armed cessna pic.....

[Frank]

Hi Guys,

Here's some more information I received via email:

The rocket pods DID slow the aircraft down but that was a function of the extra weight and drag. Firing them made you go faster as the aircraft lost mass in the process and accelerated.

There may have been an airspeed fluctuation when firing the pods on the wing fitted with the pitot head as the residual eflux/blast from the rocket may have impinged on it.

If you were watching the ASI during THAT stage of the attack you were either bored or were too cool for words!! Diving at the planet always got my vote for where to look.

[GoneToTheCanner]

Hi there,
None of the Cessnas have any part of the firing mechanism still on them, with the exception of the aluminium airspeed arming switch, which is a small metal tab, located under one of the wings and which was folded back by the airflow under the wing and made the firing circuit live.Those tabs may have been modded out by now.I was one of the people who demodded the firing panel and wiring out of the Cessnas and that was back in the early 90s.We took out the firing panel, all of the wiring loom which ran out to the wings and the wiring for the gunsight and even the braces for the gunsight.Literally, all that remained was the tab and we even took the wiring from that.The removed parts were checked by the AE Section people and they also checked the aircraft to make sure that not even a screw from the system remained.Only the tabs remained as it would have required deriveting to remove tham and they were harmless, anyway. The pods and rockets were destroyed by EOD and every other part was scrapped under supervision.
The aircraft only fired them in a speed-stabilised dive and, as I've said before, they did not lose any airspeed upon firing and there was only a slight reaction from the ASI as they left the pods and disturbed the air around the static port.
regards
GttC

[Tony Kearns]

Jeez Mick it took us long enough to drag that one out of you, where have you been?
Tony K