12 O'Clock at seven miles.
SASless,
flew on a blind FF drop trial once using Decca Navigator. If memory serves the troops landed about 30 miles from the DZ, none injured. The trial was suspended and as far as I am aware never resumed
flew on a blind FF drop trial once using Decca Navigator. If memory serves the troops landed about 30 miles from the DZ, none injured. The trial was suspended and as far as I am aware never resumed
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AA As any fule kno, DECCA was a surface hyperbolic nav aid for ships at sea. Height Error was applied at 25000ft over Fox Covert but that could not compensate for the dreaded "Lane Slip". When dropping HALO on The Plain a precautionary radar fix was requested from Lyneham whilst running in. I still have the DECCA chart with over printed radials and ranges and a right pigs breakfast it looks too..
).
DECCA.....such wonderful kit!
I used to drop some folks at night that did HAHO jumps with Squares....with Portable GPS units on top of their chest pack reserves.
Some interesting reading is individual accounts of Night HALO jumps by Recon guys during Vietnam Combat Operations.
Those guys are far better Men than I am!
I used to drop some folks at night that did HAHO jumps with Squares....with Portable GPS units on top of their chest pack reserves.
Some interesting reading is individual accounts of Night HALO jumps by Recon guys during Vietnam Combat Operations.
Those guys are far better Men than I am!
Dougie,
Greetings trust you are well. I can only assume that for our trial our lords and masters would have considered using Lyneham Radar as cheating. I cannot recall ever flying on another Decca blind drop trial. We used Boscombe Radar for our HALO and HAHO trials.
Have you still got your pic of the Volant Rodeo MSP V USAF truck ? If so could you put it as I think some would like to see it.
Greetings trust you are well. I can only assume that for our trial our lords and masters would have considered using Lyneham Radar as cheating. I cannot recall ever flying on another Decca blind drop trial. We used Boscombe Radar for our HALO and HAHO trials.
Have you still got your pic of the Volant Rodeo MSP V USAF truck ? If so could you put it as I think some would like to see it.
Another Boscombe AD dit relevant to this thread.
Shortly after the J Herc arrived at Boscombe a Para drop was planned to try out the aircraft's nav computer ability to compute a CARP.
After a number of passes over the DZ with no jump lights appearing the Paras were getting restless and wanted to know why they couldn't jump. The reply from the front end was "you know we're over the DZ, we know we're over the DZ, the trouble is the aircraft thinks its over Swindon."
Shortly after the J Herc arrived at Boscombe a Para drop was planned to try out the aircraft's nav computer ability to compute a CARP.
After a number of passes over the DZ with no jump lights appearing the Paras were getting restless and wanted to know why they couldn't jump. The reply from the front end was "you know we're over the DZ, we know we're over the DZ, the trouble is the aircraft thinks its over Swindon."
...the comments above regarding the crew running to the ramp was always one of my bug bears. They always got in the way of the camera trying to capture the moment it went wrong. No idea why they insisted in doing that. Not sure if they thought they could defy gravity and catch an MSP or PURIBAD before it went over the ramp.
The AD boys run after the load still wondering if they really did secure all the shackles, string, wires and bodge tape...
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Hi folks. In answer to the never-ending drama with the 'monkey harness' you may like to know that I was a long in the tooth SH helicopter crewman and was posted to Tactics and Trials Flight at Odiham in the '90s. One day sitting in the office with my thumb up my bum and mind nearly in neutral I was wondering why I had been posted to such a prestigious posting. With my experience I was apparently of value. Then it occurred to me that I was in a position to change things. What did I want to change? It dawned on me that to revise the 'monkey harness' would be a damned good idea. I wrote a paper outlining an upper body torso support jerkin with the restraint harness contained within a jacket which could be worn by all aircrew who work close to open doors. I got the funding and set about designing the new jacket. Farnborough and Irvings were involved and subsequently the Mk 61 Jacket emerged and is now in use in the SH fleet. It gives full upper body support, is quick release (3-ring circus) and is better than the US 5 point harness in that it still works if you are upside down.
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Great bit of kit Dundiggin. Well done. This is what I was on about @#37. I was only with the chap at Irvin you refer to the other week. He is retired like me now. We meet up occasionally. Beaufort became the Design Authority for the kit. A double action was required to release it.
For those who've never seen it, the sight of a Herc load of meat bombs jumping out of both doors simultaneously is pretty spectacular. I was lucky enough to go along on a night JATFOR EX CHAMPION HURDLE trip back in 1972(?) and the speed of exit was amazing - once the green came on, nothing was going to stop them!
I was in aircraft 33 of 36; the following day we went to the DZ to watch the day part of the exercise. Very impressive, but you'd never get me to jump out of a serviceable aircraft.
I was in aircraft 33 of 36; the following day we went to the DZ to watch the day part of the exercise. Very impressive, but you'd never get me to jump out of a serviceable aircraft.
Beagle,
you have witnessed what I call the 'runaway train' . Once an operational stick gets moving it is nigh impossible to stop them even if the Red light comes on. Their only focus is to get out of the 'honk box', get the weight off their legs and not land too far from the RV. Without looking it up in my log books I was almost certainly on that exercise.
you have witnessed what I call the 'runaway train' . Once an operational stick gets moving it is nigh impossible to stop them even if the Red light comes on. Their only focus is to get out of the 'honk box', get the weight off their legs and not land too far from the RV. Without looking it up in my log books I was almost certainly on that exercise.
Eons ago when I was in Bomber Command I heard a tale which may or may not have been true about a Valiant with an inert practice bomb.
They were cruising long and there was this loud thump from the back. Eventually the Nav. Radar switched on his bombing control panel to find that the No 5 hook, the one the inert was hung from, had released.
Lots of panic amongst senior officers on the ground who instructed the crew to release it over Wainfleet range by opening the bomb doors and this they did.
There are two endings:
The aircraft flew towards a nominated target and the Nav Radar opened the doors on the calculated release point for a type Zero, i.e. a perfect bomb and it went straight though the target.
The aircraft flew towards a nominated target under control by the bomb function of the autopilot and at five miles to run to the release point the autopilot opened the bomb doors and the inert was never found.
They were cruising long and there was this loud thump from the back. Eventually the Nav. Radar switched on his bombing control panel to find that the No 5 hook, the one the inert was hung from, had released.
Lots of panic amongst senior officers on the ground who instructed the crew to release it over Wainfleet range by opening the bomb doors and this they did.
There are two endings:
The aircraft flew towards a nominated target and the Nav Radar opened the doors on the calculated release point for a type Zero, i.e. a perfect bomb and it went straight though the target.
The aircraft flew towards a nominated target under control by the bomb function of the autopilot and at five miles to run to the release point the autopilot opened the bomb doors and the inert was never found.
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On time on target
The DZ Safety Officer said that the safest place for his comms jeep was on the impact point because nobody gets that close. The green smoke from the marker is just behind the jeep.
The DZ Safety Officer said that the safest place for his comms jeep was on the impact point because nobody gets that close. The green smoke from the marker is just behind the jeep.
The 82nd Airborne Division, in their demonstrations of mass drops including heave equipment, finally got smart. (Well...as smart as guys who commute to work by parachute can be.)
Their favorite DZ had a bit of ridge running down through the middle of the great open area.
They dropped the Troops onto the side close to the Grand Stand.....and subsequent drops of vehicles took place very near the ridge well away from the Visitors.
Stashed behind the Ridge was all the serviceable vehicles.....and what was dropped was old junked vehicles gleaned from the old policy of dropping good serviceable vehicles.
Shortly after the dummy vehicles landed on the DZ....from behind the ridge came the previously stashed equipment.
All very impressive....and far cheaper in the long run than dropping Ready Unit Vehicles, Artillery Pieces, and the like.
Their favorite DZ had a bit of ridge running down through the middle of the great open area.
They dropped the Troops onto the side close to the Grand Stand.....and subsequent drops of vehicles took place very near the ridge well away from the Visitors.
Stashed behind the Ridge was all the serviceable vehicles.....and what was dropped was old junked vehicles gleaned from the old policy of dropping good serviceable vehicles.
Shortly after the dummy vehicles landed on the DZ....from behind the ridge came the previously stashed equipment.
All very impressive....and far cheaper in the long run than dropping Ready Unit Vehicles, Artillery Pieces, and the like.
Doug,
I seem to recall that there was a framed bit of the vehicle's glass windscreen in STS (or whatever it was called then). As I understood it a vehicle was fairly easily written off. Not so the comms kit in it.
I seem to recall that there was a framed bit of the vehicle's glass windscreen in STS (or whatever it was called then). As I understood it a vehicle was fairly easily written off. Not so the comms kit in it.
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There is a place called Long Sumado in Sabah, Borneo. It's only claim to fame is because it is where the RAF, using a Beverley, dropped their 'Air Portable Grader'.
It did not go well owing to the habit of parachute shrouds sticking together in the holds of Beverley's overnight. It launched out of the back, the parachutes candled and the grader ballisticlised itself into the landing strip.
A took two days for the local Ghurkha platoon to fill in the hole.
The grader is still at the bottom.
It did not go well owing to the habit of parachute shrouds sticking together in the holds of Beverley's overnight. It launched out of the back, the parachutes candled and the grader ballisticlised itself into the landing strip.
A took two days for the local Ghurkha platoon to fill in the hole.
The grader is still at the bottom.
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Beagle: "Never jump out of a serviceable a/c..."
Don't knock it, it was worth 7 shillings & 6 pence per day in 1971,on top of flying pay. And really quite fun,(mainly afterwards !)
Don't knock it, it was worth 7 shillings & 6 pence per day in 1971,on top of flying pay. And really quite fun,(mainly afterwards !)