Ripping Yarns : Squadron One-upmanship Fun
Hmmm.....curious that the technical examination linked by Nutloose, shortly after the war determined that it was the 2nd bomb that did all the decisive damage. Highly unlikely that the 2nd came from the sqn without the precision bomb sights, who didn't arrive over target until after the final 617 ac had departed.
Anyway, it's a long way in the past and all on that raid deserve our thanks and respect.
Anyway, it's a long way in the past and all on that raid deserve our thanks and respect.
Last edited by just another jocky; 17th May 2013 at 05:31. Reason: added extra sentence in 1st para.
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Great stuff with the Tirpitz bulkhead!
I can vouch for the PSAB 111sqn pennant. Second hand anyway from the MR2 det. Serves them right for having a '24hr combat operations-DO NOT DISTURB' sign on their front door. I nicked that when I misappropriated their photocopier to enable some 'real' missions. We sent that sign sausage-side out of the fixed sonobuoy launcher and then supplied them with the lat/long when they asked for it back.
Closer to home CXXTS is hard to beat!
Closer to home CXXTS is hard to beat!
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Great contributions so far ...
Accepting that 51 Squadron appear to have got one over the Tremblers ... I'm sure such Fun-n-Games aren't just the preserve of the FJ community.
Best ...
Coff.
Accepting that 51 Squadron appear to have got one over the Tremblers ... I'm sure such Fun-n-Games aren't just the preserve of the FJ community.
Best ...
Coff.
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Ripping Yarns : Squadron One-upmanship Fun
Now this one came to me second hand from a USN exchange officer so if anyone out there has a more accurate version or can name the Sqns involved I would love them to correct my post. Animal lovers do NOT read any further.
Apparently aboard a USN carrier one of the Sqns had a monkey as a mascot. It was relatively tame would be dressed from time to time in a minature flying kit.
One if the other Sqns aboard decided it would be a wizard prank to dress said monkey in their kit and get some photos of it flying in one of their jets. It may or may not have been doped up to achieve this.
Sadly at some point it became alert and scared in the rear seat and the WSO discovered how quick, strong and agile a small monkey can be not to mention how sharp the teeth are.
At the end of the battle the WSO was wounded, the monkey KIA and the inside of the rear canopy like a scene from a bad Hollywood horror. Another use for the dinghy knife had been discovered.
The prank had turned into a huge embarrassment and was hushed up as much as possible.
So, true or not....... Anyone know?
Apparently aboard a USN carrier one of the Sqns had a monkey as a mascot. It was relatively tame would be dressed from time to time in a minature flying kit.
One if the other Sqns aboard decided it would be a wizard prank to dress said monkey in their kit and get some photos of it flying in one of their jets. It may or may not have been doped up to achieve this.
Sadly at some point it became alert and scared in the rear seat and the WSO discovered how quick, strong and agile a small monkey can be not to mention how sharp the teeth are.
At the end of the battle the WSO was wounded, the monkey KIA and the inside of the rear canopy like a scene from a bad Hollywood horror. Another use for the dinghy knife had been discovered.
The prank had turned into a huge embarrassment and was hushed up as much as possible.
So, true or not....... Anyone know?
It would take a lot to beat the October 1976 pink Harrier T-bird saga! For which the FAF EC 3/2 Alsace Mirage mates must take the credit.
Less savoury was finding baldrick graffiti scrawled on the inside of VC-10 landing gear doors etc. when one bunch had been dealing with another's aircraft. Neither witty nor amusing.....
Less savoury was finding baldrick graffiti scrawled on the inside of VC-10 landing gear doors etc. when one bunch had been dealing with another's aircraft. Neither witty nor amusing.....
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There was a story in the Middle East mid 1960s that a home-going battalion of soldiers embarked on an Eating Command aircraft. One of the home-sick soldiers used a sharp implement to scratch his number, rank and name on the plexiglass window...
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Not quite up to the standards of the Tirpitz bulkhead, but a memory from UAS summercamp days. We detached to a rival UAS's facilities for our summer camp. When we were packing up to leave, probably around the end of July many years ago we left a few surprises for the resident UAS. Amongst other crimes, we unscrewed the mouthpieces of the crewroom telephones, packed the space with anchovies and stilton and reassembled. These would then 'mature' until the new academic year began in October after a couple of hot summer months. We would then entertain ourselves by calling their crewroom from our crewroom about twenty times per day making a sniffing sound and asking "Can you smell something?". Hilarious.
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Back in July 86 I did see the results of an international one-upmanship at a certain Kent airfield where the OP was once based.
A Russian AN-22 had landed there to pick up some helicopters that had taken part in some event elsewhere and had been "turned round" by the men in blue.
As it taxied out it was noted that it sported a Royal Air Force sticker on the u/c bay. Not just a small one but that normally seen on the side of a fire engine!
(I did take a photo but it was was cr@ppy you could not even read the reg and that was large, it got chucked)
A Russian AN-22 had landed there to pick up some helicopters that had taken part in some event elsewhere and had been "turned round" by the men in blue.
As it taxied out it was noted that it sported a Royal Air Force sticker on the u/c bay. Not just a small one but that normally seen on the side of a fire engine!
(I did take a photo but it was was cr@ppy you could not even read the reg and that was large, it got chucked)
clicker
This is the AN-22 you saw in 1986.
It was at Manston to pick up the Russian Helios. which took part in the International event at Castle Ashby.
The RAF logo you can just see on the wheel housing, most is lost in shadow
I saw the RAF lads take it from an RAF truck after they had closed up the aircraft.
I often thought what might have been the reaction at the other end on arrival.
OPF
This is the AN-22 you saw in 1986.
It was at Manston to pick up the Russian Helios. which took part in the International event at Castle Ashby.
The RAF logo you can just see on the wheel housing, most is lost in shadow
I saw the RAF lads take it from an RAF truck after they had closed up the aircraft.
I often thought what might have been the reaction at the other end on arrival.
OPF
Any truth in the story about the squadron (Wyton I think) who procured a ratty, old table to be chainsawed apart at a dining-in night? On seeing this highly amusing prank, the other station squadron borrowed the chain saw to have a go at dismembering another table. Except the table they chopped up belonged to the Mess.
Less savoury was finding baldrick graffiti scrawled on the inside of VC-10 landing gear doors etc. when one bunch had been dealing with another's aircraft. Neither witty nor amusing.....
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But,chainsaws in the mess is witty and amusing ,what what.............
Chainsaws in the mess? No problem. Just pay for any damage. You're only young once.
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I'll leave someone else to consider the merits of starting a "Ripping Yarns" thread on Mess Fun-n-Games if they really want ... but the mindless scrawling on aircraft as described is exactly that ...
Back to more creative "one-upmanship" ...
Coff.
Back to more creative "one-upmanship" ...
Coff.
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Officers Mess, Nicosia, 1956. The MEAF Com Sqn had a pet monkey which they dressed up in RAF uniform complete with RAF Regiment flashes and brought the poor creature into the bar one Saturday lunchtime where it created mayhem, much to the amusement of all and sundry apart from the Rockapes.
I'm with BEagle on that one. Having "wanquerre" and "bolleaux" (sic) scrawled on one's aircraft is pretty embarrassing.
Chainsaws in the mess? No problem. Just pay for any damage. You're only young once.
Chainsaws in the mess? No problem. Just pay for any damage. You're only young once.
High jinks v's criminal damage, people on both sides of the 'great divide' can be uncircumcised Richards, just found it objectionable that the one mention of below stairs, paints them as oafs.
Always found the sargeants mess to be the finer establishment.
At last it can be told!
Always found the sargeants mess to be the finer establishment.
The scene, Leuchars, sometime between '82-'85. B Flt 22 Sqn dispersal, right next door to '43 Squadron, The Fighting Cocks' as the sign above their entrance proclaimed. The CO, being a 'small not altogether popular officer' (SNAPO) with either B Flt or 43!
A Wessex arrives from 'somewhere in England' to stand in for B Flt crew overnight (Leuchars Ball). Navigator on said Wessex the last remaining Master Nav on the Sqn. Shift handover the following morning, M Nav has a certain sly smirk and black paint on fingers. As we wave our colleagues goodbye we notice the nice newly painted sign next door, in foot high letters, adorning 43's hangar 'FARTY THREE SQUADRON, THE FARHTING COOKS'.
Before a furious SNAPO appears to KILL the guilty b
d a 'Very Nice OC Tremblers' walks into B Flt Ops. Quick as a flash our Nav says "Eh sir, great prank your guys played last night on 43 Sqn". "Oh? What was that Frank?" says OC111 and is taken outside to view the new sign. I think he was quite pleased that 'his chaps' would take the flak! 
Last edited by Al-bert; 18th May 2013 at 12:55.
Gentleman Aviator
One of the home-sick soldiers used a sharp implement to scratch his number, rank and name on the plexiglass window...
