"Come in, Number 29, your time is up".
Ian BB,
Most of the places you quote from your Dad's log I know; they are all in the North of (British) India. But Sarsawa and Basal have me foxed, where where they ? Chaklala we used to call Rawalpindi. Gujarat is right out to the West, stuck out into the top of the Arabian Sea. Why would anyone want to go there ? (Just curious !)
Yes, the Argus seems to have been a very useful and deservedly popular thing (about which I know nothing); it seems that many survive still. I'm not surprised that many Hollywood stars chose it as a runabout, and of course among them Jimmie Stewart (who was not a chocolate soldier), served gallantly in the Air Corps over here (I'd always thought on B-17s, but it seems on the B-24), and made Colonel.
He did the right thing, like David Niven, who on outbreak of War gave up his initial career in Hollywood to come back to Britain to rejoin his pre-war Regiment (the Highland Light Infantry) ...D.
Buster 11,
And to this PPRuNer, too ! Bring it on, please ! Ask him ! I would hope I speak for all of us !....D.
ACW418,
In later years (mid-'60s onwards), the AM had to accept that they'd recruited a generation of Bloggs who could neither tell the time nor read a fuel gauge. Accordingly they had to devise a way of compensating for this deficiency. All suggestions were variants of the "Come in Number 22, your time is up" megaphone call, familiar on any Park Lake.
With this in mind, you needed to remind Bloggs when he should take heed of his fuel state. In the case of the Meteor, IIRC, this was 30 mins airborne; for the JP it was 40 mins; for the Vampire I can't remember. All systems depended on the map-pins used by Local Controller - one idea was that the pin (taken out of the pin rack as soon as he called "Taxy") remained with Local as long as he was on frequency in the circuit. When he cleared circuit for Approach frequency, the pin was passed to an Assistant with headset on Approach, he'd already noted time airborne, set the pin in his board with the time, and watched the clock. When time was up, he gave tongue on Approach: the rest was up to Bloggs.
One thing must at all costs be avoided: never call a dual sortie (or the Instructor would be mortally offended). The method used at Leeming was practically foolproof: Bloggs (solo) would use "H", say. and his own personal odd number; his Instructor alone (or Bloggs dual) would use the Instructor's own even number. (or was it the other way round ?). So you must leave H24 or H38 alone, but look after H29 or H41. Worked like a charm.
Then they sought to semi-automate the system (but a veil must be drawn over that for the moment)....D.
Cheers all, Danny