Couple of questions on RAF for an obituary

[KeMac]

I have been asked to write an obituary for a old boys school magazine and I wanted to ask those who knew about a couple of things. My friend had attended RAF Halton from 1970 and went on to work on Nimrods at Kinloss and St Mawgan. Would he have been an artificer apprentice at Halton? I am not sure of the term to use for training. In the early 1980s or maybe late 1970s he was at I think RAF West Raynham and I believe was working on anti-aircraft missiles. Does this sound correct if West Raynham was an AA missile base?
Grateful for the help
Thank you

[kenparry]

There were SAMs at West Raynham from the mid-1960s to 1991. Intially this was 41 Sqn, later 85 Sqn. Both had the Bristol Bloodhound Mk2.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_West_Raynham

Edit: Wikipedia shows 2 separate Bloodhound periods, and also shows that Rapier SAMs were present for a while. Thw Wiki link has the details.

[longer ron]

Hi KM
Just in case I know the person concerned - could you PM me his name ?
I was an apprentice at Halton 1970 - 72 and may be able to help with any details (depending which App Entry he was in).

rgds LR

[DaveReidUK]

Would he have been an artificer apprentice at Halton?

The term artificer ("tiffy") isn't commonly applied to RAF technicians. It's normally reserved for the Navy and branches of the Army such as REME.

[KeMac]

Hi KM
Just in case I know the person concerned - could you PM me his name ?
I was an apprentice at Halton 1970 - 72 and may be able to help with any details (depending which App Entry he was in).

rgds LR
Hi LR - PM just sent Thx Keith

[KeMac]

Many thanks for all the kind responses.
KeMac

[NRU74]

Many thanks for all the kind responses.
KeMac

Don’t forget to include that he was one of - ‘Trenchard’s Brats’ when writing about the Halton bit.

[fedex727]

Hi KeMac. I was on Nimrods at St.Mawgan and Bloodhounds at West Raynham during the times you mention. Could you PM me the gentleman's name please as our paths may have crossed somewhere in that small world. I also have 85 Squadron photographs from that period.
Regards. fedex727

[KeMac]

NRU74 - Thanks for reminding me - I had forgotten that expression!

FEDEX727 - PM Sent

[fedex727]

PM Sadly received, thank you.

[KeMac]

PM Sadly received, thank you.

Fedex727 I have just responded with fuller details
Many Thanks
Keith

[longer ron]

Hi Keith
I asked about Dave on the Halton FB page and have had an initial response from 3 people.
He was in 219 entry which means he would have 'joined up' in Oct 1970.
219 was a Craft Apprentice entry which meant a 2 year course and normally passing out with the rank of Junior Technician (J/T).
Apparently his initial posting was to RAF St Mawgan (Oct 1972) which ties in with your info,if any more details are forthcoming I will let you know.

Could you please pm me details of Davids sad passing and I will post them on the FB page.

rgds LR

[longer ron]

Post xmas update...
The 219 entry members on FB were very saddened by the news of Davids death,he was obviously well liked - so I thought I would post a couple of the personal tributes on here.

Just to clarify on the 4 prop-ers comment below -Junior Tech rank badge was a 4 bladed prop,anybody not reaching the desired standard on final exams would have graduated as an SAC instead.

From B
Dave was quiet guy . Room 6 obviously . Think he was like most of us, got on with what we had to do, keep our heads down, stay out of trouble and pass out as 4 prop - ers

From C
Dave moved from St Mawgan to NMSU same time as me and TT in '74. Lost track after I was posted out in '79. A good folk singer, tae kwon do fighter and memory man. Quiet. Nice guy. God bless.