Wowww
I have just spent the last four days reading this whole thread and I must confess I had a HUGE lump in my throat when I read the news about Reg, someone I had never met, heard of, but yes I confess to feeling emotional when I read of his passing.
After reading over two thousands messages I guess my main thought is how we are now treating these folks: how our generation is looking after these heroes which includes their wives or in modern speak partners. I find it terrible that these brave 'average' people were willing to sacrifice their lives all in the name of freedom and yet are now sometimes treated by our health service in a manner that is considered unacceptable for those people that we incarcerate behind bars... Every year we salute these brave men and yet we now tell them to sell their house if they want long term medical support!! Shame on us all and shame on our Members of Parliament for allowing this
Apologies if that rant is political, but it is NOT aimed at any specific party it is aimed at this country but enough of my moans and the way we are treating a generation that allowed us the freedoms we are now able to enjoy.
CliffNemo I have a few questions and wonder if you are still able to answer them.
Firstly you volunteered for active service and wanted to be a pilot. You successfully completed the training course but were 'volunteered' to change skills. I accept that the Flight Engineer had an important role but if it were me, I would be devastated if I was a qualified pilot and ended up as the flight engineer. Did you ever try to revert back to being a pilot or did you just accept this as a fait accompli.
I believe some posts vaguely mention radar controlled searchlights and the 'blue beam'. Could you or anyone else explain this in more detail please? Does the ground radar give height, course, and speed, or does it do more and link the guns to a type of controlled fire?
I read how it took fully laden bombers a considerable distance and time to climb to their operational bombing height, but then I read how aircraft would regularly 'corkscrew' all the way to the target. I am just thinking how easy was it to regain the height and by how much this would extend the flight time?
I believe a tour was defined as thirty night mission that had to be completed and had to be of a certain distance? Reading through these messages it appears that this can take anything between 12 - 24 months to achieve. Is that correct and how long would they be rested for? I did read how folks would move into non operational posts but there were also those that went back onto a front line posting.
Lack of Moral fibre
This phrase sends a shiver down my spine. On this thread we see pictures of men in their early twenties whose hair is already going grey. Stress is something EVERY human being can suffer from and we all will deal with this in our own way. I guess I compare it to a boiler.... Light the fire and the steam builds up and without a safety valve or a way of controlling that flame then the boiler will go bang.
With stress if we do not control that flame or release that safety valve then our body\mind will without a shadow of a doubt......... Go bang. Is this term lack of moral fibre used when folks turn round and say enough, or is it someone that refuses to fight without ever making any type of effort?
I had better stop my ramblings as there will be others with FAR, far more interesting things to say, but THANK YOU for starting this thread.
I have tried getting the dhoby wallah to sort out that damaged picture but he tells me it should be the job of the photo wallah. I do not have the proper skills but hopefully someone here will volunteer to do a better job than my efforts.
Yours very sincerely
John