FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1964
1964 - 2221.PDF
234 Reheat flares as an F-IOOD of 53 TF Wing, USAF, turns tightly after take-off for a sim- ulated strike over the Suippes range during AIRCENT's tactical wea- pons contest, the subject of our main news item and of the other illustra- tions. Beneath the F-IOOD's fuselage is a practice bomb dispenser SERVICE AVIATION Air Force, Naval and Army Flying News AIRCENT'S TACTICAL MUSCLES DISPLAYED CHAUMONT USAF BASE, FRANCE, awoke tO the sound of jet engines on July 18—four years after the last operational squadrons had left—for the start of AIRCENT's tactical weapons meeting (writes Stephen P. Peltz). The two AIRCENT forces, 2 ATAF and 4 ATAF, were competing under simulated combat conditions in a test of the training and operational capabilities of pilots and ground crews in navigation, simulated delivery of nuclear weapons, skip-bombing, live air-to-ground rocketry and live air-to- ground strafing. The 2 ATAF team, led by Wg Cdr J. B. Jay, RAF, comprised four Canberra B(I).8s of 3 and 14 Sqns, RAF, Geilenkir- chen and Wildenrath; six F-84Fs of 1, 2 and 23 Sqns, Belgian Air Force, Florennes and Klein Brogel; and six other Thunderstreaks of 311, 312, 314 and 315 Sqns, Royal Netherlands Air Force, from Volkel and Eindhoven. Providing competition were the 4 ATAF team led by Luftwaffe Maj K. T. Mueller, with four CF-104s of 3 and 4 Wings, RCAF, Zweibrucken and Sollingen; four French Air Force F-lOODs of 11 Esc, Bremgarten; four USAF F-lOODs from 20 TF Wing at Wethersfield, 48 TFW, Lakenheath, and 50 TFW, Hahn; and four Luftwaffe Thunderstreaks of 32 FB Wing, Lechfeld. Up to a month before the meeting USAF F-105D Thunderchiefs were scheduled to take part, but the 40-day grounding of the type earlier this year had put crew training behind schedule and these aircraft were withdrawn. Selection of the teams was made from the USAF Capt Bob Hutton, of 48 TF Wing, Laken- heath, checks the loading of his 100 rounds of 20mm ammunition FLIGHT International, 6 August 1964 combat-ready-crew rosters submitted by the national air forces to the directing staff only three weeks before the meeting— all crews having been with their various squadrons for at least the previous six months. This precluded the various air forces sending nurtured experts. No sup- ; port or reserve aircraft were allowed and air servicing had to be carried out by the ground crews at the base, as if under real combat conditions away from their home bases. Each team flew a total of 90 missions during the meeting, of which 60 were in the attack role and 30 in the strike role. The RAF's Canberras and RCAF's CF-104s flew only on strike missions using simulated nuclear weapons. Both these types scored very accurate hits on the target, using either the LABS manoeuvre or a straight run-in at an angle up to 45° before releasing the weapon. Despite this accuracy it became quite apparent that the time for a Canberra replacement is near, and during one manoeuvre a remark overheard from a USAF pilot was "That Canberra had a nerve to fly the LABS manoeuvre at half throttle." The American half of the Suippes range, between Metz and Reims, was used for weapons firing. Although only a few minutes' flying time from Chaumont, air- craft took circuitous routes to the range, passing over navigation check-points on the way. These points were manned by NATO judges, who awarded marks for accurate arrival times. The strafing, skip-bombing and rocketry missions for 2 ATAF were performed by the Dutch and Belgian F-84Fs and for 4 ATAF these missions were flown by the FAF and USAF F-lOODs and the German F-84Fs. Bonus marks were awarded to aircraft that arrived on target within 30sec of their ETA. Marks were awarded in skip-bombing for direct and skip hits within a certain area on a target 20ft by 10ft, bombing being done at about 400kt and a height of 50ft. (Skip- bombing is the low-altitude use of bombs— usually napalm—against tanks and other field targets.) The rocket target was a pylon in the centre of a circle and in order to score marks the aircraft had to be at a minimum height of 500ft on releasing the rockets. The strike and nuclear strikes used the same target as for the rocketry. A 20ft by 20ft target panel was used in the strafing missions and each aircraft was allowed 100 rounds of ammunition. The Super Sabres used 20mm cannon and the Thunderstreaks 0.5in machine guns. All targets had run-in lines to assist the pilots and for the strafing runs there was a 1,600ft foul-line to indicate the cease-fire point. At 400kt such a mark passes very Rarely publicized are the French Armee de VAir's F-IOODs. Those competing came from Bremearten's 11 Escadrille
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
