RAF Gaydon Victor fox hunt incident
Worth recalling that the only other hunting ban in Europe was imposed by Hitler
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Nemo Me Impune Lacessit
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It is a sad fact of life that as the fox gets older it doesn't go off to some happy little leafy glade in the forest that is a hospice for the elderly where it is cared for by unselfish and dedicated members of the pack.
The truth is a little more stark. As a fox deteriorates, due to age or health, it ceases to be able to hunt for itself and eventually becomes weak and vulnerable, prey to predators in the form of younger and healthier animals to the point that, if it can hide, it will starve to death but if unable to hide it will be attacked, chased and eventually ripped to death by these predators, the natural balance of nature.
The foxes that the hounds find are usually in the not so fit category and hounds are well aware of the damage a cornered prey can cause, they will not mess with it but leap in for a very quick kill, usually by throwing the animal into the air and breaking it's neck, only after it is dead will they rip it to pieces.
Countrywide we would all be a lot better off if the know-it-all townies would leave the countryside to look after itself.
The truth is a little more stark. As a fox deteriorates, due to age or health, it ceases to be able to hunt for itself and eventually becomes weak and vulnerable, prey to predators in the form of younger and healthier animals to the point that, if it can hide, it will starve to death but if unable to hide it will be attacked, chased and eventually ripped to death by these predators, the natural balance of nature.
The foxes that the hounds find are usually in the not so fit category and hounds are well aware of the damage a cornered prey can cause, they will not mess with it but leap in for a very quick kill, usually by throwing the animal into the air and breaking it's neck, only after it is dead will they rip it to pieces.
Countrywide we would all be a lot better off if the know-it-all townies would leave the countryside to look after itself.
(a bear of little brain)
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I don't have any particular objection against hunting but I do loathe and detest the arrogant assh*les who engage in the sport. They appear to assume that they own the place and they have the absolute right to do whatever they want, irrespective of any inconvenience caused to anyone else about their legal business.
This stems from many incidents from the occasion a lot of years ago when I was forced into a ditch while riding my bike on the (public) highway by a hunt coming the other way and taking up the whole road to a local main route being blocked by badly parked horseboxes and trailers a couple of weeks ago (the fact that local flooding meant this was the only viable route through that part of Dorset did not help).
This stems from many incidents from the occasion a lot of years ago when I was forced into a ditch while riding my bike on the (public) highway by a hunt coming the other way and taking up the whole road to a local main route being blocked by badly parked horseboxes and trailers a couple of weeks ago (the fact that local flooding meant this was the only viable route through that part of Dorset did not help).
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JanotLapin - I suspect 232 OCU. 230 OCU was a Vulcan unit - always. Top link gives 230 OCU history and the bottom link contains a potted history of all the OCUs (including 232)
RAF-lincolnshire.info :: 230 OCU
OCU 226-235.htm
And I guess that sums up what all the angst and breast beating is about - it's all about "toffs" vs "chavs". Long may the class war reign - and bugger logic and common sense.
RAF-lincolnshire.info :: 230 OCU
OCU 226-235.htm
I do loathe and detest the arrogant assh*les who engage in the sport. They appear to assume that they own the place and they have the absolute right to do whatever they want, irrespective of any inconvenience caused to anyone else about their legal business.
- most amusing !!!!!!!!!!!
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Until I think the mid-70s each nuclear armed V-bomber was guarded by one RAF policeman. Only when someone got to think closely about the 2-man principle was the number of RAF Police doubled up. It hurt until more were recruited.
Unarmed V-bombers were not guarded. As Gaydon was a training base security, or rather the security resources, would have been very scarce.
At Cottesmore one day a civilian heading for the A1 took the wrong road. Instead of turning right for Greetham he drove down the camp road, through the main gate, passed Ops and the Messes, passed Quarters and hung a left at the lazy runway and a right on the taxyway. Only when he reached the QRA aircraft did the penny drop.
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Until I think the mid-70s each nuclear armed V-bomber was guarded by one RAF policeman.
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I remember at R.A.F Cottesmore 1959 - 1961 a Victor being guarded by an RAF policeman and dog. The policeman fell asleep in his little hut and left the dog to run free. It attacked Wingco Johnnie Johnson as he approached. No injuries to the C.O but I don't think that the Snowdrop got off as easily.
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I remember at R.A.F Cottesmore 1959 - 1961 a Victor being guarded by an RAF policeman and dog. The policeman fell asleep in his little hut and left the dog to run free. It attacked Wingco Johnnie Johnson as he approached. No injuries to the C.O but I don't think that the Snowdrop got off as easily.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Until I think the mid-70s each nuclear armed V-bomber was guarded by one RAF policeman.
=================================
I remember at R.A.F Cottesmore 1959 - 1961 a Victor being guarded by an RAF policeman and dog. The policeman fell asleep in his little hut and left the dog to run free. It attacked Wingco Johnnie Johnson as he approached. No injuries to the C.O but I don't think that the Snowdrop got off as easily.
=================================
I remember at R.A.F Cottesmore 1959 - 1961 a Victor being guarded by an RAF policeman and dog. The policeman fell asleep in his little hut and left the dog to run free. It attacked Wingco Johnnie Johnson as he approached. No injuries to the C.O but I don't think that the Snowdrop got off as easily.
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232 O.c.u.
Yes I made a mistake about the O.C.U. , it was 232 . The unofficial motto was "It,s all been Changed".
As the first snow was falling we pushed all the ground equipment , giraffes and so on , onto the squadron carpark . They were subsequently covered in snow which became almost solid with time , and as they,d been very neatly placed in true RAF manner , and interlocking , we were unable to dig them out . One doghandler burrowed into the mound and made himself an igloo . Another had a real swine of an alsation , about 3/4 normal size but far more vicious than usual . I was on nights one night and the squadron was nearly deserted , it being about 2.30 am. I was working on an oxygen regulator in the bomb aimer,s prone position in the nose . I had a very powerful Aldis lamp.The dog handler , seeing beams of light emanating from the bomb aimers window came over to investigate . I pressed the Aldis lamp against the glass and waited til he peered in , then switched it on . I heard a strangled cry but no more . Having repaired the leaky regulator , I started to climb down the ladder , I heard a deep growl . Doghandler had tied his 3/4 size psychodog to the ladder . I spent a long time in that very cold cockpit , which was no more than I deserved.
Some weeks later the dog went mad , putting the handler in hospital , but not before he shot it with his .38 pistol . I talked to him about it later and he was surprisingly sorry about the incident . He actually liked the dog.
Incidentally , I was known as "Shingles" at Gaydon ,[long story] I wonder if anyone else who was there reads this site?
As the first snow was falling we pushed all the ground equipment , giraffes and so on , onto the squadron carpark . They were subsequently covered in snow which became almost solid with time , and as they,d been very neatly placed in true RAF manner , and interlocking , we were unable to dig them out . One doghandler burrowed into the mound and made himself an igloo . Another had a real swine of an alsation , about 3/4 normal size but far more vicious than usual . I was on nights one night and the squadron was nearly deserted , it being about 2.30 am. I was working on an oxygen regulator in the bomb aimer,s prone position in the nose . I had a very powerful Aldis lamp.The dog handler , seeing beams of light emanating from the bomb aimers window came over to investigate . I pressed the Aldis lamp against the glass and waited til he peered in , then switched it on . I heard a strangled cry but no more . Having repaired the leaky regulator , I started to climb down the ladder , I heard a deep growl . Doghandler had tied his 3/4 size psychodog to the ladder . I spent a long time in that very cold cockpit , which was no more than I deserved.
Some weeks later the dog went mad , putting the handler in hospital , but not before he shot it with his .38 pistol . I talked to him about it later and he was surprisingly sorry about the incident . He actually liked the dog.
Incidentally , I was known as "Shingles" at Gaydon ,[long story] I wonder if anyone else who was there reads this site?
Cunning Artificer
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Unarmed V-bombers were not guarded.
Not guarded? There were usually one dog and his man to a pair of dispersals. The dog handlers provided us with much amusement during idle moments waiting in the crew hut for an inbound; when he's at Delta 13, make a call to Delta 14 and watch him walk to the phone, then hang up and call Delta 15 ad infinitum. It often took three circuits of the dispersal before they gave up. On another occasion, the dog attacked the handler on Bravo. With the dog mauling his leg, the Plod managed to unpack his bullets from the green, greased paper packets, load them into his magazine, cock his pistol and shoot it, much to the merriment of one Starter Crew on Charlie dispersal.
So, yes, there were guards around the aircraft and yes, they were armed and dangerous - but not necessarily to intruders.
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Dog handlers.
Thank you for reminding me of the telephone scam , I did it many times but had completely forgotten .If you watched the dog handler shoot his dog , you must have been at Gaydon? Or did that sort of thing happen more than once? Another scam I invented was to ask the squadron storeman for the "Artificial Horizon Leveling Set".I forgot all about it , but he didn,t. After several weeks of searching he finally confessed to me that he,d lost it.It was the modern equivalent of the "left handed foot spanner , long weight , or Hymol-Wright Jack for sidecars.
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"Artificial Horizon Leveling Set".
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Buzz off sonny. This thread is about Victors at Gaydon and is not, despite a couple of attempts to way lay it, about the ethics of fox hunting.
Mind you, you probably know all about the V Force, having been given a plastic kit of one on your 7th birthday.
Mind you, you probably know all about the V Force, having been given a plastic kit of one on your 7th birthday.
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As it happens, my father was groundcrew on Valiants at Gaydon, late 50s
Just a comment that some people present an unsympathic face to the public who peruse such sites.
End of.
Just a comment that some people present an unsympathic face to the public who peruse such sites.
End of.
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When I was at Cottesmore, 1960-62, Johnny Johnson was a Gp Capt and CO!
He had a habit of arriving at Crash Gate one via a side road, then calling up for the crash crew to come and open it for him, the reason being, as he explained to this lowly SAC one-day, "I can be in my office before anyone knows I'm there". I had numerous chats with him and of course knowing who he was meant I was in absolute awe of the man. It was only later in life that I came to realise not everyone saw him in that light!Many years later he was a guest at the Wanaka Air Show in New Zealand and I reminded him of his crash gate episodes, and he was gracious enough to say he remembered me, something I doubt very much.
He had, however, something to do with the Cottemore Hunt, and I had heard that he sought out some airman volunteers once to go to Melton Mowbray for some reason, and they had been royally fed and watered. I waited in vain for my invite!
Just as an aside, Cottesmore on a bright sunny winter's day covered in snow with 10 and 15 parked up for the day was a magical scene in my book.
He had a habit of arriving at Crash Gate one via a side road, then calling up for the crash crew to come and open it for him, the reason being, as he explained to this lowly SAC one-day, "I can be in my office before anyone knows I'm there". I had numerous chats with him and of course knowing who he was meant I was in absolute awe of the man. It was only later in life that I came to realise not everyone saw him in that light!Many years later he was a guest at the Wanaka Air Show in New Zealand and I reminded him of his crash gate episodes, and he was gracious enough to say he remembered me, something I doubt very much.
He had, however, something to do with the Cottemore Hunt, and I had heard that he sought out some airman volunteers once to go to Melton Mowbray for some reason, and they had been royally fed and watered. I waited in vain for my invite!
Just as an aside, Cottesmore on a bright sunny winter's day covered in snow with 10 and 15 parked up for the day was a magical scene in my book.
Last edited by Samuel; 5th Jan 2009 at 17:34. Reason: I can't count