Veteran's Cards
As many will doubtless recall, the summer of 1976 was very hot! One fine day in August I was tasked to fly a Hunter F6A from Brawdy to Leuchars so that they could swap some bits of the jet with another which needed them - a drop tank or something. So I stuck a couple of ERCs together and fabloned them, then snipped the work of art into a convenient size.
Up in the high-20s, I was pointing north-eastish in conversation with the air traffickers when I decided to consult the chart I'd lovingly crafted. But a combination of a sweltering cockpit and the fact that my old jet leaked like a sieve had conspired to expand the air which I must have trapped under the fablon, lifting it off the chart so that half the detail became illegible. Fortunately military radar and the dubious benefit of the odd Eur7 beacon soon had me close enough to Leuchars for them to point me at the runway!
I was able to stab the balloon chart into reasonable legibility as I waited for my jet to be turned, then off back to Brawdy! Where I was asked to do half-a-dozen instrument approaches to help cat a new air trafficker - such fun in the heat of the summer of '76!
Up in the high-20s, I was pointing north-eastish in conversation with the air traffickers when I decided to consult the chart I'd lovingly crafted. But a combination of a sweltering cockpit and the fact that my old jet leaked like a sieve had conspired to expand the air which I must have trapped under the fablon, lifting it off the chart so that half the detail became illegible. Fortunately military radar and the dubious benefit of the odd Eur7 beacon soon had me close enough to Leuchars for them to point me at the runway!
I was able to stab the balloon chart into reasonable legibility as I waited for my jet to be turned, then off back to Brawdy! Where I was asked to do half-a-dozen instrument approaches to help cat a new air trafficker - such fun in the heat of the summer of '76!
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Summer of 76 Easter, at Saint Athan on my course, bunch of ropey old Hunters in the Engineering training hangar serving out their time training us lot.
Arrive back after Easter to see they had all gone, BAe or whoever it was then had flogged them to Lebanon, so during the break they had got them airworthy to ferry for refurbishment and onward sale.
Arrive back after Easter to see they had all gone, BAe or whoever it was then had flogged them to Lebanon, so during the break they had got them airworthy to ferry for refurbishment and onward sale.
I know the card is plastic and does it's job as-is, but as fablon had been part of the thread for several postings I was merely being lighthearted. 😉
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Fablon is so 1980s (I know that was the whole point of the jest)....
These days you would laminate your card if it needed covering ...
Mind you, that's probably so early 2000s!
Today you wouldn't have a physical card at all, just some sort of app on your phone!
These days you would laminate your card if it needed covering ...
Mind you, that's probably so early 2000s!
Today you wouldn't have a physical card at all, just some sort of app on your phone!
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Remember guys (and Gals) you are just doing the politicians' job for them in drawing up likely candidate categories for selective recall.
NB for obvious reasons Expat retirees are currently excluded ( the too difficult category Perchance? )
NB for obvious reasons Expat retirees are currently excluded ( the too difficult category Perchance? )
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Purveyor of Egg Liqueur to Lucifer
Aircrew Medical aside, I think there’d be probs not only with dash, down, crawl, observe, sights, fire… getting up again would be a cheeky stumbling block
However, might be up for a bit of modern day behind the lines business…
Last edited by SilsoeSid; 10th Mar 2024 at 22:26.
Two types of tree in the British Army and RAF REgiment - "Fir trees and bushy topped trees - a further sub-division of the bushy topped tree is a bush"!!
I will never forget this from my Corporal DI (and he was before the Regiment took over!)
Happy days (I think!) and fairly simple! It got more complex with time and promotion!!
I will never forget this from my Corporal DI (and he was before the Regiment took over!)
Happy days (I think!) and fairly simple! It got more complex with time and promotion!!
Had my first experience of veterans id on Friday night In Driffield East Yorkshire. A clearly inebriated ex serviceman around 40 yrs old rolling around the pub waving his card in the air demanding “respect” for whatever it was he had done whilst serving. Never fully understood that word when reading about nasty things happening to folks who never gave enough “respect”. Ah well.
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Aircrew Medical aside, I think there’d be probs not only with dash, down, crawl, observe, sights, fire… getting up again would be a cheeky stumbling block
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Ah fablon…….remember the masterclass back on the Puma OCU when a would be crewman achieved the perfect fabloning (is that a word?) of his local area map with everyone admiring his handiwork until someone spoke up “oh, great job but you’ve fabloned the back of the map!”
On the subject of 'local area maps', John Redding used to have a neat trick during his introductory lecture to new VC10 students...
"This is a VC10 local area map", he used to announce, before producing a world globe from behind the lectern. Which rather made the point!!
Back to the Veteran Card, I sent off my paper application form and photo on 4th Feb. On 5th Mar I received an acknowledgement stating that the card would arrive in 'up to 8 weeks'......
"This is a VC10 local area map", he used to announce, before producing a world globe from behind the lectern. Which rather made the point!!
Back to the Veteran Card, I sent off my paper application form and photo on 4th Feb. On 5th Mar I received an acknowledgement stating that the card would arrive in 'up to 8 weeks'......
Two types of tree in the British Army and RAF REgiment - "Fir trees and bushy topped trees - a further sub-division of the bushy topped tree is a bush"!!
I will never forget this from my Corporal DI (and he was before the Regiment took over!)
Happy days (I think!) and fairly simple! It got more complex with time and promotion!!
I will never forget this from my Corporal DI (and he was before the Regiment took over!)
Happy days (I think!) and fairly simple! It got more complex with time and promotion!!
Sorry for the drift,
Mog
Nigerian In Law
Sadly I'm inclined to agree. Issuing an i.d. card which isn't accepted as an i.d. seems counter intuitive and wasteful. Mine is in a card wallet with other never used cards.
NEO
NEO
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They cynicism displayed in this thread is appalling.
The card has allowed MOD to pretend to care about ex-serving personnel! It's kept staff busy, distracts from the Mcloud disaster, and actually hasn't cost very much. There is no risk attached, and it fills up space in various press releases. Good value.
The card has allowed MOD to pretend to care about ex-serving personnel! It's kept staff busy, distracts from the Mcloud disaster, and actually hasn't cost very much. There is no risk attached, and it fills up space in various press releases. Good value.
Gets money off tyres too.