Page 69 - Aviation News (February 2020)

[a special phone attached to each aircraft]
on two minutes’ readiness with, as far as
possible, all cockpit checks completed. The
first indication of likely activity would come
with a click in the earphones as the sector
controller opened his line to our station
ops room. Sector ops would then issue
instructions along the lines of: ‘Tangmere,
scramble two aircraft, vector 180, angels 30,
call X [the GCI call sign] on XXXX [frequency].
“Tangmere ops had the list of those on
the ORP and the order they were in, so they
would pass on the instructions to the first
two aircraft on the order list. We knew who
was next, so as immediately sector had
called the scramble we would be pressing A Meteor NF.11 of 29 Sqn tucks in close during formation practice near Tangmere. In 1957 the
starter buttons without waiting for the squadron acquired some NF.12s and flew the two variants side by side, beginning conversion to
order to be relayed by Tangmere ops. As the Gloster Javelin FAW.6 that November. Peter Desmond
soon as the second engine was winding o’clock position, from where we could carry just off the runway; my pilot was ultra-keen
up we would wave to the groundcrew to out a simulated attack. On moonlit nights and, in defiance of the book, would start
disconnect the battery cart and remove visual identification was possible at much both engines simultaneously. Both ‘wet-
the chocks – they most likely would have longer ranges, particularly if one was looking started’ with a wonderful bang and plumes
already done that – then a quick look to ‘up moon’. On completion of the intercept of flame some 40 or 50ft long lit up both
make sure they were clear, and up with the with a ‘Murder’ call to GCI they would issue the night sky.”
power to move onto the runway for a rolling details of another target, or instructions to
take-off. Air traffic was monitoring station recover to base.” ON THE RANGES
ops so knew what was happening and Peter Verney recalls a particular alert at The NF.11 squadrons in the UK used a
would only intervene if there was an urgent Kabrit which had unexpected consequences: variety of ranges, depending on where
need to stop the take-off for safety reasons. “We would be sat in a dead aircraft they were based. For example, 29 Sqn at
“After take-off, [you would] change with the hood open, a trolley acc [external Tangmere used two air gunnery ranges,
frequency to GCI and tell them you were battery] plugged in, and a couple of ‘Inshore’ and ‘Offshore’, both over the
airborne. GCI would then control the groundcrew standing by. We were Channel. Inshore ran from approximately
intercept and tell us details about the target’s connected by landline to a controller, who south of Selsey Bill to Beachy Head,
height, speed and position. We would tell would tell us he had a possible target, Offshore was similar in size but further out
GCI when the navigator had contact with the its range, bearing, height etc, which he over the water. Both were only used at low
target, and then when he could take over the would assign to us and give us the order level, with the tug pilot making sure there
intercept by calling ‘Judy’. On a moonless to scramble. The pilot shouted to the was no shipping in the danger zone.
night it was usually possible to visually groundcrew and got the engines started. Pete Hills: “We would use either
identify the target by about 600ft from the 6 At Kabrit our ORP was simply a sand area depending on which one was the most
clear of cloud and/or shipping – Inshore
was preferred because of the shorter sortie
time. We did the standard air-to-air gunnery
at that time, quarter attacks against the flag
which was 6ft tall and 30ft long and towed
at 180kts. With the guns being mounted
in the wings outboard of the engines, the
NF.11 was not suited for this type of exercise
because of the type of harmonisation [of
the guns] used, and when the g-loading
increased in the quarter attack the wings not
only flexed upwards but they also tended
to twist. This twisting was probably because
there were two large doors in the upper
wing skin to allow access to the guns and
the ammunition bays. These large doors
were held in place by snap clips for quick
and easy removal so the armourers could
In 1951 264 Sqn was based at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire, when it swapped its rearm quickly, thus the wing was not as stiff
Mosquito NF.36s for the Meteor NF.11. It flew this model, as seen here, from December 1951 to as on the non-NF versions.
October 1954 when it converted to the NF.14. Author’s collection
“It takes very little movement at the
Meteor NF.11s of 264 Sqn lined up at Linton-on-Ouse. The nearest aircraft, WM186, with the muzzle of a gun to significantly alter the
monogram ‘HMT’ on the black tail is the mount of the commander, Sqn Ldr Hugh Tudor. Author’s place the bullets will strike when opening fire
collection at about 400-500 yards and stopping at 200
yards. We had no accelerometers in those
days and thus had no idea of how many g
we were pulling on a quarter attack. It was
not unknown for small inverted V-shaped
crimps to appear in the upper wing skin at
the outboard corner of the ammo doors, and
when this happened the mainplane had to

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 67

64-69_meteorsDC.mfDC.mfDC.indd 67 10/01/2020 14:40