Infamous metmen/women
Thread Starter
Yes, a Scimitar!
And do I see Roger Boast? ......... I am getting bad with names I fear.
PJ occupied the prestige post as SMetO Cranwell after, I believe, Jim Lawson, or possibly John Tucker.
You may know some of my annual contacts: David Richardson, David Taylor [ex CMetO STC], Brian Wharton, Tony Armstrong, Tom Besford et al.
One day I well tell PJ's tale of an uproarious naughty night duty at Heathrow.
And do I see Roger Boast? ......... I am getting bad with names I fear.
PJ occupied the prestige post as SMetO Cranwell after, I believe, Jim Lawson, or possibly John Tucker.
You may know some of my annual contacts: David Richardson, David Taylor [ex CMetO STC], Brian Wharton, Tony Armstrong, Tom Besford et al.
One day I well tell PJ's tale of an uproarious naughty night duty at Heathrow.
Thread Starter
Beg to report another reunion at Queen's Head Sleaford.
Dave Richardson unable to attend. Otherwise Dave Taylor ex-CMetO STC, ex-Shawbury, ex-Detmold, ex-Marham was in the chair, surrounded by Barbara Tweed, Maureen Phillips, Brian Wharton , ex- everywhere including RAFG, Tony Armstrong ex-MMU and Coltishall, and a supporting cast of several .
The pub took it all in good part, as ever.
Tony Armstrong's medals have been mounted at last "but I am not sure where the Air Efficiency medal has got to". As there are ten others, who cares?
Great company, and reminders of wonderful times serving the RAF, who were sometimes grateful and always sceptical.
"When I am right, no-one remembers, when I am wrong, no-one forgets".
Dave Richardson unable to attend. Otherwise Dave Taylor ex-CMetO STC, ex-Shawbury, ex-Detmold, ex-Marham was in the chair, surrounded by Barbara Tweed, Maureen Phillips, Brian Wharton , ex- everywhere including RAFG, Tony Armstrong ex-MMU and Coltishall, and a supporting cast of several .
The pub took it all in good part, as ever.
Tony Armstrong's medals have been mounted at last "but I am not sure where the Air Efficiency medal has got to". As there are ten others, who cares?
Great company, and reminders of wonderful times serving the RAF, who were sometimes grateful and always sceptical.
"When I am right, no-one remembers, when I am wrong, no-one forgets".
Funny the things you remember, but I'm sure Tony Graeme was on the EGVN roster as 'AFG' and Frank Callanan as 'CFC'... that is correct isn't it?
Last edited by NickB; 30th Nov 2020 at 11:05.
Thread Starter
I'm sorry but I don't know. Met folk were as peripatetic as service people, averaging about a mosting every three years with detachments in between.
"Where my caravan has rested" is a long long list!
"Where my caravan has rested" is a long long list!
I remember Jan's (and she was lovely) forecast well. I was writing the 240 OCU's entry to the station mag at the time, and did a spoof drama story about it. I think she forgave me.....
In a previous life on 543 Sqn at Wyton, Ken Cook the station commander asked our Polish met man at morning briefing if there might be any snow that day. "Group Captain, I can assure you that there will be no snow at Wyton today." was the response. We walked out of stn ops into a veritable blizzard!
In a previous life on 543 Sqn at Wyton, Ken Cook the station commander asked our Polish met man at morning briefing if there might be any snow that day. "Group Captain, I can assure you that there will be no snow at Wyton today." was the response. We walked out of stn ops into a veritable blizzard!
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John Tucker very good cool and competent ..... it was my pleasure to be his boss, inspecting Cranwell was always a pleasure but I found little to complain about, waste of a day really!
I think the Valley man with stutter was KKKKKenny KKKKKemp? I had little to do with the western half of this sceptered isle until Cardiff/Bristol/Plymouth in the late 80s.
A succession of SMetOs at Linton failed to notice/ report that their anemo mast was 2 metres short, thus causing significant under-reading of wind speed. Ruddock, Hindley to name two. Outrage when I insisted we measured it! "Its been good enough all these years ........!" I borrowed a Chinook to airlift [slung] a spare mast from Cumbria, and the Linton dwarf went for scrap.
Oh! And I should also praise Peter jackson, Finningley, later SMetO Cranwell, also I think Wittering, with his passion for interesting cars driven too fast. Far too fast.
I think the Valley man with stutter was KKKKKenny KKKKKemp? I had little to do with the western half of this sceptered isle until Cardiff/Bristol/Plymouth in the late 80s.
A succession of SMetOs at Linton failed to notice/ report that their anemo mast was 2 metres short, thus causing significant under-reading of wind speed. Ruddock, Hindley to name two. Outrage when I insisted we measured it! "Its been good enough all these years ........!" I borrowed a Chinook to airlift [slung] a spare mast from Cumbria, and the Linton dwarf went for scrap.
Oh! And I should also praise Peter jackson, Finningley, later SMetO Cranwell, also I think Wittering, with his passion for interesting cars driven too fast. Far too fast.
On other occasions he would set them on calculating how many million tonnes a CB cloud weighs. - 3caster
Jan 1974; just left RAF and arrived in Jersey for some BEA Viscount training.
Little 'one ring' Bas knocked on Met office door and entered. Opened mouth to speak to be met with:
"I AM CARRYING OUT A BRIEFING!"
Bas: "Oh, sorry, I thought you were just having a chat."
Exit Bas to reddening glow from metman's face.
Little 'one ring' Bas knocked on Met office door and entered. Opened mouth to speak to be met with:
"I AM CARRYING OUT A BRIEFING!"
Bas: "Oh, sorry, I thought you were just having a chat."
Exit Bas to reddening glow from metman's face.
Thread Starter
"When briefing a senior officer [understood to be Sqn Ldr or above] put down pipe or cigarette".
Wg Cdrs and above were usually sufficient to bring Cloudy to his feet, albeit in a hunched, nicotine stained, and dishevelled state.
My prize briefings:
Douglas Bader
Sir Malcolm Campbell
Mickey Martin
and ACM Stacey's chopper pilot, who I told to "sod off, sunshine, you can't queue jump just because you forgot to book on the mayfly".
C Met O had me on the mat for that but he had trouble keeping a straight face. There is quite a lot of background to that episode.
Wg Cdrs and above were usually sufficient to bring Cloudy to his feet, albeit in a hunched, nicotine stained, and dishevelled state.
My prize briefings:
Douglas Bader
Sir Malcolm Campbell
Mickey Martin
and ACM Stacey's chopper pilot, who I told to "sod off, sunshine, you can't queue jump just because you forgot to book on the mayfly".
C Met O had me on the mat for that but he had trouble keeping a straight face. There is quite a lot of background to that episode.
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Would that be the same Charles Ripley who was known as Cunim Jim at a Nav School (Gaydon I think) in 1968-1970. I showed him a photograph of unusual cloud formation in Kenya and he proceeded to give me both barrels on the finer points of climate in Kenya. His teaching did come in useful when I became a truckie.
Early morning met at Finningley for the low level Dominie push. Weather terrible apparently although BBC seemed to think it would be OK-Confirmed by the 0700 actuals so we gave the aircraft to our medium level friends and retired to the feeder.
0900- Back at the office desk and call from S Met O; " was it you that decided to scrub the LL wave?- is there any chance of resurrecting it?" "Not really, why."
" She gave you yesterday's actuals"
0900- Back at the office desk and call from S Met O; " was it you that decided to scrub the LL wave?- is there any chance of resurrecting it?" "Not really, why."
" She gave you yesterday's actuals"
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Seen on Facebook - Several people with meteorological knowledge have advised that the atmospheric phenomena captured here are: a circumzenithal arc, a supralateral arc, an upper tangent arc (relatively rare), a 46 degree halo (pretty rare), a Parry arc, Parry supralateral arcs, a 22 degree halo, twin sun dogs (parhelia), partial parhelic circle, and an upper sun pillar. I also understand it is rare to see all of these during a single event. I hope you enjoy the picture! Taken in Eastern Manitoba, Canada..
Thread Starter
Early morning met at Finningley for the low level Dominie push. Weather terrible apparently although BBC seemed to think it would be OK-Confirmed by the 0700 actuals so we gave the aircraft to our medium level friends and retired to the feeder.
0900- Back at the office desk and call from S Met O; " was it you that decided to scrub the LL wave?- is there any chance of resurrecting it?" "Not really, why."
" She gave you yesterday's actuals"
0900- Back at the office desk and call from S Met O; " was it you that decided to scrub the LL wave?- is there any chance of resurrecting it?" "Not really, why."
" She gave you yesterday's actuals"
[Come to think of it, so have I, but the ratio is 4:3]
Thread Starter
Ricardian ............ oh! oh! ..........Wow!
Very very rarely do the weather gods allow such a coming together, and even more rare to have a decent camera handy. And a foreground to match.
Many thanks.
[no Green Flash, mind you .................]
Very very rarely do the weather gods allow such a coming together, and even more rare to have a decent camera handy. And a foreground to match.
Many thanks.
[no Green Flash, mind you .................]
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Early one morning, just as the sun was rising, into the met office at Cambridge Airport, (the one at Hobart , Tasmania) , there stomped the CFI of the newly formed Aero Club of Southern Tasmania, Lloyd Jones, till not long before , an instructor at No9 EFTS Western Junction, in the State's north.
Lloyd and the met man , Sam, disliked each other's GUTZ , to put it mildly. Lloyd, with pipe clenched between his teeth, stood by Sam's desk, feeling in his pocket for his matches. He lit his briar, then casually tossed the match into the nearby metal waste paper basket, igniting the scrunched up paper therein. A furious Sam leapt up from his chair, went to stamp the fire out, but his shoe jammed in the now blazing basket, and was about to set his strides on fire. Swearing loudly, Sam danced around the room trying desperately to shake the basket free.
What did the very cool Lloyd do? He lent over Sam's consol and pressed the big red knob, setting off loud sirens and alerting the airport fire crew. A fire extinguisher was mounted on the wall of the met office, so Lloyd took hold of it and used it for its designed purpose.
Needless to say, from that day on, any duff weather forecast by Sam, Lloyd ignored. And went flying anyway.
Lloyd and the met man , Sam, disliked each other's GUTZ , to put it mildly. Lloyd, with pipe clenched between his teeth, stood by Sam's desk, feeling in his pocket for his matches. He lit his briar, then casually tossed the match into the nearby metal waste paper basket, igniting the scrunched up paper therein. A furious Sam leapt up from his chair, went to stamp the fire out, but his shoe jammed in the now blazing basket, and was about to set his strides on fire. Swearing loudly, Sam danced around the room trying desperately to shake the basket free.
What did the very cool Lloyd do? He lent over Sam's consol and pressed the big red knob, setting off loud sirens and alerting the airport fire crew. A fire extinguisher was mounted on the wall of the met office, so Lloyd took hold of it and used it for its designed purpose.
Needless to say, from that day on, any duff weather forecast by Sam, Lloyd ignored. And went flying anyway.
Thread Starter
It seems Met Men attract waste paper troubles.
We had a fastidious Polish gent at FY who, in nis quest for neatness, trod the paper in the WPB right into the metal bin when he arrived to take over.
So PJ empied the bin, filled it with cold water, floated a raft of paper on it, and waited for KS to arrive.
As did several others ...............
"I suppose you think that bloody funny?!"
Yes.
We had a fastidious Polish gent at FY who, in nis quest for neatness, trod the paper in the WPB right into the metal bin when he arrived to take over.
So PJ empied the bin, filled it with cold water, floated a raft of paper on it, and waited for KS to arrive.
As did several others ...............
"I suppose you think that bloody funny?!"
Yes.
Was that SMetO the excellent "Mac" Cameron? My super boss for five years, six daughters I think, and then a boy, much to everyone's relief. For no very good reason he had almost as many lawnmowers as offspring.
[Come to think of it, so have I, but the ratio is 4:3]
[Come to think of it, so have I, but the ratio is 4:3]
Thread Starter
Timelord: thank you, that fits perfectly because in Mac's time there were no young ladies in the office. I think he was succeeded by a Yorkshireman, Roy Walters?
More's the pity about the girls, of course.
More's the pity about the girls, of course.
Re GBZ's post #50 & Bert Marsden @ CATC, Hurn.
We knew him as "Turbulent Eddy". I recall his frequent disparaging remarks about radio/tv reports mentioning 'black ice'. "There ain't no such animal !" :-)
We knew him as "Turbulent Eddy". I recall his frequent disparaging remarks about radio/tv reports mentioning 'black ice'. "There ain't no such animal !" :-)
Lyneham Liz's finest hour
Liz was in STS at Lyneham, forecasting at the Main Brief for an ABEX onto Otterburn, incorporating the usual parallel streams of Para/Para Wedge aircraft and Stores aircraft, probably about 21 in total. She warned the Brigadier (ABF Cdr) that before sunset the wind would be too strong for Para, and soon after dusk frontal ****e would come through, = chose your P Hour very carefully. The streams briefed and mounted, and sure enough on the run-in the wind was reported by the DZSO as miraculously reducing to within limits. As the last Para ac finished its second pass over the DZ (to get rid of those too slow to get out on the first pass) a solid wall of brown ****e rolled over the DZ, but all ac were by then drop complete. A forecaster's finest hour!
Can't believe no-one's mentioned Mogadon from Shawbury, late 70s / early 80's?
Can't believe no-one's mentioned Mogadon from Shawbury, late 70s / early 80's?
Last edited by Vasco Sodcat; 4th Jan 2018 at 17:52. Reason: Punctuation is a wonderful thing