RCAF Messenger Target

O

Otto V

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
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Location
Sprucedale, Ontario
I don't know if this is the right place to ask about this . . .

My uncle bought this from a surplus store in the late 50's/early 60's, I just came across it today while doing some cleanup. The writing on it says:

RCAF
Messenger Target
Ref 9A/243
Ross-Smith-Co-Ltd. Montreal

It is shaped like a miniature airport wind indicator, the round opening is approx 12" in diameter and it is 30" long. It is made of a nylon like material and the hanging straps are nylon webbing.

Does anyone have any idea what this is???



 
Not likely to be a training target. Too short. Wouldn't be closed at the bottom either. I wonder if it's a message bag that was picked up by way of a balloon. BHAG though.
 
sunray said:
Not likely to be a training target. Too short. Wouldn't be closed at the bottom either. I wonder if it's a message bag that was picked up by way of a balloon. BHAG though.
Click to expand...

Very close. Picked up by slow moving liaison aircraft like the Taylorcraft Auster, L19 Bird Dog and others of the type. The target messenger bag would be attached to a line strung between two poles. This was used for messages and maps too large for carrier pigeons.

I had to set one up during my Junior Leader Course back in the early 80's. They were no longer in use but it was still a task in the curriculum used for candidate assessment purposes.
 
ilike22s said:
Very close. Picked up by slow moving liaison aircraft like the Taylorcraft Auster, L19 Bird Dog and others of the type. The target messenger bag would be attached to a line strung between two poles. This was used for messages and maps too large for carrier pigeons.

I had to set one up during my Junior Leader Course back in the early 80's. They were no longer in use but it was still a task in the curriculum used for candidate assessment purposes.
Click to expand...

Interesting . . . thanks for the reply ilike22s.
 
Like the mail bags you'd see in a western, hung by the tracks and somebody just reaches out and grabs it as the train passes. Though since we're not talking WWI and biplanes, I assume it would be grabbed by an apparatus, and not some fly-boy leaning out over the wing.

So this would be a target in the sense that it's used for training, not that it was shot at.
 
"...So this would be a target in the sense that it's used for training, not that..." Target for collecting the mail.
 
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