DKP1.
Yawnnnnnnnnn....
The mightyimp.
Who on earth rattled your cage to make such an offensive attack.
From my dog-eared copy of Robert Prest's 'F4 Phantom, A Pilot's Story'. Chapter 5, spookily titled 'Forty-Three Squadron, Fighting Cocks'
'Air Combat, the sport of kings. Detachment to Malta and intensive flying phase, twenty eight sorties a day (
those were the days). 'Okay,' Boss says, 'take tanks off ships, lets go do ACM!' Here I get my first early taste of Phantom combat. Surely this is what being a fighter pilot is all about, me against him, one brain against another, one set of muscles against another, he who flies the smoothest, the meanest, the most cunning, most aggressive, most tactical fight within the legal limits wins, it is as simple as that. So all eyes brighten, secret pet theories germinate. We all start off with one versus one. We fire up the birds and all day long leap into a superb cloudless sky to trail thunder across the Mediterranean Sea'.
That book was part of the inspiration to me to work harder at school and get onto a Fighter Squadron. It conveys a sense of spirit, cameraderie, tradition and elan that depite years of erosion through continual ops, political correctness, doing more with less and just the odd bit of small minded envy, can still be found, certainly within the Squadron that I'm currently on. Last night's peice, from the people I've spoken to this morning who do not serve in the RAF, was really well received. Personally, it does more for
PR than our current Media Recruitment Campaign and an endless stream of glossy magazines. If you didn't like it, well I'm sorry, but offensive remarks do not really add to the debate. Would you have a different opinion had it been your unit?
43(F) Sqn, well done. Great peice.
