Originally Posted by
BEagle
I recall there being much animosity from those who'd been through the Airman Aircrew course at Finningley when the 'FC' brevet first appeared. The people who wore them had only minimal training (in those days) and were simply carrying out their ground skills in an airborne environment.
The first two "FC" flying badges were awarded to an officer and a SNCO who had completed the Shackleton training course on 8 Sqn at Lossiemouth. For my part, as a Group 1 Navigator, who also did the Shackleton mission crew training course, perhaps the two fighter controllers were better prepared for the role than I. I was capable of three position line manual air plot and could navigate a Domine by looking at a weather radar while facing backwards, but none of this really helped in sitting behind a 1940s radar screen while reporting contacts and pointing fighters about the sky. The mix of flying badges however gave everyone a good grounding to bounce ideas off the rest of the crew - we all had a different set of specialist skills despite often carrying out the same task with the same bit of kit, and the mix worked (and still did on the Sentry, but that's a different story). Yes, there was lots of banter and sometimes a bit of points scoring, but generally it was good natured.
However, one of the FC branch "new boys" was posted direct to the Nimrod AEW Training Course Design Team at Waddington before they had an aircraft....he was presented with a flying badge for flying 3 sorties as a passenger in a maritime Nimrod MR2! (It was he who was presented with a cornflakes packet with the FC badge inside as a free gift at one beer call).