Hi All
Momoe: Good point about the bail out - the 765c form reveals that the pilot had called the tower on the R/T but had nothing to report. The radio he would have used had a range of between 30 and 50 miles so there is a point at which we know he was OK, unless he was being terribly British - that is one datum. So, how far out would he have been before using the radio - over to anyone to answer that - again it is this the sort of procedural data that I am after. I imagine that he would not have called too soon or the status of his permission could have changed or he might not actually have found the airfield and so why bother the tower? I suspect that he would have waited until he saw at least one visual clue, but I don't guess anymore.
Green Flash: See my first post, three Stirlings left Oakington, one came back quickly with electrical problems and never completed the raid. One was 15 minutes behind the one that crashed. There was a fire in one engine but as they would not have had much fuel the plane did not blaze. Just to gently put the post back on track - I'm not yet speculating just trying to find out the procedures.
Shackman: Very interesting to hear that the hill is significant - I can't know that sitting here at my PC of course so it's nice to get real flying feedback I'm sure that landing at night in 2012 can still be disorientating but the RAF landed hundreds of bombers at night early in the war when all there was were a few flickering goosenecks - I assume that there was a way of doing that which must have been relatively safe - I would like to find out what those procedures were if I can.
Albert Driver: He was on time, see above for details of who was in the air. Another poster earlier in this thread has suggested 25% moon but 17 degrees below the horizon at an angle that would have put it roughly on his left wing (Port? Yes please....). I've read in AP129 that the flares would have been 100 yards apart for a field with no flood light with just three lights in the 'crossbar' which was at the 'end' of the runway and not the start. The lights were 450yds apart where a flood light was used and in that case only two lights were used. That seems a long way but I believe that the floodlight was very powerful.
All comments appreciated gents
James