Target Towing Flight

Target Towing Flight

The Target Towing Flight operated from the Drogue Section located in an upstairs room over the main hanger. We were responsible for operating a drogue, a windsock shaped target towed by the Mosquito flying over the Todendorf  gunnery range for the army and RAF regiment. We would operate on a shift pattern and would go something like this: Early call at 5am,  an early breakfast and arrive at the drogue section at 6am. Check the roster to see which pilot we would fly with and type of detail; heavy ack-ack or light ack-ack.

 

Mosquito & Ground Crew

View of hanger from the Drogue Section

Take off would 6.30am with a climb out and  then circle round to arrive back over the airfield  at 1500 feet. As we approached the field the skipper would give the order ’Stand by to stream,’  being the phrase used to deploy the drogue. We would then unfasten our harness, turn to face the rear of the aircraft and stick our head into the astro bubble. This was a blister on top of the cockpit cabin.

Just below and on the rear cockpit bulkhead were 4 toggles. By operating one of these this would release a drogue from under the belly of the Mosquito. The skipper would then throttle the engines back so we were flying just above the stalling speed. He would then give the order ’steam’ this was to pull number one toggle to stream the first drogue. We would then watch for the drogue to deploy and open up much like a wind sock and if all was ok would say, ’ streaming ok’, turn around and look down to our control panel and operate the winch stored on the belly of the aircraft.

Winch Operating Panel in Mosquito

 

Drogues Under Belly of Mosquito

The winch was a device to reel out and reel in  the drogue, this was operated with  a switch and buttons. We would then reel out the drogue to our maximum permitted distance of  300 feet over land, and the continue to fly out to the Todendorf  firing range via Echonforde Bay that joined the Baltic Sea. We would then let out the drogue to our operational distance, 1500ft. Light ack-ack, 3000ft. Heavy ack-ack. and then would  fly up and down the range just out to sea for up to 2 hours. If the drogue took a hit we were informed by radio and would release it over the range, climb and stream another until all 4 drogues had been used then return to base.

Target Towing Flight Air & Ground Crew. 2nd TTF RAF Schleswigland 1956-1958
Click on image for larger view

Frank Brooks, Target Towing Operator, second row from top, 6th from left and Tony Blackburn to his left next row down. Bottom row are some of the pilots. Flying Officer Frank Jones the pilot that crashed in the Mosquito with Roly Pickering is bottom row 6th from right.
 

Mosquitos Outside Main Hanger

Mosquito TA722 landing at Schleswig