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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 2206.PDF
Seen from their own /eve/, 250ft, the aircraft here stand out clearly against the background of the Norfolk Broads. Seen from any height above, their camouflage could render them quite indistinct, as Michael Barnes, who took all the photographs, found several times 164 n.m. on a "lo-lo" mission, with 5min in the target area, when flying out and back at 420kt at a very low altitude, relatively safe from aerial interception. Adoption of a "hi-lo-hi" flight profile, with the same fuel and weapons load, but flying out at 30,000ft and Mach 0.89 and returning at 40,000ft and Mach 0.89, stretches the radius of action to 286 n.m., again with 5min in the target area, but runs the risk of meeting aerial opposition. Confronted with Mach 2 fighters, the Hunter pilot would have little option but to hope his tighter radius of turn could prevent the enemy getting into a position to launch their air-to-air missiles, and then to streak for the ground. Being in the low-level business, 38 Group's attack wing experien- ces in full measure the British public's ambivalent attitude toward the armed services and suffers considerable frustrations and difficulties in achieving the necessary amount of low-level training. Low-flying areas in this tight little island are few and far between and those designated are frequently rendered less valuable by having numerous prohibited areas within their boundaries, be they around mink farms, racing stables or sporting estates. The public, appar- ently, rarely believes that a low-flying fighter has any business being low and usually alleges irresponsibility on the pilot's part. Fit Lt Khan was interesting on this point as we flew back over the sea from Cowden. Conceding that wide, sparsely-populated areas abound in Pakistan he said that the public, nevertheless, have a different attitude. "If we fly low over a village at home," he said, "people come out and wave. Here, if you go within half-a-mile and 500ft of them, they get on the telephone and swear blind you crossed the roof at 50ft. For people who, more than any other, depended entirely upon their air force for survival at one time, I do not understand them." The few low-flying areas that exist (those most free from pro- hibitions are in Scotland) are sometimes connected with low-level link routes, dog-legging between and skirting around the prohibited areas which seem to cover more than half the map. The whole policy behind the use of link routes is believed to be under review, for it means that the people who live along them get an unfair concentration of low-flying aircraft and, from the training point of view, they are of little value for the low-level navigation practice which is a sizeable item in the annual 225hr flying syllabus. By their very familiarity, for the pilots must use them often, they do not present a stringent test in accurate dead reckoning; in holding a certain heading and speed for an exact number of seconds before turning on to a new heading or of quick recognition of ground features from a map. At present the pilots tend to know every feature as it comes up—"after the second church on the left, turn right up the side of the wood and straight over the hill." One wonder if the authorities bend too far backwards in meeting the public's aversion to low-flying and whether the need for low- level training should not be more strongly urged. One would have thought that a Butlin's holiday camp was hardly a valid reason for creating a prohibited area—unless Butlin's holidaymakers behave like mink and throw their young! In the ground attack organization the Army has its closest con- tact with the Air Force and a vital man at a ground attack wing is the Ground Liaison Officer, with his small Army staff. The GLO at West Raynham is a Gunner, Maj R. Price, who shares an office with the chief of the tactical operations section, Sqn Ldr R. Crump- ton, and is a frequent passenger on Hunter T.7 sorties. The GLO's primary role in any operational situation or field exercise is to brief pilots before they leave to make a strike and to debrief them on return. Pilots flying the next sorties sit in on the debriefing of those just returned to be best informed of the situation in the target area. In this way the GLO builds up a picture of what is happening, what success has attended the strikes and relays his assessments to the Air Support Operations Centre, located at the rearward headquarters. For most exercises in Britain ASOC is located at 38 Gp HQ and is a joint Army-RAF formation with two OCs of equal rank. ASOC receives the requests for close support from the front-line formations for the Brigade Air Support Operations (or "Bassoon," who is normally a squadron leader and is the local Army field commander's air adviser). ASOC assesses these requests, deciding which have the greatest priority and can realistically be met. After this filtering process it sends its decision as an air task to the Tactical Operations Section on the airfield and Tac Ops allocates aircraft and pilots (or sends a refusal if the task cannot be met) and gives ASOC an estimated time over the target, which is relayed to the front. En route the aircraft check through a "gate" and call up Bassoon, who directs them to a particular forward air controller. FACs have direct short-range R/T contact with the aircraft and call them in to make their strikes under their direction. In certain circumstances ASOC may be cut out of the command loop, Bassoon and Tac Ops mounting operations in direct con- sultation. A number of circumstances may dictate this; if ASOC is bombed or, with the rest of a mobile headquarters, has packed its bags to move to a new location, or, perhaps, if there is a breakdown in the communications network. The organization is the same if the Navy's carrier-borne close support aircraft, rather than RAF squadrons, are involved. Car- riers have GLOs and Bassoon (who is a trained parachutist and may, with the FACs, jump with the Army in an airborne assault) may work in direct contact with a carrier's operations centre or proceed through ASOC. The RAF's ground attack forces have been in action in three different theatres within the last few weeks—in Radfan, Borneo and the north-eastern districts of Kenya. At readiness to reinforce them in any of these areas, or to operate in some completely different theatre, 38 Group's Hunter squadrons are trained to a high pitch. Annually they fly out to an air-to-ground gunnery camp overseas. Rapid deployment is practised, too, nearer home. Recently the wing flew into the deserted airfield at Milltown, in Morayshire, followed by its ground crews and equipment in 38 Group's medium-range transports. It set up its tents and was operating within hours. It is invested with a high degree of skill and a well-communicated enthusiasm for its task. When deficiencies in equipment are corrected and the squad- rons are supplied with more potent weapons, then will be the time to ponder upon what increased effectiveness V/STOL will bring. Certainly when the tripartite P. 1127 V/STOL evaluation squadron flies in to set up shop at West Raynham early next year, it is unlikely to have any more informed and interested onlookers than the squadrons already there.
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