Sorry that went in twice - bit quick with the trigger finger!

Posted by James Briggs on October 23, 2003

In Reply to: Sorry that went in twice - bit quick with the trigger finger! posted by Lotg on October 23, 2003

: : The passage from my book reads: "They'd (the fighter jets) been scrambled too early and spent ninety minutes circling, waiting for the target."

: : Why scrambling? Why are people in war movies always scrambled to get in their planes or whatever?

This comes from the Battle of Britain in 1940. When British fighter pilots were on call and waiting for a message to take off to intecept Nazi planes they sat around their Mess smoking, chatting, etc. When the call came, they rushed off and scrambled into their already waiting planes and took off as fast as they could.