A-a-a-ah, the Lee-Enfield .303 rifle of mid-50’s Nat Svc Square-Bashing fame. Not just the raising of the sight, but also the tiny bit left/right to compensate for the wind when on the Long Range!! Then we got that FN brute. And after that the current abortion!!
Can I ask if the current air-to-ground firing lays off any/all of these problems, or do they just get near enough, and fast enough, to point the sharp end of the a/c at the target and press the tit? When I were involved in these dark arts it was transitioning from CAS to FGA (or the other way round?).
As a mere Mobile Met Man I watched many a young gentleman miss everything at the East Coast ranges. Or frighten the bejaysus out of the citizens of Richmond, Yorks, when (supposedly) attacking the local ranges!
One had to keep a straight face at post-Ex briefings!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HTH
Resmoroh

It might be instructive (or not, as the case may be) for those ‘in favour’ or ‘agin’ the arguments in this thread to read (at least) Chapter 10 of “The Finest Years – Churchill As Warlord 1940-45” by Max Hastings, Harper Press, 2009. Now I hold no banner for Max Hastings – possibly an overrated author – but if the statistics he states on a/c production and/or factory behaviour during WW2 in UK are to be believed then there might have been a reasonable proposition to use some Stalinist procedures to get the UK a/c factories to produce more than the norm. Or did UK WW2 politics get in the way?
HTH
Resmoroh

Graham,
Do you want excerpts from the old “Airmet” broadcasts, or from Shannon Aeradio on a Saturday afternoon when the operators had come on duty from a couple hours of “refreshments”. Real fall about material – especially when you were trying to receive the eastern N American Obs/TAFs!!!
HTH
Resmoroh

1/8th Bit,
Malcom Barrass’ excellent site at http://www.rafweb.org/ will give you the sorts of airfields that 50 (Training) Grp were looking for. Not, as far as I can see, places that could be flown from, but did not require too much funding/effort.
50 (Training) Group (and, indeed, HQ FTC) located in the Reading area. My neck of the woods. If I can help then I will!
HTH
Resmoroh

Aeronut 2008 (re post #59),
Looks like you and I were at opposite ends of the same problem at (roughly?) the same time? You had to get the Grunts/Stores out of the a/c in a safe fashion. Having done that (and assuming the Drivers, Airframe, got the a/c into the right place (in 3 dimensions) and the Nav put the “Green On” quickly, and the PJI ‘Bouncer’ got the Grunts out quickly) then my lot took over to get the blokes/loads from the a/c to the right place on the ground! Many interesting drops in that period!!
HTH
Resmoroh

Re Post #14
I don’t think the problem is that of the paratrooper hitting the C-47 tail, but of the parachute fouling the tail. When the trials were carried out prior to the filming of the para-drops for the film “A Bridge Too Far” these were conducted by PJIs from 1 PTS on to the DZs at Hankley Common and Everleigh.
The point at which the static line pulls the cover off the parachute is governed by the length of the static line. This, in turn, is governed by the positioning of a metal stop which is clamped to the running cable inside the fuselage of the C-47. It is clamped with 6 bolts and is known – not surprisingly – as “the 6-bolt stop”.
Once it was clear that the PJI would not hit the tail the next stage was to make certain that the parachute itself did not wrap itself round the tail-plane. This was done by adjusting the position of the 6-bolt stop. To check the parachute/tail-plane clearance the underside of the port tail-plane was painted with black printers ink. The brush strokes were at right-angles to the direction of flight. After each drop the parachutes were examined for the presence of any tell-tale ink. After landing back at Odiham the a/c was also inspected for any signs of the chutes having flicked the underside of the tail at the deployment phase.
HTH
Resmoroh

Alan,
Yes, I was at Wisley whenever there were any TAR movements between 4 May – 11 May 69.
HTH
Resmoroh

Steve,
You’re on the wrong Forum! rafcommands has more experts on Czech and Polish WW2 aircrew than you could shake a stick at tom-cats in a fish-market on a Sunday!!
HTH
Resmoroh