WIWOL Wednesday
More in hope than optimism - on 30th September '71 one of the visiting Lightnings at Akrotiri had to 'bang out' in Epi Bay ... standard back end fire, apparently. The pilot was recovered by 1563 Flt S&R Whirlwind and deposited at PMH. I was on the wire for that pickup but cannot recall ever knowing who the 'victim' was. Very unlikely, but might anyone have the identity - just idle curiosity 
That, oddly was the only sea recovery of military aircrew I ever had to do (oddly, because that, theoretically, was our raison d'etre!!) I was also bollocked by the Big Cheese for sinking the dinghy, not bringing it back with us ... having an inflated dinghy in a single engined , small cabin with an injured survivor for the over water return transit didn't seem too clever to me ... I'm claiming octogenarian privilege for irrelevant queries! 
That, oddly was the only sea recovery of military aircrew I ever had to do (oddly, because that, theoretically, was our raison d'etre!!) I was also bollocked by the Big Cheese for sinking the dinghy, not bringing it back with us ... having an inflated dinghy in a single engined , small cabin with an injured survivor for the over water return transit didn't seem too clever to me ... I'm claiming octogenarian privilege for irrelevant queries!
Rhino power and GeeRam - many thanks, both, for a remarkably fast answer!! 
Not wanting to contact - just satisfying a sudden nagging thought prompted by this WIWOL thread. 
My other abiding memory of the Lightning was a newsreel shown at a Bangkok cinema which showed a Sqdn formation takeoff in the early days with the classic rotation to the vertical. The audience burst into spontaneous applause - never experienced before or since!! Ah well!, back to the memory bank! 
Not wanting to contact - just satisfying a sudden nagging thought prompted by this WIWOL thread. My other abiding memory of the Lightning was a newsreel shown at a Bangkok cinema which showed a Sqdn formation takeoff in the early days with the classic rotation to the vertical. The audience burst into spontaneous applause - never experienced before or since!! Ah well!, back to the memory bank!
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Lightning Radar
In the early ‘70s I was fortunate enough to get a couple of rides in the T5, firstly with Pete Chapman and then with Mike Smith. It was a bit of a blur at the time, but Pete did try to show me how the radar worked, a big job in 45 minutes, although I do remember him putting a ring over the target, which locked the radar in a narrow scan.
I recently watched Ian Black in a video and something he said about the Phantom radar caused me to wonder about the mental arithmetic which went into calculating the altitude of the target. On the last generation weather radars, using the one 1 in 60 rule we used to work out the tops of CBs with the simple formula of 100ft per degree of tilt per nautical mile, so if the radar was tilted down at 2 degrees with a cloud 40 miles away the tops would be 2x100x40 or 8000ft below us. I am assuming that the Lightning mate had to make a similar calculation. My recollection is hazy to say the least, but I seem to remember horizontal bars across the screen. Were these radar tilt bars?
Would any Lightning mate like to explain the target acquisition process and the mental calculations that had to be made to determine target altitude and speed? Thank you in anticipation.
In the early ‘70s I was fortunate enough to get a couple of rides in the T5, firstly with Pete Chapman and then with Mike Smith. It was a bit of a blur at the time, but Pete did try to show me how the radar worked, a big job in 45 minutes, although I do remember him putting a ring over the target, which locked the radar in a narrow scan.
I recently watched Ian Black in a video and something he said about the Phantom radar caused me to wonder about the mental arithmetic which went into calculating the altitude of the target. On the last generation weather radars, using the one 1 in 60 rule we used to work out the tops of CBs with the simple formula of 100ft per degree of tilt per nautical mile, so if the radar was tilted down at 2 degrees with a cloud 40 miles away the tops would be 2x100x40 or 8000ft below us. I am assuming that the Lightning mate had to make a similar calculation. My recollection is hazy to say the least, but I seem to remember horizontal bars across the screen. Were these radar tilt bars?
Would any Lightning mate like to explain the target acquisition process and the mental calculations that had to be made to determine target altitude and speed? Thank you in anticipation.
Mike Smith, my Gnat QFI after Vic W went back to Africa. Anyone know if he is still with us. He had the biggest Alsatian dog I ever saw. Would let you into the house, but not out!
Mike Smith (ex-29 & 92) is still listed on the Lightning pilots directory, so if the same one, then yes.
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'Twas "smash it to the edge, sneak it down the side, and lose it off the bottom
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Twas "smash it to the edge, sneak it down the side, and lose it off the bottom
At which stage the radio call, “you b*****d” or something similar was heard.....