115 Locating Battery, Royal Artillery

Thank you, Mike.
Yes I concentrate on dear 115, because I had such an enjoyable time in Menden and here and there with 2 Div! And of course as an NS man I got in so little service elsewhere.
You are right. Next I must search the National Archives.
There will now be a long pause...
Best regards
Locating (another Mike by the way)

Just reporting for duty  ... brought my own gun

Len (Ciphers)

Get your Scaley foot off the Colours!!   

My father was in 94 Observation Regt in late 40s/early 50s, firstly, I think, in Bulford and then in Luneburg. Was that the same as 94 Locating Regt?

Records show
94th Observation Regiment RA – Worcester formally Bristol Barracks Lüneburg renamed 94th Locating Regiment Sep 51 to 1 (BR) Corps Troops Dennis Barracks Münsterlager Dec 51

ciphers wrote:

Just reporting for duty  ... brought my own gun

Len (Ciphers)

You would have a job to slope arms with that old chap... tee hee  

[quote="ciphers"]Just reporting for duty  ... brought my own gun

Len (Ciphers)

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Hmmmm! Good to see one of the early light guns is still around. You'll see the wheels are off the ground and if Ciphers hadn't got a foot on it, it might have floated away..........

Nice to get back on net again after some equipment malfunction, but this Windows 8 was a pain at first. I hadn't seen this old topic before, but when a kindly PSO opened his eyes, after sticking the pin in the roster sheet, I finished up as an Operator Fire Control after six weeks at Tonfanau. Locating was our game, a 3mk.2F radar was the beast we trained on for starters. Very old kit, quite exciting when the blue flashes erupted from antiquated valves & things. The more up-to- date and smaller 3mk.7s beside our monster were reserved for advanced students.

With military logic I was posted to a Light Ack Ack service regt where radar didn't exist at that time and where an OFC was an embarrassment. There was a lone Locating Bty in a far corner our Quebec Bks, Osnabruck, but to transfer me there would have been too logical a move. I can't remember the Loc Bty's No....... something like 148 maybe. They seemed to have an easier existence. No guards or Regt duties from what I recall. As it worked out, though, I reckon the move to LAA did me a favour.

Checking back on this oldish topic, it seems that there is ignorance about how or why a Locating unit operated. My own involvement was brief, "Locating" can probably give more accurate advice, and it's probably changed in 60 years......... Here goes & don't quote me !

If you were on the receiving end mortars were a pain in the bum, but a mortar bomb travelled relatively slowly it could be picked up by radar. By transmitting a beam, the bombs could be picked up as they entered and exited the transmission. With some clever mathematics the trajectory could be traced back to where the opposition were sited on the ground.

That's it simply, how it was in the days of polished brass and smart kit to parade in, and there were more complications. An accurate compass bearing from radar to mortars was essential, so was something to correctly show the relative positions of radar, target & our own guns. A sort of large scale map which the Technical Assistants RA ( TARAs) produced from info gathered by RA Surveyors, brave lads whose life expectation in action was around the time it took to smoke a couple of fags. No sweat ! All this was SOP for indirect fire anyway, and there was no time to hang about when a mortar team could shoot and scoot in minutes. I expect this is as relevant to present day operations as we were to muzzle loaders, red jackets, Zulus and a shilling a day pay.