PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Blue Silk,Green Satin and Orange Harvest.
Old 17th Dec 2013, 03:10
  #24 (permalink)  
Dan Winterland
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Fragrant Harbour
Posts: 4,787
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Green Satin was definitely fitted to the Victor K2s up to the end of their life in 1993. The control box you see in the picture of Lusty Lindy is actually the GPI Mk4 - a Doppler resolver which gave drift, speed and a fairly inaccurate guestimate of Lat/Long produced on a analogue cogs and gears mechanism which was powered by a hamster running around a wheel and fed by information from Green Satin. I can vouch it was next to useless over a clam sea.

The Victor B2s (bombers) had the GPI Mk6 which was powered by two hamsters and I gather - much more accurate. It was probably fed by the previously mentioned Decca Doppler. When the Victor B2s were converted to K2s, they got their Mk4s and Green Satins back - probably because they were used to keep the Vulcan fleet suitably equipped and because someone decided that tanker crews didn't need to know where they were. (I rarely did - and wasn't overly concerned!)

I can vouch for the fact the system was next to friggin' useless and a massive waste of money, time and resources. The Navigators hardly referred to it, particularly as the tankers spent most of their working life over water. I remember one flight in particular from Marham to Goose Bay where the GPI was confidently informing us we had arrived in Ougadougou.
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