Cam,
Charlie Chan, the Lightning that crashed, right? I was working out of the Op on the hill behind the village (Bacon Grill Hill
) and was down in the quarry, when Dave W came over the net telling us that a Lightning with big problems was coming in. We tanked it back out of the quarry as it whistled over. I think the motor had been turned off by that stage. He ejected with a flash and it bounced into a grapevine with a thunderclap and then ammo started cracking off. The ejection rail (I assume) was clattering against the fuselage. Very exciting stuff for a young shaver like me. He was ok I think, a wagon collected him.
The barber was Gary, and he's still there so I hear. The SWO I remember there was WO Sutherland, ex Scots Guards. I imported a XR2 (Rosso Red, alloys and sunroof, ohhh D519 GYK where are you?) and myself and Sensible Burgess took it for a spin down to Buttons. We burned off the SWO and he chased us. We pulled in and quickly removed our earrings. He chewed us a nice sphincter, but when I had my wedding reception down at Buttons (class act me), he was awesome. A top bloke, and just what a SWO should be like. He used to lurk in the bondu behind the garage and catch the APC guys moping over with hands in pocket and no hats on. Napa was awesome. I tell my kids that I went there when there were only 3 bars; VIPs, the Black and White and a.n other, I forget. Sleeping on the beach.. great times.
Is the grey lady, the Shack? I had a jolly on that, we had a peek at the Soviet fleet off Libya. I had come off a bike outside the block and had a broken wrist. The captain asked me if in my honest opinion I could parachute in a drama (chaaa..
) and I said I could so he said 'hop aboard then'. Jammy Turner was so called because he lost his jolly in a Canberra that develped asymmetrical problems on take off and ended up upside down on North Ridge. He ended up doing a fod plod on the wreckage of the very a/c that he was going to be on. A Wessex crashed off Buttons too, with a medic and nurse on who didn't get off, very sad.
I was invariably on jankers and the preferred punishment was to sweep the main drag between the MGR and the Main Gate.. that must have been 2 miles at least. In summer, wearing ye olde body armour and tin lid. You can't crack me, I'm a rubber duck
. The sqn boss was a guy called DT Bills, who is now bursar of Stamford School for girls I think. During one exchange with him, he was about to pass sentance on me and all of a sudden a local barged in, emptied the bin and walked out again with a cheery 'Hellllo!'. It was surreal. The stn cdr had a small vineyard by his office, and one night, I got in there with a WRAF APC. We idles the night away in various positions, munching grapes, but it was only 18 hours later that I was to find out he had sprayed them with a hideous chemical. My throat swelled up, the swine.
I went there a bright eyed boy and returned a gibbering wreck. Fighting with 2SG was the norm, but on one occasion, they had a guy raped by some Lebonese fishermen in the harbour, so G Coy got themselves a fleet of 4 tonners and one night, trashed every single Lebonese bar they could. Good drills
. Those boys stuck together. Remember the Argylls killing the RAF SAC by dropping a paving slab on his head at the Pen Club? Bastards. There was also the Ay Nik spy drama, and the subsequent RAFP cock up. I was having a drink in a bar one night in limassol with Stupid Burgess and a middle aged guy with a Middle East complexion and an English public schoolboy accent started chatting with us.. 'So, tell me.. he said 'What are your thoughts on the inflammatory statement by that puppet Thatcher to about the latest attempts by the Soviet President to promote peace in the region?'. Subtle. We smirked and left.
Great great times.. and as for those nurses.. jeez. I had been working on one for months, and one Friday night, after Shaun had finished the Gadaffi Hop, I asked her if she'd like to come back for a coffee, a chat and perhaps to listen to my new Simple Minds album
. Anyway, she said yes and I almost yelped with excitement. She needed to collect her kitten though, from the WRAF Block and I said 'Of course!!'. Anyway, with the cat duly collected, back we went. Got her back and the cat decided to have the biggest loose sh#t all ever over my bed. I had bollocks like a mountain goat by that stage, and alas, was destined never to achieve the objective.
