Flying the A4 Skyhawk with the Royal Australian Navy — Part 3

Guest column by Peter (‘Purps’) Greenfield

The days went by with lots of Combat Air Patrol (CAP) sorties out in the middle of the Tasman Sea. On one of them the controller requested my fuel state and I gave the reply “Lamb”, meaning that I could stay on station until Charlie (landing) time, but did not have sufficient fuel to accept trade. About five minutes later, I was advised that the tanker was being launched and I was to saunter, vector 225, meaning, turn onto heading 225 degrees and cruise at…