I have sent it again so you may end up with it twice LOL, 😀

Trumper

Did get it twice 😀 😀 😀 Not sure if the aircraft is WT895 (all of 614’s aircraft were in the Red/White/LAG scheme when I started flying from Debden in early 1981). However, I’m certain that the pilot in the photo is Flt Lt John Knock (he did have a lot of grey hair).

Bigvern

E Mail sent 🙂

Trumper, E-mail not Rx’ed on Yahoo 😡 Please try

From ‘Lost to service’ by C Cummings,

’17-Apr-83, [SIZE=1]WT895 Kirby Cadet Mk3, 614 GS, Wethersfield.

Broke up in air during aerobatics.

Air Cadet Ian Sutton 17

It is believed that Flight Lieutenant John Knock RAVR(T) died subsequently from his injuries.’

Geoff.

Cheers for the memory jog, Geoff.

I first heard of the accident on the 19th at my ATC Squadron (1096 Bishops Stortford) and by that time the instructor had died (either during the Saturday nignt or early during the Sunday), It was John Knock (I was going to put that name on my first post then had a bit of a brain fade, due to the fact that 614VGS had two RAFVR(T) Flight Lieutenants with the first name of John (Knock and Miller, CO’s first name was John (Martin) as well). One of them was at a dinning out night done for My ATC Squadron CO in 1987 (got invited as an ex Cadet) and though it was John Knock for some reason (It was John Miller on digging out a menu card this morning). The Cadet that was killed was a friend of a friend on 999 Squadron that I met at a couple of ATC camps at Binbrook and Swanton Morley in 1982 and 1981 respectively (I had met Ian Sutton once during the camps or on an exercise we did with Dummow in Hatfield forest).

As for the cause of the accident, what is listed is not the story that I was told by my Squadron’s adult WO Les Hudson (who was on the staff of 614VGS at the time (died in 1984) or what the Instructors at 614VGS told me about the accident when I did my Gilding proficiency course at Wethersfield in the August of 83. Somebody was telling porkies at the time as what is listed in the book is not what I heard.

As for the aircraft that crashed, It must be the only glider on 614 VGS that I never flew in during my time in the cadets. They had 3 Mk3 Cadets and 2 TX Mk 1 Sedburghs on strength at Debden and Wethersfield and I flew in all of them except WT895 (most of the AEF flights in Sedburghs (WB988 and XW150) with the exception of 2 flights in Mk 3 WT917). During the Gilding proficiency course all the flights were in Cadets WT917, WT913 and WE790 with my Solo in WT917 on 14.08.06 (Last line on the last page of my 3822 Glider flying log).

Actually, one of the major problems with parabolic antennas is that they are just as good as reflecting radiation as they are detecting it, giving a plane a huge frontal radar signature.

Next miniarticle – Basics of Datalink design.

Go nodeless is a good idea for starters 😉

According to the entry in British Military Aircraft Accidents by David Oliver it ‘broke up during aerobatics’ near Weathersfield.

That is doubtful, as I never saw 614 VGS do aerobatics with the Mk 3 at either Debden or Wethersfield. With their T21’s it was a different story however 😮 😮 😮

Answers about range have been a bit vague. I’m asking just about effective range, not about other advantages. So far only the concentrated beam explanation made some sense but even that i don’t really see why a mechanically steered beam can’t maintain similar beam when tracking a long range target. Also, what crobato said, parabollic antennas also have great sensitivity and can created very tight beams. Is there meaningul tracking range advantage and if so why/how?

Proudfoot, you mentioned something about datalinks – please do go on about that.

Datalinks (more correctly called Tactical Data Links (TDL) in NATO or Tactical Digital Information Links (TADIL) in the US) are the method of passing information (radar picture, tactical information, resources information, mission orders Etc) between different agencies within a network or point to point system in almost real time. They are defined by the message format (Link protocol) and mode of network operation, not the method of transmission, which can range from copper land line though to UHF radio. Current link formats in the US/NATO are known as Link 1 through to Link 22, (Link 16 is one of the best known by its US name of the Joint Tactical Information Dissemination system (JTIDS)).

Current systems in Western use are listed on the FAS web site Here

The Dead Pool, Clint Eastwood being chased by an RC Car (with a bomb in it) 😀 😀 😀

that is a very good question… i would think for WW2 types it would be between the Spitfire, Mosquito, ME-109, JU-88.. for jet types i would think the MIG-21 would be head and shoulders above the rest, though i may be wrong.. 🙂

43 Marks of Mossie (of which 35 marks of which were actually built and operated).

30 Marks of Spitfire and Seafire (not counting wing or role sub versions)

Mig 21 – 50 different prototypes and production marks (this inculdes variants built in China) and upgrades.