I've got a dim recollection from late 67/early 68 of being in the control room at Patrington and seeing a backlit chinagraph board which had a large graph on it. It had time on the x axis and fuel on the y axis and a legend which referred, I think, to the Mk1 Lightning. When I commented on it to a controller he told me the Lightning was the only aircraft, at that time, which had its fuel monitored from the ground. Can anyone confirm that my memory is correct?
As an ADO at Patrington [in the Divesion Cell] then, I have NO recollection of said graph. The only backlit chinagraph boards were,
1 the "Tote Board" in the Ops room and
2 the Wx display board in the Diversion Cell.
We DID have a Log Book, which recorded every T/O and Landing from ALL Lightning Units..... Like the day 85 Sqn [Canberras] and 5 Sqn [Lightning] launched from Binbrook, which promptly went Red. Flash phone call to Leeming sorted the Lightnings. The Canberras took care of themselves.