AFVOA Newletter August 2020

Section 4 – War Diary CV 2 No. 02 / 2020 Page 47 of 237 and Monish knew exactly what to do. At 28 km I pulsed the laser to designate the target for the first time. The Litening Pod instantly ranged the distance to target. We had by then accelerated to a ground speed of 550 km (~1000 kmph) and the distance to the release point rapidly reduced. I repeatedly re-designated the target as it became more discernible when we closed in. At the release range I pressed the trigger and we felt the aircraft jerk upwards as it suddenly shed 600 kg of load. I immediately commenced a hard turn to the left at 4g and stated flaring. Monish took over pod steering and pointed the laser directly at the target while I concentrated on the turn and monitored the video image. The Laser was steadily flashing and we waited anxiously for the target to explode thus signaling a successful delivery. The time of flight of an LGB under the delivery conditions that we had dropped it in was under 30 sec, but to us in the cockpit it appeared as an eternity. Our joy knew no bound as the entire video image of the target burst out into a soundless explosion. I had by then rolled out on a westerly course and reversed right climbing back to 30,000 ft and monitored the Air to Air TACAN with the other strike aircraft. The plan was to gather together and then set course for Pt 4388. I noticed the distance between the two of us had started to build up as we turned towards the North West. Our faithful escorts from 1 Squadron were however with us so we decided to press on with the remaining mission. A quick R/T call to check gravy and intention revealed that the other members had already set course back to base. We continued and scanned Pt 4388 for targets. On return, 15 min later, we routed back via Tiger Hill to film the Hill from close to assess the damage. The target area had been blown to smithereens, so we filmed the rest of the hill for any other visible signs of the enemy. Gravy was sufficient so we accelerated to our limit speed of 0.95 Mach to get back to Base by 0800 h.