Guidance for those reaching Age 55
As a slight aside, and not wishing to drift the thread any further, save the tenuous link that I doubt any of us had to put up with Lean and 6-Sigma bollocks when we joined, the quote BEagle put up frankly just made me depressed.
6 Sigma frankly has no place in the military. It is a manufacturing process designed to reduce output defects to something like 3.5 per million widgets (or whatever) i.e. perfecting an easily replicable process. The military is and always has been about people not process, that's what has made us good at what we do, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and allowed us - rightly so - to take the piss out of the bean counters of the world at Happy Hour. We don't do process, we do doctrine and leadership. Doctrine is informative not prescriptive and when combined with good leadership achieves results out of all proportion by knowing what to do, when to do it and how to do it, recongnising that people have good days and bad days and that the enemy has a vote. No new fangled management process will ever replicate that or take those factors into account.
The only time I ever want to see someone on Ops quoting 6 Sigma at me is through my sights just before I pull the trigger. Now lets forget about all this management speak bollocks and get back to killing people and breaking their toys.
6 Sigma frankly has no place in the military. It is a manufacturing process designed to reduce output defects to something like 3.5 per million widgets (or whatever) i.e. perfecting an easily replicable process. The military is and always has been about people not process, that's what has made us good at what we do, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and allowed us - rightly so - to take the piss out of the bean counters of the world at Happy Hour. We don't do process, we do doctrine and leadership. Doctrine is informative not prescriptive and when combined with good leadership achieves results out of all proportion by knowing what to do, when to do it and how to do it, recongnising that people have good days and bad days and that the enemy has a vote. No new fangled management process will ever replicate that or take those factors into account.
The only time I ever want to see someone on Ops quoting 6 Sigma at me is through my sights just before I pull the trigger. Now lets forget about all this management speak bollocks and get back to killing people and breaking their toys.
Support From "Handbrake House" Over The Years
RAFG 1978: Cashier (Fg Off) visits HAS site weekly, at a time convenient to the JEngO (who sells Petrol Coupons at the same time), to pay claims to front-line sqn in cash.
RAF High Wycome No 3 Site supporting HQ AIR 2009: all PD points frequently closed for an entire afternoon for "staff training" and limited hours civilian Cashier (for foreign currency exchanges) !
RAF High Wycome No 3 Site supporting HQ AIR 2009: all PD points frequently closed for an entire afternoon for "staff training" and limited hours civilian Cashier (for foreign currency exchanges) !
Following EngO's point (a good one), as a pilot turned scribbly I ended up on the Command Accountant's Inspection Team based in mid Cambridgeshire. I persuaded the boss that as I had the budgie on my jumper I would take the flying stations. I used to ring OC Accts at the next station to be inspected (he/she usually a young first tourist) and ask him/her how many hours flying they could get me. I really just wanted to find out how "close" he/she got to the waterfront. I'd already booked the flying anyway. That was back in the late 80s and I was knocking up about 30 hours a month on everything fom Bulldogs to Hawks and helicopters. Great fun, and hopefully we encouraged the young Admin Sec people that their job was to go and sort problems where they occured, not expect everyone to beat a path to Handbrake House.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Remembering the scent of wet dog when wearing hairy blues in the rain (Alright- you have to be well over 55!)
Putting in a leave pass for 9 days to cover Mon-Fri off
The thrill of finding the stationery cupboard open and unattended
The first time you got a bar bill at an RAFG station
Doing your annual Clothing Card check in Stores and showing the storeman that you had not one single item of Service equipment or clothing signed out - Triumph!
Being summoned to see the Stn Cdr on a Monday and then not getting a bo******ing about what the rugby club had done at the weekend
Happy Days.....
Putting in a leave pass for 9 days to cover Mon-Fri off
The thrill of finding the stationery cupboard open and unattended
The first time you got a bar bill at an RAFG station
Doing your annual Clothing Card check in Stores and showing the storeman that you had not one single item of Service equipment or clothing signed out - Triumph!
Being summoned to see the Stn Cdr on a Monday and then not getting a bo******ing about what the rugby club had done at the weekend
Happy Days.....
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When there was a flight safety poster (directed at the F700 ) featuring a leggy lady showing seamed stockings (down Beags) with the line "IF YOU HAVE A SNAG - REPORT IT"
strangely every crewroom had replaced the "N" with an"H"
Anyone have it?
strangely every crewroom had replaced the "N" with an"H"
Anyone have it?
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1.3VStall
Ah!......the Station Flight Anson. Thanks for reminding us 1.3VStall. Just about every major UK station had an Anson with the station name proudly emblazoned along the fuselage. 'Owned' by OC Ops, it could sometimes be made available for junkets and other 'helpfull' tasks.
Got a posting to Kinloss or St Mawgan and want some kit shifted? Well, the Anson should be free on Sunday and there was a bunch of volunteer pilots from the squadrons who were checked out. One of them would probably turn out.
Anyone know when the Ansons were withdrawn and why?
Ah!......the Station Flight Anson. Thanks for reminding us 1.3VStall. Just about every major UK station had an Anson with the station name proudly emblazoned along the fuselage. 'Owned' by OC Ops, it could sometimes be made available for junkets and other 'helpfull' tasks.
Got a posting to Kinloss or St Mawgan and want some kit shifted? Well, the Anson should be free on Sunday and there was a bunch of volunteer pilots from the squadrons who were checked out. One of them would probably turn out.
Anyone know when the Ansons were withdrawn and why?
Discovering the "Transfer Voucher" - only way I ever got cleared of the Transit Block at Watton in 69 (I was JP on the STATION, not just the squadron), as stores changed cupboards into beds and bicycles into carpets - magic! (And "thank you" if you are still around)
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When there was a flight safety poster (directed at the F700 ) featuring a leggy lady showing seamed stockings (down Beags) with the line "IF YOU HAVE A SNAG - REPORT IT"
strangely every crewroom had replaced the "N" with an"H"
Anyone have it?
strangely every crewroom had replaced the "N" with an"H"
Anyone have it?
Nodding Donkeys..... Didn't like using Avpin for starting apparently..
Last edited by NutLoose; 16th Aug 2012 at 17:04.
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The Flight Safety posters, of the 50s/60s, that were dotted around the hangar were a work of art and quite 'seaside saucy'. The sauciest one I recall shows a nut with ladylike legs, being persued by a rampant bolt on manly legs and the caption bubble above 'her' head reading, 'No no, not without a washer!
Anyone remember them?
Re the 'Transfer Voucher' the story goes that the loss of a petrol electric generator was transferred into a 'weemega generator, used for testing insulation and beloved by leccies.
Anyone remember them?
Re the 'Transfer Voucher' the story goes that the loss of a petrol electric generator was transferred into a 'weemega generator, used for testing insulation and beloved by leccies.
Last edited by goudie; 16th Aug 2012 at 17:40.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Before they were actually withdrawn they were pulled into regional squadrons. The two we had at Coningsby were withdrawn to Finningley when Coningsby closed in 1964 to form the Northern Comms Sqn.
You might think they were a bit far south to be really Northern but remember their raison d'etre was to transport a V-bomber crew to a dispersal if necessary and also ferry spares while the force was dispersed.
They were withdrawn and replaced by Bassett probably more due to old age than anything else. Of course the original Bassett did not feature a toilet whereas the Anson did. A toilet was essential now that the Bassett was in the Metropolitan Comms Sqn (IIRC) and transporting the weaker bladdered VSOs.
The presence of a dedicated pilot, navigator and toilet now limited the carriage of passengers to just 3 so now needing two Bassetts to transport one V-bomber crew. The additional weight also caused the props to strike the taxiway if the ground was not too smooth. The solution had been to hack a few inches off the tips with a hack saw.
Eventually, as an economy measure, the whole sqn was disbanded over a weekend.
You might think they were a bit far south to be really Northern but remember their raison d'etre was to transport a V-bomber crew to a dispersal if necessary and also ferry spares while the force was dispersed.
They were withdrawn and replaced by Bassett probably more due to old age than anything else. Of course the original Bassett did not feature a toilet whereas the Anson did. A toilet was essential now that the Bassett was in the Metropolitan Comms Sqn (IIRC) and transporting the weaker bladdered VSOs.
The presence of a dedicated pilot, navigator and toilet now limited the carriage of passengers to just 3 so now needing two Bassetts to transport one V-bomber crew. The additional weight also caused the props to strike the taxiway if the ground was not too smooth. The solution had been to hack a few inches off the tips with a hack saw.
Eventually, as an economy measure, the whole sqn was disbanded over a weekend.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Wander, yup, Form 21 was still around in the late 90s when I was getting rid of SOMA VDUs. I had ended up with a ficticious 21 inch colour monitor whereas my SOMA green screen jobbers were on the books at a mere £4k each albeit on the way to a scrap yard.
Took some transfers but I eventually balanced the books.
Took some transfers but I eventually balanced the books.
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Avro Anson....you mean like this one, after it's last flight of the day at Nelson NZ,on the 18th July after a ten-year rebuild to as new condition.
Last edited by Samuel; 16th Aug 2012 at 19:35.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Similar Sir, similar, but no gun turret. The two-blades reminds me though:
An Annie had undercarriage failure. The pilot, a Master Pilot, flew the approach and shut down one engine. He then used the started to motor the blades horizontal. Just before touch down he stopped the other engine and again moved the prop horizontal. He then eased it on to the wheels protruding out of the nacelles.
The aircraft was undamaged.
An Annie had undercarriage failure. The pilot, a Master Pilot, flew the approach and shut down one engine. He then used the started to motor the blades horizontal. Just before touch down he stopped the other engine and again moved the prop horizontal. He then eased it on to the wheels protruding out of the nacelles.
The aircraft was undamaged.
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Similar Sir, similar, but no gun turret. The two-blades reminds me though:
An Annie had undercarriage failure. The pilot, a Master Pilot, flew the approach and shut down one engine. He then used the started to motor the blades horizontal. Just before touch down he stopped the other engine and again moved the prop horizontal. He then eased it on to the wheels protruding out of the nacelles.
The aircraft was undamaged.
An Annie had undercarriage failure. The pilot, a Master Pilot, flew the approach and shut down one engine. He then used the started to motor the blades horizontal. Just before touch down he stopped the other engine and again moved the prop horizontal. He then eased it on to the wheels protruding out of the nacelles.
The aircraft was undamaged.