Drinking Culture in the RAF Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.
Oh crikey, someone has just resurrected a proper British pint. Mild, or the occasional Mild and Bitter, PFM when a thirst needs quenching. Nicely remembered sir.
Smudge
Smudge
"The Orderly Officer is to drink in moderation"
There used to be a
pub in Reading called the Moderation. Had visions of gangs of No1-clad officers
merrily getting slaughtered, and entirely in accordance with regs...
Avoid imitations
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Wandering the FIR and cyberspace often at highly unsociable times
Posts: 14,574
Received 422 Likes
on
222 Posts
The death knell for the drinking culture was sounded when the QFI on an early morning weather check did an ultra low level run along Gouthwaite Reservoir and buried a wingtip in the water. He was found to be still half pissed after a heavy and late night on the booze.
I also remember that someone proposed a toast to his memory at dinner in the Mess the same evening.
If you allow me to contribute...
My homestation Bremgarten was often used by our british phantom friends as last gas station on the way south or on the return north. What amazed me even more than the drinking culture was the way the bill was handeled.
Taking a seat at the bar in the officers mess each crew member deposited a fifty DM below the glass and every order was payed from that deposit until it had depleted to zero, upon that time it was eagerly filled up again without discussion.
My homestation Bremgarten was often used by our british phantom friends as last gas station on the way south or on the return north. What amazed me even more than the drinking culture was the way the bill was handeled.
Taking a seat at the bar in the officers mess each crew member deposited a fifty DM below the glass and every order was payed from that deposit until it had depleted to zero, upon that time it was eagerly filled up again without discussion.
Last edited by RetiredF4; 7th Jul 2013 at 09:32.
Nope. Trend Micro Titanium identified malware which flagged up a HTML_IFRAME.ZDA alert concerning that Tizer site and canned it!
HTLM_IFRAME.ZDA is the Trend Micro detection notification for web pages that have been compromised through the insertion of a certain IFRAME tag.
HTLM_IFRAME.ZDA is the Trend Micro detection notification for web pages that have been compromised through the insertion of a certain IFRAME tag.
Last edited by BEagle; 7th Jul 2013 at 14:04.
ISTR in 1958 there was an entry in the 2TAF Confidential Order Book to the effect that "Officers shall not arrive at the Hook of Holland drunk" One arrived at the Hook' via the well stocked' leave train system (Red, Blue, etc etc). Probably a hangover (sorry) from when Squadrons took leave as units and the war reparations boat' went Harwich-Hook-Harwich, with no stabilisers! Dutch Courage' for the North Sea crossing?
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 33,034
Received 2,902 Likes
on
1,243 Posts
I seem to remember one had to be careful when driving back to the UK as the washer bottle was often filled with Vodka as it was cheaper to purchase than windscreen wash and was sometimes overlooked, but not by customs.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Another thought, perhaps not as relevant with OOA, fewer aircraft and even fewer stations, but ever done the 'where have we met before?' routine?
Transit mess bar (Transit Mess!) at Luqa. After a few of their incomparable brandy sours me and my drinking companion at the time 'visited' just about every aircraft type, station and unit to try and figure out where we had met and why each was so familiar to the other but couldn't remember where.
After a few more stiff lemonades the penny dropped.
We had been drinking in the self same bar the night before!
Transit mess bar (Transit Mess!) at Luqa. After a few of their incomparable brandy sours me and my drinking companion at the time 'visited' just about every aircraft type, station and unit to try and figure out where we had met and why each was so familiar to the other but couldn't remember where.
After a few more stiff lemonades the penny dropped.
We had been drinking in the self same bar the night before!
Gentleman Aviator
I seem to remember one had to be careful when driving back to the UK as the washer bottle was often filled with Vodka as it was cheaper to purchase than windscreen wash and was sometimes overlooked, but not by customs.
But then I think it was NAAFI Vodka @ 5 DM a litre, while Halfords anti/de-icing fluid (also from NAAFI) was something like 7.50 DM for 500 ml. You do the math(s).
And the FFR then was 5.5 DM to the £ .....
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: 45 yards from a tropical beach
Posts: 1,103
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Gouthwaite Reservoir
Shy Torque,
At the time of that accident, I was a QFI on the same Squadron as the deceased, who was on a Staff Continuation Training sortie, flying solo. I was airborne at the same time, and the weather was seductive - clear skies, calm wind plus haze and mist with the sun low on the horizon. Gouthwaite Reservoir was flat calm, making low flying over it potentially dangerous without a Radar Altimeter. The pilot in question was the most experienced low-level Jet Provost pilot at Linton, having had a previous tour as a Staff Pilot on the JP at Nav School.
A sad and unnecessary loss made worse for his family because his brother died just weeks before his accident.
At the time of that accident, I was a QFI on the same Squadron as the deceased, who was on a Staff Continuation Training sortie, flying solo. I was airborne at the same time, and the weather was seductive - clear skies, calm wind plus haze and mist with the sun low on the horizon. Gouthwaite Reservoir was flat calm, making low flying over it potentially dangerous without a Radar Altimeter. The pilot in question was the most experienced low-level Jet Provost pilot at Linton, having had a previous tour as a Staff Pilot on the JP at Nav School.
A sad and unnecessary loss made worse for his family because his brother died just weeks before his accident.
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Back from the sandpit
Age: 63
Posts: 492
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Gouthwaite Reservoir
ISTR a couple of lineys who were members of the RAFC Bubbly Club and fully qual'd divers went up there to ascertain if the seat was still live and to pin it if poss, I believe they found the unfortunate on the bottom still strapped to a live seat in situ. The seat was duly pinned and the recovery began.
I remember flying LL down Loch Etive just after dawn on an utterly calm, clear summer morning. Totally impossible to judge height, and I was stone cold sober. The radalt was working fine as we left land, but I reset the pressure alt just in case. Fantastically beautiful, but potentially lethal. I doubt that booze had much to do with it. RIP
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Dawn over Lake Garda, glassy surface and descending below 200 feet at 300 kts in the mighty V. Only the loss of range on the radar queued me in to the height.
Fox3 - Loch Etive - one of my favourite places on earth, where I spent one of the happiest fortnights of my life. I am so please the Loch and particularly you, were unscathed
Just as an historical aside, before Radalts existed.
One technique used by pilots of such aircraft as Baltimores over the Mediterranean, easing in to low level( and low level at night) over a still sea, was to wind the trailing radio aerial right out.
The splashes of the tip of this skipping over the sea were visible in the rear view mirror.
(An analogous technique to this but using trailing wires and weights actually linked to mechanically closing the throttle and easing in up elevator was also used in the very earliest experiments in U.K. -pre-dating auto land systems and dating from the early 1920's).
Back to the bar .
One technique used by pilots of such aircraft as Baltimores over the Mediterranean, easing in to low level( and low level at night) over a still sea, was to wind the trailing radio aerial right out.
The splashes of the tip of this skipping over the sea were visible in the rear view mirror.
(An analogous technique to this but using trailing wires and weights actually linked to mechanically closing the throttle and easing in up elevator was also used in the very earliest experiments in U.K. -pre-dating auto land systems and dating from the early 1920's).
Back to the bar .
Bombing across the water near the shoreline of a Norwegian Fiord in a Puma in the seventies. Nothing spectacular, 40-50 ft. or so on the radalt. Allofasudden it sprang up to 200+.
The water was flat calm and it had started pinging off the bottom.
The water was flat calm and it had started pinging off the bottom.