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They used to do a final flight on the Tac Weapons Course where you sat behind an instructor,and they flew a 4 ship SAP mission at 100 ft agl (as they had all done on the front line),instead of the 250 ft (OK,maybe 200 ) one was authorised to normally do solo. It was very effective at convincing you not to go crazy for a while when you made the front line. I had one moment when I squeaked "Mountains!" to the man in front (now a VVSO).
This pic has been posted before. It's not me. Taken in the Falklands by a farmer. That's a single storey house. No trees in the Falklands, of course.

I didn't start hopping fences in a Jet Provost until 7 years later in Colorado.

Fox3

It is good to have you back, really enjoy your stories.

boing wrote:The interesting point is that there were sheep standing on the top of the second ridge-line --- it is the only time I have seen the sky through a sheep's legs from an aircraft. I think there were probably some extra sheep droppings on top of that ridge that day.

Ah, good old days.

Talking of sheep.

One of the few times I got a bit scared was sitting on the ramp of a Chinook, feet dangling over the edge,
the pilot flying very low and fast around the Puckapunyal Army Range. Obviously decided to scare the
living daylights out of me (I didn't know of course as I couldn't see where we were going) by flying up the
side of a very steep hill (Mount Puckapunyal), got to the top where I saw the sheep about 20 feet below
me scattering in all directions and then dropped the helicopter down the other side that it made me lift off
the ramp and float until of course I hit the ramp again, very hard

I got a wry smile from the loadie to which I replied with a thumbs up.

250 feet agl was always taught as "sheep's legs", the height from which they noticeably had legs, rather than just being white balls of fluff. 500 feet agl was likewise "cow's legs".
On the medical course about visual illusions, mention was made of an RAF Germany jag pilot, who headed off north from Cold Lake, Alberta on one of the early Green Flag missions,maintaining his usual "3 times the height of the fir trees". Those familiar with tree height vs cold climate will be unsurprised to find that he almost hit a moose or some such some distance later. As the trees became dwarfier and dwarfier, he ended up at about 20 feet agl.

p.s. penguins do fall over watching very low flying chinooks, despite the official report that they don't. I've met a loadie who's seen it.

Hmm - obviously not aware of the Jaguar radalt?

I believe a lot of guys used to set it to zero at that time. I think it became not just policy but also typical to set it to 10% below minimum not long after. That's what I used to do anyway. I was very cautious and used to use it for staged descents on intercepts, but most didn't. I can't recall an occasion when it saved me, any more than the 4 checks of gear down I used to do did(I put the gear down on the second check twice ), but it only rains when you go out without an umbrella.
The problem with the jag one was the insidious nature, as it happened gradually over half an hour or so. Mother Nature can be a real sneaky b!tch sometimes.

I believe a lot of guys used to set it to zero at that time.

- Hmm - we Harrier pilots were right, then........

Boac wrote:Hmm - obviously not aware of the Jaguar radalt?

I hope that it was better than the kit we had on V-Bombers. They were fitted with Rad Alt Mk V and Mk VI, V being the low level one and VI the high level.

I remember going on the Rad Alt V course at Yatesbury in 1957. It was an atrocious piece of kit.

It had a motor driven variable capacitor, that constantly varied the Tx frequency, it then calculated the terrain clearance by measuring the difference of the Txd signal with the Rxd signal. A sort of faux Doppler effect.

To call it crude was flattering it.

I don't remember our Valiant crews ever using it, but then I was on a Tanker sqdn. When the V-Bombers were switched to the low level role, I hope that they had something better.

One of my stewardesses once put too much sugar in my coffee. I learnt that a good spanking over the jump seat resolved the problem. See, we had dramatics on the big fast jets as well guys.

amateur dramatics....

No, no, Fox3 not always. We flew the combined services entertainment team. Professional Dramatics.

Once had them boarding at Dulles on their way back from Belize. I saw this girl start up the steps with legs up to her armpits. I got on the blower and asked the cabin supervisor to invite her onto the flight deck for departure. Got her strapped in to jump seat. 'And, so have you ever been on the flight deck of an aircraft before' says smoothy me. 'Yea', says long legs, in a rather bored manner, 'Out of Brize, into Dulles, out of Dulles, into Belize, out of Belize, into Dulles, now out of Dulles again'. Well I made sure she was there again to go into Brize to get the full set. I must say that I was very disappointed in my fellow captains in being so lecherous.

WHAT! A woman with the RAF in Belize - might have eased the Friday rush after the MO had 'checked' the girls in the Cat

I have always liked these 2 that have been around a while.

The one by (below) the bushes is Greek.

Ah, CS Ents.
They did a show at Akrotiri once whilst we were on APC, and were invited by the Staish back to the Officers Mess bar afterwards. There was Tom O'Connor, a real comedian, and the dancing girls. The comedian was happy to be bought jugs of brandy sours.The dancing girls pounced on the fighter aircrew (still in flying suits of course), and everyone accidentally-on-purpose called Tom "Des". After about half an hour of this, "Des" announced he was leaving. It was clear from the body language that the rest were supposed to follow, but the girls and the drunk weren't moving. Chris magicked up a taxi in about 30 seconds, the coach driver agreed to wait (for a consideration), and the 'Star' departed solo.
The rest we will draw a discrete veil over, other than to confirm that the dancers got their amazing inside leg measurements thoroughly checked. I think her name was Rachel.

Fox,
If that was the pilots from 56 I would be surprised that they were not too busy sticking their heads into the ceiling fans to be chasing girls - a habit they used to have in the "flying suit" bar.
Always good for a call of splash when they fell off the stool.

It was XI(F) I think, though I was there with 56 also. I took the F3 to the 56 Phantom disbandment*, and seem to remember some fan-stopping. I remember it at the Alconbury airshow also, Yanks on that occasion. I think it was a general Phantom thing. The Yanks made a point of using the bald guys to avoid entanglements - very safety conscious

..and, HAPPY 100th Birthday 56!!!

*WHAT a party! - weekend of 4/5 July 1992. I think I flew the air display spare. I have 0:10 logged for the trip back from Wattisham to Coningsby.

Heard of an RAF Meteor pilot reported by the Pier Master of one south coast town - Eastbourne ? ( sorry, it's about 60 years ago that I was told ) for low flying. Said Pier Master said that he was on the end of his pier and this aircraft flew below him. Relevant Station Commander passed this off as no big deal, RAF pilots have to practice low flying and he was out to sea, if only by a few yards. Yes, said the Pier Master, but he was upside down.'

Apparently the same pilot painted "Dig Here" on the top of his Bonedome.

All hearsay of course.