Page 57 - Demo

53sonobuoys would be receiving. The buoys could be active or passive. The navigator stuck three lighthouses magnetically under his plotting table and the information from the siggies manning the sonar stations appeared from the light houses. It was necessary to get several fixes before attacking and because of navigation slippages it was necessary to launch the attack from overhead one of the buoys. As we dropped smoke or flame markers at the same time as the simulated buoys as a pilot you had to arrange to overfly the buoy on the attack heading as required. In the real case you could home to the correct buoy with a radio aid but you had to be on the correct heading. It was quite demanding but enjoyable when you got it right.Several of the sorties were at night and these could involve night bombing. This was done by the navigator who went down and lay in the nose. The radar operator would home you onto the target while you maintained 500ft. At a mile or so to go the radar would call for flares and I think we had 24 high intensity flares that were fired out of flare launchers in the ceiling of the aircraft by the galley. The nav would see the target by the light of the flares and talk you on to it. As a pilot you just kept your head in the cockpit and flew on instruments listening to the Navs %u201cleft, left, steady etc%u201d bomb gone by the light of the flares and then as you passed over the target 6 photo flashes would be sent up. This involved fairly large bangs as far as I remember and could be a bit dangerous. On one occasion a crew noticed that the flash launcher started to move as the flashes went off and the whole thing came off the roof as the last one fired. Luckily that flash went out through the hole. It turned out that the fixing around the launcher was corroded away.I note that during the course my old boss from 4 AEF came to St Mawgan with a Chipmunk and after a quick check ride I spent a couple of hours giving cadets air experience flights. All courses end with a final check ride and for this Hugh and I had to act as Captain. It all started off