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Old 17th Apr 2009, 21:37
  #105 (permalink)  
Pontius Navigator
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Lincolnshire
Age: 81
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ACW, I think you are confused. The purpose of Kinsman was two-fold. It was to give the dispersal airfield experience in operating its V-bombers and to give the crews practise in using their dispersals.

In practice it was not necessarily a crew's planned war dispersal to which the crew went but available crews who would go. A typical Kinsman was for 2 or 4 crews to fly a routine training sortie but landing at the dispersal. The following day they would depart on a further routine sortie.

Sometimes it was expanded. Ballykelly was a 4 aircraft dispersal and on one occaision we put 4 aircraft in and operated for 4 days having flown in on Monday and eventually departed Friday athough we laned back at Cottesmore after each sortie and a different crew went to Ballykelly.

At Pershore we once did a 2-day exercise. We landed from a hi-lo-hi 5hr 45min practically on fumes and the following day, having cut short, we did a 5hr 25 min HLH.

Full dispersal was only done on Micky Finn. Crews might disperse on Monday with the Blue Steel Vulcans perhaps arriving Tuesday and the lame-duck Victor BS as late as Wednesday. When the force was ready we would be scrambled on Wednesday or Thursday.

One year it was decided for a complete no-notice mass scramble. When I say no-notice I meant even ATC was in the dark. The order was duly given and some 150 aircraft launched throughout the UK within 5 minutes of so. It had been decided that fltplans would be filed at main base and only after the sc then could we start filing flight plans. Given the number sramble could we start filing.

As we could not receive 20 plus Vulcans at the same time it was planned that some sorties would be less than 2 hrs duration - Ballykelly, into the Scottish Glens, a 2E at Newcastle and recovery. Comcen was still filing fltplans an hour or more after the first aircraft had landed.
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