capnsensible
Well-Known Member
Ooer. Double bubble......
YM Ocean
- Thread starter steveej
- Start date
zoidberg
Well-Known Member
You got 'twin hulls' disease....
I won't argue with you about the merits of at least understanding the benefits of doing routine compass checkery. I reckon that kind of thing was done quite frequently in Her Maj's Subsurface Service, too, whenever the opportunity presented..... despite the wonders of strapdown laser ring gyros ( several of ).
Doing frequent compass checks was mandatory and frequent - like every 15 minutes - in HM's Airy-Fairy Service, too, for at ground-speeds of over 600 knots one could get a very long way off course in a short time, if something disagreed with the heading reference sensors. A perhaps apocryphal story is told of an RAF VC10 ( 'Shiny Fleet' ) heading from Brize Norton towards Washington ( embassy run ) one fine day when, after some hours, the lead hostie popped onto the flight deck with some coffees and biscs. 'Ooo!' she remarked, peering out the windows, "The sun's right in front of us. I'd imagined it would be out to our left....."
There was a strained silence, while every head turned towards the 'First-Tour' navigator, deep in his copy of 'HitchHikers Guide To The Galaxy'. I believe they made an unscheduled landing at Jamaica..... and the navigator made his own way home as a plain 'mister'.
alant
Well-Known Member
Was the "hostie" promoted to navigator.
capnsensible
Well-Known Member
I got that VC10 flight from Washington once. About twenty of us going home on fifth watch leave inbound from Charleston. I recall the Crabs actually having an RAF check in desk in the airport!
Big mistake was the four hour gap between flights. Having been sternly told to remain in the terminal, the challenge was duly made and four hours of making merry ensued. Some of us gate crashed a doctors convention at an airport hotel and got free beer. Was awesome but rather confusing once embarked on an aeroplane that has all the seats facing the wrong way......
Big mistake was the four hour gap between flights. Having been sternly told to remain in the terminal, the challenge was duly made and four hours of making merry ensued. Some of us gate crashed a doctors convention at an airport hotel and got free beer. Was awesome but rather confusing once embarked on an aeroplane that has all the seats facing the wrong way......
zoidberg
Well-Known Member
'Twas good in them days....
Me 'n my young crew got 'kidnapped' In Gib late one evening by the crew of HMS Penelope ( then a Leander-class trials ship ) - when their GWS25 kit fell over and the trials stopped until someone somewhere made another set of shims - and we were dragged without adult consent, kicking and screaming, up to the Casino where The Master of All He Surveys and his Jimmy were losing the wardroom coffee swindle at the tables. That was a hard night!
it was a far harder morning..... for we were dragged off to 'Penny' for an unwelcome breakfast and put to sea on a Casex we'd been tagged onto, with 'Devonshire' and others, when we'd far rather have simply died in a corner of the Gib RAF O'Mess! I think I redeemed ourselves ( it's hard to know ) when I spotted, parked beside the near-neglected surface radar plot, a 'radar return' which the responsible matelot had 'Classified Garbage' - doing 14 knots in station close behind a big container carrier.
He'd been explaining about 'spurious returns'.....
It took a while to get Their Highness's attention, but once the Principal Warfare Officer ( PeeWo ) had been roundly interrupted in his continuous but facile monologue with his 'talkers', things escalated. 'Devonshire' was in charge, and they/she took a while to take us seriously, but eventually dispatched a 'dunking helo' to come have a look. It had no sooner turned north towards our position on the fringes of the Casex mob than the fat, persistent radar contact - a periscope - disappeared beneath the waves and the Russian sub was gone in the bubbles.
We did get some sono-recordings, I understand. I was told, in hushed tones ( as if anyone malign could hear us in the Ops Room deep inside 'Penny' ) that 'it' was a known Russian hunter-killer, the sort of interloper that the Casex was intended to find and deal with. Right!
I came away with the impression that the Russkie commander had a tighter grip on the tactical reality that day, than our friends and colleagues flying the White Ensign.
Me 'n my young crew got 'kidnapped' In Gib late one evening by the crew of HMS Penelope ( then a Leander-class trials ship ) - when their GWS25 kit fell over and the trials stopped until someone somewhere made another set of shims - and we were dragged without adult consent, kicking and screaming, up to the Casino where The Master of All He Surveys and his Jimmy were losing the wardroom coffee swindle at the tables. That was a hard night!
it was a far harder morning..... for we were dragged off to 'Penny' for an unwelcome breakfast and put to sea on a Casex we'd been tagged onto, with 'Devonshire' and others, when we'd far rather have simply died in a corner of the Gib RAF O'Mess! I think I redeemed ourselves ( it's hard to know ) when I spotted, parked beside the near-neglected surface radar plot, a 'radar return' which the responsible matelot had 'Classified Garbage' - doing 14 knots in station close behind a big container carrier.
He'd been explaining about 'spurious returns'.....
It took a while to get Their Highness's attention, but once the Principal Warfare Officer ( PeeWo ) had been roundly interrupted in his continuous but facile monologue with his 'talkers', things escalated. 'Devonshire' was in charge, and they/she took a while to take us seriously, but eventually dispatched a 'dunking helo' to come have a look. It had no sooner turned north towards our position on the fringes of the Casex mob than the fat, persistent radar contact - a periscope - disappeared beneath the waves and the Russian sub was gone in the bubbles.
We did get some sono-recordings, I understand. I was told, in hushed tones ( as if anyone malign could hear us in the Ops Room deep inside 'Penny' ) that 'it' was a known Russian hunter-killer, the sort of interloper that the Casex was intended to find and deal with. Right!
I came away with the impression that the Russkie commander had a tighter grip on the tactical reality that day, than our friends and colleagues flying the White Ensign.