whirlwind

A friend is researching some local history about Mosquito ops in Norfolk. He asked me about the following: On 26. January 1945, a Mosquito (MV546) of 85 Squadron, piloted by F/O Arthur Frederick Witt and nav'ed by Flt/Lt Thomas William Redfern, crashed at Oulton whilst on a night flying exercise. Owing to bad weather the aircraft had been recalled and told to do a "Mother procedure for homing", but shortly after that call the pilot called on the R/T saying, "there is no future in this" and moments later the aircraft exploded and dived into the ground, killing both crew members."

What is the 'Mother' procedure? Never heard of it myself - some sort of code for a QGH perhaps?

chevvron

I'm guessing 'BABS' which provides a 'homing' signal and final approach track guidance.

kenparry

Suspect that QGH came rather later. Was VHF d/f available for ATC in 1945?

chevvron

Don't think so, but surely 'QGH' had its origins in HF W/T before VHF R/T became widely available.
By the way, if wiki is correct, 85 Sqdn and its Mossies weren't based at Oulton but at Swannington however the airfield was used to store surplus Mossies from Jul '45 to Nov '47.