57 squadron photo (1960s?)

[mmitch]

Spotted this post with a group photo.
57 Squadron Marham | Talk Photography (http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/57-squadron-marham.547764/)
Does it stir any 'tankie' memories?
mmitch.

[Whopity]

I note the engine blank says TTF, Tanker Training Flight not 57Sqn. Is this a TTF Course photo?

[pontifex]

Looking at the number of aircrew it surely aint a squadron.

[NRU74]

I'd guess the photo of the aircrew and groundcrew of the Tanker Training Flight is c 1966-only about half of those instructors on the front row were still there when I went through the course in late '67
At the time (for the aircrew) the Victor Ground School was still at Finningley, this was followed (at Marham) by a really tedious 2 week course on how Pods and HDUs worked, followed by conversion on to the Victor B(K)1A
The term TTF was a misnomer as neither Tanking nor Receiving was taught on the Course. The aircraft had no Mk 20B pods,no HDU and had Bomb Doors and one bomb bay tank.
The Tanking/Receiving was taught on the squadron.

Mmitch - I suspect your late father in law was moved from TTF to 57 as more ex-bombers were converted to Tankers as they built up the 3 squadrons. I think 57 had, eventually 8 aircraft, consisting of 6 K1A and 2 K1's

[mmitch]

Sorry, nothing to do with my family. I just spotted it elsewhere and posted the link. Maybe somebody will recognise their (much) younger selves!
mmitch.

[Top West 50]

Interesting! Eddie Smeeth is the pilot at the centre and I think Bob Barker is one of the Navs. I will need to consult my library of course photos to identify the others. E Smeeth, arrived on 57 in early 66 and the moved to 214 when that sqn formed

[NRU74]

Top West
[QUOTE]I think Bob Barker is one of the Navs[/QUOTE


Similar 'build' but I think it's Bill Somers-Joce. one of the other Navs is John Connell, the two AEOs are Ted Gregory and Ernie Butcher

[Hamster1964]

Hi all, this is my first post. I was informed of this forum from Talk Photography by the thread starter. So I'd thought it might be worth me joining this forum.

I posted the photo on TP as it my late father in law in the picture. His name is Peter Norton, his was a Chief Technician with 31 years service in the RAF. Second row from the , 8 from the left.

I didn't think it was the full squadron, but he used talk very fondly of his time at Marham (around 65-70 I believe) and of 57 squadron, hence my intial post on the subject.

I am not 100% of his full RAF career but I have contacted the RAF to see if they can send me anything else.

Pete passed away last Oct and is greatly missed buy his family, so should anyone have any details about the photo, or in the unlikely event that someone out there knew him, then we would be grateful to hear about it.

Thank you for reading this post

Doug :ok:

[Top West 50]

Yes, I see them now! From the left, Ted Gregory, somebody, Tommy Thompson?, somebody, Ernie Butcher, Eddie Smeeth, somebody, somebody, somebody, Mick ? Sommers Joyce, John ? Conning, Pete ? France?

Interestingly, although other faces are familiar, they do not feature on the early course photographs ie No 60 -68 so theyare either post 67 or retreads from Honington days

There seem to be a preponderance of Sergeants. Could this be something to do with the maintenance school or the AAR school?

[vascodegama]

The Tommy Thompson I knew was a Nav Radar so that's not him

[Tankertrashnav]

I think 57 had, eventually 8 aircraft, consisting of 6 K1A and 2 K1's


By early 1971 when I joined it, all the K1s had been allocated to 214. The only K1A we had at that stage was a two pointer, XH 667, known as sicky sicky seven because of its tendency to be permanently U/S! Ultimately we ended up with a ragbag of the last serviceable K1s and K1a's as 55 and 57 converted to K2s