V-Bomber electronic suite curious names
My understanding is that the random colour/word combination was chosen as during the war the Allies had been able to guess the role of some pieces of German equipment due to the name.
And when R V Jones visited the USA after WW2 and was shown the Top Secret Sidewinder air-to-air missile prototype, he said 'Ah, infra-red heat seeking'. Asked by the embarrassed hosts 'who told you', he said it's obvious, the sidewinder snake has infra red pits to detect its prey at night.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Victor_Jones
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo_Report
His appearances in this series, revalatory the time, when such things as Enigma were being removed from the cloak of secrecy.
Apologies for thread drift
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Beams
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Green Satin was a steam driven navigation system in the Valiant. It presented a series of clicking numbers over which the Nav Plotter chanted incarnations. The driving force was a series of gyros spinning in all directions inside an airtight container which was within kicking distance of the pilots when they climbed upstairs to the cockpit.
Once seated the LHS pilot had another useless piece of kit called Orange Putter. This was supposed to warn you of aircraft approaching from astern. In all my years of tanking it never picked anything up.
Once seated the LHS pilot had another useless piece of kit called Orange Putter. This was supposed to warn you of aircraft approaching from astern. In all my years of tanking it never picked anything up.
Unlike Green Satin, the antenna was optimised for overwater use as it was initially aimed at carrier based aircraft.
Both GS and BS were fitted to Canberras depending on the mk.
Blue Silk was originally intended to be stowed in a pod with the domed Tx at the front , the "cheeses" saddle mounted behind it and the Antenna directly below.
I seem to remember reading somewhere about something called 'Astral Box', which sounds to me like something Gwyneth Paltrow would sell on her web site :-) Anyone know what it was?
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/thr...ce-1945.21064/
Chapter 13 - Nimrod in Service
covers the career of the Nimrod R.1 up until retirement. Operations in the Mediterranean, Middle East, Asia, West Africa and the Falklands. Nimrod upgrades such as Astral Box, Starwindow, Extract, Tigershark and Helix.
covers the career of the Nimrod R.1 up until retirement. Operations in the Mediterranean, Middle East, Asia, West Africa and the Falklands. Nimrod upgrades such as Astral Box, Starwindow, Extract, Tigershark and Helix.
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Electronics? I was a Victor nav radar and was under the impression that those cans (Calc 2 and 3, etc) mainly contained springs and elastic bands.
Ref Green Satin, the OCU ground school at Marham had a Green Satin Janus array aerial set up to demonstrate how it worked. The aerial clanking to and fro once a second was wondrous to behold. Eventually it was replaced by something more up to date (I forget what it was called) which was about the size of a brief case. In my years on the Victor K1 we lost several bits of heavy kit, including the Calc 3, the R88 camera, the multi seat liferaft as well as the afore-mentioned Green Satin, but none of this seemed to make the aircraft any more anxious to get into the air on takeoff!
Ref Green Satin, the OCU ground school at Marham had a Green Satin Janus array aerial set up to demonstrate how it worked. The aerial clanking to and fro once a second was wondrous to behold. Eventually it was replaced by something more up to date (I forget what it was called) which was about the size of a brief case. In my years on the Victor K1 we lost several bits of heavy kit, including the Calc 3, the R88 camera, the multi seat liferaft as well as the afore-mentioned Green Satin, but none of this seemed to make the aircraft any more anxious to get into the air on takeoff!
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
"Looks good" says I, but at £80.00 for a second hand copy it can wait.
https://www.aeroteca.com/ca/militar-...ince-1945.html
Electronics? I was a Victor nav radar and was under the impression that those cans (Calc 2 and 3, etc) mainly contained springs and elastic bands.
Ref Green Satin, the OCU ground school at Marham had a Green Satin Janus array aerial set up to demonstrate how it worked. The aerial clanking to and fro once a second was wondrous to behold. Eventually it was replaced by something more up to date (I forget what it was called) which was about the size of a brief case. In my years on the Victor K1 we lost several bits of heavy kit, including the Calc 3, the R88 camera, the multi seat liferaft as well as the afore-mentioned Green Satin, but none of this seemed to make the aircraft any more anxious to get into the air on takeoff!
Ref Green Satin, the OCU ground school at Marham had a Green Satin Janus array aerial set up to demonstrate how it worked. The aerial clanking to and fro once a second was wondrous to behold. Eventually it was replaced by something more up to date (I forget what it was called) which was about the size of a brief case. In my years on the Victor K1 we lost several bits of heavy kit, including the Calc 3, the R88 camera, the multi seat liferaft as well as the afore-mentioned Green Satin, but none of this seemed to make the aircraft any more anxious to get into the air on takeoff!
Calc1 and 2 formed the Nav. Chain. There was a requirement to amplify D.C. voltages, not easy in those days, so what they did was to feed the input D.C. to the contacts of a relay being driven at 400 Hz. This gave a square wave switching between ref earth and the input DC. This was amplified and then passed to another identical relay which was exactly in synch with the input one. This gave the amplified D.C. as required. Calc1 had the relays and drives, Calc 2 had the amps. It was all clever stuff in those days, there was a Calc5 which consisted of mainly motors, potentiometers and a spring steel tape, this was the really clever one as it performed a Pythagorus calculation mechanically.
Decca 72 replaced Green Grot.
Last edited by The Oberon; 9th May 2021 at 18:25.
YS
Violet Picture was more a UHF homer, tied into whichever main UHF set we had (from ARC52 to whatever the last one was). Had it on the Shack, Whirlwind and Wessex, (and Sea King?) and very useful for homing to any UHF signal, not just PLB on 243mhz.
As for Blue Silk on the Shackleton - 'Four Miles, Bomb Doors Open, Blue Silk to memory'. The never to be forgotten radar target homing call!
As for Blue Silk on the Shackleton - 'Four Miles, Bomb Doors Open, Blue Silk to memory'. The never to be forgotten radar target homing call!
Last edited by Shackman; 11th May 2021 at 15:30.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
You may find this of interest. The size outside the airframe is mind boggling. Makes you wonder how, withe weight and size if the ECM kit described above, they had any room left for fuel and bombs.....
Tatjana J. van Vark
Navigation and Bombing System NBS
(H2S Mk 9A, Navigation and Bombing Computer NBC)
used in V-bombers Victor, Vulcan and Valiant.
Tatjana J. van Vark
Navigation and Bombing System NBS
(H2S Mk 9A, Navigation and Bombing Computer NBC)
used in V-bombers Victor, Vulcan and Valiant.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Blue Fox in SHAR FRS1 was a derivative of Sea Spray in RN Lynx. An oft-asked question was why Sea Spray didn't have a 'Blue' designation. Blue Tit had been mooted, but for some reason not adopted. Some people were quite touchy in those days. In 1986, Director General Aircraft (Navy), an Admiral, jumped on the suggestion that the FRS2 (later FA2) radar trainer be called Sea Harrier Intensive Trainer. The young Lieutenant RN who suggested this was given a career brief on his brief career.