Ripping Yarns : Banner Target Fun
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I remember four of us in the pattern off Gibraltar, for once doing a great job of keeping everything tight including the R/T. Watching the Med collect hundreds of 30mm rounds and wondering whether or not any of them had passed through the banner en route to the og-splosh! Banner took a fair amount of pain but, errrr, not a massive percentage as I recall.
Great fun.
(No idea why we were in Gib. Had my first go in those Danger Areas around Lundy that disappeared in 2004 or thereabouts.)
Great fun.
(No idea why we were in Gib. Had my first go in those Danger Areas around Lundy that disappeared in 2004 or thereabouts.)
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When I was at 2ANS Thorney Island we were inbound from Bembridge on a BABS approach when a torrent of verbal abuse erupted from the Gentlemen in the front. It seems a banner had just passed in front of them, they claim 200 feet in front at our level. Eastney range was supposed to be cleared when T.I. had aircraft inbound from the Isle of Wight.
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Lightning Story
A talented and enthusastic young pilot hosed the flag off Akrotiri...
Hit the spreader bar and detached the lead weight which entered the intake of his Lightning Mk6...
Mr Avon emitted a loud bang, spat some blades out which fragged the upstairs engine and soldiered briefly on...
Said pilot started an approach to Akrotiri with little power and much noise when the engine gave up and he ejected safely.
The Lightning planted itself in the dirt and stopped just short of a well favoured Kebab Shack...
No one was badly hurt in the making of this war story...
Hit the spreader bar and detached the lead weight which entered the intake of his Lightning Mk6...
Mr Avon emitted a loud bang, spat some blades out which fragged the upstairs engine and soldiered briefly on...
Said pilot started an approach to Akrotiri with little power and much noise when the engine gave up and he ejected safely.
The Lightning planted itself in the dirt and stopped just short of a well favoured Kebab Shack...
No one was badly hurt in the making of this war story...
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The Phantom commentary from the back as, with a radar lock, the LCOSS was uncaged:
"Release, Ready, Fire, Break"
One famous Op Shoot:
Release, Ready, Fire, Break ........ Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpppppppppppp .... bbbbbrrrrpppp ... pppp from the Su23.
Time to go home then!
"Release, Ready, Fire, Break"
One famous Op Shoot:
Release, Ready, Fire, Break ........ Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpppppppppppp .... bbbbbrrrrpppp ... pppp from the Su23.
Time to go home then!
Last edited by Geehovah; 29th Apr 2013 at 18:54.
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Wot, they got rid of the Martinet ...
Effortless ... How old are you
Effortless ... How old are you
Recall a tale about Sylt in the 1950's by a friend (sadly no longer with us). Mike was on detail as the recovery for the target which was dropped by the Meteor F8. Fortunately for him the mornings tea had worked its magic and he was out of his nice shiny new rag top Landie attending to a call of nature when the Meteor duly appears and drops the banner. Trouble is the pilot forgot to allow for drift on the way down on this occasion with the upshot that the draw bar went smack through the canvas roof of said new toy and just about wrote it off. MT Chiefy was not, apparently, best impressed!
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The Lightning camera was in the intake so, instead of seeing what the gunsight showed, you interpreted the film from where the pitot tube was. One Sqn boss had us looking at his film trying to figure out what he'd done wrong as the whole pitot tube/Canberra/banner picture was so wrong. Turned out he'd blown the approach and was attacking from outside the circle! Having had a ride on the Canberra jump seat getting shot at, you could hear the difference in angle off and I'm guessing that was a noisy sortie!
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UK A2A gunnery area, early F4 days. Pilot-with-godlike-tracking (definitely not me) attacks flag. Flag is duly dropped, hits counted, said pilot gets 18 hits!!
- far more than anyone else. Amazing good news- he fired only 30 rounds before the gun jammed- score of 60%.
Bad news- rules said you had to fire minimum 100 rounds for the score to count!
- far more than anyone else. Amazing good news- he fired only 30 rounds before the gun jammed- score of 60%. Bad news- rules said you had to fire minimum 100 rounds for the score to count!
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I remember the Lightning at Akrotiri very well. XR763 from 5 Sqn on 1-Jul-87. IIRC it was the last 5 Sqn APC in Lightnings and down at Golf dispersal was a big board saying 5 Sqn, the last big bang. It sure was!!!
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This is classic stuff Gents ... BEagle calls it about right I think ... "The Sport of true Fighter Pilots" ... must have been 
Just love the R/T call mentioned by BOAC ...
OK Courtney let's have the 29 Squadron Courtney/Gray story then
Then we'll have to see if we can tempt a few Tuggers to regale us with a few stories ... there must be few Canberra TT18 (of which there were I believe some original 23 B2 conversions) crew still around ... assuming they've still got their tails intact
Coff.
Just love the R/T call mentioned by BOAC ...
"Tell him I'm towing the ****ing banner, not pushing it"
Then we'll have to see if we can tempt a few Tuggers to regale us with a few stories ... there must be few Canberra TT18 (of which there were I believe some original 23 B2 conversions) crew still around ... assuming they've still got their tails intact
Coff.
'Young' Pete later became the boss of the RAF's premier AAR squadron - and gave me more of the inside information regarding 'The Night of the Pink Rabbit' at CGY....
Canberra tales?
'Skipper' and 'The Whale', perhaps.......
I say nothing.....
Canberra tales?
'Skipper' and 'The Whale', perhaps.......
I say nothing.....
Last edited by BEagle; 30th Apr 2013 at 08:22.
Well, actually, Coff, BEags has beaten me to it, well, one of them. Mine was also a runaway gun, but it turned out to be very hard to prove that it wasn't a pilot's sticky finger. First problem was that I'd been firing really short bursts and Pete had commented that he wasn't getting enough entertainment for all his rather good radar work. So, on said occasion, just before our first live pass I said, "I'm going to get some serious rounds out now."
"Release, standby, fire.." Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr "recover" rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr "stop firing" rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr "Courtney!" rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr etc.
"It wasn't me, honest"
RTB to be met by the QWI. Film debrief showed the trigger press flag continuously indicating a that the trigger was pressed and not released. So it was clearly my fault so I was duly kicked and fined lots of beer.
It was a couple of days later that an engineer told me it was the trigger mechanism, not the gun that had broken. Yet another occasion when Fg Off Courtney was unjustly blamed for everything that ever went wrong.
"Release, standby, fire.." Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr "recover" rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr "stop firing" rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr "Courtney!" rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr etc.
"It wasn't me, honest"
RTB to be met by the QWI. Film debrief showed the trigger press flag continuously indicating a that the trigger was pressed and not released. So it was clearly my fault so I was duly kicked and fined lots of beer.
It was a couple of days later that an engineer told me it was the trigger mechanism, not the gun that had broken. Yet another occasion when Fg Off Courtney was unjustly blamed for everything that ever went wrong.
My very first flight in a Meatbox was in 41 Sqn's T.7 at Biggin Hill in 1954 when I took these photos.
We took-off with the banner and flew down to the Danger Area in the channel off Worthing (I think) and stooged around the Danger area whilst shots were fired at the target. Flew back and released the banner over the runway and landed, probably about 40-50-mins in all.
As can be seen the pilot's helmet pre-dated bone-domes. The other photo shows how Biggin looked in 1954 with ops block etc. in the pre-fab type buildings which were long gone when the fairly recent c. 2005 colour shot almost from the same position was taken.
We took-off with the banner and flew down to the Danger Area in the channel off Worthing (I think) and stooged around the Danger area whilst shots were fired at the target. Flew back and released the banner over the runway and landed, probably about 40-50-mins in all.
As can be seen the pilot's helmet pre-dated bone-domes. The other photo shows how Biggin looked in 1954 with ops block etc. in the pre-fab type buildings which were long gone when the fairly recent c. 2005 colour shot almost from the same position was taken.
Blimey!!I haven't heard "The Whale" mentioned for some years. As a mere mud mover who only did Air to Air at Chiv and it was I hasten to add - the sport of kings. The story I'm sure will get mentioned would be The Whale jettisoning the winch instead of cutting the wire?
Ivor
Ivor
The 'Whale Songs' exchanged over RT as Tatty Ton swapped jets must have baffled European ATC!!
Did 'Skipper' really take it flying at Akronelli... ??
Did 'Skipper' really take it flying at Akronelli...
??
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Slight thread drift
The above made me think of the stories I heard as an apprentice at Aberporth about a tug hitting it's own rushton target drogue. Was it true or were they just winding up the gullible sprogs! 
"Tell him I'm towing the ****ing banner, not pushing it"