Early 80s, West German British SSFJ base. To scare the opposition we practised Night Route Charlie sorties, in the dark, ending up with a FRA on Nordhorn range dropping free fall 28lb smoke and flash bomb to simulate a rather larger (!) weapon. On returning to the scruffs bar which was now under the O Mess I was offered a beer by a very experienced and laconic pilot from another Sqn who had landed earlier. On the end of the bar was a simulator instructor, grizzled and very experienced. Asking how his flight had gone the pilot stated not well… he had to see the Stn Cdr in the morning for a hats on interview. It later transpired that this pilot had not properly cross checked his TACAN information for the notoriously unreliable Inertial Navigation system in the Jag , let down from above cloud and flew the last part of the range run over pitch black heathland. Upon seeing the lights on the large target illuminate, then dim then illuminate (as they should) said officer released his bomb and sped away..to be told ‘nothing seen’…………
The German police quickly reported that a nearby factory had been bombed….(The investigation found that the factory had a wiggly glass roof and the caretaker had just switched off all the lights to go home when he remembered something, switched the lights back on again, retrieved his missing item, switched the lights off again and nearly died of shock when a smoke and flash 28 pounder came through the glass roof.)
On hearing of the impending one sided interview, the simulator instructor, until now quite silent, said. “How times change. When I did it they gave me a medal” Animal, if you are still around, Bravo….