Angel One

[Intensity Angel]

I've always been baffled by this, how an earth does the pilot for Angel One get into her craft. The elevators in the Amber Room lead up to Angels Two and Three, so what goes on where Angel One is concerned? I've given myself headaches over the matter.

[Marion]

The 1967 annual shows a line drawing of the 'launch tube' which reveals that it splits into three individual branches to the three planes as it passes through what would be the hangar deck (I imagine).
The accompanying text says:
When the order for 'Launch Angels Two and Three' is given, the girls take up their positions in their seats behind a sliding glass-panelled door. The seats are then raised up a glass shute and carry the pilots to the interior of their planes ready for take off.
Angel One is already manned, so I suppose there is a switch over mechanism that takes the seat to that part of the deck when they're changing over.
Alternatively, perhaps they just walk up the stairs?

[Intensity Angel]

Would seem a logical conclusion, they could've at least shown us in the series, at least once, an angel going into Angel One.

[Ochrefan21]

I often wonder if all of the angels are supposed to take turns in leading the squad.

I think Symphony leads them in Flight To Atlantica, Place Of The Angels and The Launching.

Also in Attack on Cloudbase when Scarlet takes off in the angel interceptor, there are 3 interceptors on the flight deck yet Lieutenant Green gives the command "Scarlet one , immediate launch"!
Yet Colonel White gives the command "Launch angel two"!

[hazel]

I haven't checked through each episode, but I do know that Angel 1 does vary. That makes sense - they are all equally capable, and they have a demanding job, so rotating the shifts, with each Angel taking her turn at position 1, 2 and 3 is a good use of resources.

Mind you, it does stretch credulity somewhat to think that the five of them are sufficient to cover aerial defence on a 24-hour basis. There must be other Angels that we never saw onscreen. Same with the captains - even bearing in mind that Black, Brown and Indigo were all removed from active duty by the Mysterons, 8 colour captains seems a rather small number for an organisation with a world-wide remit.

This is one of the beauties of fan fiction, of course. As long as it doesn't violate canon or usurp the canon characters, you can introduce new characters, or invent working practices, to your heart's content.

[Marion]

I did that in one of my stories 'Natural Selection'. I had 6 Angels originally, but 'Modesty' dropped out - for 'personal reasons'.
Trying to work out a rota that covers what little we know about their working patterns is a nightmare. I've tried.

That said, I think 'Angel 1' - or Scarlet 1 for that matter - merely refers to the plane and the pilot on duty in it.

[Scarlet Lady]

That said, I think 'Angel 1' - or Scarlet 1 for that matter - merely refers to the plane and the pilot on duty in it.

I agree with you, Marion. I'd also say that it's the plane that's being referred to here and not the pilot. As for "Scarlet One"... well, you have to remember that the only time that Captain Scarlet took a turn in an Angel jet was during a dream...

[Marion]

I think it would have caused some confusion if they'd used Angel 1 - or 2 or 3, for that matter - when Scarlet was about to launch in an Angel interceptor.

Besides, as I have already suggested, there is a fundamental barrier to any of the Captains being Angels...

Captain Black circulated round the room, answering questions from the various men, and as he approached, Blue hailed him, requesting further information about the Interceptor and asking how soon they would get to use the equipment.
“The Angel Interceptors will not be available to the officers, Blue,” Captain Black explained rather stiffly. “They will be reserved for the Angel pilots’ squad.”
“Then I volunteer to be one of them,” Blue said quickly.
“That might be difficult – and you might come to regret volunteering…” Black said, smothering a smile. “You see, the Angel pilots are all female…”
“Female!”
Scarlet sniggered. “I think he wants to retract his previous offer to volunteer,” he said, as Black lost his battle to keep a straight face.

(Natural Selection)

[Scarlet Lady]

Yes and I have a pretty good idea why they are all female too, although this might have been discussed before.

Women tend to be (on average) smaller than men, with a slighter frame - this is why men and women don't compete against one another in (to my knowledge, though I didn't watch every event) the Olympics. Would I be right in thinking that perhaps the Angel pilots are all young, slender women for this reason?

[chrisbishop]

It could be that the cockpit is built for a smaller frame, lighter frame, then? Would that make the Angels faster?

Not to say that a man wouldn't fit in there... It might find it a bit... cramped... So they might not like 'Angel duty' that much (Talking about our colour-coded Captains, who are all, or near all, six-footers...)

[Scarlet Lady]

So they might not like 'Angel duty' that much (Talking about our colour-coded Captains, who are all, or near all, six-footers...)

To say nothing of being broad and muscular! Cramped could easily be an understatement!

[Marion]

I suppose making the cockpits smaller than usual could be one of the adaptations to the Viper jet that make it an Angel interceptor, but I think it is said somewhere that - probably in the programme 'legend' rather than 'canon' *- that the Angels were all female as it wasn't usual in the 1960s for women to fly planes, especially not military ones, and this was a bold 'equality of the sexes' statement by the producers.

From what you see of the Angels in the cockpits during the show it doesn't look to me as if they're that small - even for the standard small-boned, size 0 females who fly them. I think that they'd have to be 'unisex' size as it's unlikely that even the Powers That Be would not be able to imagine a situation or a time when a male might have to fly one.

I don't know if the specs for being a fighter pilot mean that a chap has to be pocket-sized so as not to be squashed in the cockpit? Blue was a test pilot before he joined Spectrum and he's the tallest and heaviest of the captains at 6 foot 3 and 196 pounds, so presumably he could fit in a standard cockpit?

* It certainly crops up in the first of the 'audio adventures' when White explains to the somewhat bemused military top brass that the Angels are all female pilots.

[Intensity Angel]

I now own the 1967 annual, brought it at a books fair in my hometown and the diagrams make it very clear to understand now. The annual is a worthwhile read too, well worth what I paid for it plus more!

[Scarlet Lady]

The books that I have are more than worth their weight in gold too, Intensity. Nice to have you back,, by the way!

[Intensity Angel]

Thanks. "It's great to be back"