"Bombs gone"

[Pontius Navigator]

Originally Posted by Manuel de Vol

Quite a few years ago - late 60's/very early 70s, I think.

As I heard it, the aircraft was a Canberra doing a 'toss' attack. I was told that he mis-identified the lead-in lights (saw two sets of street lights which made a 'T') pulled up early and released a 100lb pb.

The bomb apparently went through the roof of the pub's crapper and straight down the horn.

No about 1962 as the Sqn formed with Vulcans in 1963 It was a 25lb PB. The misident was of the car park lights and the target lights. The target lights were arranged in a circle and flashed.

The car park lights were arranged in a circle and low scudding cloud made them appear to flash with predictable results.

[Pontius Navigator]

USAF F15 achieved a direct hit on the target he was aiming at albeit the bomb was 10 feet below target centre. The Quadrant operator just above was distinctly unimpressed.

A few years later, same Quadrant Hut, same Quad Op. This time it was a GR4 but his bomb landed 30 feet from the Quad. Joe Public only 200 yards away thought nothing of this.

[Gainesy]

X213a

I'm thinking along the lines of "Green leader" in the Rhodesian airforce. Would that be allowed now?

Would what be allowed now?

[L J R]

There were more than ONE DH on a quadrant hut over the years in Shoalwater bay, Cordelia Rock and Evans Head by the almighty 'PIG'. Bummer of a time in the following days for the unlucky crews however (not me touch wood!). The long flight back in those instances lacked the normal banter following some 'Live' Action.


Samurez Reef however - No Range Hut and No Cameras......

[Pontius Navigator]

1964, Victor Mk 1, 40000 feet at night, dropped 1 x 1000lb HE(S) on China Rock.

"Heard but not seen"

Then flew to Song Song. Same attack, same result.

They had set their offsets the wrong way round TWICE. They were very lucky as a slightly different error could have seen the bomb on the Sultan's Palace!

[Al R]

I have posted about John, my ex father in law. We were chatting about what went on during bombing missions in his Lancaster and I asked him at what point the crew started relaxing. He said '.. as soon as the bloody bombs went - we knew then, that the pressure was off and that all we had to do was wind the engines up and go like mad for home'. I asked him if the words 'bombs away' were ever used and he said they weren't - there was no standard comms. Sometimes, the crew would hear 'Right, thats it - they're gone' or words to that effect, but everyone knew by the huge leap upwards what had happened anyway and usually by the aeroplane banking.

I asked him if there was any banter on the net and he said 'nope, absolutely none.. nothing at all' and I asked him how the captain kept the crew alert or made sure they weren't dozing. He said that if he was ever flying as mid upper would get told to check the flare chute and report back on it! His worse memory of the missions was gazing down on the grey/black/ choppy North Sea, usually as day broke over it. They would fly over it at about 500 feet and to this day, he hates it with a passion.

[Pontius Navigator]

In the V-force it was a simple call, in training, "Bomb Gone" SINGULAR. When we used West Freugh we were not allowed to say that. Instead it was "Store Away."

[x213a]

I suspect the original poster may have been looking for audio from live firings, like the excellent "Green Leader" tape and "Hobby & Vice" kind of stuff.

Just non-conforming to accepted voice procedures really. As fore Green leader and would that be acceptable now...I am referring to his comments although I think they were mostly on internal comms.

I sense that a few are just aching to revv up the outrage bus over my OP....Why
?

Thanks to all who have replied.

[HighTow]

I assume the OP was referring to this sort of thing?
YouTube - RAF Tornado GR1 Low Level Gulf war
YouTube - RAF Tornado/TIALD Strike
YouTube - Canadian Lancaster Crew Voice Recording
YouTube - WW2 Bomber Command: Lancaster bombing raid (unknown target)

[x213a]

Thank you

[ECMO1]

Bombs on Lybia

Best I heard of was from one of the F-111 during the Lybian raid. Apparently as the crosshairs centered up and you could see the plane shake as the two bombs seperated, the next thing you heard on the tape was Knock, Knock, M***** Fuc***.

[BombsGone]

I always tried to stick to the script myself!

"Bombs gone" followed by "F@%k" from the navigator always got your attention.

Bombs.

[Wader2]

Or a certain Jaguar dropping 1000lb HE on an island in Scotland.

While the island bore a striking similarity to Garvey Island off the north coast the bird watchers on the west coast island did not deserve to be treated thus.

Now that R/T would have been interesting and no Nav to blame either.

[olddog]

Shackleton Mk 3 circa 1970 - Preflight Checks

"Pilot from Nav - Check Bomb Bay Jettison Switch"

Pilot (Sqn Cdr) "Roger - Jettison Switch ON"

12 8.5 pound practice bombs
12 Banded Flame Floats
1 ASR

Delivered to Dispersal at a Coastal Command Base!!!

[Shack37]

"Pilot from Nav - Check Bomb Bay Jettison Switch"

Pilot (Sqn Cdr) "Roger - Jettison Switch ON"

12 8.5 pound practice bombs
12 Banded Flame Floats
1 ASR

Delivered to Dispersal at a Coastal Command Base!!!

That would be the day the plumbers were seen running without their mugs?

[Data-Lynx]

Buttons!!

Sqn Folklore suggests that a BOI in the early 70s recorded a Wessex pilot's statement at weapon release as:

I saw the firing button was uncovered so I pressed it anyway.

This Wessex Mk5 from 84? Sqn was in the pattern for a Cyprus range with a pair of 14x 2inch rocket projectile (RP) pods. The BOI had been formed to investigate the 2x RPs (solid heads) which had been negligently discharged from the Wessex into/near to someone's garden, while the aircraft was downwind. No one was hurt. It transpired that the Master Armament Safety Switch and the RP pod switches has not been de-selected and that the red cover had not been slid back over the firing button on the top of the cyclic, on climbout from the previous 'in hot'.

Thankfully, the BOI did not get to record the HWI's little secret that, only 45 minutes before the incident, all aircraft has been re-armed with inert heads. The first sorties had fired HE RP but that range was not cleared for HE.

[Wader2]

Data-Lynx, I was the Station Duty Officer at Akrotiri when I believe this happened. I had been in the weapons office earlier in the day when the news first 'hit'. that night I received a phonpatch call about the incident. apart from the Weapons Officer that had taken the original call, I was the onlyother officer on the base, out of 450, that would have known what it was all about

[L J R]

Sqn Cdrs Golf Clubs once in the Bomb Bay of an F-111 on the arrival 'fam sortie' of Red Flag....you know where this is going..... Crew aware of 'incident' right after 'Pickle Time'. I don't actually think anything was recorded on the cockpit video - there was nothing to say...! . Clubs arrived a few days later having done the scenic tour of the Nellis Range....I recall a very dusty pile of bits.

[Grabbers]

Not the same as bombs but I had occasion to be at one end of a two-way range in Iraqistan 2006. My words were something along the lines of "S**t, s**t, f***ing s**t (repeat....)".

[Data-Lynx]

Dustbin Dustbin

PN. The state of my loft precludes an instant find of flipcards but I believe the calls at sea for NDB release were "Beware Beware" at 1 mile to run and "Dustbin Dustbin" at release.

After release, I always wondered what the Wasp pilots might be thinking as their mother was steaming away from the drop point faster than they could probably catch up, with only minutes of endurance remaining.