Have Gun, Will Travel, Noggie Style.
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Have Gun, Will Travel, Noggie Style.
I know that air traffic confusers aren't always popular but this seems a bit harsh;
Norwegian F-16 opens machine-gun fire at control tower by mistake | world | Hindustan Times
Norwegian F-16 opens machine-gun fire at control tower by mistake | world | Hindustan Times
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I'm perfectly willing to accept banter about the Flying Prevention Branch, but this is taking things a bit far 
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Hmmmm I bet that decorated the inside of their underwear..
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Why does an uninhabited island have a control tower, anyway?
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The fact none of them were injured standing in a great big tower does not say much for his shooting skills either. 
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Image released after the previous strafing of the range control tower. It happened in darkness on NVG both times. The first time resulted in the ranged being closed for night ops for a couple of years.
When I did my one day U/T at RAF Pembrey Sands in the Summer of '76, so that I could cover for the RSO when he went for the day, I noticed a large dent in the clock in front of the window.
"What happened?", I asked.
"It was a Harrier. On a strafe FRA he appeared off line, but opened fire anyway. That was about 450 knots of cartridge case - more rattled around the room, but we were bravely hiding under the desk!"
My actual day was quite interesting. A Hunter coming off the strafe target managed to hoof off a few rounds in the climb when going stick stop safe, a Jet Provost flew through the range whilst another Hunter was in the dive for a dry attack - I traced him to St Mawgan. 2 QFIs on a jolly..... Then a yacht drifted into the range safety area. I asked one of the Hunters to see whether it was manned, as it appeared to be just drifting along without any sail set...
"Yes, 2 on board", came the reply.
"What are they doing - surely they must have seen you?"
"No mate - they're $hagging!"
A couple more low passes, up went the sail and off they went!
Great fun! Although I hadn't been there at the time, I also saw the mangled remains from the occasion when some Wg Cdr doing a refresher course on 79 Sqn managed to pickle off 2 x 230 gall underwing tanks, having made a serious switch pigs. Unplottable at six; fortunately they didn't catch fire, but when he asked to carry on he was rather surprised to be told to Foxtrot Oscar back to Brawdy - all that fuel on the tinder dry surface (those who remember the Summer of '76 will know that it was long and hot!) put the range U/S for quite some time.
"What happened?", I asked.
"It was a Harrier. On a strafe FRA he appeared off line, but opened fire anyway. That was about 450 knots of cartridge case - more rattled around the room, but we were bravely hiding under the desk!"
My actual day was quite interesting. A Hunter coming off the strafe target managed to hoof off a few rounds in the climb when going stick stop safe, a Jet Provost flew through the range whilst another Hunter was in the dive for a dry attack - I traced him to St Mawgan. 2 QFIs on a jolly..... Then a yacht drifted into the range safety area. I asked one of the Hunters to see whether it was manned, as it appeared to be just drifting along without any sail set...
"Yes, 2 on board", came the reply.
"What are they doing - surely they must have seen you?"
"No mate - they're $hagging!"
A couple more low passes, up went the sail and off they went!
Great fun! Although I hadn't been there at the time, I also saw the mangled remains from the occasion when some Wg Cdr doing a refresher course on 79 Sqn managed to pickle off 2 x 230 gall underwing tanks, having made a serious switch pigs. Unplottable at six; fortunately they didn't catch fire, but when he asked to carry on he was rather surprised to be told to Foxtrot Oscar back to Brawdy - all that fuel on the tinder dry surface (those who remember the Summer of '76 will know that it was long and hot!) put the range U/S for quite some time.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Spams hit a tower at Wainfleet with a bomb. GR4 then had a go but missed.
