Boing, was the Cyprus incident anything to do with Stacey the stn cdr. A right one he was.
After each NEAF nuclear exercise he would order a re-generation in the conventional role. It would take about 5 hours to remove all the nuclear gear and rearm with 1,000lb. The black-hand gang had to work like the proverbial stowing away 16 by 950s and loading 16x21 x 1,000lb. command used to watch with glee waiting for him to fall flat on his face. He never did.
His favourite trick was to treat VIPs to a sunrise silver service breakfast on the cliffs as the dawn broke.
Kept the Ladies Room bar fully stocked and out of bounds. Similar bar down the air terminal. After a flight we were invited into the bar at the air terminal for a debrief. There was a steward from the mess and Stacey had one beer with us before departing. Ask the barman for whatever you want he said. Generous to a fault.
We found out later that he ran both bars on mess guests.
Boing,
OK more brain fade. You are probably right and it may have been Wittering who certainly would not have been able to generate 16 Blue Steel.
I know the generation was not limited to Waddington and Finningley. I guess you are right about Cottesmore though. 9 or 35? I was 35.