Originally Posted by
Pontius Navigator
The flare pistol had its own mount where the AEO could fire it from his seat. Its original purpose was to fire the colours of the day. Later a chaff cartridge was bought for calibration of the Red Steer 2. The AEO would fire a chaff cartridge and then watch until the bloom faded.
I believe a chaff cloud from the aircraft would be too near the Red Steer to be processed, as the reflected signal would be recieved whilst the Steer was still transmitting. Also, how receiving a signal from a chaff cloud could be used for calibration is a mystery, as the chaff would bloom differently depending on airspeed, wind speed and direction and possibly even air temperature and altitude (denser air). IIRC the chaff carts for the Very Pistol were RBW (Rapid Blooming Window) and were there if required to obtain a fully bloomed chaff target in a much faster time than chaff dropped from the standard chaff dispensers under the wing.