“Sir Wilson” and the latter days at JHQ.
Wiki tells us that Sandy Wilson arrived to be A O C in C in 1991, and I need Wiki to tell me who preceded him, because in those two years I never met that earlier man nor indeed heard reference to him. When I arrived I was interviewed by his Deputy, and never saw that officer again.
Wilson was totally different, and it is true that he upset a fair number of people with his management style. It is also true that he had admirers, me included. Within his first week in command he had visited many [if not all] branches and sections in the main building, with a hard-worked ADC and staff in tow. He asked the Heads of Branches [HoBs] what was their main problem of the moment and sought prompt action. He caused the public clocks to be synchronised ……. Hitherto time/space was warped in the building; A to B could take several minutes, or several minus minutes. We were left in no doubt that there was a firm hand on the joystick, perhaps sometimes unfair, sometimes fair. I speak as I find.
Very early on there was big official gathering [in a sports stadium?] of the NATO great and good. It was Wilson’s first big public outing. The German PA announcer stumbled by introducing him as “Sir Wilson” to ill-disguised sniggering by the Brit minions.
HoBs meetings were sometimes fraught, woe betide the ill-prepared Gp Capt summoned to brief. I recall that one such was ordered to send his Wg Cdr in his place next time. Weekly in-house briefings were instituted, my duty man at Bruggen giving Met. over a speaker link. The room became crowded, so Wilson decreed that anyone junior to Sqn Ldr should leave: "it smells like a zoo!"
Sir Andrew [as he became known] was very visible, and RAFG was left in no doubt about standards demanded. I prefer a tight ship, and that is what I observed.
While some recollections may vary, Met. was content.
On the subject of weather and climate, the annual in-house sweepstake continued and it demonstrated [I do not say proved] climate change. The winning ticket was the date when snow [of any amount] fell at any RAFG Met. office. In my youth a ticket with very late October or early November was a likely winner. In 1995 late November was not unusual. Detmold was trialling NVG equipment and the Harrier Force kept us busy with field deployments. At this stage it is necessary to deal with the Mobile Met. Unit [MMU], of which I was not a member but not uninvolved.
Any Port for the MMU
Last edited by langleybaston; 14th Apr 2024 at 22:29.
Reason: for sh1t read shot