I actually did get to practice my skill as an air intercept controller twice after graduating from the school We were with the Seventh Fleet and participating in a SEATO naval exercise. The first simulated raid got to take on was inbound. I was given an English De Hhaviland Sea Vixen to control.
I ordered my pilot to fly out on a course to attack the “enemy”. As he went I
updated him with information about where his target was. When he was still almost 50 miles away from the “enemy” he told me “Judy”. That’s a code word that means “I have the target on my own radar and will continue the intercept on my own”. All I had to do was watch and keep tracking in case he lost contact. He didn’t. I had been trained to intercept using an aircraft that had no radar so I was quite impressed with the ability of the Sea Vixen to acquire a target from 40 plus miles away. That impression only lasted until the next day. Then I got to control an American F4 phantom. I told my pilot to turn toward the “enemy and gave him the first report of where his target was. I barely finished that report when he told me “Judy”. He was still over 75 miles away from the target. Needless to say, I was even more impressed.
I never got to control another live intercept.
Wetherhorn 