Wrongly Accused
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The old Rhodesian Air Force did not have the requisite medical facilities for aircrew selection and so we got a jolly to Pretoria for several days.
We were given generous freedom in the evenings and so sampled the delights of Joburg. Fate brought a bunch of us to an ice rink (when already well oiled) and we were all over the place; one chap (Roddy?) slipped and cut his chin (some stitches?); the next day he was accused of brawling and this appeared to have resulted in his not being selected - ironic when so many of us knew the truth but were not listened to.
A familiar example to most of you of being wrongly accused should be that of the pilots of ZD576 - while they were eventually cleared of gross negligence, the years that their name was under a cloud cannot be forgotten, nevermind that the circumstances were never fully investigated in my opinion.
We were given generous freedom in the evenings and so sampled the delights of Joburg. Fate brought a bunch of us to an ice rink (when already well oiled) and we were all over the place; one chap (Roddy?) slipped and cut his chin (some stitches?); the next day he was accused of brawling and this appeared to have resulted in his not being selected - ironic when so many of us knew the truth but were not listened to.
A familiar example to most of you of being wrongly accused should be that of the pilots of ZD576 - while they were eventually cleared of gross negligence, the years that their name was under a cloud cannot be forgotten, nevermind that the circumstances were never fully investigated in my opinion.
Not surprised at you scepticism Laarbruch 72.
However with very minor artistic licence all is sadly true.
I have deleted my post however as I think it was a mistake to post it and it was not really a military story.
Thanks for your support dieseldo.
A happy new year to all.,
However with very minor artistic licence all is sadly true.
I have deleted my post however as I think it was a mistake to post it and it was not really a military story.
Thanks for your support dieseldo.
A happy new year to all.,
Last edited by ericferret; 31st Dec 2012 at 22:02.
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Actually Laarbruch 72 while I cannot vouch for every detail in Erics story.
I can vouch for the overall picture. Well known amongst the people he was working with at XXXXXX Not funny at the time and the cause of serious stress and time off work.
I can vouch for the overall picture. Well known amongst the people he was working with at XXXXXX Not funny at the time and the cause of serious stress and time off work.
Last edited by dieseldo; 31st Dec 2012 at 21:29. Reason: To remove location
During basic flying training, two of us on the course were the same height, build and with the same hair colour and were often getting confused. During the course, my doppleganger lost his solo clearance for an unauthorised low run in and break. At the end of the course, when the boss had left his office unlocked, several of us had a look at our files (never a good idea). In mine, it metioned it was me who had committed the deed and it was one of the factors which got me re-streamed to Group 2!
A familiar example to most of you of being wrongly accused should be that of the pilots of ZD576 - while they were eventually cleared of gross negligence, the years that their name was under a cloud cannot be forgotten, nevermind that the circumstances were never fully investigated in my opinion.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
I think now write ups are read by students as a matter of course. I was accused by one student of plagiarising another instructor's write up. The stude had bust safety altitude a second time and my write up was word for word the same. The boss then read through the stude's whole folder, found this was the third height bust and the instructor wording (all 3 of us) was the same. The stude was chopped forthwith.
Tea and sympathy...?
I have heard, admittedly anecdotal, tales of IOT Flt Cdrs, and Basic Nav instructors, in the past, who seemed to have taken great delight in getting all their students chopped.....
By the way, I'm not accusing PN of being such a person!!!
I have heard, admittedly anecdotal, tales of IOT Flt Cdrs, and Basic Nav instructors, in the past, who seemed to have taken great delight in getting all their students chopped.....
By the way, I'm not accusing PN of being such a person!!!
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Biggus, LOL. Actually you are not too far adrift.
The AD Force complained that too many abo were getting through to the OCU and could not cope with the pace of learning. It was accepted that extending the course, increasing the number of fly and refly sorties would see more getting through but the bottom line was there would be no chance of a refly after mission failure on Day 1 of the war.
I think we sometimes thought IOT was too lenient too and I am sure, given that 70% of my studes were chopped pilots that the FTS thought OASC was also too soft
The AD Force complained that too many abo were getting through to the OCU and could not cope with the pace of learning. It was accepted that extending the course, increasing the number of fly and refly sorties would see more getting through but the bottom line was there would be no chance of a refly after mission failure on Day 1 of the war.
I think we sometimes thought IOT was too lenient too and I am sure, given that 70% of my studes were chopped pilots that the FTS thought OASC was also too soft
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Studes who we thought had good potential and who showed they would benefit were indeed given tea and sympathy. The others would also be given the necessary help to improve but repeating an error was sufficient to look more closely their performance; doing it three times left the Boss with no alternative. The ground has a PK=1 and breaking safety height is the surest way to prove it. An ex-pilot and flt cdr of mine later led a number of his squadron along that rocky path.
Was called into Boss's office at LYE, hat no tea and biscuits. Got a good bollocking and a severe talking too mostly to do with rowing 8s. Pretty bad assessment was also mentioned.
Having just had my 6442 for that year and it pretty good for a first year Cpl who'd only been in post for a few months, I immediately went and accused my reporting officer (an old, wise MEng) of blowing smoke in my ear whilst actually writing something else.
MEng immediately denies this and dashed off to Sqn Ldrs office (a chap who repeatedly dobbed his fellow aircrew in for misdeeds down route when he was a co-pilot, I am told) and reads the riot act to him about tarnishing his reputation/credibility etc. Aparantly he was nearly charged. MEng left boss in no doubt about my abilities and personality and told me next shift that the boss had me mistaken for a someone else.
I still haven't a clue what the bollocking was about, but probably would have done if I'd ever rowed eights!
Two incorrect accusations, I apologised. SLOps never did!!
Doc C
Having just had my 6442 for that year and it pretty good for a first year Cpl who'd only been in post for a few months, I immediately went and accused my reporting officer (an old, wise MEng) of blowing smoke in my ear whilst actually writing something else.
MEng immediately denies this and dashed off to Sqn Ldrs office (a chap who repeatedly dobbed his fellow aircrew in for misdeeds down route when he was a co-pilot, I am told) and reads the riot act to him about tarnishing his reputation/credibility etc. Aparantly he was nearly charged. MEng left boss in no doubt about my abilities and personality and told me next shift that the boss had me mistaken for a someone else.
I still haven't a clue what the bollocking was about, but probably would have done if I'd ever rowed eights!
Two incorrect accusations, I apologised. SLOps never did!!
Doc C
One of mine...sort of accusation/sort of partly wrong blame.
Late friday at an airfield near K Lynn we are doing the last few A/F's and covering/tie down of the a/c.
One of our SAC's came to me(he did not have a good reputation !) and asked me to look at a suspect crack on a noseleg,he said it had been checked (previously) by our chiefy and sgt but because I was the longest serving rigger on the unit (but only j/t) he wanted my opinion.
Of course being friday evening we were all in going home mode but I went with him to have a shufti,none of the paint had been removed LOL so not sure how it had been checked previously (no tell tale red stain from ardrox dye penetrant) but the suspect crack was right on the casting 'Flash Line' which worried me somewhat.However I knew that the NDT chap was booked for first thing monday morning so I said to our SAC that I would get NDT to check it on monday.
Anyway I grabbed the NDT guy as soon as he appeared on monday and when he ran his eddy current probe over the leg 'wheeee' - the needle went off the scale
Result was that I snagged the a/c,but who got the blame for it not being snagged earlier ?.... yup moi for not investigating it on friday evening LOL
We had lost 2 excellent trade managers (chiefys) during the mid 70's 'golden bowler' schemes and it certainly showed !
Late friday at an airfield near K Lynn we are doing the last few A/F's and covering/tie down of the a/c.
One of our SAC's came to me(he did not have a good reputation !) and asked me to look at a suspect crack on a noseleg,he said it had been checked (previously) by our chiefy and sgt but because I was the longest serving rigger on the unit (but only j/t) he wanted my opinion.
Of course being friday evening we were all in going home mode but I went with him to have a shufti,none of the paint had been removed LOL so not sure how it had been checked previously (no tell tale red stain from ardrox dye penetrant
) but the suspect crack was right on the casting 'Flash Line' which worried me somewhat.However I knew that the NDT chap was booked for first thing monday morning so I said to our SAC that I would get NDT to check it on monday.Anyway I grabbed the NDT guy as soon as he appeared on monday and when he ran his eddy current probe over the leg 'wheeee' - the needle went off the scale
Result was that I snagged the a/c,but who got the blame for it not being snagged earlier ?.... yup moi
for not investigating it on friday evening LOLWe had lost 2 excellent trade managers (chiefys) during the mid 70's 'golden bowler' schemes and it certainly showed !
Closed Reporting
I have often wondered what the RAF hoped to gain from closed reporting. To my mind it simply allowed spineless tw@ts to hide behind "staff in confidence". I recall one individual who was recoursed to me when I was an ANI in the mid 80s. His blue file was full of various comments none of which were helpful. I decided to debrief him on what the staff thought about him! He was clearly unaware of what had been said but certainly changed his approach after our chat. What really concerned me though was the motives of my colleagues who had written the stuff in the first place, there was no effort to debrief him and encourage change. He appeared to be written off and the more so-called evidence the better. He didn't pass the course but at least we were able to recommend a ground branch on re-selection.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
vasco, we obviously met. Certainly what you have there was classic evidence building rather than training. On my first sqn our new OC, who arrived just 4 weeks earlier, called each of us in, gave us our 5000s and told us to read them. The one and only time that happened.
Some 50 years later I met an RO wg cdr with whom I had flown on his chop ride. He had used the DPA98/SAR to get hold of his 1369s and 5000s. Now what surprised him was the amount included in his files about the rest of us including me!
Having been brought up with confidentiality I have no interest in finding what the b*****s wrote about me. I do remember one wonderful debrief by my 2RO. I concluded with "Well that must be right, it is exactly what the last 2RO said last year." He went white because our lazy Spec Aircrew sqn ldr had given him the same write up as he gave his predecessor.
Some 50 years later I met an RO wg cdr with whom I had flown on his chop ride. He had used the DPA98/SAR to get hold of his 1369s and 5000s. Now what surprised him was the amount included in his files about the rest of us including me!
Having been brought up with confidentiality I have no interest in finding what the b*****s wrote about me. I do remember one wonderful debrief by my 2RO. I concluded with "Well that must be right, it is exactly what the last 2RO said last year." He went white because our lazy Spec Aircrew sqn ldr had given him the same write up as he gave his predecessor.
Last edited by Pontius Navigator; 1st Jan 2013 at 19:15.
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4. Nicking morphine from flying suit first aid kit.
Exercise on Jag Squadron, muskets returned on trolley to armoury, armoury find bayonet missing, police called, everyone interviewed / accused... They recheck trolley to find bayonet had slipped out of its slot and down the back when towed back to the armoury. No apologies.
Closed reporting was, of course, the way of the world "in those days". Open reporting in the Met. Office was intro. just as I was getting to become a 1RO, so no rude shock to me. However, those who were used to praising to high heaven or damning without redeeming features did a lot of complaining about a rush to mediocrity in reporting.
Many and wonderful were the nuances constructed around the middling boxes.
I was challenged by 2RO re. an assessment I wrote which described a forecaster as a thoroughly nice bloke. "Between ourselves, are you saying he is a poof?"
Very short of poofs, the Met.Office. Had a transvestite, though.
Many and wonderful were the nuances constructed around the middling boxes.
I was challenged by 2RO re. an assessment I wrote which described a forecaster as a thoroughly nice bloke. "Between ourselves, are you saying he is a poof?"
Very short of poofs, the Met.Office. Had a transvestite, though.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
I was at a remote station in the Far East in 1966/7 and had graduated from a mess with no hot water to a more up market place entirely – all things are relative – which was a series of bungalows plus a hotel style accommodation block. I had one of about eight rooms in one of the bungalows with communal ‘facilities’.
After a few weeks, I was summoned to see the PMC, who was also my squadron commander. Without inviting me to sit down, he informed me a rather brusque manner that there had been a complaint that I was playing music, late at night and loudly and that this was inconsiderate of others and had to stop forthwith. I told the PMC that it was not me, I did not know who it might be and I had not heard any undue noise. He persisted and in a tone which suggested that he had no appetite for a discussion with me, again told me to desist. I repeated that I was not the culprit, at which point he became rather acid. He became even more annoyed when I told him it couldn’t have been me as I had no radio, gramophone or tape recorder and possessed no musical instruments whatsoever. At this point I was dismissed peremptorily and thought little more of it.
However, a couple of weeks later, it was learned that another officer had been interviewed by the stash because an anonymous letter had been sent from the unit to the officer’s wife in UK, stating that her husband was – how can I put this delicately – having it off with a local civilian lady. Denials were accepted but a nasty taste remained but then it was my turn again.
An officer, leaving for UK, had been unable to sell his small motorbike and he asked me to try to sell it for him and agreed that I could use the bike during the interim. This I did for a short period when I was visited in my office by the RAF Police Sergeant who said he had received a report that I was riding an uninsured motorbike. I was able to show him the necessary documents straight away but was now beginning to wonder who was being such a sneak. I didn’t have long to wait for I was next visited by a Sergeant from Provost & Security Services to say that he had been told that I had visited a Chinese lady at her home the previous evening. I was pleased to admit that I had done so but was accompanied by several others for what was no more than a few drinks, with the lady and some others who were well known to us and others on the base.
Several other minor things happened but I wasn’t able to put my finger on who was involved. However, everything comes to he who waits and the rundown of the station brought with it a host of tasks. One of these required a purge of classified files and documents and despite the sensitivity of some of the stuff, is usually dumped on a junior officer – guess who! A usually boring chore proved anything but, particularly when the ‘privacy’ marked stuff was included. The long and the short of it was I felt certain I now knew who my tormentor was but he had already returned to UK and I was destined to a further two years of dreadful hardship, as I had wangled a tour in Hong Kong.
On my return to UK, I made some discrete enquiries about the gentleman concerned but learned that he had subsequently died and there the matter ended. There had been no long term consequences for me and the other officer’s wife was duly appeased when somebody else informed her delicately what had been going on. What remains with me, however, is why somebody should be so petty in their behaviour and I wonder whether he was just unable to cope with the circumstances of 12 months in the sun. I also wonder why the more senior staff entertained the fabrications after the first few were exposed as false. However, it was all nearly fifty years ago – frightening how time flies!
Just off to write the begging letter to the latest lottery jackpot winner – toddle pip!!
Old Duffer
After a few weeks, I was summoned to see the PMC, who was also my squadron commander. Without inviting me to sit down, he informed me a rather brusque manner that there had been a complaint that I was playing music, late at night and loudly and that this was inconsiderate of others and had to stop forthwith. I told the PMC that it was not me, I did not know who it might be and I had not heard any undue noise. He persisted and in a tone which suggested that he had no appetite for a discussion with me, again told me to desist. I repeated that I was not the culprit, at which point he became rather acid. He became even more annoyed when I told him it couldn’t have been me as I had no radio, gramophone or tape recorder and possessed no musical instruments whatsoever. At this point I was dismissed peremptorily and thought little more of it.
However, a couple of weeks later, it was learned that another officer had been interviewed by the stash because an anonymous letter had been sent from the unit to the officer’s wife in UK, stating that her husband was – how can I put this delicately – having it off with a local civilian lady. Denials were accepted but a nasty taste remained but then it was my turn again.
An officer, leaving for UK, had been unable to sell his small motorbike and he asked me to try to sell it for him and agreed that I could use the bike during the interim. This I did for a short period when I was visited in my office by the RAF Police Sergeant who said he had received a report that I was riding an uninsured motorbike. I was able to show him the necessary documents straight away but was now beginning to wonder who was being such a sneak. I didn’t have long to wait for I was next visited by a Sergeant from Provost & Security Services to say that he had been told that I had visited a Chinese lady at her home the previous evening. I was pleased to admit that I had done so but was accompanied by several others for what was no more than a few drinks, with the lady and some others who were well known to us and others on the base.
Several other minor things happened but I wasn’t able to put my finger on who was involved. However, everything comes to he who waits and the rundown of the station brought with it a host of tasks. One of these required a purge of classified files and documents and despite the sensitivity of some of the stuff, is usually dumped on a junior officer – guess who! A usually boring chore proved anything but, particularly when the ‘privacy’ marked stuff was included. The long and the short of it was I felt certain I now knew who my tormentor was but he had already returned to UK and I was destined to a further two years of dreadful hardship, as I had wangled a tour in Hong Kong.
On my return to UK, I made some discrete enquiries about the gentleman concerned but learned that he had subsequently died and there the matter ended. There had been no long term consequences for me and the other officer’s wife was duly appeased when somebody else informed her delicately what had been going on. What remains with me, however, is why somebody should be so petty in their behaviour and I wonder whether he was just unable to cope with the circumstances of 12 months in the sun. I also wonder why the more senior staff entertained the fabrications after the first few were exposed as false. However, it was all nearly fifty years ago – frightening how time flies!
Just off to write the begging letter to the latest lottery jackpot winner – toddle pip!!
Old Duffer
Closed Reporting
Langley
I don't agree that it was the way of the world then (1980s). The rest of the world had moved on long since so why did the military take so long? To my mind the idea of the confidence was between the RO and the subject, not the chance for backstabbers to lie about people with impunity.
PN FY 85-89
I don't agree that it was the way of the world then (1980s). The rest of the world had moved on long since so why did the military take so long? To my mind the idea of the confidence was between the RO and the subject, not the chance for backstabbers to lie about people with impunity.
PN FY 85-89