At The Risk Of Entering A Lion's Den.......................
1975:
Harriers deploy to Belize to defend said country against Guatemalan aggression. Six Harriers fly UK to Bermuda supported by Herc Route Support. Pilots who fly UK - Bermuda are replaced by six pilots pre-positioned in Bermuda who take the jets over and fly Bermuda into Belize. The route support Herc departs after the last jet has gone, but en-route has a "suspect standby Artificial Horizon" for the co-pilot. Decision is made to divert to Nassau. Senior Harrier mate on-board (Sqn Exec) pleads with the Driver to continue to Belize. It's daylight, the weather is good, and there is an operational need to get the six Harrier pilots on-board to Belize 'cos at that stage, there was a real possibility that the jets there would be needed to fight, and the six on-board pilots were important to provide some presence on the ground. GASO's were produced from behind one of the seats, and the Herc diverted to Nassau.
During the six months 1(F) Sqn was in Belize 1975/76 at no stage did a Herc ever stay overnight - the accommodation was pretty basic. There were usually some dozen or so with serviceability problems on the ground at Nassau. One evening, a Herc could not start one of its engines, and there was a real possibility that it might have to stay the night. We watched the activity closely with a Belikin Beer in hand - eventually, they got the engine turning, and very quickly the Herc took off - three tubes of condensation evident from three of the engines, with nothing behind the fourth. The fourth engine was stopped immediately after take-off, in sight of the airfield, and before the undercarriage was fully retracted.
Several months later after the Harriers had returned from Belize, with a new Squadron Commander on 1(F) Sqn, he wanted to visit in case the Sqn had to return - which, of course, it did. He wanted to visit with a pilot who had been there for the 75/76 deployment. He chose me.
In those days, 1(F) Sqn was a part of 38 Gp, the same as the Hercs, so he negotiated that we would travel out as super crew, returning after a few days on the ground in a VC-10. Our Herc went u/s for several days in Gander and Nassau on the way out - we missed our VC-10 connection for the return, and went u/s in Nassau on the way back. We spent almost 14 days away from the UK, about 2 hours on the ground in Belize, and received amazing amounts of money from the imprest, and ate huge amounts of food during the flights that we made.
I am afraid that in those days there were very definitely two different Royal Air Forces.