Interesting feature that radar as in the early days when fitted with the Firestreak Missile which was heat seeking the pilot had to make a stern attack and often these were practiced at night over the sea at 500ft, so the pilot had to keep the AI in search mode and view the radar through the rubber boot visor, operate the radar controls with his left hand whilst at the same time fly with his right.
He would then have to employ mental mathematics to work out a targets heading and height and how to position his a/c to the rear of the target he was going to intercept.
One pilot who was doing this then looked up for a visual on the target that he manoeuvred behind and to his horror saw that the stars were below him and the fishing boats were above. He managed to roll the Lightning back and thereafter all training flights at low level at night had to be undertaken at 1,000ft.
The failure rate for pilots on the OCU was quite high due to the amount of workload involved.
Of course Peter can maybe give more details about the Lightning as he was instructor on the simulator, bet he could tell a few stories on that subject.
So Dave, next time try the above low level at night, let us know how you get on!!!!
Regards
Nigel.
I used to be an optimist but with age I am now a grumpy old pessimist.