Guidance for those reaching Age 55
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: South of England
Age: 74
Posts: 627
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes
on
4 Posts
Sgt with a pickaxe handle to guard the troops' fortnightly pay as you carried it back from SHQ in a large sack.
Air Officers who cared.
Muckers of all ranks who cared.
Kitchens that weren't locked so you could attempt chicken and chips at midnight on Friday.
WRAF MT Drivers on long journeys. (I married one)
WRAF MT Drivers on short journeys.
Warrant Officers who were generous with their experience.
Sports afternoons.
Loyalty to Squadron, Wing, Station, Group and Command.
Lots of choices for your Posting Preferences.
RAF Wyton swimming pool, especially the wives and girlfriends.
Barking mad bosses who stuck up for you when the chips were down.
What fun it was.
Rgds SOS
Air Officers who cared.
Muckers of all ranks who cared.
Kitchens that weren't locked so you could attempt chicken and chips at midnight on Friday.
WRAF MT Drivers on long journeys. (I married one)
WRAF MT Drivers on short journeys.
Warrant Officers who were generous with their experience.
Sports afternoons.
Loyalty to Squadron, Wing, Station, Group and Command.
Lots of choices for your Posting Preferences.
RAF Wyton swimming pool, especially the wives and girlfriends.
Barking mad bosses who stuck up for you when the chips were down.
What fun it was.
Rgds SOS
Last edited by SOSL; 14th Aug 2012 at 15:30. Reason: Sp
...whistling hand bags and rubber hoods...
...wooden pencil boxes with NATO stock numbers...
...the observer holdall...
...lightweight and heavyweight No 2 trousers...
...brown leather lightweight flying boots...
...no silicone based polish for brown flying boots (that drove SWOs mad!)...
..."rangers" to far flung parts of the Empire...
...G-type flying helmets...
...Seiko aircrew watches...
...RAF Hospitals at Ely, Nocton and Wroughton - with lots of nurses...
...shoe polishing for the ones left outside your room...
...first class travel for aircrew and Sqn Ldrs and above...
...flying instructional pay...
And I'm a good ten years away from 55!
...wooden pencil boxes with NATO stock numbers...
...the observer holdall...
...lightweight and heavyweight No 2 trousers...
...brown leather lightweight flying boots...
...no silicone based polish for brown flying boots (that drove SWOs mad!)...
..."rangers" to far flung parts of the Empire...
...G-type flying helmets...
...Seiko aircrew watches...
...RAF Hospitals at Ely, Nocton and Wroughton - with lots of nurses...
...shoe polishing for the ones left outside your room...
...first class travel for aircrew and Sqn Ldrs and above...
...flying instructional pay...
And I'm a good ten years away from 55!
Nixor ut Ledo
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: In a Beaut of a State
Posts: 499
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
And when officers could actually write correct English!
There are probably others but still, they're at the sharp end, bless.
The Blue RAF Kit bag - as a single Man your hold world had to fit in it and if you were posted and dared to own more the bizarre method of moving your personal effects via MT from Church Fenton to Valley
When the goblin teasmade at Finingley made waking up sooo much nice
Tea and Toast in the Officers mess at 4pm or was it five - obviously meant for blunties as you couldn't sit in the anti room in your flying suit- of course tea and toast at 4pm was before a three course dinner with cheese and bikkies and having had a full English breakfast, three course lunch as part of your 8000 calorie day
When the goblin teasmade at Finingley made waking up sooo much nice
Tea and Toast in the Officers mess at 4pm or was it five - obviously meant for blunties as you couldn't sit in the anti room in your flying suit- of course tea and toast at 4pm was before a three course dinner with cheese and bikkies and having had a full English breakfast, three course lunch as part of your 8000 calorie day
Last edited by allan907; 14th Aug 2012 at 16:42.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
This was supposed to be for those reaching 55, not 95!
That means that green flying suits were the norm in 1975 and the aircrew shirt was a green polo neck.
Finningley no longer had that delightful creature the 'local service airwoman'. Did other units have local-service WRAF?
Proper batmen had just about disappeared.
No, they weren't allowed to make anything but they were allowed to repair or modify. Modify as in turning a piece of wood into a coffee bar. Making things was the preserve of MPBW or DOE or PSA or whatever with a 51% markup on top of an inflated price, no wonder they used to have a well maintained suite of offices and their own garden.
Pay Parade? Remember you don't have to sign for your money provided there was a second officer to witness the handover. I once short changed a Cpl of £10. They used to remain on parade until everyone was paid. I then gave the cpl his tenner. That was in 1964. Everyone had bank accounts by the mid-70s (I think).
Yes, Leon got it right. I had a painful appointment at Ely in 1988.
That means that green flying suits were the norm in 1975 and the aircrew shirt was a green polo neck.
Finningley no longer had that delightful creature the 'local service airwoman'. Did other units have local-service WRAF?
Proper batmen had just about disappeared.
Stn workshops who could make anything for a crate of beer
Pay Parade? Remember you don't have to sign for your money provided there was a second officer to witness the handover. I once short changed a Cpl of £10. They used to remain on parade until everyone was paid. I then gave the cpl his tenner. That was in 1964. Everyone had bank accounts by the mid-70s (I think).
Yes, Leon got it right. I had a painful appointment at Ely in 1988.
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Deciding whether I am retired or unemployed
Posts: 132
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
This is the Bomber Controller
Red and White ILS and CADF
Mini Cars and Mini Vans
Hitch hiking in uniform
Bacon and Egg Banjos
Jurby Head
Officers Only entrance to SHQ
42 days' leave for Blackadder, 30 for Baldrick
Government Property on every sheet
Red and White ILS and CADF
Mini Cars and Mini Vans
Hitch hiking in uniform
Bacon and Egg Banjos
Jurby Head
Officers Only entrance to SHQ
42 days' leave for Blackadder, 30 for Baldrick
Government Property on every sheet
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 33,061
Received 2,934 Likes
on
1,250 Posts
When you remember QRA that involved ‘instant sunshine’ and the ‘two-man principle’ in the ‘no-lone zone’
That was in 1964. Everyone had bank accounts by the mid-70s
Your forgetting one main thing,
The only Government white paper worth a sh*t... Hard and shiny, each sheet lovingly printed with Government Property, as if anyone would steal the stuff.
Last edited by NutLoose; 14th Aug 2012 at 18:15.
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 33,061
Received 2,934 Likes
on
1,250 Posts
Oh and the 12 odd inch long bars of carbolic? Soap
When there were such things as RAF Scholarships, which included 30/35 hrs PPL training, financial assistance towards one's school fees and a guaranteed place at RAFC Cranwell....
Hairy blue no.2s
Gorgette patches
The South Brick Lines
Crowing
Bumpers
Cere bog and shower
Marching on Saturday morning to the Senior Flt Cdts garage in pale blue RAFC tracksuit and civilian hat....
The Ass Comm's daughter....
Rollers, Minors, Majors....and 'Strikers'..
'Privilege'...
Les Rodda and CWWO Garbett.
Beer in the Jnr Mess at 1/10d per pint.
'Slasher' and his brutal haircuts.
Cobbly-wobbly boots.
EX. KING ROCK.
Knocker, Ferris and Chimay.
When the RAF College still had its own band.
Arriving at the UAS as an Acting Pilot Officer.
As much Chippie flying as you could fill your boots with...
Not giving a stuff about 5 pints and flying the next day. Neither did the QFIs.
When the UAS world was only concerned that you didn't so much flying that your degree might suffer. It did!
When UASs could still afford to go away for Summer Camp.
8 up in a Triumph Herald chasing rabbits across White Waltham, with an air gunner taking pot shots out of the passenger window...and missing.
Giving lifts to airmen hitch-hiking in uniform - who often had 'RAF' in purloined dayglo tape on the underside of their holdalls.
Oh well....
Hairy blue no.2s
Gorgette patches
The South Brick Lines
Crowing
Bumpers
Cere bog and shower
Marching on Saturday morning to the Senior Flt Cdts garage in pale blue RAFC tracksuit and civilian hat....
The Ass Comm's daughter....
Rollers, Minors, Majors....and 'Strikers'..
'Privilege'...
Les Rodda and CWWO Garbett.
Beer in the Jnr Mess at 1/10d per pint.
'Slasher' and his brutal haircuts.
Cobbly-wobbly boots.
EX. KING ROCK.
Knocker, Ferris and Chimay.
When the RAF College still had its own band.
Arriving at the UAS as an Acting Pilot Officer.
As much Chippie flying as you could fill your boots with...
Not giving a stuff about 5 pints and flying the next day. Neither did the QFIs.
When the UAS world was only concerned that you didn't so much flying that your degree might suffer. It did!
When UASs could still afford to go away for Summer Camp.
8 up in a Triumph Herald chasing rabbits across White Waltham, with an air gunner taking pot shots out of the passenger window...and missing.
Giving lifts to airmen hitch-hiking in uniform - who often had 'RAF' in purloined dayglo tape on the underside of their holdalls.
Oh well....
Last edited by BEagle; 14th Aug 2012 at 19:14.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
...plus those great little logbook bookmarks
