|
Johnny Whitfield
|
||||
Where have all the Met folks gone long time no hear, Surely not passed on. |
|||||
<hidden> |
|
Keith Cornick
|
||||
Hi everyone. Well I finally got round to contacting the group. Tending to be somewhat quiet in the background during my Met days, few may remember me. After leaving the mob in 79 my wife and I emigrated to NZ. After careers in Agriculture and Steel I finally retired in 2007. Keith |
|||||
<hidden> |
|
Johnny Whitfield
|
||||
Spud just a quickie, to thank you for the info on the Bismuth, I suppose thats why you became a Pilot and I made a mess of my Naval Career, |
|||||
<hidden> |
|
SPUD
|
||||
Interesting and relevant bismuth article here at : Sorry I can't get it to link properly! Maybe Charlie will intervene otherwise - Copy and paste. JW you must have had very many ex- forces customers over the years with loadsa stories about their experiences - shirley much more interesting than running a pub near a fishing 'facility' and probably fewer broken glasses! My final thought - I was always led to believe that we in the FAA sank the BISMUTH? I'm Irish - dat's all i know ! |
|||||
<hidden> |
|
Johnny Whitfield
|
||||
Thanks Ray I spent many a sleepless hour trying to remember the name, I joined up whilst at Cambridge though not actually at the University, I was in the Met Office at RAF Duxford and Cambridge was one of our runs ashore, The Shore being the River Cam. where I spent many a fun hour in a Canoe. |
|||||
<hidden> |
|
Ray Brooker
|
||||
Your memory serves you well Johnny - it was indeed called a Bismuth, and we had to decode it for Commander Jenkins at Culdrose RNSOM as late as 1960. Can't remember much about it, except I think it was coded in descending order i.e. opposite to radio-sonde. |
|||||
<hidden> |
|
Johnny Whitfield
|
||||
Could one of you knowledgeable chaps help me out, whilst in the Air Ministry Meteorological Office prior to joining the Navy I made enquiries about becoming part of the crew of a Aircraft which sole function was to record Meteeorological Data by either ascending or descending at a fixed rate, producing a code similar to the synoptic surface code. Much as I try I cannot remember what it was called. I believe it may of finished in the late 1950,s I was with the Air MINISTRY IN 1957. The name that is in the back of my mind is the Bizmuth or something similar. |
|||||
<hidden> |
|
SPUD
|
||||
Ray and John W - thank you too for your response to my dit on her Ladyship HERMES – Charlie has put a little pressure on me to do a TWMPP, and I have to say that 'she who has to be obeyed' did likewise some time ago. (A great pillar of this site – I wish her well as she approaches a double hip replacement- stay well Gill!) Ray in an much earlier dit asked if one of us METOBS 're-threads' from ‘before the mast’ would let the site readers have an insight to a career in the Andrew . Those who know my personal background - that I have a family security issue because of my (and my two brothers) service in the RN will understand I can only contribute within the more secure boundary of the FORUM. (where search engines don’t penetrate). From there maybe Peter Squib might extract, with my help, a suitable TWMPP for this site. I have partially contributed to that earlier request with my recent dit on my short time on HERMES in ‘82. The only verifiable record of my service post MET I have to refer to is my Flying Logbook which I was supposed to surrender with my Gas Mask and aircrew watch when I retired. Well I don’t have a gas mask or ‘free Rolex’ but I have my logbook (please don’t tell anybody). I will release my ‘above deck’ history soon to Charlie for ‘moderation’ and eventually to the FORUM and will hope that Peter Sq will be able to extract a topical, meaningful and interesting element to this site. For Ray – The only flying I did after retirement was the occasional ‘recreational’ flying (Piper Alpha), mainly UK South Coast, from Lee on Solent . That ended in 2006 – (cardiac thingies !) Best wishes to all – SPUD |
|||||
<hidden> |
|
Ray Brooker
|
||||
At last! Someone else joins in! Well done, Marie, and thanks for your little report. I remember theodolites well, but unfortunately they don't work at sea in a Force 8 gale! The radio-sondes also recorded temperature and humidity, and sent back continuous coded signals with all the information. Meanwhile the real sailors on the radar sent us bearings and distance of the radio-sonde from the ship every minute; it was fitted with a radar reflector. This had to be plotted in relation to the ship's course and speed to give true wind speeds and direction. All this was happening while the Met office lurched from side to side....ah, happy memories. I remember once one of our aircraft was doing night flying, and picked up the position of the radio-sonde, then proceeded to shoot it down as a bit of practice..... |
|||||
<hidden> |
|
Marie Drew
|
||||
Ray and Jonnie At Halfar the last duty of the night watch at7am in the morning for two weary-eyed wrens was to fill a hydrogen balloon weighted to rise at 500ft or 1000ft per minute, then, while one with stop watch in hand timed the balloon the other tracked the balloon with a theodolite and read out the readings. Tracking a Radio Sonde balloon while sitting comfortably in the Met Office was not a luxury for us - we were in the 'dark ages'!! |
|||||
<hidden> |