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Old 24th Nov 2022, 05:52
  #21 (permalink)  
PapaDolmio
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Norfolk
Posts: 204
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Certainly a far cry from the late 80's when I spent a (mostly) happy 18 months at DN. We could go days without seeing an aircraft if the weather was punk but on good days we'd be fully booked from opening to closing, plus bootleggers too.

A four ship of A10's were probably the most popular- 12 bdu33's and 1500(?) Rnds of 30mm each in a 30 minute slot was good fun. It wasn't uncommon for bootlegging F111s to hold for 20 minutes just to get a couple of passes in.
Least popular were the TWCU GR1s- a single GR1 for a half hour slot was dull in the extreme but I guess the guys had to learn.

Different air force then, and we were very much left to our own devices- I don't think going to the pub at lunchtime in uniform and using service transport following an early stack would be tolerated now.
Having the AOC turn up for his annual inspection with his wife in their own car towing a caravan was also a bit odd after coming from a 'proper' station and the usual shenanigans that went on for AOCs back in the day.
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