177. During the tour of the Tornado Facility, Philip Westwell asked Col. Joachim Linke if they could walk out and see the runway extension which they had built in the early 50s.   (Click to see.)   As usual Joachim not only said yes but supplied transport to take them out there.   This small excursion discovered several interesting things.   This photograph, taken looking East from the touchdown point towards the threshold of Runway 28, shows the runway arrester gear which is installed at either end of the runway.   All Phantoms, being originally a carrier based US Navy fighter, are equipped with a tail hook.   The cable with its discs which hold it off the runway so that the hook can catch underneath, can be seen trailing down the right hand side of the runway.   This is normally stretched across the runway and is quite safe to land across as long as the aircraft hook is retracted.   This is connected to a big black strap which comes off a hydraulically braked reel housed in the yellow tent.   This particular model is the GAF AAE-44B-2D(B) and is equivalent to the RAF Rotary Hydraulic Arresting Gear (RHAG) Mk 1.   (Click to see the detailed entry for Jever in the En-route Supplement dated 15Jun78.)   The run out is 1,301 ft before the end of the runway and one can see the line of grass where the railway line crosses the undershoot.   (Thanks to Philip Westwell.)