I've been reading this staggering thread for some hours now and have finally reached the end. My own experiences of the plane come from my earliest memories, so bear with me if I'm off a little.
My father is Flt Ltnt 'Taff' Williams who flew Vulcans at the height of the Cold War era (late 50's to '64) on 101 and 44 Sqns. We were at Waddington and lived on Tedder Drive. I was born in '58 and my earliest memories were of the landrovers driving around the OMQ's in the middle of the night and my Dad running down the stairs...
A particular memory that sticks in my mind as well is that a Waddington Battle of Britain display one year ended with a 'dummy' bomb being detonated and a 100th scale mushroom cloud rising above the base! As the years have gone by I had started to think I had dreamt this whole thing, however I recently asked my sister (3 years older than me) - she said she remembered it vividly and remembered being absolutely frightened to death by it......
I wonder who decided that was a good wheeze, bearing in mind that the appearance of real thing was a distinct possibility.
Only other thing to add - A while back some references were made to the low level flying in 'Thunderball'.
As I understand it, the pilot on that day was Flight Lieutenant Pat Whitelaw from Waddington. He, Al Shepphard and my Dad were big buddies. Sadly he's no longer with us, though Dad and Al are to be found regularly terrorising other golfers on the courses of West Oxfordshire.
Great thread chaps - your reminiscences make excellent reading from any perspective!
Last edited by EL_BOW; 25th Sep 2006 at 05:19.