PC9 Air Firing

[Claudel Hopson]

Has anyone been down around Gormanstown this week to watch the Air Firing or been able to take photo's.

[Irish251]

I passed through the area on the M1 at about 1400 today and saw a formation of three PC-9s flying westwards at a low-ish level.  Two appeared to have gun pods mounted underwing and the third did not.

[cygnet]

surely you were at one end or the other Claudel !!!

[John K]

A bit different to the Cessnas rocket firing, they used to go backwards for a second!

[RMR]

It wasnt that often the cessnas fired !!!  Some real accurate firing going on up there during the week.

[Tony Kearns]

Hi John K,
I never came across any confirmation that the Cessnas fired the rockets. That is very interesting information, thanks for that.
How's it going ?
Tony K

[Fouga]

Quote (John K @ 15 Sep. 2006,14:26)

A bit different to the Cessnas rocket firing, they used to go backwards for a second!

Rockets are recoiless so how could they go backwards? ?



Oh and fatcontroler welcome to the Boards! '>

[Guinness]

Fatcontroler..... welcome on board and keep up sending pictures  

Regards,

Guinness

[Claudel Hopson]

Hi Cygnet. How are you and the family getting on since I saw you last?

Yeah I was on the ramp for the week for the firing. At least we had a good week for it and enjoyed the sun.

The two PC9's firing were 261 and 264 and the unarmed one was 262 with photographer in the back seat.

The photo that is shown has the plane firing inert heads (white nosed).
If they were green noses then it would hurt at the receiving end.

[cygnet]

Trust it was a nice sunny week !
were doing fine now - normality has returned although it is totally different .....

thanks for asking

cygnet  

[Turkey]

That is a smashing photo, awsome...
I saw the Cessanas carrying the wepon back in the 70's,  as far as I can remember the rocket pod[there was only one] hung from the left wing but I cannot swear to this.
There was a panel on the left wall of the cabin in front of the door,and the firing switch was on one side of the control colum, right hand I think.
I am sure I have seen a picture published of them firing.
They must have fired a few times ,as the pilots flying the various escorts/other missions would have to have been qualified on them.
They must have been stationed at Gormanstown too, as I remember seeing them there often in the late 70's , my impression is that they did not usually carry the wepon pod, it was put on as required.
If anyone knows what type of wepon was used,it could answer the recoiless question,  is it possable that they  were  closed at the rear end??
Excuse me if this sounds a bit dumb.

[John K]

Hey Tony, Fouga and Turkey, they were the Matra rocket pods the Cessnas used to fire, I think they held 6x2" rockets, similar to what we used to fit to the Fougas back in the late '70s. As far as I remember they were in a green pod on the Cessnas, one pod under each wing. I was up at Gormonston for something or other when this Cessna dived over the camp, out to sea, firing off two rockets at a time (one from each pod) I remember the crack as it went off and you could follow them down, it did seem to me as if the Cessna stood still for a second! The Fouga had the capability of firing single shot or salvo. All it was was a rotor arm like a distributor at the back of the pod that set off each rocket.
Didn't the SF260s carry rocket pods also?

[Turkey]

John,I do not remember seeing 2 on a cessana at the same time, but then there is a lot of other things I missed as well. '>
I always thought that they were matras as well, but I remember seeing a Ground strike Harrier with 6 similar pods fitted[upsidedown triangle-shape].
I thought the pod on the Fouga and the Marchetti was different, flimseyer[if you know what I mean].
There was/is pictures of the SF260 firing on this site, but for some reason I cannot veiw it....

[Claudel Hopson]

The SF260 used the same Matra rocket pod as the Fouga, albeit more regularily than the Fouga did.

They were very reliable unless you pinched the firing wire with the tail cone which meant EOD would have to blow up the rocket motor on the 'drome when the plane came back.

The Cessna's did fire their rocket pods back in the early 70's but were mothballed very quickly. There were a few pods knocking around after Gormo closed but I think they were scrapped. It is true that whatever way the rocket exited the tube the back wash affected airspeed and airflow over the wings which in effect slowed down the aircraft, especially when fired simultaneously.

Hey JK. Colm is asking for you. One of your ex-Juniors Lanigan? from Avionics was killed down in Kildare the weekend by a van while helping someone broken down. I vaguely remember him god rest him..

[pilatus]

i remember an air corps techie telling me the cessna nearly went in to a stall when the rockets were fired so it must have been severly slowed down by the firing of the rockets!