RAF Magazine

[Pontius Navigator]

Do you have a copy of THE RAF Magazine? If you do, hang on to it. It will be the last.

Who knows it may be valuable some day. Maybe on eBay already :)

[L-H]

Are we talking about that horrid glossy thing. If so, Hurrah! couldn't give them away to my cadets it was that cheesy.

[Ewan Whosearmy]

L-H

It was more cheesy than it had to be because every article had to be approved by the RAF before it went to print.

Such is the archaic mentality of the RAF's monkeys at Corporate Comms that only they could put a tender out for an official magazine, award it to a company with no background in aviation publishing, and then vet the content with such stifling vigour that the publisher decides it can no longer continue. Nice one.

[L-H]

And why does that not surprise me! Wannabe corporate chimps with no idea, monkies the lot of them.

Now if you gave a free range to the publishers of 'Aeroplane Monthly' or 'Flypast/Air Forces Monthly' you might have something worth reading and more objective............................yeah rrrrrrrrrright:}

[Ewan Whosearmy]

LH

Whether you like, hate or are indifferent to the magazines out there already (like the ones you mention), they are probably one of the only sources that your cadets can go to every month and learn something from. Besides, there are one or two excellent publications out there, even if you didn't actually list any of them! As for objectivity, it'll be a cold day in hell...

Had the RAF really wanted a magazine that would have stood a chance, it should have eased-off on the vetting/propoganda and selected a publisher that had a background in aviation.

[pr00ne]

Anyone remember the old Royal Air Force Flying Review magazine? Went on to become Flying Review International then morphed into something else. For many MANY years it was a mix of topical stuff, historical, aviation and RAF related articles and even had a letters page where you could query QRrs etc.
It didn't toe any particular party line and even queried official policy on occasion.

Or the old annual RAF Battle of Britain yearbook? That was always an excellent largely in house publication until the current bunch of spotter types got hold of it and ruined it.

[Pontius Navigator]

To answer the first question, yup, that's the one.

To answer a second, no, I didn't buy it, or read it, I passed my complementary copy on to a 10 year old nephew.

And the third question? Who is behind that other 'adult' (but not the FHM) magazine about ethos with a name that escapes me? Seems like the old air clues 'interest' articles on steroids.

I said when they binned Air Clues that there were wrong an 'lo. we get a whole raft of publications trying to fill a previously non-existent gap.

Just cause it were old don't mean it don't work. Look at the Herc :)

[Talking Radalt]

THE RAF Magazine?

Is that the "official magazine of the Royal Air Force" with the "Content does not reflect official MOD policy" disclaimer in the editorial? :rolleyes:

[Talk Wrench]

I bought the latest copy from a reputable high street retailer. After the first few pages I realised that I had purchased the most flimsy "The RAF is not in a bad state of affairs" propaganda ever published. At least Soldier magazine ( available from same retailer), despite its DPM tendencies is objective and relevant. Why can't the RAF do the same?


Talk Wrench

[Pontius Navigator]

YOU BOUGHT IT

when Pprune is free?

[VigilantPilot]

Yep, what a load of flimsy tosh it was. Looked like it was aimed at pre-schoolers.

Isn't the new free one called 'Spirit of the Air' or something. I'm not saying its content is bad, but considering we get boxes full of it at work, it depresses me to think the RAF dwindles its budget on this when there are more important things to spend the already strapped budget on.

[Talk Wrench]

It was a GROSS misjudgement on my part and I am guilty of spending my own cash on rubbish, but the budgie loved sh*****g on it.

I am a Pprune convert. Why didn't I know about this place before????????

Ignorance is in no way a defence.


Talk Wrench

[BEagle]

Yes - RAF Flying Review was eagerly read by little lads in short grey flannels like me.

I have 2 copies left, one from July 1953 and one from February 1954. Each cost 1/- and had 48 pages...

July 1953:

'Out of the postbag' - various readers' queries
'I flew the V1 by Hanna Reitsch'
'Atom Bomber?' - William Green tells the full story behind the famous Avro Vulcan
'I jump for fun - Phyl Weir, Britain's only girl parachutist'
'First Jet Flight by Sir Frank Whittle'
'Flying a helicopter' - Dragonfly helicopter operations in Malaya
'Off Parade' - cartoons
'In the Air' - all the latest developments (XF-102, F7U Cutlass, Javelin, AAR Meteor, Mystere IV etc etc)
'Coronation Salute' - the full story of the flypast at Odiham which involved 600 aircraft flying from 40 aerodromes across the UK...
'Sgt Sly beats the Reds' - an E&E story about an RAAF Mustang pilot in Korea
'Win a Free Air Trip to France' competition
'News Digest' - various topical stories plus the odd 'grip and grin' photo.
'Girl of the Month' - a pin up of Debbie Reynolds in a bathing suit.
Plus several pages of classified adverts.

No turgid 'Air Power' propaganda or PR-polished crap. Just stuff which would appeal to all servicemen across the globe.

I wouldn't part with the magazines for £10000 in cash. Each!

[brakedwell]

'Girl of the Month' - a pin up of Debbie Reynolds in a bathing suit.

I wouldn't part with the magazines for £10000 in cash. Each!

BEagle - How much for just Debbie Reynolds?

[LAI]

Believe it or not, I saw a few copies of said magazine in a newsagents in the US in the summer! :D

[Tim McLelland]

The irony is that I said on a thread somewhere (might have been Warplane) just a month ago, that the RAF Magazine would probably not last much longer. Nobody liked it and it was difficult to work-out who it was supposed to appeal to.
Does anyone know what the precise reason is for the termination of the project? Is it really a squabble between the publisher and the RAF PR "vetters" (which seems a bit unlikely as they've never caused me so much as a millisecond of grief in over twenty years) or is it peraps just the publisher not having any real clue about what to do with the magazine?
I guess it's no loss but a shame nonetheless. I assume the exciting new partwork will be coming out soon. Wonder if we'll get a cuddly Typhoon stuck to the cover?

[clicker]

I assume the exciting new partwork will be coming out soon. Wonder if we'll get a cuddly Typhoon stuck to the cover?

At 99p for the the first part and 4.99 for the other parts (number unknown as costs rising).

[JT Eagle]

Hey Tim,
Remember the part when you were shown the new magazine about it being in confidence?
Obviously not.

JT

[Ewan Whosearmy]

JT Eagle

Yeah, I had heard that it was all supposed to be super-secret. Ooops, Tim!

[airborne_artist]

I have 2 copies left, one from July 1953 and one from February 1954. Each cost 1/- and had 48 pages...

BEagle - sounds like a perfect Pprune project - could you scan these - and then I could host them, having put them into PDF format like this (http://www.hrmconsultancy.net/pprune/AP129.pdf) copy of an article about snatching gliders?

[Pontius Navigator]

It was decided to cease publication of the magazine as 'a business decision between the publisher and the RAF'.

This rather suggests, as hinted above, that it was not making money and had no market. But also that the RAF had more than editorial oversight. If it was only oversight then they could have had no influence to bear on whether it continued or not.

As it was a joint decision this rather looks as if the RAF a) subed it or b) refused to sub it.:eek:

[Tim McLelland]

Hmm, all very sad really, still, it prompted me to *gulp* actually buy the latest edition just for amusement. Having looked at it more thoroughly, it's easy to see why it's being wrapped-up! If the editorial style and quality wasn't bad enough, you have to marvel at a two-page photograph of, er... clouds!:)