Originally Posted by
Tankertrashnav
Ian does not mention his time serving on the RAF's premier tanker squadron.
214 of course
Well seeing as you asked, yes I was on the Sqdn, twice as it happened. My 1st tour from Feb 59 to Oct 62. This was my longest single assignment of my 13 years service. A great time, as when I was posted to the Sqdn we were still doing the trials of Cobhams' probe & drogue system.
We also had the best CO that I came across in all my service; Wing Co. Mike Beetham DFC.
He went on to much greater things, as Chief of the Air Staff, MoRAF Sir Michael Beethham GCB, CBS, DFC, AFC, DL, FRAes. Definitely a case of the cream, not the scum, floating to the top.
He was awarded his AFC for the successful introduction if the Cobham probe & drogue system of in flight re-fuelling into RAF service. He thanked me for my part in helping him gain the award. Well that was me and the rest of the Sqdn he was talking to.
One other thing about Sir Michael, he was Chief of the Air Staff in 1982, so when he ordered Black Buck to happen, he had the detailed knowledge of what was involved, he knew what he was doing. He had been the Captain of the non-stop Valiant flights to Johannesburg and to Cape Town.
So a sqdn with a unique and interesting mission and a great OC at the helm.
We made the system work and then started finding out what we could do with it. So lots of detachments to exotic places, mainly 'ot and sandy, but for a young single lad, life was great.
We did the 1st non-stop flights to Salisbury, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Singapore. This was the limit for the Valiant, so we got 617 involved and sent one of their Vulcan's on the 1st non-stop flight to Sydney. The Sydney trip was done with full publicity, TV cameras etc., so as a dry run we did one that was a not publicised, we put tankers in Cyprus and Karachi and a Vulcan flew from Scampton to Scampton, via refuelling points overhead Cyprus - Karachi - Cyprus.
I never quite understood that run, when we were planning the Marham - Singapore trip with a Valiant, the dry run was 18 hours around the UK, with refuelling over Marham!
After the Vulcan to Sydney mission, Sir Alan Cobham, a frequent visitor, came to the Sqdn and presented us with a trophy, a silver globe, with the route engraved on it. He was a wonderful raconteur. He told us that a few days earlier he had presented a similar trophy to 617 for their part, and then said, 'But we all know who did the real work, don't we?'
When we became the RAF's 1st operational tanker Sqdn, our mission changed to teaching the rest of the RAF what to do with this wonderful tool. Still interesting and sometimes challenging times.
One exercise that I remember was when we kept a series of Vulcan's on airborne QRA. We had to send up tankers to top up a Vulcan, I think it was every 4 hours, for a week! We of course didn't have any extra a/c or bodies. So we split the manpower into 3 shifts and started with all a/c serviceable. As time went by, a/c were going u/s and with a small shift of bodies, not getting fixed in time for the next sortie. We started Xmas treeing a/c, we worked longer hours. We ended the week proving it could be done, but we needed more a/c and many more bodies.
Ferrying fighters to the Far East was interesting but hard work. Doing pre-flights, seeing off the a/c and then run up the steps of a Brittania with toolbag in hand, catch up with the tankers, do the after flights and de-snag. Supposedly have a night in some grotty transit billet, maybe a NAAFI bar, in Karachi no NAAFI! Pre-flight next morning, see a/c off, run up the steps of the Brit and as soon as the seat belt light went off, recline seat and catch up on sleep.
Repeat as required.
It is a good job we were young and fit.
I was posted off the V-Force during the Cuban Crisis! Oct 62, but that was a quiet time, everyone just hanging about!
I did the next 2 years at Akrotiri and asked to return to Marham for my last 6 months before demob. I got the posting, there wasn't much competition! On taking my Blue Card into Tech Manning a Chief Tech looks at my rank & trade and up at his big board, and say's 214 Sqdn!
This was an amazingly short settling in period, meeting my old mates, but also demoralising. The Valiants now had their fatigue problem and we were simply doing daily 'anti-deterioration' checks. I was demobbed at the beginning of Feb 1965, just a few days before the scrapping of the Valiants was announced. The Valiant & I left the RAF together.
So, yes 214 was a significant time in my RAF life.
But then so was my year in the South of France, that was tough but someone had to do it, and as they say, that is another story.