Squadrons etc
SS - you are quite right to remind me of Thorney Island. The OCU was there with 5 ac until 74/75. All training was carried out there originally including TS except for simulators for which we had to go to Lyneham.
Nimbev - again you are quite right. The SF crews were a later concept coming into being in 72. I was the copilot on the 36 crew, captained by Rick H..... Who was about 2 yrs younger than I and a Fg Off whilst I was a Flt Lt. Red L.... (Or should that be Rrrrred) was the Flt Cdr on 36 to whom we reported. He was a great guy with many stories to his name because of hi stutter and a wife who could be something of a loose cannon. The SD crew was then on 36 as well, captained by Sc..... Rob...... Who also did the first RAF Deep Freeze.
Doing SF tasks then was something of a challenge. We did one exercise in Northern Greece doing re supply to the patrols in the field. The patrols recede the DZs they wanted their supplies dropped to then retired to lie up for the day. They then radioed in the co-ordinates of each Dz, we did our planning and set the time for each drop. To comply with GASOs we had to designate each DZ as the TAP of the next one otherwise needing to climb above safety height.
The patrols would then after dark return to their chosen DZ to mark it for the drop. Unfortunately a DZ can also be attractive terrain for other users. One patrol returned to find it taken over as a tank laager for the night. Nothing daunted move a small distance away and mark accordingly. "Mark accordingly" meant 3 hand held torches but no good SF troop relies on a full torch and the lens is usually covered with bodge tape leaving nothing but a tiny hole - not easily seen from 250 ft up especially when the Dz is possibly 2 km from where it was planned to be. At least 2 loads went out in a screaming turn because of late acquisition, one of them was never found. What pissed the troops off the most was the lost mail. Rations did not really seem to matter.
They have it easy nowadays with all the modern gizmos they have but enough said of that!!