Never fired a Sparrow but did blast the flare with a 'Winder - well, it got within about 2 ft, which was good enough. And I never fired on the banner, but subsequently had plenty of time on the dart. The dart was (is?) probably easier as a) it was towed by another fighter and was therefore doing a sensible speed and b) a hit was a hit, so you only needed one bullet on target - and then you dumped the incriminating evidence. Is the RAF still using banners or have things changed?