Pontius Nav - Re the Calc 3 and low level laydown, I vaguely remember having to wind the height down to -500ft. Whether this was to frig the ballistics or to "interface" with the Calc 5 to produce a radar picture which would otherwise consist of a a big empty hole in the middle I do not recall (which is probably why I spent more time on 27 than most!).
BEags - A ride-on lawn mower! Ha! A certain AEO sqn ldr brought back a full size billiard/snooker table (from Singapore I think), as well as the usual assortment of camphor wood furniture and sundry items for consumption. You mentioned "g-suit" in earlier post; not in my time, not in the sense of the sexy leg warmers that are now to be seen. We were equipped with the partial pressure jerkin for high level ops, an inelegant but comfortable shoulder to crutch infaltable body warmer; all the usual LSJ accroutrements were incorporated and it came in a dashing range of coulours - well, grey or gray. Not to counteract g-forces, but to keep vital organs inside the chest cavity in case of rapid decompression. Highest? In excess of 560.
And if you really want to know what 27 did back in the seventies...dig out copies of the Lincoln Echo, where we usually found details of a forthcoming short-notice deployment before notification by official channels. Or one could have read the national press of the day to find out who was doing what in places distant and foriegn. Nor were we the only ones doing it.
Those things hanging from the wings were in fact pre-production laser guided photon torpedoes with hyper-drive pulse motors
