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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Petrus" data-source="post: 481913" data-attributes="member: 341"><blockquote data-quote="Maury Markowitz" data-source="post: 436601" data-attributes="member: 10573">Ugh, the last page is missing, the one that presumably describes how Blue Sky kept itself centered.Anyone know the trick? It seems you could do it by averaging out the signal over one complete spin, but I'm not sure.</blockquote>Here you' ve got the missing part of the article plus pictures that were with it (please note that photo titled 'hunter-flash.jpg' obviously shows the Swift F.7).Piotr<blockquote>Now I knew I ought to come back, but as I wasn't told to return I stretched it out a bit.    I do need to explain a couple of other matters that I met up with. To operate the Blue Sky missile, the pilot was vectored into the proximity of the target by Ground Control at which time the radar had to see and hold onto the target.    The maximum range of the radar was 10Nm and once the radar had locked on the pilot had to visually confirm the 'hostile' This meant that in practice the optimum service range was considered to be 5Nm (10,000 yards) but during trials the missile was often fired at 2Nm.    The pilot would of course have to follow any antic the target might take to avoid the missile but in the time interval of flight this should be small and the missile had a proximity fuse.    Note: 'Window' or 'chaff' (as its now known) would not throw the missile off because it only looked back at its host beam.Armstrong Whitworth Meteor NF11 firing a FireflashPhotograph courtesy of Mike Hollingsworth    The pilot only had a simple range-meter to show him he was locked onto a target. No screen. The range screen received its input from a 'strobe unit' transmitted by the radar system. Some pilots started to complain that their meter was showing them locked on to targets at say a couple of miles when there was nothing there.Cockpit schematic courtesy of Mike HollingsworthI quickly deduced that they were actually seeing targets that were being picked up beyond our normal range (courtesy of the memory and below noise level tracking) and showing as we might say on the subsequent range trace.There were other aircraft floating around Woomera on other projects. So I actually planned to turn the gain down a bit to stop these other signals. Then it also happened that I was drawn into the circle of the chaps who flew the Jindivik drones. These were fully-fledged pilots who actually sat in a seat on the ground but with a joystick and all the flight instruments of their aircraft. They flew them pilotless but actually did some real flying in between to keep their hand in.These Jindiviks were our targets. We didn't plan to shoot them down but the missile might hit them. These pilots now complained to me that the reflecting dishes fitted to their aircraft were a bit of a nuisance as they spoilt the normal airflow and made them more difficult to fly.Always willing to be helpful I declared, "take them off" (I'd heard that somewhere before). Anyway, they took them off. I was now approved and I found it didn't ruin our target reception. I never told our people back at home though, who had insisted they be fitted.I have forgotten to explain that when my relief arrived he insisted that he take over the setting up of the scanners as he had been fully shown how to do this and that was what he was there for.I ought to have set tracks for home. But I didn't, and we moved up to do yet another test firing. This time they would take me up in the firing aircraft and I could watch it from the back seat. A firing of course involved just about everyone. I haven't previously explained that Fairey's didn't stay at the camp as I did but had their own set-up outside Adelaide.They actually invited me there one weekend and I was able to play some tennis with them. So they sent a team to Woomera when there was a firing. Again it involved all the Jindivik pilots and numerous other people who were there to take photographs and ensure the range was clear and so on and so on.We went up and locked onto the target. When the missile was fired we shot madly off to one side as the pilot chased the missile. It was obviously being driven out of the beam. I was furious and had much to say to my associate for all to hear. He simply said he thought I had lined up that Scanner!Of course it was all his fault. It was fully two months since I had done a Scanner and he had taken them all on since then. Inevitably we were both immediately told to return home.But I think the project had already been considered at an end before then. Heat-seeking missiles were a much better bet.As to the Scanner beam polarity I had long realised that it was a weakness. I found out that the Missile Team had a piece of apparatus, which could test this polarity. They needed this to check that the missile would follow correctly. There was an outlet from our wave-guide, which, if coupled to their gear, would check if it was in the correct phase. I tried to link to this without success, mainly because I was using coaxial cable and there was too much loss. It would have to be done with wave-guide but the distance was prohibitive.I had the aircraft pushed to the back of the hangar but their gear was still some 50 feet away and I had to give up. What was really needed was a small box the equivalent of their gear, which was able to measure the polarity of the transmission in the wave-guide.Unfortunately I was not sufficiently clued up to design such a device. It required a wave-guide expert.Just before I was sent to Woomera our then Prime Minister 'Harold Macmillan' was telling us that we had never had it so good. One of the daily's, I believe The Express took up the theme and declared in bold headlines "Nothing but Blue Sky's".Despite this boost, project Blue Sky turned out to be a dead end since AAM's with infrared seekers had been developed in the meantime and these were a better bet since the pilot's did not have to stay locked onto the target while the missile was in flight.Ken Sims December 2004</blockquote></blockquote>

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