technical Vulcan question not 558 related

There was a camera of some sort in the Vulcan – see my post in the “interceptions” thread of the Modern Military forum. Its a vertical shot taken from a Vulcan at 41k feet

thanks exmpa. Now all I have to do is find one…. I’m in no rush. A couple of years down the line will be fine….:D

Then there was the T4 visual bombsight. The only time I recall seeing one was in the classroom at bombing school at Lindholme. We certainly didn’t use it and the nav rads were not trained on it. I am fairly sure that it had been removed from the Mk2 although the wiring was probably still present. I shall ask my tame navigator and see if he remembers.

I have communicated with my directional consultant. One has to wait until they’re having a lucid moment, but it was like that in the old days anyway. He recalls the T4 being used on the Mk2 in its early days in service. He says it was used for simulated, RBSU scored, attacks in the UK and for live bombing at El Adem. He also told me that the T4 was the province of the Nav Plot and not the Nav Rad.

exmpa

The F95 was fitted using the T4 bomb sight spigot and levelled with the aircraft datum using an inclinometer and bezelled nuts on the front mounting bar, I fitted many of them at Cottesmore and also removed the T4 bomb sight, that was in the late 1960’s. We only had 4 cameras to start with and they were constantly being moved from one aircraft to another usually after each sortie, the mount was an in service mod and not built into the aircraft. The wiring used existing cabling plus the addition of a controler mounted by the left shoulder of the Rad Nav on the stbd fuselage side.

If is wasn’t fitted all the time

The purpose of the F95 was to enable low level simulated attacks to be carried out and assessed on targets outside the coverage of the Radar Bomb Score Units (RBSUs). The F95 was run during the attack and a pulse was transmitted to the camera at the point of release. The release pulse produced a series of markers on the relevant film frame(s) and given that the frame rate, aircraft height and groundspeed were recorded the accuracy of the attack could be assessed. Providing of course that the target could actually be found on the film; this was not always the case.

IIRC by the late 60’s all aircraft had F95 mounts and wiring, the only reason a camera would not be fitted was because there were insufficient to go round. They would always be fitted where necessary, e.g. Goose and Akrotiri rangers, but they were present most of the time.

The above is applicable to free-fall aircraft. Whether the Blue Steel aircraft had the F95 as part of the normal fit I do not know.

Whether the F95 fitting was a production feature or an in-service mod. I do not know.

Then there was the T4 visual bombsight. The only time I recall seeing one was in the classroom at bombing school at Lindholme. We certainly didn’t use it and the nav rads were not trained on it. I am fairly sure that it had been removed from the Mk2 although the wiring was probably still present. I shall ask my tame navigator and see if he remembers.

exmpa

I stand corrected!

Well i was almost right 😀

ok, thanks. If is wasn’t fitted all the time, then it won’t be fitted. Thanks again!

Yes, an F95 camera for assessment of low level simulated bombing accuracy.

exmpa

From memory nothing was fitted from the word go. Was designed in but never used.

Jon