Station Commanders rank
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A navigator I once knew claimed, at one time, to be Station Commander of RAF Akaba (read T.E.Lawrence to check spelling) in the rank of Flying Officer.
Approach (he was also SATCO) was the radio in a wrecked DC3 and tower was the radio in a wrecked Valetta.
The groundcrew modified his service bike with a pennant flying from the front mudguard.
Approach (he was also SATCO) was the radio in a wrecked DC3 and tower was the radio in a wrecked Valetta.
The groundcrew modified his service bike with a pennant flying from the front mudguard.
Pontius Navigator,
Wasn't 224 Group a tad further East, as in FEAF at Seletar?
Wasn't 224 Group a tad further East, as in FEAF at Seletar?
R.A.F. Waddington has the usual compliment of a Group Captain Staish and Wing Commanders. The lodger unit, The Air Warfare Centre, is commanded by an Air Commodore with a gaggle of Group Captains. One of the previous Air Commodores, now AVM, had a star plate on his bike.
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Back in the days of 'Are you a real sqn ldr or a VC10 captain?' Brize had an Air Cdre as staish when Jock Kennedy was promoted in situ. IIRC, when Air Cdre Kennedy moved onwards (and, eventually, upwards), he was replaced by 2 x gp capt entitled Stn Cdr (Ops) and Stn Cdr (Protocol)! Can't remember the names of these worthies and I left Brize soon after so I don't know how long this quaint arrangement lasted - I suspect it went down the plughole during the massacre of the Strategic AT Force in 1975 (if it lasted that long).
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Commands - Iraq/India/FE_P
While there is a similar site for MEAF/NEAF it is the FEAF one that lists Iraq and thus, by extension, AFG falls within the old FEAF area.
As 224 was known as a mobile HQ group it could be resurected.
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At St Mawgan circa 1989 pretty much the entire collection of top knobs managed to gather together in Ops for a shift handover during a full on taceval.
Way to good an opportunity for the NATO umpires to resist, so they just "blew up" Ops and we called Op ClusterF**K - or something - and manned up Standby Ops (an old shed somewhere on the airfield, with a battery powered HF in it).
Having been in the station car park on route to my shift as duty flying officer gofer, I duly found myself as duty ops controller standby ops AKA duty force controller AKA Harry Staish. It took about an hour for us to locate a Sqn Ldr to take over the controls.
My bid for substitution pay was rejected.
Way to good an opportunity for the NATO umpires to resist, so they just "blew up" Ops and we called Op ClusterF**K - or something - and manned up Standby Ops (an old shed somewhere on the airfield, with a battery powered HF in it).
Having been in the station car park on route to my shift as duty flying officer gofer, I duly found myself as duty ops controller standby ops AKA duty force controller AKA Harry Staish. It took about an hour for us to locate a Sqn Ldr to take over the controls.
My bid for substitution pay was rejected.
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Re two Group Captains. The Harrier Force did have two but I don't think it was at Gut, certainly not when I was there 83-86. But we did have two at Wildrath when I got there in 73. Paddy Hine and Peter Tetley I seem to recall.
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My mate has just taken up the position, Senior Commander British Forces South Carolina, USA. That just about trumps everyone. Admittedly he is the only British serving officer there, but it still counts!
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I know they weren't Staishes per se, but in the RNEFTS days in the late 70's/early 80's, we had:
SNOL Senior Naval Officer Leeming
SNOLOO Senior Naval Officer Linton on Ouse
and the Senior Naval Officer Topcliffe, who, for some reason or other, wasn't totally happy with his acronym.
SNOL Senior Naval Officer Leeming
SNOLOO Senior Naval Officer Linton on Ouse
and the Senior Naval Officer Topcliffe, who, for some reason or other, wasn't totally happy with his acronym.
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On a detachment to Keflavic back in the early eighties, the Flt Lt aircraft captain was introduced in the O Club Bar to a senior USAF Officer as "DETCOM SHACKLANT". Said USAF Officer called him Sir for the rest of the night...
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
In ASI we had SNOW, SLOPS and SLATS. We didn't dignify the ex-RN scribbly with a title.
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On a detachment to Keflavic back in the early eighties, the Flt Lt aircraft captain was introduced in the O Club Bar to a senior USAF Officer as "DETCOM SHACKLANT". Said USAF Officer called him Sir for the rest of the night...
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One thing that does puzzle me is the "rank inflation" that has happened within flying squadrons... although I do accept that there is generalisation...
Flight commanders tend to hold the rank of Squadron Leader
Squadron commanders tend to hold the rank of Wing Commander
etc
Flight commanders tend to hold the rank of Squadron Leader
Squadron commanders tend to hold the rank of Wing Commander
etc
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Cyberhacker,
Things used to be much more logical.
Pilot Officer - Commissioned Junior Pilot
Flying Officer - Organised the flying programme/duties.
Flight Lieutenant - Commanded a Flight
Squadron Leader - Led a Squadron
Wing Commander - Commanded a wing
Group Captain - in charge of a Group
Air Commadore - Supervised the Fleet.
Air Vice Marshall - Made sure that the strippers arrived on time....
However, since the advent of Green Shielders, and rank connected pay, we all went up one ( rank that is - not the strippers).
Things used to be much more logical.
Pilot Officer - Commissioned Junior Pilot
Flying Officer - Organised the flying programme/duties.
Flight Lieutenant - Commanded a Flight
Squadron Leader - Led a Squadron
Wing Commander - Commanded a wing
Group Captain - in charge of a Group
Air Commadore - Supervised the Fleet.
Air Vice Marshall - Made sure that the strippers arrived on time....
However, since the advent of Green Shielders, and rank connected pay, we all went up one ( rank that is - not the strippers).