James "Ginger" Lacey - tattoo incident

[typerated]

It's a very long time since I read his book.
But can anyone confirm and add flesh on this incident from my memory:

In a bar in India Ginger's Sqn were off duty - an American had a dislike of "limeys" and was quite vocal about this.
Instead of a bit of fistycuffs the RAF pilots bought the American drinks - until he passed out

and he then woke up the following morning with the largest Union Jack tattoo on his chest :)

[EngAl]

TypeR
You've got the gist of it.
According to pages 147/148 of his book they were drinking in the Taj Mahal hotel when they encountered two american airmen a major and a captain. The Captain called Chuck had got a dear John from a British girl in London to whom he had been engaged. Chuck kept calling them lousy limeys, so they got him drunk and out into a taxi. The taxi took them to a tattoo parlour where 8 tattooists took half an hour to cover his chest with a Union Jack. Surprisingly the major went along and even admired their act of revenge.
The book's called Ginger Lacey Fighter Pilot and is written by Richard Townshend Bickers. My copy is autographed by Ginger Lacey as he was an honorary member of the mess at Fylingdales when I was there in the early 80s

[GeeRam]

:E

Chuck's face must have been a picture when he sobered up and looked down............

[hoodie]

And from his viewpoint, fittingly, I suppose it would have appeared to be flown in distress. :}

[typerated]

TypeR
You've got the gist of it.
According to pages 147/148 of his book they were drinking in the Taj Mahal hotel when they encountered two american airmen a major and a captain. The Captain called Chuck had got a dear John from a British girl in London to whom he had been engaged. Chuck kept calling them lousy limeys, so they got him drunk and out into a taxi. The taxi took them to a tattoo parlour where 8 tattooists took half an hour to cover his chest with a Union Jack. Surprisingly the major went along and even admired their act of revenge.
The book's called Ginger Lacey Fighter Pilot and is written by Richard Townshend Bickers. My copy is autographed by Ginger Lacey as he was an honorary member of the mess at Fylingdales when I was there in the early 80s


Thanks EngAl just what I remembered!

[Cornish Jack]

Ah !, the perils of allowing oneself to get drunk when one is unpopular.
Scene :- Riyan (small coastal Aden Protectorate airfield in the mid 50s) 'Station Commander' (Flt Lt) insists on full military dress, pay parades, etc. so much unhappiness. One of our Valetta skippers was posted in as a 'punishment detachment', having consorted too intimately with a Senior Officer's Lady. Shortly after his arrival one of the National Service 'erks' was due to leave, so a party was arranged, to which the 'Stn Cdr' was invited. His drinks were 'spiked' and he was 'retired' hors de combat to his single room accommodation. One of his few accomplishments was a magnificent 'handlebar moustache', of which he was, justifiably, proud.
When he regained consciousness his room was in pitch darkness, the windows and doors having been loosely bricked up. After eventually forcing an exit, and feeling very much under the weather, he attempted to wash and dress, only to discover , on looking in the mirror, that his upper lip growth had been reduced by half - one side completely removed.
Some days later I was on the RSM (Riyan Salalah, Masirah) run and, checking in with Riyan ATC for clearance, got the rider "Try not to stare at the Boss". On arrival, I understood ... in the middle of a deeply sun-tanned face, stood out the perfectly white outline of a once magnificent creation !
It was impossible to identify the culprits, of course, and the victim had enough sense to realise the embarrassment a 'witch hunt' would create. He was fairly quickly posted elsewhere and 'normal service' was resumed.

[Union Jack]

I believe that it's probably time to dust off a post I made in 2008:

Tended to be those that served under the White Ensign that went in for tattoos .....

..... like the senior officer who was never seen sunbathing despite his ship going to some very sunny places (I know, I know ....).

Why not? Because towards the end of a very alcoholic run ashore in Japan as a midshipman many years earlier he, along with the rest of his chums, visited a tattoo parlour. The difference was that, whilst they all had tiny tattoos discreetly tucked away in less routinely obvious parts of the anatomy, he had a king-sized replica of the Isle of Man three-legged emblem tattooed across his shoulders.

Nothing wrong with that for a very proud Manxman you may say but, bearing in mind the inebriated state in which he had drawn the emblem for the benefit of the tattoo artist, instead of all three legs going the same way as shown in the flag below, his pride and joy ended up with two legs going one way and one the other!

Jack


http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:RKGJPShhyo8J::https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/flags/im-lgflag.gif (http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/flags/im-lgflag.gif&imgrefurl=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/flags/im-flag.html&h=302&w=453&sz=7&tbnid=RKGJPShhyo8J::&tbnh=85&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522isle%2Bof%2Bman%2522%2Bflag&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=2&ct=image&cd=1)

[NutLoose]

Ah !, the perils of allowing oneself to get drunk when one is unpopular.
Scene :- Riyan (small coastal Aden Protectorate airfield in the mid 50s) 'Station Commander' (Flt Lt) insists on full military dress, pay parades, etc. so much unhappiness. One of our Valetta skippers was posted in as a 'punishment detachment', having consorted too intimately with a Senior Officer's Lady. Shortly after his arrival one of the National Service 'erks' was due to leave, so a party was arranged, to which the 'Stn Cdr' was invited. His drinks were 'spiked' and he was 'retired' hors de combat to his single room accommodation. One of his few accomplishments was a magnificent 'handlebar moustache', of which he was, justifiably, proud.
When he regained consciousness his room was in pitch darkness, the windows and doors having been loosely bricked up. After eventually forcing an exit, and feeling very much under the weather, he attempted to wash and dress, only to discover , on looking in the mirror, that his upper lip growth had been reduced by half - one side completely removed.
Some days later I was on the RSM (Riyan Salalah, Masirah) run and, checking in with Riyan ATC for clearance, got the rider "Try not to stare at the Boss". On arrival, I understood ... in the middle of a deeply sun-tanned face, stood out the perfectly white outline of a once magnificent creation !
It was impossible to identify the culprits, of course, and the victim had enough sense to realise the embarrassment a 'witch hunt' would create. He was fairly quickly posted elsewhere and 'normal service' was resumed.
LOL Single eyebrows were the thing in RAFG when I was there. you would end up having to shave the other off so it didn't look as bad.

[brakedwell]

I met Ginger Lacey when I was with Air Europe. It was in 1980/81 when I was flying a B737 from Leeds or Newcastle to Malaga I think.Ginger came up to the Flight Deck and spent almost all of the flight chatting away with us. He said he was running a Flying Club up north at the time.

[ETOPS]

He said he was running a Flying Club up north at the time.

Thanks for the lead in to my Ginger Lacey story.

It was the parachute centre at Bridlington in the East coast. I arrived the day after a potentially nasty accident with the venerable Cessna 172 that Ginger was flying with some jumpers. Late in the day and taking off into sun he felt he couldn’t see through the crazed Perspex windscreen so aborted at speed. As the aircraft overran the runway it nosed over and got crunched but, ever the professional, he transmitted “ I’ve crashed!”

Some wag on the club radio quickly replied “sorry Ginger you seem to be distorted”

Luckily no very serious injuries...