keith.chaplin4 wrote:

OK Norman show us your age, I think 'Bismuth' went westward from the
Hebrides over the Atlantic, tell us the names of the flight north
over the Norwegian Sea and the one that went SW from Cornwall,
'Allah' and 'Epicure' sound familiar. There may have been one from
Norfolk over the North Sea

Keith Chaplin

You've got me there, Keith. I only remember the Bismuth flights. They
were operated by Shackleton aircraft from RAF Aldergrove (Belfast civil
airport was at Nutts Corner in those days). They generally flew on a
triangular course over the ocean, chosen on the day by the Senior
Forecaster at Bracknell (Dunstable if you go back far enough). From
memory, I think the first and third legs were run at around 500 mb
while the second leg was at low level. This enabled two near-vertical
soundings to be carried out between 500 mb and close to the surface.
Obs were done by Met Office observers on board and were sent quite
frequently - every 15-20 minutes?) in quite a detailed and complicated
code. Hand-plotting the obs on the 1200z surface chart was quite a
task. It wasn't the favourite job on the Assistants' roster at
Prestwick Airport!

Norman
--
Norman Lynagh
Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire
85m a.s.l.
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