Lindholme procedure
 

I've just seen a painting of a Shackleton dropping a set of Lindholme gear to shipwreck survivors.
The drop has been made DOWNWIND.
I thought the drop was made upwind so that the automatically inflated life-raft and accompanying survival containers (attached to the life-raft by 100 yd ropes) would be blown towards the survivors?

Is my brain playing its usual tricks or has the artist been badly advised ?

Any Coastal navigators out there remember the procedure ?

I would have thought that the Lindeholme gear would have had water anchors and would have stayed where it was in the water. The survivors would then pull theirs up and drift towards it. Survivors can paddle crosswind; Lindeholme gear cannot.

As Fareastdriver says, the Lindholme or later ASRA gear was heavily drogued for the reasons stated. Somewhere I have a copy of the dropping procedure used on the Nimrod. If I can find it I shall scan it and post it here.

YS

Any Coastal navigators out there remember the procedure ? Why ask them they never dropped any!!

It just so happens I have my MOTU weapons training notes to hand - here is the section on the Lindholme (well it would have been if I could have posted the PDF document). However, I haven't got the applied notes with me, and I must admit I can't remember if we dropped so the dinghy was just downwind allowing the two containers to drift 'around' the survivor, or all upwind allowing the survivor to drift up to the dinghy. I suspect the former, cos the drift rate of the two containers was greater than the MS9.

I can certainly remember dropping them for training, or better still with the mail for lonely navy vessels (the first one full of old envelopes and bricks etc causing it to burst open on impact was always much more fun), but the only one I dropped for real didn't leave cleanly - either the nav didn't set the Connel Box correctly or there was a malfunction in one of the carriers.

I'll continue looking for the original procedure notes.

* * Pertama * *

PS On the Shack Lindholme the ropes (bouyant cord!)were 200ft and 400ft respectively.

I'll give you a clue..!
140'... 140kts...
After faffing around with flame floats for a while..
"Beam, Capt, when I say Mark drop one flame float.."
"One gone!"
"Not yet you eejit!"
ad infinitum..
Pretty sure the Lindholme was dropped upwind so that the MS9 would drift down towards the survivor(s).
Happy days!:E
sv

Hmmmmmmmmmmm ! Some say upwind, some say downwind........Suck it and sea ! (I don't feel bad about not remembering
Maybe that's why we always carried two sets of Lindholme on SAR aircraft.

Thanks shackman, the 200/400 ft rings a bell - I always wondered why they didn't use 300ft each side of the liferaft ?

Virgo,

My memory, like most on this thread it seems, is somewhat hazy! But something in the deep, dark, recesses of my brain is telling me that the SOP for Lindholme/ASRA drops from the Andover was downwind. I do however remember the practice drops we used to do off the coast of Masirah marking the pattern with smoke floats and marine markers. On one occasion the Nav called "MARK" and my mate, stood in the door with a float in his hand, replied "did you call Nav?" before realizing it was a command. You can probably guess what his name was! You also had to remember to take the "safety" pins out before the drop, very embarrasing if the MS 9 didn't inflate!!

We usually dropped upwind from the Shack. This navigator did drop a Lindholme gear and saved a few lives.

Phew.. thanks for that Hedfanwr :ok: - I was beginning to think I'd lost more marbles than I thought..!
sv