The mid-eighties saw some serious ego`s resident in the rear crew mafia.
For me; day one of the SAR Famil (Halfway through a tour on the plastic pursuit ship) & a black flag day.
DA Question of the day:
"Whats the immediate action to a Hyd 1 failure?"
"T_M" (Not expecting to be asked a Wessex tech question)
"Put the gear down"
Que a bad attitude tag, and I was yet to start the course!
Followed by Mr Ego personified (SE) teaching First Aid and more specifically what to do with a diabetic, insulin reaction.
Complete autocratic Bx followed despite me having seen and done the actions required hundreds of times.
I should have returned to Germany at the end of day one. Happily for everybody, it is a quite different atmosphere at Valley these days. ....and in the interests of fair play; 240 OCU (Puma & Chinook) also had its fair share of knobbers at the time.
My first ever helicopter flight was in XP351, a SAR Whirlwind at Valley in '74. Lasted about :25mins but must have made a good impression, for the RAF have now had my services for over 34 years, most of which as Rotary Rear Crew.