Jind, alas no. Had I been earwhigging I would have found a way to get in on the conversation and then after much sponging of drinks off of former aircrew, regaling them with tales of 'How I talked down a flight of Lightning's in bad wx whilst at the same time diddling the pretty WRAF assistant' (patently untrue) I would have, in the words of a News of the World journalist, made my excuses and left.
Let me digress.
I never forget the words of an eye specialist doc in London.
I had applied for aircrew, failed, but marked down as 'If we are desperate use him'. Consequently I found myself at a tender age of 20 being driven down by OC Ops to see the Station Commander to be told that I had a place in aircrew training. This was in the days when Biggin Hill was more than a rich man's airfield.
My eyesight was borderline and I had to go to the place near the Post Office tower, (Where I had joined up) for an eyesight test.
After many hours of looking down tubes, reading charts, reading numbers from simulated flight instruments and for some strange reason being asked to perform press up's in my underpants (maybe that was just the doc's way of passing time) he gave this quite brilliant assessment.
"Lad, you would be lucky to find the aircraft let alone fly it."
My point ?
I love hearing and reading stories about the Military flying community. I never made it but once it is in the blood it is there for life. I am sad that I did not make it but temper that with that the fact that it was never meant to be.
Does not stop me picturing myself up there in my F4 over the North Sea doing QRA on a Red Bear coming down the gap, or dodging the same F4 in my Jag low level over Scotland.
I want to read the stories about how the Meteor Mark <Whatever> was a pig to fly in a engine failure. And all the other threads that take me back to a time when I was young and foolish enough to want to strap a FJ on and leap skywards.
So keep the forum 'All Ranks' please, if only for the sake of the youngster's who might pop in and see a thread titled "
Low Level Omani Jags" or
Buccaneer Tales 