Camera boosts RAF's Afghan crews

[Mackrick]

An interesting article on the BBC News website...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8295387.stm

[Mayfly]

Very interesting tho' makes topless sun bathing unsafe even in a secluded spot

Strange they put the height the shot was taken from in meters, I make it about 19,000ft

[Saracenman]

impressive, but i picked up on this........

Although the number of cameras deployed is classified, the RAF said Raptor "has passed initial operating capability and is working well".

at £6m each me finks they only have one - at most!

sm

[Mayfly]

you could well be right there....

[Xplumberlives]

An interesting footnote to that BBC report;

"The point about Afghanistan," Mr Gething said, "is we need to know where people are, where things are."
"In this instance, surveillance is of prime importance. The guys they're taking pictures of don't know they're being snapped."

I guess that's why we never see terrorists smiling if they don't know they're being snapped!

[Iggie]

They'd know all about this picture though....!!

[Mackrick]

They'd know all about this picture though....!!

[Saracenman]

clearly no "Officer I/C Grammar" then!

[Bubbles]

Its a Murkin Hummer, says it all really

[Flipflopman]

Don't worry, they have more than one

RAPTOR is indeed an outstanding little bit of kit. I was involved with the trials back in another life!

We trialled the first RAPTOR pod in roughly the same guise you see today, back in 1998/1999 on the SAOEU (Strike Attack Operational Evaluation Unit) at Boscombe Down, using Tornado GR1 ZG706, and the results even then were pretty amazing, with tax discs still discernible on cars at a separation distance of 20+ miles!! The RAPTOR trials were not too popular with the aircrew however, involving 2 hour flights of a steady 40 mile diameter orbit.

It looked a little different then though, as the camera system was housed in a gloss white painted former 2250L droptank, with the Raytheon field engineer having to manually trip and set circuit breakers located deep inside the pod, on the flightline, with a modified broomhandle!!!

Aaaah, good times!! Quite scary though to think that it is now over 10 years ago!!


Flipflopman

[Bubbles]

Stick it on a proper aeroplane.....a Buccaneer!

[Flipflopman]

Where exactly?!?!


Flipflopman

[Bubbles]

One of the pylons used for the SeaEagle missile i guess.

[Xplumberlives]

Stick it in the revolving bomb bay!

[Flipflopman]

It's a touch heavier than a Sea Eagle mate!!!

You would get some stunning close ups of the inside of the bomb bay if you stuck it on the revolving door though!!


Flipflopman

[Xplumberlives]

It's a touch heavier than a Sea Eagle mate!!!
You would get some stunning close ups of the inside of the bomb bay if you stuck it on the revolving door though!!
Flipflopman

Plan B open the door before turning the cameras on!

[Bubbles]

Well I'm sure it could carry one after all the mighty invincible Buccaneer did carry four Sea Eagles. and it cant be heavier than the concrete the Tonka carried in its nose surely?



P.S. don't suppose you want to fix a bloody great big hole in a Super Guppy do you Ron?

[Nickolas]

Well I'm sure it could carry one after all the mighty invincible Buccaneer did carry four Sea Eagles. and it cant be heavier than the concrete the Tonka carried in its nose surely?



P.S. don't suppose you want to fix a bloody great big hole in a Super Guppy do you Ron?

Tell him it's a bombing blister and there will be scorch marks all the way there.

[Bubbles]

Bugger!! should have thought of that earlier!

[Flipflopman]

Tell me it's a bomb blister and there'll be scorchmarks AWAY from there!!!!

Depends how big the hole is I suppose Bubbs!!!! I might be able to swing a couple of weekends for a good cause


Flipflopman

[Bubbles]

Tell me it's a bomb blister and there'll be scorchmarks AWAY from there!!!!

Depends how big the hole is I suppose Bubbs!!!! I might be able to swing a couple of weekends for a good cause


Flipflopman

Errrr..well its big, and trained as i am in sheet metal work i think it is out of my league.




Its a bit of a mess to be honest and i wouldn't know where to begin.....Beer and cakes will be provided.
needs to be seen though to be honest, theres a fair bit of buckling as well as the torn sheets.

[Xplumberlives]

How the F*ck did that happen?

What drove in to that?

How much is the insurance excess?

Will it polish out?

[Flipflopman]

Oooof!!!

That IS a big hole, isn't it!! That's also a little bit more than a few weekends work too!!!

Not insurmountable though, but to repair that 'properly', as in an airworthy repair, would be a fairly massive job as you'd need to be chopping back the skin to the extent of the buckling, and then you'd have to replace those damaged frames and stringers, which are obviously not just lying on a shelf somewhere!! All in, that's an awful lot of rivets and aluminium!!

However, as it's only a static, I'm sure that with a fair bit of 'bashing' to go with the 'hacking', you could tidy that up quite nicely and make it nice and weatherproof with much less hassle! Still, there's going to be a fair bit of tin required, along with several hundred rivets. Looks like we need a plan!!


Flipflopman

[Bubbles]

We're not going for airworthy, just nice and watertight etc, i think she collided somehow with a green goddess fire engine, the wind swung her around and wallop! as for a plan to sort it out.....what you have in mind? getting hold of the material won't be a problem as i know a chap who has some.

[Flipflopman]

Very quickly, and very roughly, having only seen that picture, you'd need to at least chop out the tear and get back to good metal to minimise the risk of further cracking, then 'persuade' as much of the bent stuff back, including the frames if they can be fettled!

Then, a nice big sealed patch repair over the top, plus any additional beefing up and patching as required, and Bob's your uncle, a nice weatherproof repair! It obviously won't be anything like airworthy, however, it will be neat, clean and will keep the elements out.

Obviously this is all based on looking at that picture!!!


Flipflopman