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military aviation Military aviation comprises military aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling aerial warfare, including national airlift (air cargo) capacity to provide logistical supply to forces stationed in a war thea ...
, scrambling is the act of quickly mobilising
military aircraft A military aircraft is any fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft that is operated by a legal or insurrectionary armed service of any type. Military aircraft can be either combat or non-combat: * Combat aircraft are designed to destroy enemy equi ...
. Scrambling can be in reaction to an immediate threat, usually to intercept hostile aircraft.


Battle of Britain

The term was used during the Battle of Britain, when
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) a ...
pilots and their fighters were readied and available to fly. Detection and monitoring of enemy aircraft, e.g. by the
Chain Home Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal Early Warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. Initially known as RDF, and given the ...
radar stations, would feed into the
RAF Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War. It earned near-immortal fame during the Battle of Britai ...
's
Dowding system The Dowding system was the world's first wide-area ground-controlled interception network, controlling the airspace across the United Kingdom from northern Scotland to the southern coast of England. It used a widespread dedicated land-line te ...
for control and management of the defenses. Once a decision had been made to intercept the enemy formation a telephone call would be made to the chosen
fighter squadron A squadron in air force, army aviation, or naval aviation is a unit comprising a number of military aircraft and their aircrews, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depend ...
's airfield, and those air crews available would be scrambled. The scramble order was communicated to alert pilots waiting by their aircraft by the loud ringing of a bell. Every minute lost before takeoff would be advantageous to the enemy, as it could allow a pilot to gain extra height above the advancing plane formations.https://naz.hedbergandson.com/whats-the-meaning-of-banditry Information passed to the scrambling fighters included location and height: "Angels" with a number was used to describe height of aircraft, such as "
Angels One Five ''Angels One Five'' is a 1952 British war film directed by George More O'Ferrall and starring Jack Hawkins, Michael Denison, Dulcie Gray, John Gregson, Cyril Raymond and Veronica Hurst. Based on the book ''What Are Your Angels Now?'' by Pelham ...
" for aircraft approaching at , and a rough estimate of numbers. Unidentified aircraft were known as '' bogeys'', and known enemy ones were called ''
bandits Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, and murder, either as ...
''.


Cold War

During the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
, many
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
air forces had crews stationed in Europe on alert and scrambled whenever their
airspace Airspace is the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere. It is not the same as aerospace, which is the ...
was penetrated. The rudimentary bell-ringing communication was eventually replaced by electronic radio communication methods. However, many fighter squadrons into the current era would keep a bell at their squadron bar in legacy to the Battle of Britain roots. A common tradition was that anyone at the bar who rang the bell would be required to buy a round of drinks for all present. Both
interceptors An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are cap ...
and nuclear
bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an aircraf ...
forces were kept on "
Quick Reaction Alert Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) is state of readiness and ''modus operandi'' of air defence maintained at all hours of the day by NATO air forces. The United States usually refers to Quick Reaction Alert as 'Airspace Control Alert'. Some non-NATO co ...
" (QRA). Crews were kept close to or in their aircraft, which were expected to be able to take off within a short period, such as 15 minutes, in less-than-normal situations. It could be only two minutes at times of heightened tension between the opposing powers.


See also

* Combat readiness * Minimum Interval Takeoff *
Interceptor aircraft An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are cap ...
* Ground-controlled interception *
Glossary of RAF code names Code words used by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War: *Angels – height in thousands of feet. *Bandit – identified enemy aircraft. *Bogey – unidentified (possibly unfriendly) aircraft. *Buster – radio-telephony code phrase fo ...


References

{{Reflist


External links


Air Ministry "Scramble" Bell
Aerial warfare Battle of Britain