understand what I'm driving at!:ok:

Wander00,

I suppose my question itself wasn't that succinct either!:}

All the Best

FB:)

[ORAC]

IIRC the QRA tanker force codeword was originally "Operation Firefly".

[Wander00]

FB - Pas de problem, old boy!

[Finningley Boy]

ORAC,

I recall two codewords for the Tanker QRA, but I'm not sure if either are still in use. One of them, however, appeared as the name of a horse in an episode of a famous sit com starring John Cleese! .......it got off to a flying start and its name was.......

FB:)

[ORAC]

Hmmm, I disremembered, mind going. 'Twas "Dragonfly" (http://www.victorxm715.co.uk/drag_tansor.htm) not Firefly, which then changed to Tansor.

[pontifex]

ORAC

You took the word right out of my mouth!

[thing]

As an aside, there is no such thing a "quick question" on Prune. One could ask what time of day it is, and shortly have six pages of posts, seeking to define "day", "time" etc, indeed even the existence of either, and several posts asking how to post a picture. Part of the charm of the site really

:) Sums up Pprune and the parallel universe it inhabits beautifully.

[HUTCHP]

Hi All,
My father was based at RAF Middleton St George in the early 1960's. He would often tell me stories about what he called 'Flinders Squadron or flight'. This was a pair of Lightnings on permanent standby, pilots sitting in the aircraft ready to go at very short notice. So Flinders was definetly in use as a callsign at Middleton st George for a form of QRA. Dad was a ground wireless mech at this time responsible for plugging up 'Tele-Brief' to the jets I think.

[Pontius Navigator]

Bomber QRA, AFAIK, was never referred to by Operation name. The QRA exercise was EDOM and post QRA a USAF Exchange Officer at Bawtry IIRC, but may be at Strike, created an Exercise EDITH. EDITH was not a QRA as such but supposed to be generation of aircraft to RS 15 for one or so aircraft per squadron. As it happened this was quite foresighted as barely a month after QRA ended we had an operational selective generation, a term with which we were not familiar and had no plans to meet. Roughly 50% generation and on a Friday afternoon to boot. Two sqns at Waddo had ground training days with all that that entailed back in the 60s but we still met the generation target. Think the alert carried on till mid-day Saturday.

[Fixed Cross]

I can confirm "Halyard" and "Fabulous" as earlier references to QRA from my time in the back seat of a Javelin 1958-61. By the time that I returned to fast jet activity on the Hunter in 1967 such pastimes had been assumed by the WIWOL team.