Offset cockpits
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: People's Republic
Age: 68
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Beagle wrote
Triff & brill. I had many a happy hour sat in my cupboard taking piccies of things. Sometimes the things we photographed were quite ethereal.......when we went back a while later they had gone. Strange that.
It was a vastly different life from being on an F4 sqn. There was less schoolboy excitement but loads more job satisfaction. Don't get me wrong I loved my time on the F4 but, while we never fired a missile in anger during my 7 years on 'tombs, virtually every sortie we did live stuff on the PR9. There loads of detachments, including a whole bunch to Goia for Tony's wars then life got even busier after 9/11. Sometimes the sausage side stuff was interesting - for instance operating under UN mandate with distant theoretical support while the bad guys' SAM systems we overflew were suppressed by agreement. Great time which finished in 2002.
While I was there 39 Sqn was a good place to be. We had an excellent aircrew/groundcrew/photog relationship which I enjoyed. And the "Caution Elderly Aircrew Crossing" sign by the taxyway outside the sqn was a laugh!
That's enough before I start dribbling in my Horlicks.
I hope life's OK with you Beags
Regards,
Vernon
big v , how did you find life on the PR9 after the mighty 'tombs on 56(F)?
It was a vastly different life from being on an F4 sqn. There was less schoolboy excitement but loads more job satisfaction. Don't get me wrong I loved my time on the F4 but, while we never fired a missile in anger during my 7 years on 'tombs, virtually every sortie we did live stuff on the PR9. There loads of detachments, including a whole bunch to Goia for Tony's wars then life got even busier after 9/11. Sometimes the sausage side stuff was interesting - for instance operating under UN mandate with distant theoretical support while the bad guys' SAM systems we overflew were suppressed by agreement. Great time which finished in 2002.
While I was there 39 Sqn was a good place to be. We had an excellent aircrew/groundcrew/photog relationship which I enjoyed. And the "Caution Elderly Aircrew Crossing" sign by the taxyway outside the sqn was a laugh!
That's enough before I start dribbling in my Horlicks.
I hope life's OK with you Beags
Regards,
Vernon
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Oxfordshire
Age: 86
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Vixen Observer's Cockpit
The Vixen coal hole was designed by a pilot, Capt Dicky Law, who thought the looker might be distracted by daylight...he was very proud of his contribution unlike the majority of us who had to put up with it. Its predecessor, the Venom, had a perfectly adequate visor for the radar which allowed for another pair of eyes as additional look-out. The redesigned hatch was not designed for improved light but was frangible to allow ejection through it, since the original design didn't always jetisson when the blind was pulled or allow the seat to fire if released manually and had been the cause of at least one Observer's death.
