Ouston and the V-Bombers

The author surmised that their purpose was to track the V-Bombers as they made their training attacks on Newcastle, but this theory remained just that for another 52 years! Until, that is, 2018 when the internet aviation forum "PPrune" (Private Pilots Rumour Network) featured memories and discussions about RAF Ouston. The author joined in those discussions, and posted the above two photos on the forum. The full story then emerged, from two 75-year old former RAF Navigators who had served with the V-Bomber force. With the kind permission of the contributor known as "Pontious Navigator" his detailed information, and the responses, are repeated here, and gratefully acknowledged as an important contribution to the history of RAF Ouston;

"Pontious Navigator" posted on PPrune Forum 27 April 2018;

"Indeed there was [an "Ouston Bomb Plot"]

Prior to the V-Force going Low Level the radar bomb plots covered London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Newcastle and before my time Leicester and East Anglia. When the Force went Low Level the attack profile for the Yellow Sun [nuclear bomb code name] required a low level approach followed by a pop up to 11,000 feet. Only a small unimportant city like Newcastle was suitable [humour]

Bomber Command had 3 LL routes in the UK, BC/LL 21, 23 and 24. BC LL 21 started near Loch Linnie, crossed the Highlands and went South near Kinross. It continued past Ouston. For the 2E pop-up the aircraft would turn off the route towards Newcastle and start climbing about 12-15 miles from the City centre. A favourite offset was the end of the North pier. Made a pretty good target like Leningrad." [Note: the '2Echo' was a standard attack profile consisting of a low-level approach at 500 feet, followed by a pop-up climb to 11,000 feet where the weapon was released in level flight at 11,000 feet. The 'lob-bombing' attack profile was known as '2Hotel', where the weapon would be released in the climb at 10,500 feet, but the '2H' was never performed at Ouston and Newcastle.]

"Barksdale Boy" responded;

"Thanks Pontious Navigator. In my day it [Ouston] was only used for Type 2 attacks scored by PPI and only on group exercises."

"Pontious Navigator" replied;

"Barksdale Boy, on one Groupex we had a tone malfunction - I switched it ON at bomb release. We claimed a malfunction and said the release was X second earlier. As you know, scores were not passed to the aircraft in flight .

We pondered a while and on passing Ouston a second time, amended our guess.

When we landed the debrief team asked why we had two scores - they didn't say what they were. We bluffed and it seemed it worked. The first guess was 1600 off yards. The second around 400. I think BS accounted for quite a number of good scores."

"Pontious Navigator" again, in response to a post on PPrune from this author;

"Indeed there was.

At the time Ouston was also the only site with a jammer. This was from the B50 and required aircraft to fly a North easterly approach against a specific target that changed weekly. Shame really as East Anglia (Brantub) had had 3 jammers which would have given much better training." [Note: the 'B50' referred to was the RAF's Boeing Washington B.1 aircraft (B-29 Superfortress) that preceded the V-Bombers in RAF service. Some of the Washington aircraft were used as electronic jamming aircraft, to help suppress enemy defences.]

"Vulbuctor" then commented on the two photos posted by this author;

"The radar trailers in [my Pembroke photos] belonged to 735 Radar Bomb Scoring Unit where I served for a few months in 1965. Its role was to track V Force simulated bombing runs, and through a clever contraption of wheels, cogs and a plotting table, provide a bombscore in yards. Some attacks were indeed pop-ups from 500ft to 11000ft on various targets in the Tyneside area. Newcastle airport ATC had a veto over these runs and could call abort at any stage if there were conflictions. The unit [at Ouston] did possess a very powerful jammer which could cause the nav radar some difficulty. Once the pop-up attack became obsolete Ouston Bomb plot became redundant and moved to Coningsby where it was known as Tumby Bombplot, a more suitable area for low level bomb scoring."

"Pontious Navigator" posted again;

"The unit [at Ouston] did possess a very powerful jammer which could cause the nav radar some difficulty. The beam was fairly narrow and supposedly covering 9375 MHz. We had to fly a specific track towards the target but by using sector scan we could avoid 'looking' at the target and the jamming spoke. We were forced to use offset aiming points to either side of the target and jamming spoke. Occasionally we got lucky and the H2S [bombing radar system, code named H2S because 'it stinks'] and the jammer frequencies were different and the jammer was ineffective. I do remember one attack when I had forgotten it was to be jammed and my offsets were in the jamming beam. Now that did cause problems.

On a 2E pop up attack the essential need was to start at 500 feet before a rapid climb and a bunt to level flight at 11,000 feet. Many times when the weather was bad we flew the low level at MSFL [minimum safe flight level] and were at 4,000 feet or higher at the start - waste of time really.

Well one day, Phil Largeson, ex-OC12 [officer commanding 12 squadron] but guesting from 1 Group, saw a hole in the clouds just after turning off the Low Level route for the target. As the navigator called 'climb' Phil dived through the hole achieving 500 feet (with a downward vector) and now well past the pop up point. Having got to 500 feet he rotated on full power and much greater angle of climb than normal. The aircraft, now at relatively low speed, max thrust, and at about 200 feet, dug out a field of cabbages. I do not recall how the rest of the bomb run went."

"Pontious Navigator" 18 May 2018, in an email to this author;

"I would add that the RBSU, radar bomb scoring unit [at Ouston], was open from around 0900 until around 2300 Monday to Friday and available in slots every 10 minutes. The bomber wings at Waddington, Scampton, Coningsby, Cottesmore, Honington, Marham and Wittering together with the Operational Conversion Units at Finningley and Gaydon and the Bombing School at Lindholme were all allocated specific slots throughout the day. Bootlegging was allowed if an allocated slot was not taken up and squadrons could also horse trade if another unit had a slot they needed. The Bomber Command low level route also worked on 10 minute time slots though as far as I can remember these were not pre-allocated. However in order to make a slot at Ouston a specific slot was needed for the Low Level entry.

I recall one night we could not get the two slots to fit. Every time we tried a new paring we found one was already booked. Eventually we found the other user, a squadron at Scampton, and found they had the same problem. We swopped slots and both of us were happy. The minimum time between attacks by one aircraft making high level attacks was 20 minutes. We would make the first slot, 45 miles from the target, called the IP or initial point, and pass overhead the target 6 minutes later. We would then open out to more than 45 miles and turn back in. This would take more than 10 minutes so we would extend in a timing trombone to make that 20 minute time. If we made attacks on Ouston and Lindholme in sequence then we could have done it 10 minutes apart but things would have been hectic as we had to reset the equipment between attacks.

Ouston was the only site in 1964 that had an X-band jammer for high level jamming of the H2S. As well as low level attacks we also made an evasive bomb run which was designed to defeat the Russian SA2 missile trackers. It also posed problems for the RBS unit too though they had the advantage of no jamming and we told them where to look. Ouston used the AA No3 Mark 7 radars, they had two I think, and a paper trace plotting table. At the IP we would do a tone check, a 1 kHz signal, that would later be used to indicate bomb release. Once tracking a paper plot would show our track to the target. Every 5 seconds the pen would blip, just like a cardiograph. 20 seconds before release we would energise the tone which was cut off automatically by the bombing computer at the release point. The RBS crew [at Ouston] could calculate our groundspeed from the marks and the system would also measure our height. As a check we would also pass our computed height above target, the true airspeed, ground speed, and track and heading. The trackers would also assess our track to target from the last few seconds on the paper trace. Then using tables they would calculate the forward throw of the bomb, plot this and then measure the distance from the target in yards."

Each year the RAF's Bomber Command would organise an Annual Bombing Competition and every operational V-bomber squadron was expected to enter. The winning squadron would score the highest marks for accuracy and timing over the complex route, and to win the annual contest was a highly prized accolade for the personnel concerned. This map for the 1962 competition is a typical example, and at that time all three V-bombers types were still in operational service, the Vulcan, Victor, and Valiant. The competition map illustrates well the training role that RAF Ouston played, with it being the first target, number 1 black triangle. As described in the crew recollections above, the long approach took in Scandinavia before routing down over Scotland and Northern Ireland, before the final run-in to the target along the Tyne Valley. The majority of the navigation was made using Astro-Navigation techniques.

In the book "Post War Military Aircraft:4 - Avro Vulcan" by Andrew Brookes, Ian Allan Publications 1996, the role of the Radar Bomb Score Units RBSUs is described with the target at RAF Ouston being the south-west corner of the main hangar; followed by the centre of the footbridge at Hootton Park railway station Cheshire; and finally the cross-roads in the village of Enford near Salisbury, Wiltshire. Great accuracy indeed.

HP Hastings T.5, TG518 ex Bomber Command Bombing School, RAF Lindholme, seen on 10th August 1969 at Carlisle Crosby Airport. A reduction in the RAF V-bomber force in the mid-1960s meant that less aircrew needed to be trained, and a few of the eight strong fleet of Hastings T.5s were retired. TG518 was flown to Carlisle to be used for fire practice, and is seen here shortly after arrival.

HP Hastings T.5 TG503 of the Strike Command Bombing School, over Killingworth 10 February 1976. Note the 'H2S' radar under the fuselage. This was the last time the author saw a T.5 flying.

HP Victor B.1a(K2P) XH647 at RAF Acklington 18 September 1965

HP Victor K.2 XL161 of 55 Sqdn at Newcastle Woolsington 30 December 1975

These detailed and well-remembered recollections show how RAF Ouston was an essential element in the training regime for the RAF's strategic bombing force of V-bombers. This all came to an end in the mid-1960s when the early Vulcan and Victor Mk.1 aircraft were retired, and replaced with the Mk.2 aircraft carrying 'Blue Steel' stand-off nuclear missiles. The Blue Steel could be released some 200 miles from the target, and thus avoid the need for the Vulcans and Victors to penetrate the defences of well-defended targets. Thus the 'pop-up' technique was no longer required, the tracking radars and jammer left Ouston, and peace and relative tranquility returned to the west end of Newcastle.