In days of yore...

[oldmansquipper]

www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/110556 (http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/110556)


Wonderful archive of Coltishall in 61. Well worth viewing.

Sadly, gone are the days of Lightnings, awfully well spoken chaps and berets on the flight line:)

That brake chute was a b*st*rd to pack.. :\

[Wholigan]

Bloody brilliant! Thank you.

Nice to see Vaughan Radford when he was really young! ;)

[Dunky]

Excellent, thanks for posting the link.

[Mystic Greg]

What a wonderful film.

[BOAC]

I'm a bit confused - was that Vaughan collecting the teacups?

[newt]

:ok::ok::ok::ok::ok::ok:
And everyone talking proper English and calling each other 'Sir'
Wonderful!!

[kokpit]

Fantastic, my first base out of training, but not in 1961 I hasten to add! ;)

Thanks for posting, a great find.

[NutLoose]

"And how many Stations will be open this year for the RAF at Home Day?.... Ohhh ONLY 16".....


Have we still got that many?

[C130 Techie]

Thanks. What a great piece of film. Brought back some wonderful memories of my Lightning days on 11 Sqn at Binbrook. Mk3 T5 and Mk6 aircraft then. Am I right in thinking those featured in the film were Mk2/2a?

[November4]

Raising funds by selling programmes, charging for car park and amusements raised £860 in 1960. That's over £15,400 in today's money!

How much were those programmes!

Overall £35,500 was raised in 1960...or £638,000

(That's using the RPI from 1960 to 2010 on Measuring Worth (http://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ppoweruk/))

[Liffy 1M]

Brought back some wonderful memories of my Lightning days on 11 Sqn at Binbrook. Mk3 T5 and Mk6 aircraft then. Am I right in thinking those featured in the film were Mk2/2a?

The ones in the film were Mk.1As (74 Sq.) and I think also some F.1s (e.g. the one early on in the piece with AFDS (Air Fighting Development Squadron) markings.

[Stitchbitch]

Great stuff, glad the 'modern versions' brake para is easy to shove away :ok:
Wonder if we'll be lamenting over the bi'hoon and Conditz as much in years to come?

[lasernigel]

Great movie clip. My first ATC camp was at Coltishall back in "66. :ok:

[Waddo Plumber]

My first Lancaster Royal Grammar School CCF camp was at Colt in 1965. What a wonderful introduction to military flying, especially as we did a day trip to West Raynham to see the Kestrel Tripartite squadron flying.

[Ancient Squipper]

Great clip oldman
Lightnings Hairy-Marys upside down rank badges and a paint job on the bonedome those were the days.
As you said the chute could be a bit of a pig to pack canopy and rigging lines into pack OK but pack into can 10% technique 90% brute force.
Busy days that required a night shift at Wattisham to cope with the number of brake chutes deployed.

[RAFEngO74to09]

Great clip.

Q: "How many stations will be open this year ?" (1961)
A: "This year, only 16" !

[Ancient Squipper]

Hello Stichbitch
Yes chutes like the F4 Phantoms was a piece of wee-wee compared to the Vulcan or Lightning. At Akrotiri in the 70's it was the norm to come into work in the morning and have 20 or more Lightning and 2 or 3 Vulcan chutes from the previous nights flying to service so you always had plenty to do and that was before that days flying started.
Started work at 07-00hrs the secion was airconditioned and kept very cool normal knock off was about 13-00hrs so finish work and into the Cyprus midday sun never had so many sniffles and colds.
Hard life but someone had to do it !!
Must pop into the school at Cosford to have a look at the Tiffy chute. I always try to keep an interest in the trade and yes I am a sad old Git before you say it.

[oldmansquipper]

AS & Stitchbitch (SB - lovely handle BTW)

Frightning BPS with Air con at AKR? - must have been after me then - A tin hut opposite the original Air Movements was the first location for the BPS...No aircon - only the open doors and the Penn club "bad boys" were sent there on punishment detail - The Flt Sgt was ex "Balloon Command" and known as `Tunkhu`. He was obsessed with maintaining a 10% working turnover on Canberra PSPs (of which there were many... and all on a 28 day cycle due to copper contamination issues) - the result was hundreds of PSPs gathering dust on the shelf.

He eventually got tourex of course and common sense prevailed - Dinty Moore our Chief Tech got the system right with about 3 sets on standby...

Happy days.:ok:

[Rather be Gardening]

Fascinating! Best tour of my 21 years was at Coltishall. What were they thinking of to let it go?