415 Squadron Association
On our day trip on 08 Oct we managed to put in moderately accurate attack. At the critical moment our TACNAV miss-set the Datum Set button and lost our plot stabilization, a classic rookie cockup. The lighted aircraft symbol drifted off the tactical table. It was all I could do to not give the order to drop our exercise weapon by feel. The TACNAV felt terrible. Instead of going back with our tail between our legs however, we all agreed to be as boisterous as possible to psyche out the other crews. And it buoyed our morale as well.
The following night we flew our night sortie. We had the submarine localized to a small area but not down to attack criteria when our exercise time expired. It was close but we didn’t get a kill. Once again we went back and noisily celebrated to psyche out our fellow competitors.
In the final competition tally we came second. No one else had even found the submarine until the Kiwis saw him motoring on the surface during their day sortie. They did a visual attack and garnered so many points that they ensured victory. The submarine happily continued to motor on the surface and we all knew what had happened. It was political but everybody was pleased that the Kiwis would continue to compete in subsequent years.
The best competition outcome for us all was handed to us by the Brits. On their first sortie they searched the wrong area, an unimaginable navigational cock up. On their second sortie they didn’t carry enough fuel and had to come back early. Once again a terrible indictment of their crew. The aircraft captain, a navigator, was recalled to Kinloss early for “discussions” and wasn’t there for the final exercise wrap up.
On Oct 15th we flew back to Summerside. The pilots planned a beat up of the airfield but just prior to reaching the airfield we developed an engine problem and they decided to take it easy. We landed directly without having to shut the engine down.
It was an anti-climatic end to the Fincastle Competition for us but it had been a worthwhile endeavour. And over the next 10 years of flying ASW sorties I encountered crew members of the other competition teams at various locations around the world.
Memories of Fincastle 1980
Written by: Steve Nichol
The Fincastle Competition was a Commonwealth ASW competition which started in 1960. Canada, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand were the only participants. Initially it was a depth bombing competition that evolved over the years into an ASW, ASUW and finally to ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance) competition. The concept was to develop a working relationship amongst the various air forces as well as having symposiums on evolving tactics while using the competition as the catalyst. The Cold War was very hot in 1980 and the competition was deemed relevant.
Each nation contributed one line crew (no specialized crews allowed) to the competition. One day trip and one night trip was scheduled for each crew in a very formatted manner. Different points were awarded for the type of detection, localization skills and accuracy of the attack on an exercise submarine. Most points were awarded for a visual attack. The winner brought home the Fincastle Trophy and bragging rights.
In Canada, we had a national competition between the three Argus squadrons (415 in Summerside, 405 in Greenwood, 407 in Comox) known as the O’Brien Cup to see who would be selected to represent Canada. For 415 Squadron, our Crew 5, was chosen as the best. As the other squadrons were in the process of converting to the Aurora, we had the privilege of being the final Argus crew to participate in a Fincastle competition.
Only a few training flights were conducted before we flew to RAF St. Mawgan in England for the competition. On the way there I conducted my “B” category check ride from the routine navigator seat under the watchful eye of our Nav Standards Officer, Maj. Stan Toole. It was a 13 hour flight from Summerside to St. Mawgan and I stayed in the seat the whole time. Two hours out from Summerside, Maj. Toole covered up the Omega position digital readout and I used basic navigational techniques from then on. I took sun shots and calculated triple drift winds to come up with MPPs (most probable positions) which I used to update the Air Navigation and Tactical Control system (ANTAC). Since Loran Alpha reception was very poor that day, it came down to plotting sun lines that initially gave good along-track confirmation and then good cross-track progress checks and finally along-track confirmation again as the sun passed from east to west. Celestial navigation has a five mile probability of error but that is all I had. I attempted to use Console, the old wartime German U-boat positioning system, but it wasn’t accurate enough.
About 100 nautical miles off the Cornwall coast Maj. Toole was monitoring my work very closely and said, “Give the pilots your final track to St. Mawgan”. “Pilot, IDI” (follow the Indicated Direction Indicator) was my standard response. Fifteen minutes later I asked the pilots to home the St. Mawgan beacon. There was no response so I asked again. “I am”, came the reply. The aircraft didn’t change its heading. We passed the St Mawgan beacon within a ¼ NM. That was lucky! - I passed the upgrade.
We were met by a welcoming party in St. Mawgan and handed a pint of warm English beer and a doughy Cornish pastie. I almost puked right there on the ramp. I recovered and over the next 4 days we attended a variety of symposiums, luncheons and cocktail parties. We were all in high spirits and there were a lot of antics. Except for the Kiwis that is. A number of them had come to the end of their obligatory service and wanted to leave the Air Force. Due to a personnel shortage their government had passed a measure to keep them involuntarily in uniform. Additionally, due to severe budget cuts this was going to be the last Fincastle that New Zealand would participate in. We were empathetic with their plight. More importantly we agreed with them and the Aussies that as long as the damn Brits didn’t win, we would be happy whatever the competition outcome.