Station or base?

[airsound]

Wonder if anyone else is as sad as I clearly am. (Rhetorical question, thank you.)

But is anyone else as irritated as I am that the meeja, both broadcast and print, seems unable to recognise that the Royal Air Force resides on ‘stations’, not ‘bases’? And that people, and aircraft, are ‘stationed’ at Much Binding in the Marsh, not ‘based’ there.

If this were not the case, what would we call the staish - can’t call him/her the base, surely? And what about the SWO, which runs off the tongue much better than a BWO? Come to think of it, what would replace the standard phone greeting “Station farm, duty pig speaking....”?

I speak, of course, as a member of the aforetomentioned meeja, and I have tried with various editors of my ken to get them to change their ways, but they don’t seem to care.....

Being also, these days, an ex-RAF old buffer - I wonder, does it still matter?

airsound

[RileyDove]

Airsound - Being an ex as well I don't think anyone cares!

[Zoom]

I agree in general. That said, after an exchange tour I took to using 'base' because I thought I sounded hip and different. I then grew up.

[RileyDove]

Easy test : 'Base Hangar' or 'Station Hangar' ? One definately sounds better!

[FFP]

Does it matter ? No. Not to me. And not to 99.9% of those in I would wager.

Would love to sit around and debate the issue in the Mess, after my hour long lunch, possibly write a letter to the editor of the Torygraph and wait with baited breath at my 9-5 job for a reply.

But off to the desert next week and back out again 6 weeks later. So won't.

No one's around to care, notice or do anything about it anyway :ok:

Will leave it to the ex RAF old buffers's to do :ok:

[Specaircrew]

The correct term is of course 'Station' but it seems more traditional for the junior ranks to use the term 'Camp'. It's not just the media that can't get it right, the average 'playstation generation' JO usually gets it wrong too!

[MajorMadMax]

OK, this one has always bothered me...when did the names change from "RAF Station Blah-blah" to just "RAF Blah-blah?" Use the latter and people just look at you weird, but is it not more correct?

Just wundering...:}

Cheers! M2

[L1A2 discharged]

Main Operating Base, Forward Operating Base

Station used to signify the admin REMFs location.

[Phil_R]

What's more, why are they always in such palpably obscure places? With such aw-what-a-nice-place-for-a-holiday names? Bentley Priory? Church Fenton? Kirton-in-Lindsey?

I presume there is some security or noise-abatement reason that they're always out in the sticks.

Regards,

Phil

[Zoom]

RileyDove
Another test: 'Station bike' or 'Base bike? They both go about the same, IIRC.

[airborne_artist]

I think they put them out in the sticks so they would be harder for the German fifth column to find. Imagine going up to a native Norfolk type and asking where Little Snoring was - he'd know if you were born more than 15 miles away from the minute you opened your mouth, so then he'd shove his pitchfork up your @rse, and march you off to PC Plod.

And you think I'm joking :}

[Wader2]

Main Operating Base, Forward Operating Base

Station used to signify the admin REMFs location.

And of course DOB and then we have FOL as Location.

It is spelt out in AP3002. Sad but true.

[philrigger]

;)
I would think that the term Camp transferred to the RAF from the RFC in 1918. The term Station proberbly came from the Royal Naval Air Station. I have lived and worked on RAF Establishments for just under 60 years and have always used the word 'Camp' as an informal term for an RAF Station. It is not just used by new boys but by all. Some stations have East Camp and West Camp, eg St Athan. It is a convenient administarative label which was in use widely since before WWII. My father, who enlisted in 1935 and served for 36 years always used the term. I have lived in quarters at 'Transit Camps' (Properly known as PTCs Posting Transit Centres) - Croft and Warton. I'm not sure when the term 'Base' came into use but there was a Base Hangar at Lyneham (Britannias) in 1967. I suppose camp means a temporary settlement really.

'We knew how to whinge but we kept it in the NAAFI bar.'

[Spit the Dog]

Thought we had to read SROs not BROs

[Phil_R]

There was a computer game which mistakenly used the American "Wherever AFB" to refer to "Marham RAF" once, which was particularly amusing.

P

[Navaleye]

I won't lose any sleep over this either way, but I'm quite happy having a different naming convention to the Spams. Station works fine for Light and Dark blue. What do the AAC boys call home?

[London Mil]

I get far more annoyed with the media referring to airmen serving (and being killed) in Afghanistan/Iraq as troops or even soldiers. :ugh:

[MajorMadMax]

There was a computer game which mistakenly used the American "Wherever AFB" to refer to "Marham RAF" once, which was particularly amusing.

P

Just a little trivia, but they are only 'AFBs' if they are in the US, outside of the US they are simply 'ABs' (e.g. Ramstein, Bagram, etc); except of course in the UK...

Cheers! M2

[airborne_artist]

What do the AAC boys call home?

A basha, or if in range of enemy arty/bombers, a trench :E

[Green Meat]

Going back to wierd and wonderful station names, Weston Zoyland has to one of my favourites...

[allan907]

airborne Imagine going up to a native Norfolk type and asking where Little Snoring was - he'd know if you were born more than 15 miles away from the minute you opened your mouth, so then he'd shove his pitchfork up your @rse, and march you off to PC Plod.
I think that still applies today:E

[LXGB]

I won't lose any sleep over this either way, but I'm quite happy having a different naming convention to the Spams. Station works fine for Light and Dark blue. What do the AAC boys call home?

"XXXX Station" or "XXXX Airfield" seems to be the norm with the AAC.

Not sure which one is official. If you want to p155 them off, call it RAF XXXX.

The media always do :)

[212man]

"Going back to wierd and wonderful station names, Weston Zoyland has to one of my favourites..."

RNAS **** has to provoke a slight smile too....

Editted to add: I see the software doesn't like that, let's try RNAS Tw@ ! Good job it's closed now..

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

I'm sure it must have been fun training at Husbands Bosworth. We had a Flying Training Command in those days.

[MarkD]

Wait until they're all "Royal Forces Base"s like they are (as CFBs) over here.

[Always a Sapper]

;)
but there was a Base Hangar at Lyneham (Britannias) in 1967.
Right, thats it ..... them 'Pikies' at Brize would have anything not tied down ..... :suspect: Its going back in the morning ....... :E
:hmm: ..... It will fit in a Volvo won't it??? :}

[WPH]

All the senior RN officers in JFH refer to RAF Cott/ Witt as Air Stations - still don't think they can bring themselves round to saying RAF! :)

[airborne_artist]

The Light Blue at Leeming didn't like it when the Dark Blue lodgers referred to Harry Staish as the Station Master :E

[MG]

Two points:
Totally agree; what's wrong with the term station? We've let the media give us Americanisms for too long. It's even worse when serving 'troops' refer to it as a base. That just saddens me.
Which brings me to 'troops' not airmen or aircrew. We are not troops! Endex!:ugh:
Would the media be allowed to get away wityh such ill-prepared jottings if it were about the government or the NHS or something similar? No, of course not because we're easy. get it wrong and nobody's going to worry about putting a rocket up their a:mad: e
Rant over. Time for my cup of tea. Now, where are my tablets? Nurse?!

[buoy15]

Where are you based or where are you stationed ?
Simple really - I'm based at Toyland but presently stationed at Muppetland until they finish digging up and replacing the runway at Toyland - Bolthole !! - but right now, I am camped out in a tent at Fantasyland, because the mess at Muppetland is full:8
Toyland still does my admin and pays my wages - so I am very happy

[diginagain]

What do the AAC boys call home?

Kaserne used to be popular.

[The Helpful Stacker]

troop (trp)
n.
A group or company of people, animals, or things. See Synonyms at band2. See Synonyms at flock1.

1. A group of soldiers.
troops Military units; soldiers.
2. A unit of cavalry, armored vehicles, or artillery in a European army, corresponding to a platoon in the U.S. Army.
3. A unit of at least five Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts under the guidance of an adult leader.
4. A great many; a lot.

Perhaps description 3 is aimed at RAF Regt rather than the RAF as a whole.;)

[Mighty Norman]

Ice Base Kilo? Nah!

[diginagain]

IIRC, wasn't Aldergove known as 'Mud Base Alpha'?

[Roadster280]

I suppose it is a sense of historical perspective.

RAF Weston-on-the-Green can hardly be called a "base". It is most definitely a station. On the other hand, base implies a scale somewhat greater, and BZZ is probably more approaching that. The term "station" is obviously more habitual than base. I hesitate to use the term "traditional", as these things take time to evolve.

I hate to do this :E , but the term station has been around significantly longer than the RAF, as a station is an Army term used to describe a location with multiple units, but smaller than a garrison. Since RAF stations housed multiple Sqns, it was appropriate with the seccession of the RFC from the Army. Same as the term "troops" really.

So for those supporting the term "station" over "base", there's implicit acceptance of "troop" too.

[teeteringhead]

But doesn't a "Base" mean a "Base Commander" rather than a Station Commander - definitely too septic for my tastes.

And would the "Staish" have to be a "Baish"??

[Zoom]

MarkD
Fortunately, since His Majesticness Tony Blair is well and truly on his way out, we might just have avoided the term PFBs - Presidential Forces Bases.

[Wader2]

The Light Blue at Leeming didn't like it when the Dark Blue lodgers referred to Harry Staish as the Station Master :E

Tosh.

At Wittering long ago there was a British Rail "Station Master" sign outside the staish's offic in Ops.

[Razor61]

Just a little trivia, but they are only 'AFBs' if they are in the US, outside of the US they are simply 'ABs' (e.g. Ramstein, Bagram, etc); except of course in the UK...
Cheers! M2

Or 'field'.
Overheard a buff pilot say he was 'inbound to Fairford field' once...

[FormerFlake]

When reffering to a collective of RAF flying Stns, I tend to call them airfileds. Is that correct, or have I watched the Battle of Britain film too many times?

[Wycombe]

A bit off-topic, but not entirely, as my rant relates to another word used by the media.

Whilst watching the sad events at ISK on BBC News 24 yesterday (which on the whole I think they covered in the spirit in which it needed to be, not jumping away half-way through like Sky), I was struck by how many times the word "plane" was used, when "aircraft" or "aeroplane" would have sounded so much better.

A "plane" is what you use to make wood smooth, for cripes sake :mad:

[teeteringhead]

Oh how I agree Wycombe :D

On day one in the RAF I was told two things never to say:

1. "Plane" other than as a tool for smoothing wood

AND

2. "RAFF" (to rhyme with caff) rather than R A F

..... think I've complied all these years too.....

[spectre150]

RAF Weston-on-the-Green can hardly be called a "base". It is most definitely a station.

WOTG is hardly a station either. It doesnt not have a Station Commander and there are no full time units 'based' there. All activity that I am aware of is parented by Brize (military parachuting and adventure trg).

[Cumbrian Fell]

Correct me if I am worng, but I understood that stations were named by the promximity of the officers' mess to the local post-office. Clearly for satellite and shadow airfields this became problematic.

[buoy15]

FormerFlake
The call is still "Field in sight" with Air Tragic, during visual procedures
Aerodrome is still ocassionally used and a group of them could be called a 'clutch' as in Germany, pre Cold War days - though the term now is usually MATZ, as with ISK and Lossie combined

[pr00ne]

So why isn't Base hangar at RAF Brize Norton called "Station hangar" then?

The RAF did officially use the term base during WW2. From around 1943 onwards the various Groups within Bomber Command formed a unit known as a Base. This was a group of airfields commanded by an Air Commodore, the individual airfields being still commanded by Group Captains. An example was No.54 Base which consisted of RAF Stations Coningsby, Woodhall Spa and Metheringham.
All Bomber Command stations were so grouped. The guy in charge was known as the "Base Commander"

[Not_a_boffin]

Clearly, the sensible option is to give them ships names as God intended..............

HMS Daedalus for Cott anyone??

[Navaleye]

Boff,

Since the RN likes to name its air stations after birds wouldn't "HMS Harrier" be more appropriate?

[The Helpful Stacker]

Clearly, the sensible option is to give them ships names as God intended..............

HMS Daedalus for Cott anyone??

What is sensible about naming a land-locked piece of real estate after a ship?:ugh:

Stick with rum, buggery and the lash sailor boy.;)

[Not_a_boffin]

Because we've got loads of spare names at the minute and nowhere to put 'em!! Concur with Navaleye - HMS Harrier it should be!

[The Helpful Stacker]

http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/images/hmsharriermpl2593.jpg
HMS Harrier.

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

My simple understanding was that aircraft are based and people are stationed. It gets very silly when the Press, bless 'em refer to "Army Bases". The concept of a Base must be totally devalued since the Westo Press/Other Media began referring to the "MoD Base at Abbey Wood". These people are serious, too.

[Pontius Navigator]

What class is HMS Harrier there?

[Climebear]

What class is HMS Harrier there?

She'll be a Halcyon Class Minesweeper - remarkable what a Google search can do.

Details here (http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/halcyon_class.htm)

[The Helpful Stacker]

Perhaps we could re-name the through deck cruisers (there are no carriers in the RN) as RAF bases, after all the a/c that operate off them are ours mainly.

'RAF Grey Funnel Island' and 'RAF We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat' should do.

[Comp Charlie]

FOr those of you that remember RAF Ascension Island.

Not any more. For apporox the past 3? years, Asi is officially:

Ascension Island Base (AIB)

The Station Commander is known officially as the 'Base Commander' (currently a Sqn Ldr Nav) and the SWO is the BWO (and is a Warrant Officer Mover).

No harm done. Not worth getting a hard-on about really is it?

Or is it?

CC

[evilroy]

Well, in Oz we're the same - but different.

RAAF establishments used to be called stations, but from the 70s they became bases: RAAF Base Pearce, RAAF Base Richmond, etc - though it was normally just abbreviated to RAAF Williamtown, etc. I think (believe it or not) it had something to do with the postal address, which would be, for example:

SATC
RAAF Base
EAST SALE VIC 3852

The Navy, on the other hand, still use station. NAS NOWRA is of course Naval Air Station.

[Blacksheep]

I only ever remember being stationed anywhere, although I was occasionally detached to another unit and often staggered back to camp from the local hostelry. I reported to Station HQ on arrival and departure, invariably passing a sign that said 'RAF Station XXXX' on the way in and out, while desperately trying to avoid the Station Warrant Officer.

The RN do tend to go in for Bases - Portsmouth for example - but maybe the matelots think its a ship? The Naval Base in Singapore was HMS Terror but it never managed to frighten anybody as it was firmly fixed to the island. The Navy certainly thought that RAF Station Brawdy was afloat and insisted it was HMS Goldcrest or something. I remember having a devil of a time persuading their regulating office to let us go ashore. In the end we had to swim for it...

[Toxteth O'Grady]

The RN do tend to go in for Bases - Portsmouth for example - but maybe the matelots think its a ship? The Naval Base in Singapore was HMS Terror but it never managed to frighten anybody as it was firmly fixed to the island.

Not quite correct. When the RN used to have overseas Fleets and bases, a station was a geographical region in which a particular Fleet was deployed and based. So for example HMS Terror was the Flag HQ of the Far East Station and the home base of the Far East Fleet. Other RN Stations were Home, West Indies, Mediterranean and South Atlantic.

:cool:

TOG

[Blacksheep]

Ah the Far East Station! Beware the 'Singapore Grip' my boy.

Got me in its grip, so it has. Sembawang (http://www.sembawangmemories.per.sg/newphotos.htm) has changed a lot, but 'The Nelson' is still open for business.

Still has some of its old barmaids too... :ugh:

BS was born on the South Atlantic Station - in 1946, Leading Signaller BS Snr. was drafted to HMS Afrikander at Simonstown as a reward for his travails in the Arctic and North Atlantic during the last spot of bother with Germany.

[evilroy]

Ah, The Wang. We had a GD aboard during an 'Up Top' trip on the Fluffy Duck. Nice guy, but he had the sexiest voice in pussers. Wakey-wakey would be quite nice until you realised the voice belonged to a bloke.

During his visit to the Wang, Mamma-san wanted him to jump ship and come work for her! As a beanie, no doubt.

"I make you big money!"

[Gerry Mobbs]

Easy test : 'Base Hangar' or 'Station Hangar' ? One definately sounds better!
Or even "Base flight" or "Station flight":)