What was the perspex dome used for?

I don't know but I'd take a guess that it was for taking star shots for training navigators. Something like that.

Since it had a D/F loop in it, and since the aircraft was used by the French School of Radio Navigation, it might just have been used for D/Fing NDBs.

Yes, you can see the DF loop. I don't know when NDBs were introduced (non-directional beacons) but the loop in that dome would have been used for getting a QDM. That was a bearing from a ground station, and therefore a heading to steer to get back home. Or, if you had three bearings from different stations you could work out your position. My original question was because I didn't know that radio trainer Proctors had them, until seeing that fine photo of NP229.

Laurence

I take it that DF stands for direction finding and the loop has to be manually pointed in the right direction?

https://i.imgur.com/699rtFO.jpg
photo taken at Luton

Sorry for the jargon. Yes Direction Finding. I'm not sure whether the loop was motorised, but I think it was manual.
That's another lovely picture!

Laurence

I remember a DF in a dome on a DH Heron.It had to be moved by winding a knob to get a Null in the tone from the BFO to get the direction to of from a beacon. IIRC.

I wonder how many pilots today could carry out a let down procedure using a manual loop DF. i.e using the null Lovely to see a dedicated trainer for just that. I was taught to do them by an old Australian Pilot whilst I was operating in the Sahara. Very useful when a ADF signal was weak.

We're a bit off thread for Luton, but I don't mind, having seen those lovely photos of Proctors. At least for a DF let down you would have a navigator to do the twiddling. I still recall how difficult an ADF approach was. I failed my first Instrument Rating because of that. Back to Luton.

Laurence

Mk5 plus Luton's first control tower.
https://i.imgur.com/PTfnIr9.jpg

Bit of a Long Shot but has anyone got a recollection or even a photo of a HP Hermes at Luton?

Closest one I have got is one at Bovingdon.

LTNMAN can you post your Hermes photo on the RAF Bovingdon in The Sixties thread which you will find somewhere in History and Nostalgia? I would love to see it. Thanks Tom.

It looks to me like a Balliol.

Not a Balliol: it's a Provost alright.

Laurence

Agreed. The Balliol didn't have a radial engine, for one thing.

Right. A Merlin of all things. Unmistakable. Used to see and hear them growling around Peterborough in the 1950s.

Laurence

Only Luton based Britannia Airways operated 707’s and that wasn’t for long. Also a 707 would not be a normal aircraft for that route. I can’t see why any other 707 would want to divert to Luton with its short runway unless the crew had no choice.

The only case I can remember where an aircraft had to divert to its nearest airport that happened to be Luton was when a British Midland aircraft possibly a 737 had double engine problems after take off from East Midlands Airport. I think some seals were missing after maintenance work spilling oil everywhere but that was year later.

Monarch operated 707 G-AXRS around 1981......

https://www.flickr.com/photos/monarc...ing/5198057650

There were also several 707-100's in the fleet for a period (G-BGCT & G-BFMI IIRC)