As a kid in Coningsby early 70s during summer hols. Mornings we'd have access to the gym where the PTIs were more than happy to run games & sports for us and coach athletics out on the running track. PTIs also taught us to canoe on the gravel pits at Tattershall. In the afternoon we'd cycle en masse to Woodhall Spa to go swimming. Coningsby to Woodhall Spa, if memory serves, is about four miles, along country roads, and we thought nothing of cycling it. About the only traffic we'd encounter was a hulking great truck with a Rolls Royce Spey on board being transported from Coningsby to the engine bay at Woodhall. Even at the height of summer the water'd be b****y freezing! On Sundays there'd be a bus to take us to Cranwell for an afternoon swimming.
If we got bored with all that there was always the crash gates for some serious spotting. Whenever I smell jet exhaust I'm transported back to those days. The gates near Haynes pig farm were so close to the taxi way that a couple of seconds after an F4 passed a great waft of warm exhaust washed over us. To those of you flying these days never under estimate (as if you would) the pleasure a bunch of snotty kids get when they receive a nice friendly wave from the crew as they pass. As life goes on I now realise crews probably have much more to concentrate on then waving to the crowds, which makes the memories all the more special. Downside? The couple of occasions when a crew didn't make it back, and a couple of kids left the class in Coningsby Junior School soon after.
Probably doesn't compete with most of the memories already posted on this thread, but mine nonetheless. As I look back I see that life for a kid in the air force in those days was actually rather idyllic, and bumps the thread back to top!
Best for 2013 to one and all.