Op Fabulous / QRA / Battle Flight 1950s - 1960s
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Ha ha, I can imagine picking apart the screws in the cockpit out of boredom.
Not quite the same thing but I was once left alone for a very short time as a nipper and apparently I disassembled a VCR player (new fangled at the time) to see how it worked. The olds weren't too happy they had only bought it a few days earlier. I'd hope you guys knew how to put yours back together.
Fantastic stories, keep 'em coming please.
Oh one other question: How long were aircrew actually on Q for before returning to normal duties?
BB
Not quite the same thing but I was once left alone for a very short time as a nipper and apparently I disassembled a VCR player (new fangled at the time) to see how it worked. The olds weren't too happy they had only bought it a few days earlier. I'd hope you guys knew how to put yours back together.
Fantastic stories, keep 'em coming please.
Oh one other question: How long were aircrew actually on Q for before returning to normal duties?
BB
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In the very early 70s, I was launched from Battle Flight @ 04:00. Airborne in 2 mins 46 secs (every launch was timed), it was a really black night and I went into cloud at 500ft, out of the top at FL 350. Never in my life have I been so disorientated, the Lightning climbed quite quickly in burner and from being asleep to that height in around a total of 5 mins was interesting to say the least. Good fun though.
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2 minute cockpit readiness was 'easy', if boring and sometimes cold. The real challenge was the 'standard' 10 minutes, in a bed at night, kitted with bunny suit, g-suit and goon suit. It was often said that we mostly ran on 'auto' in the scramble and generally woke up at about 10,000' on the way up. Of course, those who failed to lock their canopies before rolling woke up a little earlier.
One also became fairly proficient at what was known as an 'op crap' when required
One also became fairly proficient at what was known as an 'op crap' when required
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Reply to Post 7.
Bob,
In reply to your questions at post 7:
With two in the crew 90 minutes at cockpit readiness was rarely boring. Various competitive games were devised (some of which I hesitate to outline here), dozing was common and general discussion on a variety of topics frequent.
When the Sqn was tasked for standby whichever flight was on nights met the commitment (Javelin Sqns operated one flight on days-one on nights for routine training. The flights swopped over each week). With up to 10 crews per flight no more than two sessions of cockpit readiness was necessary per night. The remainder of the period was spent at 10/30 mins readiness in the crewroom (with usual crewroom activities).
In the Autumn of 61 my situation changed dramatically. My pilot was posted to the transport force as he wished to prepare for BOAC/BEA etc. I had just received the welcome news of selection for pilot training and was eager to depart ASAP. With only 24 hours notice 85 was detached to 2ATAF (Laarbruch) when the Berlin wall was erected and the upper level thinking anticipated another possible Berlin airlift. I was now a gash/nav only filling in when illness/leave left an empty back seat. Our home base (West Raynham) received my posting to South Cerny but failed to notify the detachment at Laarbruch. Hence I departed in something of a minor flap when a WTF signal arrived demanding my presence elsewhere. Thus I never held a reaction state during my final weeks on the Sqn at Laarbruch.
I left with the biggest grin north of the Channel.
In reply to your questions at post 7:
With two in the crew 90 minutes at cockpit readiness was rarely boring. Various competitive games were devised (some of which I hesitate to outline here), dozing was common and general discussion on a variety of topics frequent.
When the Sqn was tasked for standby whichever flight was on nights met the commitment (Javelin Sqns operated one flight on days-one on nights for routine training. The flights swopped over each week). With up to 10 crews per flight no more than two sessions of cockpit readiness was necessary per night. The remainder of the period was spent at 10/30 mins readiness in the crewroom (with usual crewroom activities).
In the Autumn of 61 my situation changed dramatically. My pilot was posted to the transport force as he wished to prepare for BOAC/BEA etc. I had just received the welcome news of selection for pilot training and was eager to depart ASAP. With only 24 hours notice 85 was detached to 2ATAF (Laarbruch) when the Berlin wall was erected and the upper level thinking anticipated another possible Berlin airlift. I was now a gash/nav only filling in when illness/leave left an empty back seat. Our home base (West Raynham) received my posting to South Cerny but failed to notify the detachment at Laarbruch. Hence I departed in something of a minor flap when a WTF signal arrived demanding my presence elsewhere. Thus I never held a reaction state during my final weeks on the Sqn at Laarbruch.
I left with the biggest grin north of the Channel.
It was often said that we mostly ran on 'auto' in the scramble and generally
woke up at about 10,000' on the way up.
woke up at about 10,000' on the way up.
.....the Lightning climbed quite quickly in burner...
Would love to see a civvy puke handle it.
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Gloves left on the canopy rail Newt??
(or worse still down the intakes of an F-4, like all sorts of things down there like maps etc................)
When the hooter went at Wildenrath Battle Flight the HAS doors would start to slowly open automatically. If you were quick you would sprint through the opening gap to the ac. One first tourist was so quick he caught his jacket straps on the large HAS door lock arms, and as a result this pivoted his head into the door edge, which gave him a nasty cut. No snags, bonedome on and scramble. Five mins later, when established in the climb out to the east, the blood from the cut started dripping off his forehead...........
(or worse still down the intakes of an F-4, like all sorts of things down there like maps etc................)
When the hooter went at Wildenrath Battle Flight the HAS doors would start to slowly open automatically. If you were quick you would sprint through the opening gap to the ac. One first tourist was so quick he caught his jacket straps on the large HAS door lock arms, and as a result this pivoted his head into the door edge, which gave him a nasty cut. No snags, bonedome on and scramble. Five mins later, when established in the climb out to the east, the blood from the cut started dripping off his forehead...........
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At Wattisham the taxiway from the Q Shed to the runway entered the runway with only 6000 ft of runway remaining. We had certain headwind requirements to takeoff in QRA fit without a backtrack. As a 1st tourist I thought that it would be a good idea to light the burners early. The access has about 60 degree turn to line-up. I lit the burners as I started the turn (since they took 3-5 secs to light). Imagine my surprise as 32,000 of thrust pushed my 25 tonne ac towards the grass. Thank god for MacD and the strength of the undercarriage. There is little doubt that in most other ac I would have broken the gear or gone into the grass in spectacular fashion.
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On a scramble take-off one wintry day at Leuchars with slushy ice underfoot (& slippy piano keys!) turning onto Runway 27 off the Northern taxiway we needed opposite nose-wheel steer to catch the slide...............
Good job that it was a nice wide runway..........
Good job that it was a nice wide runway..........
Do a Hover - it avoids G
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or 2TAF when aircraft were said to be at 'two minute cockpit readiness' were pilots actually in the cockpit
Wildenrath early 80's
My memories of groundcrew stints on Battle Flight include:
Two aircrew on a 24hr rota, whilst the three groundcrew did 24hrs on 24hrs off over a two week period
Separate sleeping quarters, communal kitchen/dining area
Hotlock meals, apart from lashings of eggs and bacon for fry ups
Left over VHS films from the SSVC rental shop
Backdated copies of "Sixth Sense"
Big sloppy kisses from the WO's missus on Christmas Day
Every time we launched, even at night, we beat the Soesterburg F15's into a cocked hat.
Two aircrew on a 24hr rota, whilst the three groundcrew did 24hrs on 24hrs off over a two week period
Separate sleeping quarters, communal kitchen/dining area
Hotlock meals, apart from lashings of eggs and bacon for fry ups
Left over VHS films from the SSVC rental shop
Backdated copies of "Sixth Sense"
Big sloppy kisses from the WO's missus on Christmas Day
Every time we launched, even at night, we beat the Soesterburg F15's into a cocked hat.
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The most relaxed QRA that I saw was in Gib on the Hunters. 5 minutes was down at the Squadron while 10 minutes could be held from the Mess. Most evenings Q1 stood on the mess patio with a G+T in hand. As soon as the evening BEA Trident landed safely Q1 was stood down for the evening.
3 of the 4 QRA aircrew were quietly watching yet another VHS in the Wattisham Q-shed one evening in the early '80s when it was the Crows' turn to sit Southern Q; the 4th had gone to his pit and the dividing curtains were drawn to keep the noise / light from the rest area from disturbing him.
Their peace was rudely shattered as through the curtains there suddenly crashed their colleague wrestling frantically with his errant goon suit. They watched in polite surprise thinking "He's really gone bloody nuts this time!" until the flailing rubber-suited creature decided to calm down....
It was 'Thrombo' - also known as 'AWF'. He was attempting to time how long it took him to don his goon suit if scrambled in the dead of night - but without the urgency and klaxons, sounds of running groundcrew and general mayhem, the moment lacked the necessary adrenalin for success. But it did give the rest of the Q crews a good laugh!
At least we would take it in turns to stand down to the OM in pairs for dinner, taking the world's most useless piece of comms kit, the 2-handed walkie-talkie 'Storno' radio and the station's most clapped-out L.androver. There was a special phone in the OM which was unlisted and was supposed to be used only to call us back to the Q-shed if the RS had been increased. One night we were happily scoffing when it rang - I* charged out to coax the L.androver into life whilst my colleague answered the phone.....
False alarm - it seems one of the mess stewards had given the number of the phone to all his 'dial-a-mate' chums for their private evening calls!
*Rule No.1 - Never let the navigator drive!
Their peace was rudely shattered as through the curtains there suddenly crashed their colleague wrestling frantically with his errant goon suit. They watched in polite surprise thinking "He's really gone bloody nuts this time!" until the flailing rubber-suited creature decided to calm down....
It was 'Thrombo' - also known as 'AWF'. He was attempting to time how long it took him to don his goon suit if scrambled in the dead of night - but without the urgency and klaxons, sounds of running groundcrew and general mayhem, the moment lacked the necessary adrenalin for success. But it did give the rest of the Q crews a good laugh!
At least we would take it in turns to stand down to the OM in pairs for dinner, taking the world's most useless piece of comms kit, the 2-handed walkie-talkie 'Storno' radio and the station's most clapped-out L.androver. There was a special phone in the OM which was unlisted and was supposed to be used only to call us back to the Q-shed if the RS had been increased. One night we were happily scoffing when it rang - I* charged out to coax the L.androver into life whilst my colleague answered the phone.....
False alarm - it seems one of the mess stewards had given the number of the phone to all his 'dial-a-mate' chums for their private evening calls!
*Rule No.1 - Never let the navigator drive!
Last edited by BEagle; 5th Dec 2013 at 22:28.
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I was trained as an ATC Ops Clerk for my National Service(1957-1958).My first posting was to Wattisham and during the summer of 57 Wattisham closed for runway extension for the Lightening's arrival.I was then posted to Waterbeach and at both airfields we were operating "Fabulous".We were on 24/7 standby and each Thursday squadrons arrived to take their turn.It was pretty hectic with day and night squadrons changing over.From memory we had visits from squadrons from places such as Coltishall,Church Fenton,Middleton St George,Watton,West Raynham,Turnhouse and Horsham St Faith.In ATC we worked a shift pattern of five days on and three off,no extra duties.Hope this adds a bit more information to the discussion.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
One of our plotter's , 'Bertie' Wooster (IIRC), transitioned from the Javelin as that force ran down to the Vulcan as a plotter. We were in awe of this hugely experienced night fighter nav rad with a massive 1,700 hours, some 4 times what we sprogs had at the time.
'Wow, night fighters, how many hours night do you have?'
We were most disappointed when we found he had less than 150 hours night
PS
One story I heard concerned the Victor Training Flight. Not the VTF of Tankertrashenav's time but of the early Mk 1 sorties in the late 50s. The QRA force in Germany was used to delouse the Victor as it exited the ADIZ. I believe the fighters were not pre-warned but were scrambled and vectored east as the Victor entered the FRG.
'Wow, night fighters, how many hours night do you have?'
We were most disappointed when we found he had less than 150 hours night
PS
One story I heard concerned the Victor Training Flight. Not the VTF of Tankertrashenav's time but of the early Mk 1 sorties in the late 50s. The QRA force in Germany was used to delouse the Victor as it exited the ADIZ. I believe the fighters were not pre-warned but were scrambled and vectored east as the Victor entered the FRG.
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Since some of the posts have erred beyond the thread title dates, I'll add one from Coningsby c1983. We held 10 mins from two rooms at the end of the sqn hangar accommodation, with the jets parked outside on the pan. It was a bit of a nightmare because the sqn wheels could just stroll in and collar you for jobs. IIRC the front room was the day room with tv, tables etc, and the back room was the bedroom with 4 beds. The DFC's bed had a phone, a squawk box and a nice red button that set off the scramble alarm.
Anyway, one night we had repaired to our beds with our kit carefully laid out on the floor ans all was quiet except for the confidence tone on the squawk box and the racket from the duty snorer. At some ungodly hour the scamble alarm sounded and 3 of us leapt out of bed and wriggled rapidly into our flying kit while the fourth person, the DFC, was sat up in bed looking guilty. Seems he had yawned and stretched out his arms and accidentally........ Thanks Zip(at least I think he was the culprit)!
Regards,
Vernon
Anyway, one night we had repaired to our beds with our kit carefully laid out on the floor ans all was quiet except for the confidence tone on the squawk box and the racket from the duty snorer. At some ungodly hour the scamble alarm sounded and 3 of us leapt out of bed and wriggled rapidly into our flying kit while the fourth person, the DFC, was sat up in bed looking guilty. Seems he had yawned and stretched out his arms and accidentally........ Thanks Zip(at least I think he was the culprit)!
Regards,
Vernon
I recall going to CGY to sit QRA for 29(F) over the Summer Ball night, following something the boss had agreed. The accommodation was much as you describe, Vern and nothing like a 'proper' Q-shed. It was a long way to 'run' to reach the jets if you were scrambled, we all thought.
The nice chaps from 29 strolled over during the evening, having clearly been enjoying the Ball. But did they bring us any tasty morsels or thank you bottles to take back to Wattisham? Err, no - which didn't go down well with my colleagues. Mind you, they had an 'interesting' selection of VHS tapes - including 'Naughty Little Girls'. Who, we found, were very 'naughty' indeed - and far from 'little'...
Anyway, all was quiet on the Russian Front that night, so we handed back the commitment the following lunchtime, then had a 2:30 hour trip home in the usual MT rattletrap. A day off on Monday? YGBSM as they say.
The nice chaps from 29 strolled over during the evening, having clearly been enjoying the Ball. But did they bring us any tasty morsels or thank you bottles to take back to Wattisham? Err, no - which didn't go down well with my colleagues. Mind you, they had an 'interesting' selection of VHS tapes - including 'Naughty Little Girls'. Who, we found, were very 'naughty' indeed - and far from 'little'...
Anyway, all was quiet on the Russian Front that night, so we handed back the commitment the following lunchtime, then had a 2:30 hour trip home in the usual MT rattletrap. A day off on Monday? YGBSM as they say.
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Fabulous
Just copied most of this from my earlier response to BingoBob's first post under "Aviation History and Nostalgia". This is from an earlier, and probably much less exciting/interesting, era of FAB, than recent posts.
I was on a day fighter Meteor squadron, at Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire, '51/'53 ish.
I do remember once getting airborne rapidly from the ORP, (not with the trolley acc still attached, although I did see one dragged a few yards before the lead pulled out) but with the fire warning light covers which I had been carefully unscrewing to relieve the tedium hastily stuffed into a pocket. I hadn't got as far as fiddling with the bulbs though. "Fab" for us day fighters was strictly dawn to dusk only, and I think we were in the habit of getting airborne for the dusk fab - can't remember about the dawn period - probably not because the aircraft would just stay on the ORP for the next shift. I guess an hour, maybe more, would have been about tops at immediate cockpit readiness - the ejector seats weren't built for comfort.
Hey, we were still flying those early jets in leather helmets and big old-fashioned Mae Wests. We did loll about in really old mess furniture outside tents on the airfield grass near the ORP in the summer on exercise standby, but maybe not the norm for Fab, which I think was often managed back in the crew room at a lower state of readiness, but memory is struggling a bit here.
There must be some more octogenarians out there to contribute.
Happy days ....
I was on a day fighter Meteor squadron, at Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire, '51/'53 ish.
I do remember once getting airborne rapidly from the ORP, (not with the trolley acc still attached, although I did see one dragged a few yards before the lead pulled out) but with the fire warning light covers which I had been carefully unscrewing to relieve the tedium hastily stuffed into a pocket. I hadn't got as far as fiddling with the bulbs though. "Fab" for us day fighters was strictly dawn to dusk only, and I think we were in the habit of getting airborne for the dusk fab - can't remember about the dawn period - probably not because the aircraft would just stay on the ORP for the next shift. I guess an hour, maybe more, would have been about tops at immediate cockpit readiness - the ejector seats weren't built for comfort.
Hey, we were still flying those early jets in leather helmets and big old-fashioned Mae Wests. We did loll about in really old mess furniture outside tents on the airfield grass near the ORP in the summer on exercise standby, but maybe not the norm for Fab, which I think was often managed back in the crew room at a lower state of readiness, but memory is struggling a bit here.
There must be some more octogenarians out there to contribute.
Happy days ....