Andrew Chaplin wrote:
"Richard Goldsberry" wrote in message
...

"Mitchell Holman" wrote in message
...
That's a tow target.

I believe it is a "Delrin" target drogue. They were made of
Styrofoam and had the radar cross-section of a blonde facial hair.
--
Andrew Chaplin
SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO
(If you're going to e-mail me, you'll have to get "yourfinger." out.)




You just have to remind the gunners that you're towing the drogue, not
pushing it....




Funniest thing happened about 20 years ago at our Proof & Experimental
Establishment at Port Wakefield in South Australia. Well, it was
funny for me, since I wasn't involved.





It seems that a private target towing contractor, in his Learjet, was having
difficulties reeling in what was reported as a 6,000m (could have been feet)
cable that the drogue was attached to. The difficulties ended when
the cable snapped and the larger 'half' was released to resolve it's
personal conflict with gravity.



Port Wakefield is a small community that will one day become the bustling
metropolis that Hooterville had become in the '60s, so a missing tow cable
wouldn't normally cause any grief. Except that on this occasion, the
steel cable fell across a couple of overhead power lines, blacking out
communities from Pt Broughton, Dublin and ironically Lower Light.



The local papers went totally boonta, since the range was never a popular
feature of the landscape anyway, even the major metro papers weighed in,
suggesting that the range be closed or at least re-located further out.




Within a couple of days, the whole thing blew over ...





--

Cheers

Dave Kearton