10 Sqn to go with a whimper.......

[Hangin' on]

The hot rumour at Brize is that when 10 Sqn is disbanded and is finally merged with 101, the current incumbent has decided not to bother with all that annoying ancient history stuff and will slink off with a little parade to keep the stewards and loadies nice and tidy, together with 'maybe a dining in night in the officers mess'.........shurely shome mishtake? :rolleyes:

[rivetjoint]

Well none of their aircraft will be at Brize then will they?

[Engineer]

Excellent idea and I hope the tax payer does not have to contribute towards the dining out night. :O

[BEagle]

Well I'm sure that the good OC10 will do whatever he can feasibly manage to ensure that the disbandment of 10 and the merger with 101 are marked in a fitting manner.

Somehow I can't really see 10 'slinking off' anywhere.....

[Hangin' on]

Actually, we all had a very good relationship with the Grenges etc. so I would hope they would be recognized too. (Obviously you weren't one of them "Engineer").:ouch:

[goldcup]

Not true at all- all the work done by all ranks throughout the Sqn towards the 90th Anniversary celebrations has now been focused on the impending disbandment parties/parades etc.

Whilst there will, obviously, be a Dining In night, the ethos of 10 Sqn is that VC10 AT is a team game- we can't do it without loadies and stewards- so there will be team parties. Indeed, there have already been such affairs since the current OC10 took over. The Laying Up of the Sqn Standard will be preceeded by a church parade- for all Sqn personnel.

Have to agree with BEagle- the likelihood of the current incumbent doing anything with a whimper is fairly remote. Why don't you ask any of the people on 10, 101 or on the 10/101 Engineering side of the house if they're looking forward to working as part of his team? I think I know what the answer would be....

[Roguedent]

My bet is now that great new bloke is in charge of Iran, and the army are off to Afgan 10 will be working when the squadron goes. Guess we will have to ground the fleet for a few days to have a HUGE P-A-R-T-Y!!!

oh and the 90th stuff will be good too!!

[Always_broken_in_wilts]

"Whilst there will, obviously, be a Dining In night, the ethos of 10 Sqn is that VC10 AT is a team game- we can't do it without loadies and stewards- so there will be team parties."

Gosh, team parties, that sounds great and not in the least bit patronising, sure your baldricks will appreciate the effort...........and where do the Eng's fit into this.......glad Albert is not so Anal:rolleyes:

all spelling mistakes are "df" alcohol induced

[KPax]

You could have a 'Squadron Dining in Night' 'all ranks'. But then again that wouldn't be cricket would it. If you are such a 'Team' then disband as a team.

[Tonkenna]

Gosh, team parties, that sounds great and not in the least bit patronising, sure your baldricks will appreciate the effort...........and where do the Eng's fit into this.......glad Albert is not so Anal

The word "Team" is not at all patronising. As you well know there are Officer only Sqn night and Stn nights at all RAF bases... its just the way of things. Most Sqns also have all ranks parties, and our lot have ORs parties as well to which we don't get invited. I have no problem with any of that. So I am not sure what your point is.

As to the "where do the eng's fit into this" well at the moment we have no eng's (and by that I assume you mean ground Eng's) on the Sqn. The whole point is we will all become one big and, I have NO DOUBT, happy 101 Sqn.

Albert... not anal... ummmmmmm:8

I am sure 10 Sqn will go out in grand style and everyone will have a good time.

Tonks

[ORAC]

Parties? Dining-In nights?

Why not just give everyone a white box..... :}

[goldcup]

a_b_i_w

So you're glad albert isn't so "anal." 2 tours at Brize- haven't noticed a great deal of anal-ness (anal-ity? anal-ousity?- someone phone ISS for the correct word).

The "baldricks" are some of the guys doing the most work for the parties. Including the all ranks dining in night. Unfortunately this will NOT be including the 10/101 Engineers- because they are, at present, a separate entity. Thats one of the points of just having one squadron- the ground engineers will be part of it.

But then you'd know all about what the plans are, wouldn't you, being such an instant expert on everything. :hmm:

[Jackonicko]

With 16 jets I don't see why at least two numberplates could not have been saved, with OC A and OC B becoming OC 10 and OC 101. Perhaps even three.....

You could centrally service, and go the French way, painting 10's markings on one side of the fin and 101's on the other.

[Safety_Helmut]

Isn't that also the way of the Sentry, one day all one Sqn, the next day, divvied into two, hey presto, more jobs for the boys !

Safety_Helmut

[moggiee]

I'm with Tonkenna - my recollection of 10 Sqn is one of teamwork - I always regarded the whole crew as my team mates and my equals.

The fact that I outranked 50% of the average crew meant nothing because they were all professionals in their own right and their own fields.

[Kolibear]

Combine the two Squadrons and called the result Treble-One.

[Art Field]

Jackonicko, the point of making it one squadron is to move away from the centralised servicing situation back to the groundcrew being full members of a squadron with all the benefits it brings. Difficult to argue for on beancounting terms but experience shows its value many times over, loyalty and a strong sense of belonging means a happier and more efficient outfit (and there is nothing wrong with people being happy in their work). Just read the Lyneham thread for the opposite view.

[Jackonicko]

I'll bet that the groundcrew and aircrew will be divided in some way - by Flight or shift, or with embedded training flights, or whatever.

All would still be members of the unit commanded by the Wing Commander which under present plans will be known as No.101 Squadron, but which might instead be called No.1 (Tanker) Wing while A Flight aircrew and Shift 1 could also be No.10 Squadron, and the remainder could be known as No.101 Squadron.

This would keep two historic numberplates alive. If that doesn't matter, then why bother with traditional Squadrons at all, and why not just lump everyone into something called the 'Brize Norton VC10 unit'?

With 16 aircraft, the new unit will be twice as big as the TriStar squadron at Brize, and more than three times bigger than the C-17 unit.

[ZH875]

With 16 aircraft, the new unit will be twice as big as the TriStar squadron at Brize, and more than three times bigger than the C-17 unit.

And half as big again as the Red Arrows, who have almost a whole station to themselves, so why not give the Reds a Squadron(R) number.

[sprucemoose]

Alright Jacko, glad to see you're living and breathing after a week stuck in a French portacabin.
Sorry, but the argument against the amalgamation of 10 and 101 smacks of the same "Bah, tradition" attitude that we normally get from the former-army types.
I haven't been to BZZ for a couple of years, but the last time I was there they were very much operating as a joint 10/101 Sqn, which on talking to the crews seemed a little bit awkward. I'm sure not everyone will be happy about the passing of 10, but whatever rivalry there is between the units, I'm sure they like each other more deep down than they do 216 and 99.
And as for the squadron being too big for one CO, there is a unit very close to you flying dark green beasts with 22 aircraft to look after, and he seems quite happy with his lot.
Moose ;)

[safetybob]

Just so I know who we're slagging off, would the current OC10 be a lanky scouse git by any chance.

[BEagle]

By that slander, do you mean a tall chap who hails from somewhere in the north-west of the UK?

Jacko, the VC10 world has never had 'A' flight and 'B' flight aircrew. Once upon a time the 'constituted crew' principle was tried and subsequently binned. For whatever reason, it simply wasn't needed. Although it did have its merits......at times.

The principle benfit of the merger, to my mind, is that the gingerbeers will be back with the aircrew on a real squadron, 10101, binary 21, call it what you will - it will be a genuine squadron and not some beancounter's artificiality.

One wonders whether the unlamented Thrombo and Kelvin Rucksack will be sent invitations to the first 101 Sqn "WE TOLD YOU SO!!" party?

[safetybob]

Now that is slander. I'm from the Northwest and am most certainly not a scouse git!

Just checking that we're talking about the same bloke (an ex colleague many years ago)