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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1525.PDF
FLIGHT, 18 October 1957 615 Operation Longshot Bomber Command Participation in the S.A.C. Competition FROM October 30 and for five nights thereafter a great dealof R.A.F. and other aeronautical attention will be focusedon the United States, in particular on a U.S.A.F. base called Pinecastle situated within the Florida citrus belt. It is fromthere that two Avro Vulcans and two Vickers Valiants represent- ing R.A.F. Bomber Command will be taking part, with 56 BoeingB-47s and ten RB-47s of the U.S.A.F., in the Strategic Air Com- mand bombing, navigation and reconnaissance competition. TenB-52s and ten B-36s are also competing, operating from Cars- well A.F.B., Fort Worth, Texas. The Vulcans and Valiants form the most powerful—and thefirst turbojet—representation of the R.A.F. in the S.A.C. com- petition. In 1951 Bomber Command sent Washingtons, and inthe following year Lincolns; its latest equipment has evoked admiration and respect among U.S.A.F. personnel at Pinecastle,where it is considered that the sharpest challenge to the B-47s will come not from Carswell but from Waddington and Wittering. It was three years before the R.A.F. first participated, andtwo years after the S.A.C. was formed in 1946, that the annual bombing and navigation competition for the Fairchild Trophybegan; and it has since then been carried out annually with the exception of 1950 when the Korean War started. When the competition was inaugurated its purpose wasavowedly pragmatic. It had been discovered that the two-year- old S.A.C.'s bombing was not so accurate as it should be; anannual competition would do much to improve skill among the newer, less-experienced crews who had succeeded the warveterans. Now, according to the former C-in-C, General Curtis Le May, S.A.C. bombs can hit not only buildings but the cornersof buildings from 40,000ft; in American parlance the competition "has become a World Series for members of the S.A.C. team,who perform in the fastest air league in the world." The 70 medium and heavy bombers competing for the Trophythis year will launch simulated attacks on targets in three city areas—Atlanta, Ga; St. Louis, Mo; and Kansas City, Mo.They then have to fly a dog-leg of approximately 1,000 miles, employing only D.R. and astro-navigation. Each aircraft willmake three flights (on alternate nights), altogether being air- borne for about 20 hours and covering approximately 10,000miles. The B-52s operating out of Carswell (the B-36s from there are competing against the RB-47s in the reconnaissancecontest), will be given similar target areas to attack and fly an astro- and D.R.-navigated leg of the same length. Take-offsfrom Pinecastle will be at approximately ten-minute intervals, as the bombing runs over the radar bomb-scoring sites will takethat amount of time; and the total nightly take-off period lasts about five-and-a-half hours, to allow each aircraft sufficient hoursof darkness in which to complete the navigation leg. To qualify for an award in the bombing and navigation con-tests (the reconnaissance competition, for the P. T. Cullen Trophy, is limited to the RB-47s and RB-36s), a crew must com-plete six out of the nine bombing runs and two out of the three astro-navigation legs. For scoring purposes, a crew can takethe best six out of their nine bombing runs, and two out of the three navigation legs. 750 points is the maximum which can bescored for bombing and 250 for navigation. Points are awarded on the circular error, measured in feet in the case of the bomb-ing runs. For the main trophies, the combined total scored by two aircraft from each of the 43 S.A.C. wings and from the twoBomber Command Groups will count; but there will also be awards for individual crews. W/C.s A. D. Frank and C. C.Calder are to captain the R.A.F. Vulcans and S/L. R. N. Payne and F/L. R. Mather the Valiants. To decide the order of first take-off for each aircraft, lots areto be drawn; second and third take-offs will be arranged so that each crew has one in the early, middle and late periods. The lastinvolves the penalty that by the time the celestial leg is reached the stars may begin to pale; weather, of course, is an impartialhazard whatever the time of take-off. Aircraft have to operate on a strict timetable: none will be allowed to take off more thanfive minutes late, and the maximum time allowed behind schedule at the start of run-up to the radar scoring-site is three minutes.An umpire will fly in each aircraft to ensure adherence to rules. Vulcan, Valiant and B-47 crews have been practising theirruns over the Atlanta, St. Louis and Kansas City target areas, and will learn within a few days which of several targets in thethree cities are to be their aiming points. Once that information has been given—some ten days before the competition starts—none of the competing aircraft may fly near their target areas. The celestial leg will probably extend out into the Gulf ofMexico, where each aircraft will have to make a sharp turn (perhaps of 90 deg) and head for Tampa, its aiming point. Fiveminutes from there the navigator will give his E.T.A. over the city and this will be transmitted by the captain to ground control.From the moment this E.T.A. is transmitted the aircraft must stay on its heading, and its position is plotted at the time of itsE.T.A. The distance of this point from the actual aiming spot will determine the aircraft's circular error. This S.A.C. competition forms a stiff test not only for air-crews but also for those on ground, since two aircraft from each competing wing—which in the R.A.F. case means two Valiantsand two Vulcans—must be kept serviceable each day. With equipment and spares Unrated, this means working round theclock; and for the Bomber Command crews—though most possible contingencies have been foreseen and every facility isprovided at the base—special problems are involved. One of these cropped up soon after the arrival of the main R.A.F.advance party at Pinecastle, when it was found that an adaptor was needed between a hydraulic pump and a tube. The threadof the pump and tube had a British 55-deg profile, while the comparable American thread has one of 60 deg; so a pattern ofthe former had to be taken and an adaptor made at the base. Another problem—that of towing the Valiants—had to besolved in advance by sending out from England two large Sentinel tractors; for Valiant nosewheel steering involves a112 volt D.C. generator on the tractor and the U.S.A.F. employs power of different voltage and cycles. Altogether, 176 tons ofheavy stores and equipment have been sent out from England by ship, reaching Tampa on August 24; and four Hastingsof Transport Command delivered some 28,000 lb of electronic spares and equipment to Pinecastle. Two Comets of No. 216 Squadron flew across planning officers,technicians and ground crews—the R.A.F. detachment at Pine- castle is basically a three-wing unit—from Waddington andWittering. In the Comet which came from the latter station was G/C. John Woodroffe, so tragically killed only a few days laterwhen on a familiarization flight in a B-47. His place as detach- ment commander has been taken by G/C. W. J. Burnett. Pinecastle A.F.B., headquarters of the 321st BombardmentWing and where the R.A.F. is based during preparation for and participation in the competition, lies seven miles from the townof Orlando, which has a population of about 130,000. The base is approximately three hours' drive from Jacksonville and fromTampa, and about 240 miles north of Miami. Operation Longshot should prove extremely valuable in testinginternationally not only our V-bombers, but also the high standards of R.A.F. peacetime training. Whatever its outcome, the journeyto Pinecastle—in terms of practice and techniques—will surely have been worthwhile. A Vulcan of No. 83 Sqn. (in heading picture) being inspected by part of the 25J000 crowd which visited Pinecastle A.F.B.'s"at home." Right, F/L. R. f. Pocock, navigator-bomb aimer on one of the Vulcans, talks to visi- tors about the V-bombers, whose participation in the S.A.C. competition has aroused much public interest.
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