SHFNI Stories!
I'm told there'll be no more photos until the stories resume (thread shift and all that). So...
Who actually was there when Scotty's ceiling was lifted after he'd gone?
More to the point:
What actually was there when Scotty's ceiling was lifted after he'd gone?
Who was the tw@t who, on his first weekend, showed his ID to some birds in a pub just to prove he really was a pilot?
Who actually was there when Scotty's ceiling was lifted after he'd gone?
More to the point:
What actually was there when Scotty's ceiling was lifted after he'd gone?
Who was the tw@t who, on his first weekend, showed his ID to some birds in a pub just to prove he really was a pilot?
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Who was the tw@t who, on his first weekend, showed his ID to some birds in a pub just to prove he really was a pilot?
For me the high point of several Dets/Tours was finding a 3 year old toddler that had gone walkabout assumed drowned near Belleek. Little lad was found 1.5 miles (of thick forest) from where he and his dogs had left his mum sleeping in a car in a lochside car park. Within 30 mins of a succesfull outcome I watched a local flicking us the 'Vees' with no idea of what we had just done for the wider community and without any predujice.
Low point was deploying to Lockerbie within hours of the 747 crash. Especially as I had arrived in Province with 14 crates of wobblie and told I would not be flying until Boxing Day. Probably just as well that the morning after the night before was influenced by the night before
I think this sums up my work there quite well, much mundane routine work but when it got interesting it was to an extreme.
I had some good times on 72 Sqn in the late 70s but thought I had escaped to SAR after 2 SH tours only to be called back to fill in for the Navy who had to go down South to sort out a little Argie Bargie. It was as though I hadn't left though my yellow bone dome was a little too bright for OC72 so had to cadge a spare.
I was tasking down in South Armagh when we got a call to pick up a stick from a new grid. The young co-pilot plotted it and showed me on the 20thou map. I recognised the field and said it was just over the hill and short of 2 green grain silos.
On arriving back at Aldergrove I spotted my co-pilot intently studying the 20thou! I enquired what he was doing so he asked me how I knew the silos where green as he couldn't find the colour reference on the map index.
Local knowledge was a wonderful thing and I can still see a lot of the HLS now though I was surprised to see how so many have been removed!
Many happy memories - Firing captured IRA weapons on the range - Thomson sub machine gun was my favourite - touch of Al capone
Crewman knocking out RUC constable who was trying to leave Walter at 2000ft as we crossed from Raithlin Island with a ballot box he had been guarding all day - in a pub
Waiting in Buzzards hut for the very first weather fax to come through - took 15 mins to appear out of the machine! Wives out for the Summer Ball courtesy of 32 Sqn Andover - travelling to Antrim with said wife in covert minivan which was hand painted and still had all the usual MOD notices and fire extinguisher in the cab.
She had never seen so many Union Jacks as it was the marching season. Newspaper Argosy losing one of its main undercarriage legs on the runway. Waiting in the bar to go outside for the 1st 747 to land at Aldergrove - it was so quiet we missed it!
Good to see that traditions and spirit were carried on once 72 Sqn became a permanent fixture in NI - though the detachments were probably more fun
HF
(waiting for snow showers to cease so I can go flying
)
I was tasking down in South Armagh when we got a call to pick up a stick from a new grid. The young co-pilot plotted it and showed me on the 20thou map. I recognised the field and said it was just over the hill and short of 2 green grain silos.
On arriving back at Aldergrove I spotted my co-pilot intently studying the 20thou! I enquired what he was doing so he asked me how I knew the silos where green as he couldn't find the colour reference on the map index.
Local knowledge was a wonderful thing and I can still see a lot of the HLS now though I was surprised to see how so many have been removed!
Many happy memories - Firing captured IRA weapons on the range - Thomson sub machine gun was my favourite - touch of Al capone
Crewman knocking out RUC constable who was trying to leave Walter at 2000ft as we crossed from Raithlin Island with a ballot box he had been guarding all day - in a pub Waiting in Buzzards hut for the very first weather fax to come through - took 15 mins to appear out of the machine! Wives out for the Summer Ball courtesy of 32 Sqn Andover - travelling to Antrim with said wife in covert minivan which was hand painted and still had all the usual MOD notices and fire extinguisher in the cab. She had never seen so many Union Jacks as it was the marching season. Newspaper Argosy losing one of its main undercarriage legs on the runway. Waiting in the bar to go outside for the 1st 747 to land at Aldergrove - it was so quiet we missed it! Good to see that traditions and spirit were carried on once 72 Sqn became a permanent fixture in NI - though the detachments were probably more fun
HF
(waiting for snow showers to cease so I can go flying
)
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Scenery
Local knowledge was a wonderful thing and I can still see a lot of the HLS now though I was surprised to see how so many have been removed!
What actually was there when Scotty's ceiling was lifted after he'd gone?
Wasn't actually there, but I did go back with the Junglies..
Allegedly, stacks of porn, contact mags, HK 53 mags (minus ammo) a set of NVG and it looked like he'd just popped out for the weekend!
SHFNI dinner nights were legendary...
Wasn't actually there, but I did go back with the Junglies..
Allegedly, stacks of porn, contact mags, HK 53 mags (minus ammo) a set of NVG and it looked like he'd just popped out for the weekend!
SHFNI dinner nights were legendary...
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I was there 82 - 84 but don't remember Scotty's ceiling being lifted so presume he must have extended his tour - he was there when I arrived.
I remember that after my dining-out night, Scotty and A N Other went to visit the "guys on the other side of the airfield" and were stopped en route by an RAF Police patrol. Scotty showed his 1250 to the Police Dog and patted the corporal on the head. Total sense of humour failure by the plods, subsequent interviews/bollockings etc.
Does anybody know what happened to him - and why was his ceiling lifted anyway??
I remember that after my dining-out night, Scotty and A N Other went to visit the "guys on the other side of the airfield" and were stopped en route by an RAF Police patrol. Scotty showed his 1250 to the Police Dog and patted the corporal on the head. Total sense of humour failure by the plods, subsequent interviews/bollockings etc.
Does anybody know what happened to him - and why was his ceiling lifted anyway??
Hi PhamousPhotographer
Is that Camlough Mountain - if not it is very similar (29yr memory). We used to resupply an OP on the top and it was not a place I would like to spend a winter's night!
HF
Is that Camlough Mountain - if not it is very similar (29yr memory). We used to resupply an OP on the top and it was not a place I would like to spend a winter's night!
HF
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Location
Is that Camlough Mountain
Close. Slieve Gullion, with the forest drive under 'Q' - remember the picnic area car-park HLS just beyond the ridge? - and Longfield Road on the lower right of the frame. Camlough Mountain's off to the left ahead of the Wessex. Imagine spending two years inside the wire with scenery like that to drive around!
Avoid imitations
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An ex army colleague told me how they had been warned about "spirited driving" on the peri tracks. One evening he spotted an RAF plod holding a speed camera. He sped up, drove straight past him to the guard house around the corner, called out the guard, saying someone in camouflage had just pointed a gun at him inside the airfield, by the fence. All hell broke loose and within a couple of minutes the plod was face down, in the the grass, with a few SA-80s pointing at him.
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Tiger_Mate
Oddly enough I was on Resettlement leave/ course doing training in Pub Management at my local and on rate 1's at home for a month in a village near Carlisle 
when it happened 
I was still in the mob and walking the couple of miles to "work", it was one of those barmy summer evenings, warm but totally silent, when across the fields I heard the wail of a ambulance siren, and then another, and another until the whole of Carlisles emergency services were heading north and I mean all..........
I just stood there in utter disbelief at the sound, something I will never forget, later watching the news in the pub I managed to dissuade several local idiots who were going to drive up to lockerbie to "have a look."
Walking home that evening the first Chinooks past overhead and having been on 240 OCU when we first got them, I was bloody impressed with the time taken to call them out and get them there
Several friends attended, one being in the local police and he was one of the first at the Cockpit.
The thing that impressed him was the local fire service, he said he was having a break with the rest of police etc when they removed their firemans jackets and it was then they realised they were all part time volunteers and were still wearing what ever they had on when they arrived and had been dropped into the hell that was Lockerbie...
People at home could not and did not fathom that but for a few minutes flying time or the odd thousand feet it would have came down on us........
So Tiger_Mate I would just like to say a belated Thank You
Low point was deploying to Lockerbie within hours of the 747 crash.
when it happened I was still in the mob and walking the couple of miles to "work", it was one of those barmy summer evenings, warm but totally silent, when across the fields I heard the wail of a ambulance siren, and then another, and another until the whole of Carlisles emergency services were heading north and I mean all..........
I just stood there in utter disbelief at the sound, something I will never forget, later watching the news in the pub I managed to dissuade several local idiots who were going to drive up to lockerbie to "have a look."
Walking home that evening the first Chinooks past overhead and having been on 240 OCU when we first got them, I was bloody impressed with the time taken to call them out and get them there
Several friends attended, one being in the local police and he was one of the first at the Cockpit.
The thing that impressed him was the local fire service, he said he was having a break with the rest of police etc when they removed their firemans jackets and it was then they realised they were all part time volunteers and were still wearing what ever they had on when they arrived and had been dropped into the hell that was Lockerbie...People at home could not and did not fathom that but for a few minutes flying time or the odd thousand feet it would have came down on us........
So Tiger_Mate I would just like to say a belated Thank You
Originally Posted by NutLoose
it was one of those barmy summer evenings, warm but totally silent,
) - Clipper 103 was brought down on 21 December 1988.
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Close to the coast in my part of the world it does not tend to get that cold, the description was the best way I could describe the stillness of the evening (agree with forgetting, but somethings need remembering )
)
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NI Funnies
Late 60's or early 70's I was a Wessex crewman on a six week stint in Aldergrove. Flying over a field of pristine snow my pilot could not resist landing on and taxiing a series of straight lines until he had spelled out his name, MIKE, in great big letters. 'Piece of piss' says I, 'all straight lines!'
Accepting the challenge Mike then unlocked the tailwheel and taxied a respectable letter S. Clever sod!
We hadn't been long back in the crewroom before the Boss landed from a flight and a great bellow came down the corridor 'Mike Sutton, my office. Now!'
There were four pilots called Mike on the detachment, but only one Mike S, and the Boss had flown over that very field! Sorry Mike!
Accepting the challenge Mike then unlocked the tailwheel and taxied a respectable letter S. Clever sod!
We hadn't been long back in the crewroom before the Boss landed from a flight and a great bellow came down the corridor 'Mike Sutton, my office. Now!'
There were four pilots called Mike on the detachment, but only one Mike S, and the Boss had flown over that very field! Sorry Mike!
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Slieve Gullian/Camlough?
Easy to confuse them!
I was once tasked with a patrol drop to a grid. The patrol comprised the CO, Ops Offr, 2ic and QM and, to be honest, they just wanted a few hours outside the Mill and an easy stroll. I plotted it on a 20 thou map and saw that it was on the top of a mountain. Ah, I thought, they want to be dropped off on Slieve Gullian, so that's where they went. Hours later, I wandered into the mill to find a bit of a rumpus going on. The patrol was overdue. How could that be, said the watchkeeper, they were dropped off on Camlough, so it was only a couple of miles downhill.
Without saying anything, I made myself scarce, dug out the map, unfolded it and, yep, the grid reference was actually on the top of Camlough. Oops.
Much later that evening, they arrived back, knackered. The CO was convinced I had done it deliberately, but it really was an honest mistake.
I was once tasked with a patrol drop to a grid. The patrol comprised the CO, Ops Offr, 2ic and QM and, to be honest, they just wanted a few hours outside the Mill and an easy stroll. I plotted it on a 20 thou map and saw that it was on the top of a mountain. Ah, I thought, they want to be dropped off on Slieve Gullian, so that's where they went. Hours later, I wandered into the mill to find a bit of a rumpus going on. The patrol was overdue. How could that be, said the watchkeeper, they were dropped off on Camlough, so it was only a couple of miles downhill.
Without saying anything, I made myself scarce, dug out the map, unfolded it and, yep, the grid reference was actually on the top of Camlough. Oops.
Much later that evening, they arrived back, knackered. The CO was convinced I had done it deliberately, but it really was an honest mistake.
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On the recievig end of something similar myself at Carrickmore, dropped off for a route clearance,Wessex dissapears into distance,quick look at map we had been dropped off five miles from Carrickmore on the wrong side of the village ,so five mile walk back to the village before we could start the clearance from the wrong end .Around 92-93 St Patricks Day ended up doing Eagle VCPs in a Wessex around Twinbrook/Poleglass all going well until the little sh1ts in poleglass started to brick the chopper when it set down off the Pembroke Loop.
.Around 92-93 St Patricks Day ended up doing Eagle VCPs in a Wessex around Twinbrook/Poleglass all going well until the little sh1ts in poleglass started to brick the chopper when it set down off the Pembroke Loop.
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The other end of that particular pendulum came with the advent of pocket sized GPS. Even on a particularly dark night, little in the way of ambient light to make NVG even vaguely effective in the inevitable NI heavy rain and if you dropped troops so much as a field short they would be on the RT with critical comments before you got 3 miles down the road.
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72 vs 230
Moving Spoons' room in toto on the night of the 230 Sqn Inaugral Dining-in Night to the balcony over the Officers' Mess entrance whilst he dined (although 230 Sqn did get us back with a kidnapping later that night - can't remember who went for a ride down the stairs in a triwall box though?)Painting a huge Swift in Red paint of the 230 Sqn Portakabin Roof after Happy Hour one night, the results are still visible on Google to this day. Froze our Boll*cks off, got covered in red paint and almost died doing a drunken traverse of the roof but it was worth it.
Getting blind (almost literally) following a session in the bar making Harvey Wallbangers with some pocheen following some work with the RUC. I had to self auth the next morning as the DA (Adders I think) was still comatose in his pit He didn't surface until 1600 and was very ill for about a week.
FLANGE and CLANG to counter the FOLA
OC 72 bollocking me for comments in FOLA NEWS when it clearly said "FOR FOLA EYES ONLY" on the front cover?
A2 Cat and Smeg for brains...............
A2 Cat and Smeg for brains...............
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A White World
Flying over a field of pristine snow
