Page 70 - Demo

68After the 4 hour process, the assembled throng noticed an agreeable Germanic beer garden across the road from the Kur Klinic. Thereafter, they chose to celebrate their detoxification and undo the good work just previously accomplished.Grant (but better keep it anonymous)Dead Hit!There was a wonderful custom on the V-Force, called %u201cExercise Sunspot%u201d, when a whole squadron of Vulcans would go to RAF Luqa on Malta, and spend two weeks away from the bleakness of a Lincolnshire Autumn in the sunshine of the Mediterranean. The plan was to see as much of Cyprus, Italy and Sicily as possible at low level, and do lots of practice bombing on some arid lump of rock during the daytime while enjoying the delights of Valetta etc. in the evenings and days off.As luck had it, my squadron%u2019s turn came round during my time at Waddington. This turned out to be a very eventful trip, including the only genuine %u201cDead Hit%u201d of my bombing career. To be fair, I%u2019d had one or two in UK, but on those ranges that just meant you were within 250 yards %u2013 good enough for a 400kt weapon, but hardly impressive. Neither was the co-pilot%u2019s bombing equipment. This comprised, instead of sophisticated optical technology such as was used in WW2, taking a view along the refuelling probe at the target, and pressing a button when you thought it looked about right%u2026 This generally produced mediocre results!I was disappointed when bombing practice began to discover I had to spend the first day on the range quadrant, scoring the others as they came along and did their stuff. This involved flying along straight and level towards Filfla rock at 500 feet, and dropping (usually) stick of 3x 25 lb practice bombs. They went off with a flash and bang which we could see, but I realised that everyone was aiming at the target on the top of the cliff, but releasing as if it were at sea level. We saw a lot of