My Log Book records that I only had two sessions in the entire month of August. The radar was not functioning well during this period. These sessions were Meteor NF11s at night. The radar picture was so poor and intermittent that I was fortunate even to be able to pick up my aircraft. Fortunately, I was able, by much use of a chinagraph pencil, to mark the deduced positions of the aircraft on the PPI. With the excellent assistance of the Craig computer plotter, all these PIs, six of them in all, were successfully carried out 'blind' by DR.6
I must explain DR: knowing an aircraft's track and speed, its instructions to turn, and the radius of turns at altitude, with skill and sometimes a bit of luck, it was possible to deduce fairly accurately its position for a while after it faded from the radar. It was a matter of professional pride never to tell the pilot that you were having this sort of trouble. It was usually with a sigh of relief that the same aircraft reappeared, maybe only fleetingly, in more or less the position you expected. The DR process then started over again from this fresh position. The same technique was used when aircraft were obscured by cloud responses or permanent echoes.
When controlling night fighters, it was standard practice for the GCI controller (me) to direct the 'fighter' to a position from which its navigator could 'see' on his AI (airborne interception radar) the 'target', at which point he would call 'Judy', and thence take over control of the interception by talking his pilot (over their intercom) into a position from which he could shoot the 'target' down. Occasionally the AI would fail and an R/T call announcing a Bent Weapon would be made and the session aborted. Or, there may be a call for 'More Help', whereupon it was my task again to take over the interception in an attempt to bring it to a successful conclusion. This happened to me during two sessions in September.
There were sorties in which there was intense jamming, either of the R/T or the radar, or both.7 Occasionally this was generated by the Eastern Bloc. When this happened it paid to be on special lookout for intruders or other potentially hostile activity. Mostly though, it arose from our side of the border and was created by our own aircraft during pre-planned exercises. Heavy cloud could have the same effect and, maybe due to aircraft aerial icing, the R/T would suffer interference.
During September I had jamming, dense cloud, and 'Bent Weapons' affect my sessions. One session involved my controlling a pair of NF11s in a climbing sortie in an attempt to get above thick cloud. Three 90° PIs were successful and one was aborted, the cloud being so thick as to jam the AI. My last session of the month involved me being given a pair of Hunters on a special purpose mission. This was to investigate the dropping of 'Window' (or 'Chaff' as the Americans call it) in Georef squares Juliet Hotel and Kilo Golf. The height ranged between 8,000 and 35,000 feet. During this session the Type 15 radar was u/s and I had to rely on the Type 14 upper and lower radars instead, swapping from one to the other in order to get the best coverage at the various altitudes. Who dropped the window, or why, I never found out. Sometimes it was better not to ask too many questions.
October was a busier month with two day and seven night sessions. All aircraft under my control were Meteor NF11s. It was this month that I was in control of freelance sorties for the first time. On the 10th I controlled a single NF11 on a search and intercept mission. The only 'trade' there was in the area, a single aircraft, was plotted while I positioned my fighter to intercept. It turned out to be another NF11 on which I controlled my first night parallel head-on quarter attack. Later in the month, on October 22nd, there was a jamming exercise during which I was allocated two separate pairs of NF11s. The jamming was so bad that I used a technique called broadcast control. This involved my giving a running commentary on the position,
______________________________
6 DR = 'Dead' Reckoning (deduced reckoning).
7 Jamming was also known as ECM = Electronic Counter Measures.
191